On the operating profit margin, Infosys CFO M D Ranganath said that in the near term they expect face certain pressure as the company will be making growth led investments. (Reuters)

Infosys’ share price slipped 1.77% on Tuesday on the Bombay Stock Exchange following the management’s commentary on Monday that they are likely to experience a weaker second half of the fiscal and a certain stress on the operating profit margins.

Infosys Chief Operating Officer Pravin Rao at an investor call said that there were few challenges the company was facing currently with the long holiday period in the month of December putting pressure on the business momentum.

He said all the business verticals for Infosys have performing well with a bounce bank witnessed in both retail and financial services segment. However there were challenges from the verticals of telecom and banking.

Infosys has retained its annual revenue guidance of 10-12% for FY12 and expects to return back to the industry growth rate only in FY17.

On the operating profit margin, Infosys CFO M D Ranganath said that in the near term they expect face certain pressure as the company will be making growth led investments.

“We expect margins to be plus or minus one per cent from the 25% level in the short to medium term,” Ranganath said.

He said the fourth quarter of FY16 would set the growth tone for the remainder of 2016 calendar year, adding that it was focusing on bagging the large deals.

Shares of sugar majors such as Shree Renuka Sugars, EID- Parry and Mawana Sugar were up 15.53 per cent 8.18 per cent and 10 per cent, respectively in the afternoon trade. (Reuters image for representation only)

Sugar stocks remained in limelight on Tuesday after media reports stated that the government is planning to offer a subsidy of Rs 1,200 crore to farmers. Also, expectation of fall in output amid pick up in demand in spot market supported sentiments for sugar stocks.

Shares of sugar majors such as Shree Renuka Sugars, EID- Parry and Mawana Sugar were up 15.53 per cent 8.18 per cent and 10 per cent, respectively in the afternoon trade.

Uttam Sugar Mills and Simbhaoli Sugars were trading 9.93 per cent and 5.69 per cent higher (at 3.07 pm) than their previous close.

India’s sugar output is estimated to decline by 4.62 per cent to 26.8 million tonnes in the 2015-16 marketing year (October-September), says an ICRA report.

The estimate is, however, higher than the government’s projection of 26 million tonnes of sugar output this year but slightly lower than industry body ISMA’s estimate of 27 million tonnes for the same period. The country had produced 28.1 million tonnes of sugar in the 2014-15 marketing year.

(With inputs from PTI)

At 12.00 pm, the share price of Pipavav Defence was up 5.34 per cent at Rs 63.10. (Photo: Reuters)

Pipavav Defence share price jumped as much as 6 per cent on Tuesday after Reliance Infrastructure on Monday informed stock exchanges after market hours that it would begin the Rs 1,263 crore open offer to acquire additional 26 per cent stake in Pipavav Defence and Offshore Engineering Company on December 2.

At 12.01 pm, the share price of Pipavav Defence was up 5.34 per cent at Rs 63.10. The scrip opened at Rs 61.20 and had touched a high and low of Rs 63.50 and Rs 60.70, respectively, in trade so far. Sensex was marginally up 0.09 per cent at 25,782.58.

In March, the Anil Ambani group firm had announced plans to acquire controlling stake in Pipavav Defence for up to Rs 2,082 crore.

The open offer, to be made by Reliance Infrastructure along with its wholly-owned subsidiary Reliance Defence Systems Pvt Ltd, would open from December 2 till December 15, according to a regulatory filing.

Under the offer, they would acquire up to 19.14 crore shares from the public shareholders of Pipavav at a price of Rs 66 apiece. This would value the deal at Rs 1,263.32 crore. The offer price is at a premium of over 10 per cent compared to Pipavav’s closing price of Rs 59.90 apiece on the BSE on November 16.

“As per the agreement with the Promoters of Pipavav Defence, Reliance will acquire from them 13,00,00,000 equity shares representing approximately 18 per cent shareholding in the company at a price of Rs 63 per share, aggregating Rs 819 crore,” Reliance Infrastructure said in a statement.

(With inputs from PTI)

The BSE Sensex and NSE Nifty opened in green on Tuesday on the back of firm global markets. Sensex opened 137.78 points up at 25,897.88. (Photo: Reuters)

9.19 am: Sensex was up 118 points at 25,879. Nifty was up 35.25 points at 7,840. Shares of ICICI Bank will remain in focus on Tuesday as the biggest private sector lender by assets, said on Monday it agreed to sell a 6 per cent stake in its life insurance joint venture in two separate deals to billionaire Azim Premji and Singapore state investor Temasek. ICICI Bank shares were trading 1.61 per cent up at Rs 271.10.

9.15 am: The BSE Sensex and NSE Nifty opened in green on  Tuesday on the back of firm global markets. Sensex opened 137.78 points up at 25,897.88. Nifty opened 42.15 points up at 7848.75.

Asian stocks gained early on Tuesday, taking heart after seeing Wall Street take the attacks in Paris in stride and surge overnight, while expectations for a rate hike by the Federal Reserve in December kept the dollar on a bullish footing. Hang Seng, Nikkei and Shanghai were up over 1.5 per cent.

Wall Street had its strongest session in three weeks on Monday, as investors bet Friday’s attacks in Paris would have little long-term impact on the US economy and corporate earnings. The Dow rose 1.4 per cent and the S&P 500 surged 1.5 per cent.

Back home, the FIIs as per Monday’s data were net sellers in equity segment while there were net buyers in debt segment, according to data released by the NSDL.

In equity segment, the gross buying was of Rs 5564.02 crore against gross sell of Rs 6401.41 crore. Thus, FIIs stood as net sellers of Rs 837.39 crore in equities.

In the debt segment, the gross purchase was of Rs 963.38 crore with gross sales of Rs 788.10 crore. Thus, FIIs stood as net buyers of Rs 175.28 crore in debt.

Sensex closed 149.57 points up at 25,760.10 on Monday, while Nifty settled 44.35 points up at 7,806.60.

The BSE Sensex and NSE Nifty are likely to open in green on Tuesday tracking SGX Nifty and strong global markets. (Express Photo)

The BSE Sensex and NSE Nifty are likely to open in green on Tuesday tracking SGX Nifty and strong global markets.

At 8.24 am (IST), SGX Nifty was up 037.50 points, or .48 per cent, at 7,865.50.

Asian stocks gained early on Tuesday, taking heart after seeing Wall Street take the attacks in Paris in stride and surge overnight, while expectations for a rate hike by the Federal Reserve in December kept the dollar on a bullish footing. Hang Seng, Nikkei and Shanghai were up over 1.5 per cent.

Wall Street had its strongest session in three weeks on Monday, as investors bet Friday’s attacks in Paris would have little long-term impact on the US economy and corporate earnings. The Dow rose 1.4 per cent and the S&P 500 surged 1.5 per cent.

Back home, the FIIs as per Monday’s data were net sellers in equity segment while there were net buyers in debt segment, according to data released by the NSDL.

In equity segment, the gross buying was of Rs 5564.02 crore against gross sell of Rs 6401.41 crore. Thus, FIIs stood as net sellers of Rs 837.39 crore in equities.

In the debt segment, the gross purchase was of Rs 963.38 crore with gross sales of Rs 788.10 crore. Thus, FIIs stood as net buyers of Rs 175.28 crore in debt.

Sensex closed 149.57 points up at 25,760.10 on Monday, while Nifty settled 44.35 points up at 7,806.60.

Shares of ICICI Bank will remain in focus on Tuesday as the biggest private sector lender by assets, said on Monday it agreed to sell a 6 per cent stake in its life insurance joint venture in two separate deals to billionaire Azim Premji and Singapore state investor Temasek.

(With inputs from agencies)