Gaining strength...

The indices gained some ground during the previous trading hour and managed to get itself above yesterday's closing levels as fresh buying was witnessed in index heavyweights. Buying activity was also seen in cement, FMCG and telecom stocks while pharma, energy and banking stocks continued to be at the receiving end.

The BSE Sensex is trading at 6,356 (up 10 points) and the Nifty is trading at 1,966 (down 1 point). The rupee is trading at Rs 43.71 per US Dollar.

FMCG stocks are trading flat today, seemingly on account of a wait and watch policy adopted by investors since all major FMCG companies are expected to announce their March quarter results this week. As per reports, Colgate (COLGd.BO, news) Palmolive India has shut down its soap manufacturing facility in Aurangabad to cut down costs. Toothpastes, which account for 90% of the company's revenues, however, continue to be manufactured at the plant. The installed capacity of the plant for soaps is 20,000 MT while only around 4,000 MT capacity was used. Soaps account for only around 5% of the company's revenues. This move is in line with the parent's strategy of shutting down a third of its 78 manufacturing facilities worldwide and source products from places where it is more feasible. The stock is currently trading up by 1%.

Software stocks are witnessing mixed sentiment current and major gainers here include Flextronics (3%), Satyam (3%) and Wipro (2%). On the other hand, HCL (HCLL.BO, news) Tech (3%) and i-flex (2%) are leading the losers' pack. Gains in Satyam and Wipro (WIPRd.BO, news) follow the strong results announced by these companies in the previous week, which also saw a poor 4QFY05 performance reported by TCS, the largest software services exporter from the country. Both Satyam and Wipro have projected around 5% QoQ growth in revenues for the next quarter. In fact, Wipro's management has indicated in the conference call that the impending slowdown in 1QFY06, as reported by the managements of Infosys and TCS, is more on account of client-related issues than industry-specific issues. However, for the long-term, all these companies have sounded positive.

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