Indian Markets Wednesday Wrap-Up: Dow's Poor Showing Barely a Factor

The Indian markets managed to make a smart recovery during the second half of today’s trading session. This was in spite of the Dow Jones Index ending deep in the red yesterday. The Sensex closed lower by around 30 points, while the Nifty closed lower by around 9 points. However, stocks from the mid-cap and small-cap indices ended the day in the positive. Stocks from the metal, healthcare and energy space led the pack of losers today, while stocks from the auto and power sectors led the pack of gainers. Rupee closed at 48.72 against the US dollar. The Asian markets ended on a weak note today. The European indices are currently trading weak.

Pharma companies ended the day on a weak note led by Ranbaxy and Dr. Reddy’s. As per a leading business daily, Ranbaxy (RBXZF.PK) has received approval from the USFDA (US Food and Drug Administration) to launch the generic version of GSK’s (GSK) ‘Imitrex’, an anti-migraine medicine. It may be noted that Ranbaxy had re-filed for approval of this drug from its US facility on account of the USFDA banning two of its Indian facilities. This comes as a positive development for the company considering it will be able to have its share of the US$ 1 bn anti-migraine medicine market. However, the company will face stiff competition from some of its peer group companies as they have already launched the drug in the US sometime in November 2008.

The government has announced that it will infuse nearly Rs 38 bn into PSU banks namely UCO Bank, Central Bank of India and Vijaya Bank. This move is expected to help the banks soar up their capital adequacy. Under this package, the Central Bank of India is expected to receive Rs 14 bn, while UCO Bank and Vijaya Bank will receive Rs 12 bn each. The capital infusion would be done in two tranches, with the first during the current fiscal and the balance in the next.

The world's largest steel producer Arcelor-Mittal (MT) registered a net loss of around US$ 2.6 bn during 4QCY08. This was mainly on account of slump in demand and prices due to the global economic slowdown. During the quarter, its net sales declined by around 21% YoY to US$ 22.18 bn. It may be noted that the company registered a pre tax exceptional charges of around US$ 4.4 bn. As for the full year CY08, the company’s revenues declined by around 9% YoY.

Comments

[Jake Berzon:]

Arcelor-Mittal results, as bad as they were, were not so bad as to warrant MT stock price current trading range - it will be interesting to track it a bit closer.

Feb 11 09:45 AM

[stockezy:]

Lately there is news of China re-invigorating demand in materials and a huge deal with Rio, is this showing promise to get back in to some good companies which have been down. Tata Steel for example. what do you think ?

Feb 12 04:45 AM