Thursday January 24, 03:30 PM
Markets 'narrowing' in... |
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By Equitymaster.com
There seems to be a gradual shift in buying interest from software to old economy stocks. Though activity in software and media companies was subdued today, FMCG, power, banking and select commodity stocks ended on a positive note. While domestic pharma firms were weak, select MNC pharma majors were up.
The BSE Sensex closed at 3,358 (down 15 points) and the NSE Nifty closed at 1,084 (down 5 points). The rupee was trading at Rs 48.32 per US dollar.
Gujarat Ambuja has reported a 75% rise in net profits for the second quarter ended December 31, 2001. Sales have risen 17% to Rs 3,500 m led by higher shipment and steady per bag realisations. Other income has more than doubled in the same period. The company sold 1.8 m tonnes of cement in 2QFY02 as compared to 1.5 m last year, a rise of 17%. After falling almost 5%, the stock has recovered. Barring Madras Cement, all other cement majors are down.
ICICI (ICICp.BO, news) has declared a 2% growth in topline. However, net profits are up just by 1.5% due to higher tax provisioning. The counter has surged because the FI has announced Rs 5.5 interim dividend. This interim dividend works out to a dividend yield of 11%. The stock was up 2%. The only other gainer amongst financial institutions was HDFC (up 1%).
FMCG companies continue to attract buying interest. Barring Colgate, all other key majors have reported a healthy growth in sales despite a challenging environment. But all of them have managed to improve margins, which has enabled them to post better profit growth. HLL, Henkel Spic (HENKd.BO, news) , Marico, Pidilite, Trent (TREN.BO, news) and Cadbury were up. ITC (ITCd.BO, news) , Tata Tea (TTTE.BO, news) and Britannia are the few losers.
Hindalco (HALC.BO, news) was up notably today (up 2%). The company has plans to buyback its shares. The management is expected to take a decision on this front in the board meeting scheduled on January 31, 2002. Nalco and Indal however, were weak.
NIIT, IPCL, Indian Hotels, ACC, Bajaj Auto (BJAT.BO, news) , Tata Steel (TISC.BO, news) , Crisil (CRSL.BO, news) , McDowell (MCDOd.BO, news) 's, Mastek (MAST.BO, news) , LML, Corporation Bank, Polaris, HFCL, Tata Chem (TTCH.BO, news) , Satyam and Reliance (RELI.BO, news) Petro were down. Most of the auto majors also closed on a weak note.
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