Infosys Earnings Rise, Sensex Up 1.2%

123jump.com Staff
11 Jan, 2008
New York City

Sensex in Mumbai trading rose 1.2% or 245.37 to close at 20,827.45 and CNX Nifty gained 0.7% or 43.15 to close at 6,200.10. Manufacturing output in November rose 5.3%, lower than market expectations. Wholesale inflation increased at 3.5% at the end of the last week in Dec 2007, lower than a year go. Infosys revenue rose 32% and earnings gained 42% in the third fiscal quarter ended in December 2007.

[R]11:00AM New York, 8:30PM Mumbai - Sensex closed the weak strong, Infosys Technologies profits rise.[/R]

Stock markets in India surged on Friday after it recovered from weak morning opening.

After the first session, the exchanges had fallen into the red following the release of the November industrial production statistics. Manufacturing output rose at a slower pace, rising 5.3% in November 2007 from a year earlier lower than market expectations.

The 30-share BSE Sensex rose 1.2% or 245.37 to 20,827.45 while the broader S&P CNX Nifty rose 0.7% or 43.15 to 6,200.10.

HDFC, Mahindra & Mahindra, ACC and, Ambuja Cements were among the losers in the Sensex index.

Of the BSE stocks, 732 shares advanced, 2,101 declined while 30 remained unchanged. Of the Sensex shares, 15 gained and the rest declined.

The BSE recorded a turnover of 7,403 crore rupees while turnover on the National Stock Exchange was at 18,994 crore rupees.

Reliance Natural Resources was the most active stock on the BSE with a turnover of 561.16 crore rupees. Reliance Petroleum, Reliance Industries, Reliance Capital and Reliance Energy were other active stocks.

The December annual inflation, based on the wholesale price index, remained unchanged at 3.5% for the week ended December 29, 2007. The wholesale inflation was unchanged from a week ago but fell from 5.9% for the same week a year ago.

Infosys reported stronger-than-expected growth in net profit in the third fiscal quarter ended in December 2007. Infosys revenue in dollar terms rose 32% to $1,084 million and earnings increased 42% to $310 million from a year ago. The company added 8,100 net new employees and 47 new clients during the third quarter. At the end of the quarter the company had 88,601 employees.

In the earnings release V. Balakrishnan, chief financial officer said, “Cash and cash equivalents crossed $2 billion. We also crossed a significant milestone reaching $1 billion in net profits in the last twelve months. The currency environment continues to be challenging.”

Infosys raised both earnings and revenue guidance for the year ending March 2008.

India''s second largest software exporter forecast 18.6% growth in earnings per share in 2008 at rupees 79.30 and revenue growth between 19.7% and 19.9% growth in 2008 to between 16,627 crore rupees and 16,657 crore rupees.

Infosys declined 1.4% to 1,580.1 rupees.

Wipro declined 0.3% at 485.95 rupees. The company on Thursday announced that its unit Wipro Infotech had won a 9-year outsourcing contract Aircel Cellular.

Reliance Industries was up 3.3% to 3,128.15 rupees, ONGC increased 1.1% to 1,306.9 rupees and Reliance Petroleum jumped 0.7% to 219.75 rupees.

ICICI Bank rose 6.1% to 1,439.9 rupees. The stock rose for the second day in a row on news reports that the bank will list at least 4 arms starting with ICICI Securities in next 6 months.

Bharat Heavy Electricals lost 0.03% to 2,435.15 rupees and Larsen & Toubro shed 0.8% to 4,175.1 rupees.

Tata Motors rose 1.8% to 762.45 rupees. Tata on Thursday unveiled the one lakh rupee car named Nano. The small car with 33 hp and 632 cc engine is possibly the world’s cheapest car and could run at maximum speed of 90 km per hour and give nearly 16 km per liter.

In other leading stocks, HDFC lost 2.2% to 3,060.75 rupees, Mahindra & Mahindra was down 3.5% to 774.75 rupees, ACC fell 4.3% to 898 rupees and Ambuja Cements was down 2% to 138.95 rupees.