Indian share markets finished marginally lower in the afternoon session. At the closing bell, the BSE Sensex stood lower by 17 points, while the NSE Nifty finished down by 5 points. Meanwhile, the S&P BSE Mid Cap finished up by 0.2% & the S&P BSE Small Cap finished down by 0.4%. Gains were largely seen in PSU stocks, pharma stocks, and energy stocks while, software stocks finished in red.

Infosys share price rose in morning trade before finishing down by 0.4% after the company reported better than expected earnings. The company reported 3.3% quarter-on-quarter (QoQ) in June quarter net profit at Rs 34.83 billion.

The company also maintained its full-year revenue guidance.

Meanwhile, TCS share price fell 1.9% after it reported muted earnings. The company reported sequential dollar revenue growth of just 2% in a seasonally strong quarter, and its margins fell by 240 basis points.

Asian stock markets finished higher today with shares in Hong Kong leading the region. The Hang Seng is up 0.16% while China's Shanghai Composite is up 0.13% and Japan's Nikkei 225 is up 0.09%. European markets are mixed to lower. Shares in London are off as the FTSE 100 drops 0.23%. The DAX is down 0.07% while the CAC 40 in France is unchanged.

The rupee was trading at Rs 64.45 against the US$ in the afternoon session. Oil prices were trading at US$ 46.30 at the time of writing.

In news from IPO space, the initial public offer of infrastructure firm Salasar Techno Engineering was oversubscribed 5.07 times on the second day of bidding.

The IPO, which will close on 17 July, received bids for 16,852,375 shares against the total issue size of 3,321,000 shares, data available with the NSE showed.

Proceeds from the issue will be utilized for meeting working capital requirements and general corporate purposes. Salasar Techno provides customised steel fabrication solutions in the domestic market.

IPO Frenzy Continues

It's raining IPOs. Fund raising for the year has crossed Rs 100 billion mark. That's only happened twice before!

Buoyancy in the markets has given fundraising a boost. Positive sentiments have attracted investors in hordes. And retail investors are active like never before, taking oversubscription to insane levels. With issues like Avenue Supermarts (DMart) and CDSL , oversubscription of 100 times or more seems to be the new norm.

And this might just be the beginning. As per The Economic Times, at least fifty more companies are likely to come out with IPOs this year, raising between Rs 400 and Rs 600 billion. To put that in perspective, in 2007-08, 84 companies raised Rs 410 billion via IPOs.

In another development, India Ratings (Ind-Ra) has said that growth of coal consumption in India may remain tepid as plant load factor of thermal power plants (PLF) is likely to drop in the current fiscal. It has estimated that prices for the benchmark Newcastle coal with 5,500 calories of energy value will hover between US$ 50 per tonne and US$ 60 per tonne between 2018 and 2022.

The rating agency further said that given domestic coal availability likely to increase, thermal coal imports may decline by 15-20 million tonnes annually over the next two-three years and government policies in large seaborne trade participants and persistent substitution to renewable energy are likely to have a significant influence on coal prices.

Ind-Ra believes investment in new coal projects is likely to remain subdued globally due to gloomy long-term demand prospects. Many top global suppliers may not invest in raising output, creating a strong floor for prices. It also pointed that higher-than-expected volume ramp-ups by large global miners and proliferation of renewables, major downward revision in royalties or taxes, and major decline in global economic activity may pose a downside risk to assumed prices.

Mining stocks finished the trading day in red with Coal India share price and GMDC share price leading the losses.

Moving on to news from pharma stocks. Cipla and Swiss giant Novartis are reportedly in preliminary talks to jointly market asthma drug Xolair, just months after they ended a legal battle over another respiratory drug. Xolair (Omalizumab) is an injectable prescription medicine used to treat moderate to severe persistent asthma in patients whose symptoms are not controlled by inhaled corticosteroids.

Cipla lost its battle with Novartis in March, when the Delhi High Court stayed the company's request to sell copies of Novartis respiratory brand Onbrez (indacaterol).

Cipla share price finished the day up by 1% on the BSE.

Meanwhile, Biocon Ltd share price rose 8.9% after the company said FDA Oncologic DAC Favors Nod for Proposed Biosimilar. FDA Oncologic Drugs Advisory Committee unanimously recommends approval of Mylan and Biocon's proposed biosimilar Trastuzumab.

And here's a note from Profit Hunter:

The Nifty 50 Index ended the week on a strong note. On Monday, it opened with 53-point gap up and continued to trade in an uptrend throughout the week. On Friday, the index witnessed minor profit booking and ended the week with 2.28% gains.

Last week, we mentioned the index was regaining strength as it closed above its 20-day exponential moving average (EMA) and the RSI indicator was again trading in bullish territory above 50. The index also broke above the 9,700 level, which was acting as a strong resistance since early June.

In the coming week, the 9,700 level might offer good support as per the change of polarity principle (previous resistance now support). The 20 EMA (which is also placed at 9,700) might act as a support on reactions if any.

Nifty 50 Index Surged 2.30% for the Week

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