Markets are still trading lower

The markets though managed to recover a bit from the day’s low but are still trading in red as selling pressure continued among the selective scrips mainly led by the Realty, Capital Goods, Banking, Auto and Pharma stocks The Metal index today outperformed the benchmark index as it is now trading with a gain of more than 3%. The BSE Mid Cap and the BSE Small Cap index are now trading with a loss of more than 1% each.

The overall market breadth is negative as 717 stocks are advancing while 1928 stocks are declining in BSE.

Sterlite Industries reported the top gainer from the BSE Sensex pack, as it is trading up by (3.23%) at Rs. 724.90 while DLF reported the top loser trading down by (4.65%) at Rs. 373.

At 2.33PM the BSE Sensex is trading down by 147.99 points at 15,263.48 and the NSE Nifty is trading lower by 52.85 points or (1.14%) at 4,584.85.

The BSE Mid Cap decreased by 84.92 points or (1.59%) to 5,262.99 and the BSE Small Cap fell by 103.91 points or (1.69%) to 6,046.53.

The Metal index is trading higher by 400.47 points or 3.34% at 12,388.77. Leading from the gainers pack are Sesa Goa trading up by 10.98% at Rs213.20 along with Hind Zinc by 9.01% at Rs672.20, JSW Steel by 6.64% at Rs677, Jindal Steel by 6.55% at Rs2550, Welspun Guj SR by 4.48% at Rs232.05, Sterlite Inds by 3.24% at Rs725 and Tata Steel by 2.49% at Rs463.50.

The Capital Goods index is trading lower by 243.44 points or 1.83% at 13, 051.47. Losers from this pack Elecon Eng trading down by 4.57% at Rs80.40 followed by Usha Martin by 4.42% at Rs56.25, Gammon India by 4.12% at Rs156, AIA Engineer by 4.08% at Rs241, Punj Lloyd by 4.04% at Rs215.10, Jyoti Structures by 3.61% at Rs131 and Siemens by 3.19% at Rs491.90.

The most active shares on NSE are Satyam Computers trading at Rs 80.55 with a total traded quantity of 110681759 shares followed by Unitech trading at Rs.85.30 with a total traded quantity of 48981750 shares.

McNally Bharat Engineering Company Ltd is trading up by 4.55% at Rs125.25. The company has received an order for a 2.0 MTPA Pb-Zinc Beneficiation Plant at Sindesar Khurd Mines, Rajasthan from Hindustan Zinc Ltd (HZL) for a value of Rs 300 Crores including taxes and duties. The contractual period of completion of the order is 18 months.

On the global markets front, the European markets are trading mixed as the FTSE 100 and CAC 40 index are trading marginally up by (0.04%) and (0.12%) respectively. However, DAX index is trading down by (0.19%).

Satyam still losing clients

HYDERABAD: Two US-based clients of Satyam Computers, Agilent Technologies and Lowe's Companies, along with another banking sector client Euronet Worldwide, have terminated their contracts with the scam-hit IT firm. The firm had been losing clients from the time the scam broke in January this year and Tech Mahindra's (TechMa) takeover has not been able to arrest the trend.

Agilent, a measurement company, that withdrew its project last week, including a 24-hour customer support facility, had earlier terminated another ongoing project with Satyam in January, soon after news of B Ramalinga Raju's confession to the Rs 7,000-crore fraud broke.

While this project is said to have gone to TCS, sources indicate that the earlier project had been bagged by Hewlett Packard.

"Agilent will prove to be a huge loss for us. Not only did it bring good business to the company, but also had close to 300 associates working on its projects," said a mid-management level Satyamite. Many associates on the Agilent project until recently are now on the bench awaiting either a new project or a pink-slip.

Lowe's, a chain of retail home improvement and appliance stores, also called off its project with Satyam recently. The project had close to 120 employees of the IT firm working on it. "Any project which involves a team that has more than 50 members is considered to be big. Hence, this too was a big project and would definitely add to the woes of the company and its staffers," said another Satyamite.

Though sources say that Euronet Worlwide was a smaller client as compared to the other two, its decision to discontinue the services of Satyam has left around 30 employees of the IT firm without any work. These people have now been put on the bench without any assurance of being sent back to some other project anytime soon.

"Considering that the strength of the bench is increasing by the day and more and more projects are being withdrawn, I don't think we have much hope of getting any work," said a senior Satyamite adding that, "Though some of our colleagues are being accomodated in TechMa projects in Mumbai and Noida, their requirement too is limited."

Meanwhile, pink slips are being handed out to Satyam associates on the bench. Some employees said that there was a glimmer of hope as TechMa had a requirement of 2,000 staffers for its ongoing projects and had even conducted technical interviews last week to depute some Satyamites on the bench for the same. Those selected are now being relocated to Noida and Mumbai. But the bench strength of Satyam at present is more than double that figure, so the fear of being handed the pink slip looms large.

Sources in the company also say that, in the light of losing more and more business by the day the IT firm is now calling back employees working on its onsite projects. "Though our project is still on some associates have been asked to get back to the country and continue the work," said a mid-management level Satyamite.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Business/Satyam-still-losing-clients/articleshow/4557372.cms