HPCL Q3 profit rises 23% to Rs 19 billion; Stocks lower

Indian state-owned oil and natural gas Company, Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited’s (HPCL) profit rose 22.6% per cent in the Q-3, beating estimates.

Profit rose to Rs 19.50 billion, compared with Rs 15.90 billion a year earlier. Operational income rose over 13% to Rs 628.32 billion.

The country's largest oil explorer, Oil and Natural Gas Corp (ONGC), last month agreed to buy the govt’s majority stake in HPCL for Rs 369 billion.

Shares of HPCL traded 1.45% lower to Rs 394 on NSE, meantime BSE Sensex closed lower by 407.40 points, or 1.18%, to 34,005.26, while the Nifty 50 fell 121.90 points, or 1.15%, to 10,454.95, on closing hours, Friday.

NSE to auction investment limits for Rs 9,000-cr corporate bonds on Nov 7

Leading bourse National Stock Exchange (NSE) will auction investment limits for overseas investors for the purchase of corporate bonds worth over Rs 9000 crore on Tuesday, Nov 7, 2017.

The auction quota gives overseas investors the right to invest in debt up to the specific limit.  Till Friday, total investment in the corporate debt segment crossed Rs 2,08,804 cr, 95.86% of the total permitted threshold of Rs 2,17,822 crore. As a result, the NSE will conduct an auction for the allocation of unutilized debt limits to the tune of Rs 9,018 cr on Nov 7. 

In an auction conducted in October, investment limits for corporate bonds had attracted bids worth 11,875 cr from FPIs as against 10,502 cr put on offer.

What to expect in the Market Week Ahead

Key benchmark indices recorded stellar gains and hit fresh record highs in the week ended 3 Nov 2017, in effect World Bank report heightened India by a whopping 30 notches at 100 in the World Bank's Ease of Doing Business rankings.

Going ahead, financial results of the Indian companies will continue to be the key factor to dictate market next week. As of result announcement, Century Textile, GIPCO, Gujarat Gas, HUDCO, L&T Infotech, Parag Milk are set to announce their results on Monday 6th Nov 2017.

Cipla Ltd, Alembic Pharma, BHEL, Liberty Shoes are some of the companies that announce their results on Tuesday, 7 Nov 2017. Tata Motors and Aurobindo Pharma, SAIL and Bajaj Electrical will announce their results on Thursday, 9 Nov 2017. Mahindra & Mahindra, Nestle and SBI will announce Q2 results on Friday, 10 Nov 2017 and Coal India and L&T will unveil Q2 results on Saturday, 11 Nov 2017.

On share sale issue, the IPO of footwear maker, Khadim India remains open for bidding from 2 Nov 2017 to Monday, 6 Nov 2017, while the IPO of HDFC Standard Life Insurance Company will remain open for bidding from Tuesday, 7 Nov 2017 to Thursday, 9 Nov 2017.

Meanwhile, the Goods & Services Tax (GST) Council chaired by finance minister Arun Jaitley along with finance ministers of all states will reportedly attend the meeting in Guwahati on Thursday and Friday, 9 & 10 Nov 2017 to consider further changing the liberal quarterly tax filing scheme for Small & Medium Enterprises (SMEs).