Indian Markets Wednesday Wrap-Up: Markets Recoup Yesterday's Losses

The Indian markets continued their upwards momentum as buying activity persisted till the final minutes of today's trading session. The BSE-Sensex ended the day with gains of around 400 points, while the NSE-Nifty closed higher by about 120 points. Stocks from the mid-cap and small-cap space ended the day on a firm note, higher by 2% and 1.3% respectively. Buying activity was witnessed in stocks across sectors led by IT, banking and energy.

Barring Japan, other Asian markets ended the day on a firm note. The European indices are currently trading firm as well. Rupee was trading at 50.12 against the US dollar at the time of writing.

Dabur India announced its FY09 results a short while ago. On a standalone basis, the company grew its sales and profits by 15% YoY and 18% YoY respectively during the year. For the fourth quarter, sales and profit growth stood at 17% YoY and 16% YoY. The company's operating margins contracted marginally by 0.3%, to 17.8%. The company's consumer care business (77% of total sales) grew by 14% YoY during the year, thereby leading the overall performance. Dabur's board of directors has recommended a final dividend of Re 1 per share. Along with the 75 paisa interim dividend paid in February 2009, this takes the total dividend for the year to Rs 1.75 per share (dividend yield of 1.7%).

Auto stocks ended the day on a firm note led by Tata Motors, M&M and Maruti Suzuki. As per a leading business daily, Tata Motors' international brands, Jaguar and Land Rover (JLR) are likely to make their official entry into India this year. While the plans are still to be finalised, the company has stated that the launch is likely to take place in a few months. It may be noted that as compared to its peer group of luxury car makers (who have assembly plants in India), JLR cars will have to be sold at a 110% markup in price due to customs duty as they will be directly imported from UK. Also considering that the volumes in the initial period of the launch will be low, their contribution to the companies' topline will marginal.

The world's largest steel producer Arcelor Mittal (MT) announced its 1QCY09 results. It reported a net loss of around US$ 1.1 bn as against a net profit of US$ 2.4 bn during last year. The sales of the company slumped by around 49% YoY to US$ 15.1 bn mainly on account of lower demand and falling steel prices. It recorded a one-time charge of US$ 1.2 bn in the first quarter, mostly to write down the value of stockpiles, while steel shipments fell 45% to 16 m tonnes. It may be noted that weak orders from automakers and builders have pushed global steel prices to a six-year low and steel consumption is estimated to decline by around 15% in 2009 as per the World Steel Association report. However, the company expects the prices to increase in major markets during the second and third quarter of 2009.

Comments

[Subhankar:]

The Indian market did not have upward momentum on Wednesday, Apr 29, '09. The Sensex rose 400 points but on lower volumes. The previous day, the Sensex fell 370 points on higher volumes. What persisted till the end was short covering before the long weekend.

May 01 07:26 AM