The key benchmark indices ended a choppy trading session lower, defying mostly higher global stocks and snapping last two days' gains. The BSE 30-share Sensex fell 30.57 points or 0.17%, off close to 85 points from the day's high and up close to 25 points from the day's low. Metal and capital goods stocks fell. Index heavyweight Reliance Industries (RIL) also lost ground. But, realty stocks rose.
India's largest private sector bank by operating income HDFC Bank rose on good Q3 results. India's largest IT exporter by sales Tata Consultancy Services rose. The company announced good Q3 results after market hours today. The market breadth turned negative in late trade in contrast to a strong breadth earlier in the day.
The market edged higher in early trade tracking higher Asian stocks. The market lost ground later. The market came off the day's lows in morning trade. The market hit a fresh intraday low in morning trade. It soon cut losses. The market moved between positive and negative terrain in mid-afternoon trade. The market recovered from lower level after hitting a fresh intraday low in late trade.
The world economy is still fragile but the recovery from the financial crisis has been significantly faster than the International Monetary Fund (IMF) expected, the head of the institution Dominique Strauss-Kahn said on Thursday. In his first news conference of the year in Washington, the IMF Managing Director said the IMF would unveil more upbeat growth forecasts in an update of the fund's World Economic Outlook later this month.
Meanwhile, money continues to pour into emerging market and bond funds and out of money markets, as well as commodities, fund tracker EPFR Global said on Friday, 15 January 2010. Renewed interest in Japanese equities, and outflows from commodity sector funds and global equity funds, have been the only real departure from fund flow patterns seen during 2009, EPFR said.
Asia ex-Japan equity funds absorbed $481 million during the week ended 13 January 2010, their best showing since early December 2009. However, China funds saw outflows for a third straight week -- the longest period of outflows since February 2009 -- totalling $287 million as Beijing's move to tighten monetary policy offset strong Chinese trade data.
Closer home, the headline inflation jumped to a one-year high in December 2009, reinforcing views the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) will start increasing reserve requirements later this month to contain price pressures as the economic recovery strengthens. Financial markets have mostly factored in a 50-basis point rise in the cash reserve ratio (CRR), the level of cash banks must keep with the central bank, on 29 January 2010 but recent strong data has raised expectations that policy rates might also be raised.
The wholesale price index rose 7.3% in December 2009 from a year earlier, its highest since November 2008 and accelerating from a 4.8% gain in November 2009, data showed on Thursday. The rise was driven by near 20% jump in food prices, which rose on weak monsoon rains and flooding in parts of the country. Inflation in manufacturing products picked up to 5.2% from 4% in November, a sign that inflationary pressures were spreading to other sectors of the economy.
Data also showed on Tuesday industrial output grew at faster-than-expected 11.7% in November from a year earlier. The purchasing managers' index rose to its highest since May in December while car sales rose an annual 40.3% last month.
The government, which is pressing the RBI to hold rates to ensure the $1.2 trillion economy's recovery, ordered this week the sale of stocked grain and extended duty-free sugar imports by another nine months, hoping to rein in high food inflation.
Meanwhile, a panel of experts will review over the next three months how to encourage foreign investment in the financial sector such as the bonds and the stock markets, the government said on Thursday. The panel, which has experts from both the private and the government sectors, will identify challenges in meeting the financing needs of the Indian economy through foreign investment, according to a government statement. The panel will take views on foreign investments till 10 February 2010, the statement said, and will submit its report by mid-March.
Government policy makers, including deputy chairman of Planning Commission Montek Singh Ahluwalia have said that India needs more capital flows especially for infrastructure sector.
Banks on Thursday urged the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to keep interest rates stable at its policy review later this month, saying any increase could further dent sluggish demand for loans.
European shares rose on Friday, extending a winning run to three sessions, after results at US chipmaker Intel boosted hopes of a strong earnings season. The key benchmark indices in France, and UK were up by between 0.05% to 0.25%. Germany's DAX fell 0.44%.
The European Central Bank (ECB) on Thursday kept interest rates at a record low of 1% and the central bank President Jean-Claude Trichet made dovish comments. Trichet told a press conference that recent data suggest the euro-zone economy continued to grow in the fourth quarter of last year, but said many of the factors that have supported growth are temporary, and that future growth will continue to be constrained by the need of banks, households and governments to repair their balance sheets.
Trichet said Greece, which is suffering from fiscal crisis, would receive no special treatment from the central bank
Asian stocks reversed early losses. Most of the indices had fallen earlier in the day as weak US retail sales and a rise in US jobless claims made investors wary about the strength of its economic recovery, offsetting better-than-expected earnings from technology bellwether Intel. The key benchmark indices in China, Singapore, Taiwan, Japan and Indonesia rose by between 0.07% to 0.95%. But Hong Kong and South Korea fell by between 0.04% to 0.29%.
Data out from China on Friday showed that Chinese banks extended 379.8 billion yuan ($55.6 billion) in loans in December, bringing banking lending for the full year to 9.6 trillion yuan, a rise of 95.3% from the year earlier, according to data released Friday by the People's Bank of China. Money supply as measured by M2 was up 27.7% in December, easing slightly from November's 29.7% rise, the PBOC's data showed.
Trading in US index futures indicated Dow could fall 18 points at the opening bell on Friday, 15 January 2010.
Technology shares drove Wall Street higher on Thursday on bets ahead of Intel's quarterly results that business spending will bolster profits in the sector. Bank stocks gained after President Obama announced a tax that would amount to 90 billion dollars over 10 years against banks that received federal bailout funds. The Dow gained 29.78 points, or 0.3%, to 10,710.55. The broader Standard & Poor's 500 index rose 2.78 points, or 0.2%, to 1,148.46, and the Nasdaq Composite Index rose 8.84 points, or 0.4%, to 2,316.74.
In economic data, the latest initial jobless claims increased 11,000 from the previous week to 444,000. But continuing claims dropped larger than expected to 4.60 million. In other data, advance retail sales for December 2009 decreased 0.3%, which was weaker than the 0.5% increase that had been expected.
Closer home, the BSE 30-share Sensex fell 30.57 points or 0.17% at 17,554.30. The Sensex fell 55.76 points at the day's low of 17529.11 in late trade. At the day's high of 17,639.85, the Sensex rose 54.98 points in early trade.
The S&P CNX Nifty fell 7.70 points, or 0.15% to 5252.20.
The BSE Mid-Cap index rose 0.3% and the BSE Small-Cap index rose 0.4%. Both the indices outperformed the Sensex.
Sectoral indices on BSE were mixed. BSE Realty index (up 0.73%), BSE FMCG index (up 0.4%), banking sector index Bankex (up 0.21%), BSE Healthcare index (up 0.08%), BSE Auto index (down 0.03%), BSE IT index (down 0.04%), BSE Power index (down 0.07%), outperformed the Sensex. BSE Consumer Durables index (down 0.34%), BSE Metal index (down 0.49%), BSE Capital Goods index (down 0.6%), and BSE Oil & Gas index (down 0.94%), underperformed the Sensex.
The market breadth, indicating the overall health of the market turned negative. Breadth was strong earlier in the day. On BSE, 1414 shares advanced compared with 1,511 that declined. A total of 66 shares remained unchanged.
Among the 30-member Sensex pack, 18 fell while the rest rose.
BSE clocked a turnover of Rs 6060 crore, lower than Rs 6216.58 crore on Wednesday, 14 January 2010.
Index heavyweight Reliance Industries (RIL) fell 1.04%, snapping last three days' gains. RIL early this week raised $763 million through a block sale of 3.3 crore shares. RIL raised $763 million through a block sale of 3.3 crore shares on Monday. Reliance, which is bidding for bankrupt LyondellBasell Industries, had previously sold treasury shares to state-owned insurer Life Insurance Corp of India raising $577 million. As per reports last week, Reliance had sweetened its offer to buy a controlling stake that valued LyondellBasell at $13.5 billion.
India's largest IT exporter by sales Tata Consultancy Services rose 1.23%. The company's net profit rose 33.9% to Rs 1823.90 crore on 8.57% rise in total income to Rs 7714.04 crore in Q3 December 2009 over Q3 December 2008. The result was announced after the market hours today.
Capital goods stocks fell on profit taking. ABB, Thermax, Crompton Greaves and Praj Industries, fell by between 0.37% to 1.49%.
India's largest power equipment maker by sales Bharat Heavy Electricals (BHEL) fell 0.21%. Bhel on Thursday said it has bagged a Rs 200-crore order from PowerGrid Corporation of India for supplying insulators for setting up transmission lines.
India's largest engineering & construction firm by sales Larsen & Toubro fell 0.97% extending Thursday's fall. The company said recently it has received contracts worth Rs 2,325 crore for commercial and residential construction in Maharashtra, Gujarat, West Bengal and Chandigarh
Metal stocks also fell on profit taking. Steel Authority of India, Hiindalco Industries, Jindal Steel & Power, JSW Steel and Sterlite Industries fell by between 0.17% to 2.65%.
Tata Steel, the world's eighth-largest steelmaker fell 0.26%. The company said on 5 January 2010 sales from its Indian operations rose 73% in December 2009 to 636,000 tonnes from a year earlier. The Indian operations account for about a quarter of the group's total annual global capacity of 30 million tonnes, which includes unit Corus, Europe's second-largest steelmaker
Rate sensitive realty stocks rose on bargain hunting after last three days' losses. India's largest realty player by market capitalization DLF rose 0.74%. On 16 December 2009, the company's board approved merger of its commercial realty arm DLF Assets (DAL) with itself, a move aimed at repaying some of DAL's debt.
Among other realty stocks, Omaxe, Ackruti City, Unitech and Phoenix Mills rose by between 0.45% to 5.02%.
Banking stocks rose on bargain hunting after registering losses over the past three days. Fears of a central bank monetary tightening had weighed on bank stocks recently. India's largest private sector bank by net profit ICICI Bank rose 0.66% even as its ADR fell 0.24% on Thursday.
India's largest private sector bank by operating income HDFC Bank rose 0.33% after net profit jumped 31.6% to Rs 818.50 crore on 5.4% growth in net total income to Rs 3076.90 crore in Q3 December 2009 over Q3 December 2008. The result exceeded market expectations. A total of eight brokerages had forecast a between 21.3% to 30.7% growth in bottom line. Its ADR rose 0.44% on Thursday. The bank announced the result during market hours today.
But, India's largest bank by net profit and branch network State Bank of India fell 0.6%. Non-performing loans (NPAs) in the small and medium enterprise sector (SME) are on the rise, chairman O.P Bhatt said on Monday. The state-run bank paid advance tax of Rs 1795 crore versus Rs 1700 crore.
Axis Bank rose 1.52% after its net profit rose 30.97% to Rs 655.98 crore in Q3 December 2009 over Q3 December 2008. The bank announced the result during market hours today.
FMCG company and hotel chain operator ITC rose 1.77% on reports the firm expects to add 8-10 hotels in India in the next 3-5 years to the 110 the diversified company currently operates, as a growing economy boosts demand for rooms. ITC's hotels division would add two properties in 2010/11 at Chennai in south India and Kolkata in the eastern region, but the details of investment were not disclosed.
Among other FMCG stocks, Hindustan Unilever, United Breweries and Marico rose by between 0.12% to 1.22%.
NTPC, India's largest utility by sales, rose 0.63% extending Thursday's 0.59% gains. The company said on Thursday its follow-on public offer of 41.22 crore shares, or 5% in the company, will open on 3 February 2010 and close on 5 February 2010. The government holds an 89.5% stake in NTPC.
Among other power stocks, Power Grid Corporation of India, Tata Power Company, Reliance Infrastructure, Reliance Power fell by between 0.02% to 2.25%.
India's second largest mobile services provider by sales Reliance Communications rose 4.76% extending Thursday's 4.07% rally. The Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) has cleared Reliance Infratel's draft red herring prospectus for its proposed initial public offering (IPO). Reliance Infratel will offer 10% equity under the proposed IPO. At present, Reliance Communications owns 95% of Reliance Infratel and the balance 5% is held by seven financial investors
Among other telecom stocks, Bharti Airtel, Idea Cellular and Spice Communications fell by between 0.16% to 0.55%.
PSU OMCs fell on reports the finance ministry wants to pay only one third of the revenue losses of the three oil companies on the sale of the two cooking fuel as per a subsidy-sharing formula that worked till 2007-08. Oil ministry is demanding a 100% compensation for under-pricing cooking gas and kerosene from the finance ministry as per a cabinet decision taken in July 2009. HPCL, BPCL and Indian Oil Corporation fell by between 0.71% to 1.53%.
The finance ministry is reportedly unwilling to pay the entire Rs 31,700 crore demanded as compensation by the petroleum ministry on behalf of the state-owned oil companies IOC, BPCL and HPCL for selling cooking gas and kerosene below cost in the current financial year.
Auto stocks were mixed. India's top truck maker by sales India's largest tractor marker by sales Mahindra & Mahindra (M&M) fell 1.33%. M&M marked its entry into the heavy commercial vehicle (HCV) segment with its unveiling of 25 and 31 tonne trucks with its US-based joint venture partner Navistar Inc.
Mahindra & Mahindra, reported 122% rise in its domestic sales to 22,754 units in December 2009 over December 2008. The company sold a total of 24,001 vehicles (domestic plus exports) in December 2009 as against 11,172 vehicles sold in December 2008.
TVS Motors fell 0.26% extending Thursday's losses. Sales rose 34% to 119,701 units in December 2009 over December 2008.
India's largest motorcycle maker by sales Hero Honda Motors fell 0.33% falling for the third straight day. Hero Honda will comfortably exceed its fiscal 2009/10 sales target of 40 lakh units, its managing director Pawan Munjal said to media on 7 January 2010. Sales jumped 74% to 375,838 units in December 2009 over December 2008.
India's largest car maker by sales Maruti Suzuki was flat. The company recently said it is considering raising prices of its vehicles shortly. The stock had witnessed a sell-off over the past few days on worries competition will intensify in the small-car segment which is Maruti's mainstay.
Maruti Suzuki India reported 50.6% increase in total vehicle sales to 84,804 units in December 2009 over December 2008. Domestic sales rose 36.5% to 71,000 units, while exports surged 223.7% to 13,804 units.
Bajaj Auto rose 1.3%. Net profit surged 189.20% to Rs 507.29 crore on 57.9% spurt in net sales to Rs 3165.84 crore in Q3 December 2009 over Q3 December 2008. The company announced the result on after market hours on Tuesday.
Tata Motors, India's largest commercial vehicle maker by sales rose 1.83% after company said on Friday it sold 74,707 vehicles globally in December, a rise of 84 % from a year earlier. This included sales of Jaguar and Land Rover, which rose 33% from a year earlier to 21,134 vehicles, it said in a statement.
Shares of public sector companies rose with divestment being the flavour of the season. Dredging Corporation Of India, Container Corporation of India, State Trading Corporation Of India, MMTC, Rashtriya Chemicals and Fertilisers, Hindustan Copper, Neyveli Lignite Corporation, NMDC, BEML and Bharat Electronics, rose by between 0.11% to 17.38%.
Cement shares rose on reports cement industry is now pitching for concrete highways in the light of road, transport and highways ministry's plan to construct over 18,000 kilometer greenfield expressways by 2032. ACC and Ambuja Cements rose by between 3% to 5.17%.
Shipping stocks rose after the Baltic dry index, which tracks rates to ship dry commodities, rose 1.89% to 3,235 in London on Thursday, 14 January 2010. Essar Shipping (up 5.2%), GE Shipping Company (up 2.42%), Shipping Corporation of India (up 5.25%), Mercator Lines (up 2.38%), rose.
Cals Refineries clocked the highest volume of 2.54 crore shares on BSE. HFCL (1.22 crore shares), Pipavav Shipyard (1.14 crore shares), Dish TV (0.89 crore shares) and Sanraa Media (0.86 crore shares) were the other volume toppers in that order.
State Bank of India clocked the highest turnover of Rs 165.95 crore on BSE. Bharati Shipyard (139.66 crore), State Trading Corporation of India (Rs 123.74 crore), NMDC (Rs 113.38 crore) and Bombay Dyeing (Rs 105.23 crore) were the other turnover toppers in that order.
India's largest private sector bank by operating income HDFC Bank rose on good Q3 results. India's largest IT exporter by sales Tata Consultancy Services rose. The company announced good Q3 results after market hours today. The market breadth turned negative in late trade in contrast to a strong breadth earlier in the day.
The market edged higher in early trade tracking higher Asian stocks. The market lost ground later. The market came off the day's lows in morning trade. The market hit a fresh intraday low in morning trade. It soon cut losses. The market moved between positive and negative terrain in mid-afternoon trade. The market recovered from lower level after hitting a fresh intraday low in late trade.
The world economy is still fragile but the recovery from the financial crisis has been significantly faster than the International Monetary Fund (IMF) expected, the head of the institution Dominique Strauss-Kahn said on Thursday. In his first news conference of the year in Washington, the IMF Managing Director said the IMF would unveil more upbeat growth forecasts in an update of the fund's World Economic Outlook later this month.
Meanwhile, money continues to pour into emerging market and bond funds and out of money markets, as well as commodities, fund tracker EPFR Global said on Friday, 15 January 2010. Renewed interest in Japanese equities, and outflows from commodity sector funds and global equity funds, have been the only real departure from fund flow patterns seen during 2009, EPFR said.
Asia ex-Japan equity funds absorbed $481 million during the week ended 13 January 2010, their best showing since early December 2009. However, China funds saw outflows for a third straight week -- the longest period of outflows since February 2009 -- totalling $287 million as Beijing's move to tighten monetary policy offset strong Chinese trade data.
Closer home, the headline inflation jumped to a one-year high in December 2009, reinforcing views the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) will start increasing reserve requirements later this month to contain price pressures as the economic recovery strengthens. Financial markets have mostly factored in a 50-basis point rise in the cash reserve ratio (CRR), the level of cash banks must keep with the central bank, on 29 January 2010 but recent strong data has raised expectations that policy rates might also be raised.
The wholesale price index rose 7.3% in December 2009 from a year earlier, its highest since November 2008 and accelerating from a 4.8% gain in November 2009, data showed on Thursday. The rise was driven by near 20% jump in food prices, which rose on weak monsoon rains and flooding in parts of the country. Inflation in manufacturing products picked up to 5.2% from 4% in November, a sign that inflationary pressures were spreading to other sectors of the economy.
Data also showed on Tuesday industrial output grew at faster-than-expected 11.7% in November from a year earlier. The purchasing managers' index rose to its highest since May in December while car sales rose an annual 40.3% last month.
The government, which is pressing the RBI to hold rates to ensure the $1.2 trillion economy's recovery, ordered this week the sale of stocked grain and extended duty-free sugar imports by another nine months, hoping to rein in high food inflation.
Meanwhile, a panel of experts will review over the next three months how to encourage foreign investment in the financial sector such as the bonds and the stock markets, the government said on Thursday. The panel, which has experts from both the private and the government sectors, will identify challenges in meeting the financing needs of the Indian economy through foreign investment, according to a government statement. The panel will take views on foreign investments till 10 February 2010, the statement said, and will submit its report by mid-March.
Government policy makers, including deputy chairman of Planning Commission Montek Singh Ahluwalia have said that India needs more capital flows especially for infrastructure sector.
Banks on Thursday urged the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to keep interest rates stable at its policy review later this month, saying any increase could further dent sluggish demand for loans.
European shares rose on Friday, extending a winning run to three sessions, after results at US chipmaker Intel boosted hopes of a strong earnings season. The key benchmark indices in France, and UK were up by between 0.05% to 0.25%. Germany's DAX fell 0.44%.
The European Central Bank (ECB) on Thursday kept interest rates at a record low of 1% and the central bank President Jean-Claude Trichet made dovish comments. Trichet told a press conference that recent data suggest the euro-zone economy continued to grow in the fourth quarter of last year, but said many of the factors that have supported growth are temporary, and that future growth will continue to be constrained by the need of banks, households and governments to repair their balance sheets.
Trichet said Greece, which is suffering from fiscal crisis, would receive no special treatment from the central bank
Asian stocks reversed early losses. Most of the indices had fallen earlier in the day as weak US retail sales and a rise in US jobless claims made investors wary about the strength of its economic recovery, offsetting better-than-expected earnings from technology bellwether Intel. The key benchmark indices in China, Singapore, Taiwan, Japan and Indonesia rose by between 0.07% to 0.95%. But Hong Kong and South Korea fell by between 0.04% to 0.29%.
Data out from China on Friday showed that Chinese banks extended 379.8 billion yuan ($55.6 billion) in loans in December, bringing banking lending for the full year to 9.6 trillion yuan, a rise of 95.3% from the year earlier, according to data released Friday by the People's Bank of China. Money supply as measured by M2 was up 27.7% in December, easing slightly from November's 29.7% rise, the PBOC's data showed.
Trading in US index futures indicated Dow could fall 18 points at the opening bell on Friday, 15 January 2010.
Technology shares drove Wall Street higher on Thursday on bets ahead of Intel's quarterly results that business spending will bolster profits in the sector. Bank stocks gained after President Obama announced a tax that would amount to 90 billion dollars over 10 years against banks that received federal bailout funds. The Dow gained 29.78 points, or 0.3%, to 10,710.55. The broader Standard & Poor's 500 index rose 2.78 points, or 0.2%, to 1,148.46, and the Nasdaq Composite Index rose 8.84 points, or 0.4%, to 2,316.74.
In economic data, the latest initial jobless claims increased 11,000 from the previous week to 444,000. But continuing claims dropped larger than expected to 4.60 million. In other data, advance retail sales for December 2009 decreased 0.3%, which was weaker than the 0.5% increase that had been expected.
Closer home, the BSE 30-share Sensex fell 30.57 points or 0.17% at 17,554.30. The Sensex fell 55.76 points at the day's low of 17529.11 in late trade. At the day's high of 17,639.85, the Sensex rose 54.98 points in early trade.
The S&P CNX Nifty fell 7.70 points, or 0.15% to 5252.20.
The BSE Mid-Cap index rose 0.3% and the BSE Small-Cap index rose 0.4%. Both the indices outperformed the Sensex.
Sectoral indices on BSE were mixed. BSE Realty index (up 0.73%), BSE FMCG index (up 0.4%), banking sector index Bankex (up 0.21%), BSE Healthcare index (up 0.08%), BSE Auto index (down 0.03%), BSE IT index (down 0.04%), BSE Power index (down 0.07%), outperformed the Sensex. BSE Consumer Durables index (down 0.34%), BSE Metal index (down 0.49%), BSE Capital Goods index (down 0.6%), and BSE Oil & Gas index (down 0.94%), underperformed the Sensex.
The market breadth, indicating the overall health of the market turned negative. Breadth was strong earlier in the day. On BSE, 1414 shares advanced compared with 1,511 that declined. A total of 66 shares remained unchanged.
Among the 30-member Sensex pack, 18 fell while the rest rose.
BSE clocked a turnover of Rs 6060 crore, lower than Rs 6216.58 crore on Wednesday, 14 January 2010.
Index heavyweight Reliance Industries (RIL) fell 1.04%, snapping last three days' gains. RIL early this week raised $763 million through a block sale of 3.3 crore shares. RIL raised $763 million through a block sale of 3.3 crore shares on Monday. Reliance, which is bidding for bankrupt LyondellBasell Industries, had previously sold treasury shares to state-owned insurer Life Insurance Corp of India raising $577 million. As per reports last week, Reliance had sweetened its offer to buy a controlling stake that valued LyondellBasell at $13.5 billion.
India's largest IT exporter by sales Tata Consultancy Services rose 1.23%. The company's net profit rose 33.9% to Rs 1823.90 crore on 8.57% rise in total income to Rs 7714.04 crore in Q3 December 2009 over Q3 December 2008. The result was announced after the market hours today.
Capital goods stocks fell on profit taking. ABB, Thermax, Crompton Greaves and Praj Industries, fell by between 0.37% to 1.49%.
India's largest power equipment maker by sales Bharat Heavy Electricals (BHEL) fell 0.21%. Bhel on Thursday said it has bagged a Rs 200-crore order from PowerGrid Corporation of India for supplying insulators for setting up transmission lines.
India's largest engineering & construction firm by sales Larsen & Toubro fell 0.97% extending Thursday's fall. The company said recently it has received contracts worth Rs 2,325 crore for commercial and residential construction in Maharashtra, Gujarat, West Bengal and Chandigarh
Metal stocks also fell on profit taking. Steel Authority of India, Hiindalco Industries, Jindal Steel & Power, JSW Steel and Sterlite Industries fell by between 0.17% to 2.65%.
Tata Steel, the world's eighth-largest steelmaker fell 0.26%. The company said on 5 January 2010 sales from its Indian operations rose 73% in December 2009 to 636,000 tonnes from a year earlier. The Indian operations account for about a quarter of the group's total annual global capacity of 30 million tonnes, which includes unit Corus, Europe's second-largest steelmaker
Rate sensitive realty stocks rose on bargain hunting after last three days' losses. India's largest realty player by market capitalization DLF rose 0.74%. On 16 December 2009, the company's board approved merger of its commercial realty arm DLF Assets (DAL) with itself, a move aimed at repaying some of DAL's debt.
Among other realty stocks, Omaxe, Ackruti City, Unitech and Phoenix Mills rose by between 0.45% to 5.02%.
Banking stocks rose on bargain hunting after registering losses over the past three days. Fears of a central bank monetary tightening had weighed on bank stocks recently. India's largest private sector bank by net profit ICICI Bank rose 0.66% even as its ADR fell 0.24% on Thursday.
India's largest private sector bank by operating income HDFC Bank rose 0.33% after net profit jumped 31.6% to Rs 818.50 crore on 5.4% growth in net total income to Rs 3076.90 crore in Q3 December 2009 over Q3 December 2008. The result exceeded market expectations. A total of eight brokerages had forecast a between 21.3% to 30.7% growth in bottom line. Its ADR rose 0.44% on Thursday. The bank announced the result during market hours today.
But, India's largest bank by net profit and branch network State Bank of India fell 0.6%. Non-performing loans (NPAs) in the small and medium enterprise sector (SME) are on the rise, chairman O.P Bhatt said on Monday. The state-run bank paid advance tax of Rs 1795 crore versus Rs 1700 crore.
Axis Bank rose 1.52% after its net profit rose 30.97% to Rs 655.98 crore in Q3 December 2009 over Q3 December 2008. The bank announced the result during market hours today.
FMCG company and hotel chain operator ITC rose 1.77% on reports the firm expects to add 8-10 hotels in India in the next 3-5 years to the 110 the diversified company currently operates, as a growing economy boosts demand for rooms. ITC's hotels division would add two properties in 2010/11 at Chennai in south India and Kolkata in the eastern region, but the details of investment were not disclosed.
Among other FMCG stocks, Hindustan Unilever, United Breweries and Marico rose by between 0.12% to 1.22%.
NTPC, India's largest utility by sales, rose 0.63% extending Thursday's 0.59% gains. The company said on Thursday its follow-on public offer of 41.22 crore shares, or 5% in the company, will open on 3 February 2010 and close on 5 February 2010. The government holds an 89.5% stake in NTPC.
Among other power stocks, Power Grid Corporation of India, Tata Power Company, Reliance Infrastructure, Reliance Power fell by between 0.02% to 2.25%.
India's second largest mobile services provider by sales Reliance Communications rose 4.76% extending Thursday's 4.07% rally. The Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) has cleared Reliance Infratel's draft red herring prospectus for its proposed initial public offering (IPO). Reliance Infratel will offer 10% equity under the proposed IPO. At present, Reliance Communications owns 95% of Reliance Infratel and the balance 5% is held by seven financial investors
Among other telecom stocks, Bharti Airtel, Idea Cellular and Spice Communications fell by between 0.16% to 0.55%.
PSU OMCs fell on reports the finance ministry wants to pay only one third of the revenue losses of the three oil companies on the sale of the two cooking fuel as per a subsidy-sharing formula that worked till 2007-08. Oil ministry is demanding a 100% compensation for under-pricing cooking gas and kerosene from the finance ministry as per a cabinet decision taken in July 2009. HPCL, BPCL and Indian Oil Corporation fell by between 0.71% to 1.53%.
The finance ministry is reportedly unwilling to pay the entire Rs 31,700 crore demanded as compensation by the petroleum ministry on behalf of the state-owned oil companies IOC, BPCL and HPCL for selling cooking gas and kerosene below cost in the current financial year.
Auto stocks were mixed. India's top truck maker by sales India's largest tractor marker by sales Mahindra & Mahindra (M&M) fell 1.33%. M&M marked its entry into the heavy commercial vehicle (HCV) segment with its unveiling of 25 and 31 tonne trucks with its US-based joint venture partner Navistar Inc.
Mahindra & Mahindra, reported 122% rise in its domestic sales to 22,754 units in December 2009 over December 2008. The company sold a total of 24,001 vehicles (domestic plus exports) in December 2009 as against 11,172 vehicles sold in December 2008.
TVS Motors fell 0.26% extending Thursday's losses. Sales rose 34% to 119,701 units in December 2009 over December 2008.
India's largest motorcycle maker by sales Hero Honda Motors fell 0.33% falling for the third straight day. Hero Honda will comfortably exceed its fiscal 2009/10 sales target of 40 lakh units, its managing director Pawan Munjal said to media on 7 January 2010. Sales jumped 74% to 375,838 units in December 2009 over December 2008.
India's largest car maker by sales Maruti Suzuki was flat. The company recently said it is considering raising prices of its vehicles shortly. The stock had witnessed a sell-off over the past few days on worries competition will intensify in the small-car segment which is Maruti's mainstay.
Maruti Suzuki India reported 50.6% increase in total vehicle sales to 84,804 units in December 2009 over December 2008. Domestic sales rose 36.5% to 71,000 units, while exports surged 223.7% to 13,804 units.
Bajaj Auto rose 1.3%. Net profit surged 189.20% to Rs 507.29 crore on 57.9% spurt in net sales to Rs 3165.84 crore in Q3 December 2009 over Q3 December 2008. The company announced the result on after market hours on Tuesday.
Tata Motors, India's largest commercial vehicle maker by sales rose 1.83% after company said on Friday it sold 74,707 vehicles globally in December, a rise of 84 % from a year earlier. This included sales of Jaguar and Land Rover, which rose 33% from a year earlier to 21,134 vehicles, it said in a statement.
Shares of public sector companies rose with divestment being the flavour of the season. Dredging Corporation Of India, Container Corporation of India, State Trading Corporation Of India, MMTC, Rashtriya Chemicals and Fertilisers, Hindustan Copper, Neyveli Lignite Corporation, NMDC, BEML and Bharat Electronics, rose by between 0.11% to 17.38%.
Cement shares rose on reports cement industry is now pitching for concrete highways in the light of road, transport and highways ministry's plan to construct over 18,000 kilometer greenfield expressways by 2032. ACC and Ambuja Cements rose by between 3% to 5.17%.
Shipping stocks rose after the Baltic dry index, which tracks rates to ship dry commodities, rose 1.89% to 3,235 in London on Thursday, 14 January 2010. Essar Shipping (up 5.2%), GE Shipping Company (up 2.42%), Shipping Corporation of India (up 5.25%), Mercator Lines (up 2.38%), rose.
Cals Refineries clocked the highest volume of 2.54 crore shares on BSE. HFCL (1.22 crore shares), Pipavav Shipyard (1.14 crore shares), Dish TV (0.89 crore shares) and Sanraa Media (0.86 crore shares) were the other volume toppers in that order.
State Bank of India clocked the highest turnover of Rs 165.95 crore on BSE. Bharati Shipyard (139.66 crore), State Trading Corporation of India (Rs 123.74 crore), NMDC (Rs 113.38 crore) and Bombay Dyeing (Rs 105.23 crore) were the other turnover toppers in that order.
