Monday March 12, 01:00 PM
Surging upwards... |
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By Equitymaster.com
Markets continued their northbound journey during the previous hour of trade as buying activity intensified among index heavy weights. Currently only 8 stocks are trading in the red on Nifty indicating optimism among investors. Barring select banking, FMCG, power and telecom stocks, buying is being witnessed across sectors.
The BSE Sensex is trading at 13,039 (up 154 points) while the NSE Nifty is trading at 3,776 (up 15 points). The rupee is trading at 44.21 to the dollar.
Pharma stocks are trading firm with the major gainers being Nicholas Piramal and Torrent pharma (each up 2%), Sun pharma (SUN.BO, news) , Cipla (CIPL.BO, news) , Ranbaxy and Biocon (each up 1%). As per a leading business daily, pharma major Nicholas Piramal is planning to invest US$ 50 m in the next two years to expand its contract manufacturing business. The acquisition of Avecia Pharmaceuticals last year and Pfizer (PFIZ.BO, news) 's Morepeth facility in the UK has put the domestic drug maker at the top of the league among Indian contract manufacturers. Since its foray into the contract manufacturing business in 2003, the company has been rapidly scaling up its capabilities, investing close to US$ 200 m in this segment. The move is in line with the company's plans to upgrade its Indian and UK custom manufacturing facilities for formulations, and to create higher-end capabilities. The company's custom manufacturing business is expected to generate around 40% or Rs 10 bn of revenues in the financial year ended March 31, 2007. Going forward, the company expects contract manufacturing to account for over 50% of total revenues.
As per a leading business daily, riding on the back of lucrative discounts and buoyant demand, car sales grew by a robust 46.5% last month (February 2007) to 92,594 units. The increased sales of bigger mid-segment cars in February, reflects the growing preference of the Indian consumer for larger cars regardless of the higher price. In contrast, motorcycle sales grew by only 4.93% to 5,16,410 units. The two-wheeler industry is witnessing some transition with production facilities being shifted to other locations and companies changing their product portfolios. Thus on account of operational issues, two wheeler segment witnessed lower growth while changing preferences helped mid-sized cars report robust numbers. In line with the broad indices, auto stocks are gaining strength. Ashok Leyland (ASOK.BO, news) , TVS Motors (each up 2%), Maruti and M&M (each up 1%)are leading the pack of gainers.
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