Indiabulls Group Shares Fall On Reports Of Tax Raids

Shares of Indiabulls group companies Indiabulls Wholesale Services, Indiabulls Housing Finance, Indiabulls Ventures and Indiabulls Real Estate fell between 5 per cent and 10 per cent on report that the Income Tax Department has raided Indiabulls offices across the country.

Meanwhile, the Bombay Stock Exchange has sought for clarification from Indiabulls on report of tax raids at its offices.

As of 11:26 a.m., shares of Indiabulls Real Estate (down 8.45 per cent to Rs 87.80), Indiabulls Ventures (down 8 per cent to Rs 31.50), Indiabulls Housing Finance (down 5.8 per cent to Rs 701) and Indiabulls Wholesale Services (down 4.86 per cent to Rs 28.40) were underperforming the Nifty, which was down 0.26 per cent.

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Quess Corp, India's Most Successful IPO In 9 Years, Soars 60% In Debut

Quess Corp made a stellar debut in stock markets, with shares in the staffing firm rising over 60 per cent on Tuesday. Quess Corp's initial public offer (IPO) was oversubscribed 145 times, making it the most oversubscribed issue in the past nine years.

With the stellar listing, Quess Corp joined a string of names such as Dr Lal PathLabs, Alkem Labs, TeamLease Services, Thyrocare Tech and more recently Mahanagar Gas, that have returned solid listing gains to subscribers.

Quess Corp shares surged to Rs 507.90 today, against the issue price of Rs 317 per share. Bengaluru-based Quess Corp had raised Rs 400 crore through its IPO.

Set up in 2007, Quess Corp offers comprehensive solutions including recruitment, temporary staffing, technology staffing as well as IT products and solutions. Quess Corp is promoted by Ajit Isaac and Thomas Cook (India).

Quess Corp plans to use the proceeds towards incremental working capital, acquisitions and other strategic initiatives, debt repayment and other general corporate purposes.

As of 10.45 a.m., Quess Corp shares traded 58 per cent higher at Rs 501.20 on the National Stock Exchange, outperforming the broader Nifty that was up 0.3 per cent.

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Oil Prices Remain Near Two-Month Lows As Investors Bet On Weaker Prices

Singapore: Oil prices remained near two-month lows from the previous trading session on Tuesday as financial traders lost confidence in a recent price rally, switching positions in anticipation of lower prices.

International Brent crude oil futures were trading at $46.13 per barrel at 0027 GMT, down 12 cents from their last close and near to the $45.90 two-month lows reached the previous day. U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude was down 13 cents at $44.63 a barrel.

Analysts said that prices were being pulled down by the financial players who were switching positions from betting on price rises, or long positions, to positions that would benefit from price falls, known as shorts.

Hedge funds and other money managers cut their bullish bets on crude oil by 22 million barrels over the seven days ending on July 5.

This means that these financial players have cut their net long positions in crude futures and options by almost a quarter, from 633 million barrels to 485 million, over the last four weeks.

"Oil prices continued their period of weakness as investors remained concerned that increasing exploration activity in the U.S. would see U.S. production and inventories remain high. Signs of an end to several supply disruptions and a stronger U.S.-dollar also played their part in keeping sentiment bearish," ANZ bank said on Tuesday.

Physical markets were also weak, with Asian oil refiners processing less crude as they grapple with margins that plunged to five-year lows after the region was flooded with supply of refined products and as slowing economic growth hits demand for fuels.

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Sensex Touches New 2016 High, Trading 450 Points Up

 Indian stocks surged on Monday after strong jobs data in the US buoyed markets across the globe. The Sensex rose over 450 points to above 27,500. This is the highest level of Sensex since October 2015. Nifty was trading at 11-month high near 8,450 levels.





Here are 5 things to know:

1) Asian markets rebounded today after news that the US economy added 287,000 jobs last month, well above median forecasts and recovering ground after a very weak May report. Japan led the rally in Asian markets, surging 3.5 per cent. On Friday, Wall Street rose nearly 1.5 per cent, buoyed by strong jobs data.

2) All the sectoral indices on the BSE traded higher. The rally in the broader markets continued with BSE midcap index rising over 1 per cent to hit a 52-week high of 12,009.

3) All the 50 stocks on the Nifty50 index were trading higher. Gains were particularly strong in banking stocks after the good progress of monsoon spurred hopes of RBI rate cut. ICICI Bank, Bank of Baroda and SBI were up between 2 per cent and 2.5 per cent.

4) Market experts say that Indian markets will take direction from the first quarter earnings numbers. IndusInd Bank will kick off the Q1 earnings season when it reports numbers later today.

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Gold Dips, But Remains On Track For Sixth Weekly Gain

Gold edged down early on Friday with investors cautious ahead of U.S. economic data later in the day, but it remained on course for a sixth straight weekly gain.

FUNDAMENTALS

* Spot gold was trading down 0.3 percent at $1,356.06 an ounce by 0106 GMT. Bullion is up about 1 percent so far for this week.

* U.S. gold dipped 0.3 percent to $1,358 an ounce.

* U.S. private payrolls increased more than expected in June as small businesses ramped up hiring, and fewer Americans applied for unemployment benefits last week, suggesting a rebound in job growth after May's paltry gains.

* Britain's vote to leave the European Union could be significantly negative for the euro zone, dampening a growth outlook that is already facing headwinds, the European Central Bank said in the minutes of its June 2 meeting, held before the British referendum.

* Since Britain's June 23 vote to leave the EU, every piece of economic data, such as Friday's jobs report, comes with a question mark - how much does it reflect domestic economic developments and how much the short and long-term implications of an economic reordering that may take years to play out?

* Investors poured the most money into U.S.-based funds invested in precious metals since February, adding $2 billion to these funds in the latest week, data from Thomson Reuters' Lipper service showed on Thursday.

* Asian shares were steady in early Friday trade with MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan down 0.1 percent, while Japan's Nikkei up 0.5 percent.

* The Perth Mint's sales of gold and silver products rose in June as investor appetite for safe-haven assets got a boost following Britain's surprise vote to leave the European Union.

* China's gold reserves stood at 58.62 million fine troy ounces at the end of June, up from 58.14 million at the end of May, the central bank said on Thursday.

* SPDR Gold Trust, the world's largest gold-backed exchange-traded fund, said its holdings fell 0.42 percent to 978.29 tonnes on Thursday from 982.44 tonnes on Wednesday.

* The largest union in South Africa's platinum industry said on Thursday it would be demanding higher wages for its members when it begins wage talks next week with Anglo American Platinum, Impala and Lonmin.

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Oil Rebounds From Two-Month Lows, Outlook Seen Volatile

Oil prices rebounded in early trading on Friday, bouncing off two-month lows hit in the previous session when prices fell 5 percent on news that the U.S. weekly crude draw missed some forecasts.

Traders said that the outlook looked volatile as a refined product glut and slowing economic growth weighed on markets while the risk of supply disruptions could tighten supplies.

International Brent crude oil futures were trading at $46.95 per barrel at 0027 GMT on Friday, up 55 cents, or 1.19 percent, from their last settlement. U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude was up 43 cents, or 0.95 percent, at $45.57 a barrel.

The bounce came after a 5 percent fall in prices the previous sessions, to two month lows, after the U.S. government reported a weekly draw in crude oil inventories that was lower than many analysts had expected.

"The oil price fell to its lowest level in almost two months after an EIA report showed that inventories fell by less than expected. The EIA report said crude supplies fell 2.22 million barrels (524.35 million barrels) to in the week ended July 1," ANZ bank said on Friday.

Traders said that the price fall in the light of an inventory reduction had been an overreaction.

"Crude stocks have now fallen for almost two months straight, that doesn't warrant the price falls we saw yesterday, so this morning there was a correction," one oil trader said.

Beyond the short-term, traders said that the outlook would likely be choppy as the threat of supply reductions could tighten markets while an ongoing glut in refined products, especially in Asia and North America, as well as slowing economic growth weighed on oil.

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Punjab National Bank Shares Jump On Subsidiary's IPO Plan

State-run Punjab National Bank shares jumped 4 per cent on Thursday, after its subsidiary PNB Housing Finance filed a prospectus for a Rs 2,500 crore initial public offer (IPO).

Punjab National Bank owns 51 per cent stake in PNB Housing Finance. Post IPO, PNB's stake is likely to come down to 35-37 per cent.

For the year ended March 2016, PNB Housing Finance reported a profit after tax of Rs 327.57 crore while revenue from operations stood at Rs 2,699.54 crore.

Punjab National Bank, India's fourth largest state-run lender, has been struggling under rising bad loans. In the March quarter, it posted a Rs 5,367 crore loss, the biggest-ever quarterly loss for any lender in the Indian banking industry.

PNB said its balance sheet clean-up is not complete yet, which means that the lender may continue to struggle with high bad loans for a few more quarters.
As of 09.21 a.m., PNB shares traded 4 per cent higher at Rs 118.40 in a flat market.

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