Positive moves...

Indices have continued to strengthen in the past hour led by recovery in key heavyweights belonging to the engineering and energy sectors. Software strength too is a positive. Sentiment is however, mixed towards FMCG and pharma sectors. Of the Nifty Fifty, 17 stocks are in the red, indicating that an all out recovery is some time away.

The BSE Sensex is trading at 6,269 (up 25 points) and the Nifty is trading at 1,942 (up 12 points). The rupee is trading at Rs 43.75 per US Dollar.

Public sector aluminium major, Nalco, declared its numbers for the quarter and year ending March 2005 today.. The company has registered a strong topline as well as bottomline growth in the said periods. While for 4QFY05, the topline and bottomline growths are at 26% and 60% respectively, for the full year, the company's earnings have grown by 66% on the back of a 32% growth in topline. Further, though the YoY margins for the quarter have faced pressure, for FY05, the same have improved by a good 680 basis points. This performance by the company is resultant of the continued strength being witnessed in the aluminium industry. The stock not surprisingly, is up over 2%. The other key aluminium major, Hindalco (HALC.BO, news) , is however, marginally up.

FMCG stocks meanwhile are trading mixed. While stocks like Pidilite, Trent (TREN.BO, news) , ITC (ITCd.BO, news) , Tata Coffee and GSK Consumer, are trading up, others like HLL, Colgate (COLGd.BO, news) and P&G are marginally in the negative. Tobacco major, ITC, continues to be among the key gainers today. The company recently announced a huge Rs 150 bn plan to invest in its key businesses of cigarettes, hotels, paperboards and foods. The company has just made an entry into the culinary segment under the 'Sunfeast' brand name, with variants of Italian fast food. It has also launched a top end biscuits offering. All this is likely to further add to its momentum on the foods business going forward.

Email this article to your friend -  View most popular