Asian stock markets opened mixed in early trade today. Hong Kong Hang Seng has advanced 143 points and China’s Shanghai Composite has gained 9 points. While, Japan’s Nikkei 225 has declined 88 points. European markets tumbled on Friday as investor sentiment was negatively impacted by terror attack in Barcelona.
Back home, share markets in India have opened the day on a flat note. The BSE Sensex is trading higher by 59 points, while the NSE Nifty is trading higher by 33 points. The BSE Mid Cap and BSE Small Cap index both opened the day up by 0.4%.
The majority of the sectoral indices have opened the day in the green with metal stocks and oil & gas stocks leading the gainers. The rupee is trading at 64.10 to the US$.
Information technology stocks opened the day on a mixed note with Mphasis Ltd & Tech Mahindra leading the gains. In the latest development, Infosys Ltd. approved 130 billion rupees (US$2 billion) share repurchase to improve returns for stakeholders of the Indian software exporter a day after Chief Executive Officer Vishal Sikka quit amid heightened tensions between the board and founders led by ex-Chairman N R Narayana Murthy.
Infosys voted to buy back as many as 113 million shares at Rs 1,150 (US$17.94) apiece at a meeting on Saturday in Bangalore.
The company’s first buyback comes as cash and investments swelled to about US$6.1 billion at the end of June. The meeting to consider the move was scheduled before Sikka announced his decision to resign.
Investors, who have been asking the company to return part of its cash hoard, lost US$3.5 billion as Infosys’s market value plunged on Friday following Sikka’s resignation. The planned repurchase is at a 25% premium to Friday’s close.
One must note that earlier this year, rival Cognizant Technology Solutions Corp. agreed to repurchase about US$3.4 billion of stock and Tata Consultancy Services Ltd. approved a 160 billion rupee-share repurchase.
