Mumbai: Its a relief to look forward to a new week with all the right signals in place. The incoming economic data remain encouraging. The services sector in India grew at its fastest pace in six months. From 54.2 in December, the HSBC Business Activity Index climbed to 58.0 in January.
This adds to the strong manufacturing sector data. Earlier the manufacturing PMI had also registered a sharp uptick 54.2 in December to 57.5 in January.
Data from the U.S. is also painting a healthy picture. The U.S. economy created more jobs than expected in January. Against the market expectations of 1.40 lakh jobs, the U.S. added 2.43 lakh jobs last month. The unemployment rate fell to a three year low of 8.3%. Read The Financial Times report.
The strong employment numbers sent the stock markets higher. S&P 500 surged 1.46% to 1,344 on buying in shares of financial services and industrial companies.
Asian markets also opened on a positive note. Stock markets in Japan extended last week’s rally on strong jobs data from the U.S. with the Nikkei at 8,935, up 1.18%.
Bad assets of India’s banks are expanding at a fast pace. The gross non-performing assets of 34 listed banks that have announced December quarter earnings escalated to Rs 76,644 crore, a year-on-year growth of 30.51%.
Keep an eye on stocks of shipping companies. According to The Economic Times, shipping companies are worried about the sharp fall in the Baltic dry index. The index has reportedly touched 647 points on Friday. During the 2008 global financial meltdown the index hit a low of 663 points.
Expect some action in the Piramal Healthcare stock. The company bought an additional 5.5% stake in Vodafone India for Rs 3,007 crore. The latest purchase will take Piramal’s stake in Vodafone India to 11%. Read The Hindu report.
Infosys is fuelling further investments into its products, platforms and solutions (PPS) business. The company, which is planning to launch offerings for a digital wallet and a digital marketing platform, is keen to take the (PPS) business from its current 5% revenue share to one-third of total revenue.
The slowdown in the commercial real estate business is likely to have financial implications for Blue Star, reports Business Standard. The company expects the slowdown in the contracting business to last for two more quarters.
NMDC is looking to acquire two coking coal projects in Russia and Australia and one iron ore mine in Brazil. The acquisitions are estimated to cost $500 million. Read the Business Standard report.
Finally, Adani Ports and SEZ, Adani Power, Dena Bank, Glaxosmithkline Consumer Healthcare, Hindustan Unilever, India Cements, NALCO, NCC, Spicejet and Trent are some of the companies that will declare their December quarter earnings today.