Friday January 11, 03:30 PM
LOC blues rock sentiment... |
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By Equitymaster.com
After slipping sharply by more than 80 points due to a cautionary statement from the Indian Army chief, the Sensex recovered towards the close. While tech sector was the most prominent loser, auto and select FMCG majors held on to their gains.
The BSE Sensex closed at 3,363 (down 19 points) and the NSE Nifty closed at 1,089 (down 10 points). The rupee was trading at Rs 48.40 per US dollar.
HDFC is down marginally. The company has reported a 22% rise in net profit for the third quarter ended December 31, 2001. While revenues grew at a slower rate, despite stiff competition in the housing finance sector, HDFC managed to increase margins by 190 basis points. However, competition is expected to subdue margin growth in the coming quarters. Other financial institutions like ICICI (ICICp.BO, news) , IFCI, IDBI (IDBI.BO, news) and SBI were also weak today.
In light of challenging environment in the international markets combined with pressure on billing rates, top rung software majors fell sharply today. Infosys, Satyam, Hughes Software, NIIT and HCL (HCLL.BO, news) Technologies were the key losers.
There was mixed activity in the commodity sector. While Tata Steel fell for the second consecutive day, there was a spark of buying interest in aluminium and cement sectors. India Cement (ICMN.BO, news) 's stake sale in Vishnu Cements to Zuari Industries triggered buying interest in cement stocks.
Auto stocks were once again in the limelight today. Telco, Hero Honda (HROH.BO, news) , Bajaj Auto (BJAT.BO, news) and TVS Motors gained sharply. Encouraging number for December 2001 coupled with expectations of sustainability in volumes has enthused bourses. Telco closed on a firm note (up 6%).
As per reports, Qualcomm Inc., the U.S based leader in CDMA technology has purchased a minority stake in Reliance (RELI.BO, news) 's telecom outfit, Reliance Communication Ltd. Reliance closed up 1.7%.
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