Asian stock markets are higher today as Japanese and Hong Kong shares show gains. The Nikkei 225 is up 0.3% while the Hang Seng is up 0.1%. The Shanghai Composite is trading up by 0.2%. US markets inched to record closing highs in spite of a weak showing from financial stocks.
Meanwhile, Indian share markets have opened the day in the red. BSE Sensex is trading lower by 85 points and NSE Nifty is trading lower by 35 points. S&P BSE Mid Cap is trading down by 0.1% and S&P BSE Small Cap is trading up by 0.1% respectively.
Gains are largely seen in power stocks and software stocks. Bank stocks and auto stocks are leading the losses. The rupee is trading at Rs 64.92 against the US$.
Axis Bank share price plunged 7.3% in morning trade as the bank warned of more pressure on the asset quality side in the remaining quarter of the fiscal saying the second half will continue to be challenging.
Axis Bank posted a 38% rise in September quarter net profit at Rs 4.32 billion on low base effect. The bank had a net profit of Rs 3.19 billion in the year-ago period.
The bank, which already has highest bad loans among the top three private sector lenders, saw fresh slippages — assets turning sour — to the tune of Rs 89.36 billion, including Rs 48.67 billion in “divergence” found by the Reserve Bank on its FY17 provisions treatment.
Wipro share price is up by 1.8% in the morning trade. Wipro a 5.5% rise in sequential and 6% rise in year-on-year (YoY) rise in net profit at Rs 21.89 billion (US$349 million) for the September quarter.
The company said its IT services segment came in at Rs 22.8 billion (US$349 million) in the September quarter, up 4% on a QoQ basis.
Significantly, Wipro now expects to grow at-best 2% in constant currency terms in the current October-December period, which the management claims reflects the momentum it needs to end the current fiscal with industry-matching growth.
