Friday March 16, 01:00 PM
Bears tighten the noose... |
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By Equitymaster.com
Markets continued to trade in the negative territory during the previous hour of trade, albeit within a narrow range. Currently, only 11 stocks on the Nifty are trading in the black indicating pessimism among investors. While selling pressure is being witnessed across sectors, select auto, pharma and software stocks are garnering investor's interest.
The BSE Sensex is trading at 12,459 (down 84 points) while the NSE Nifty is trading at 3,616 (down 27 points). The rupee is trading at 44.17 to the dollar.
At the current juncture automobile stocks are trading a mixed bag. While Tata Mtors (up 2%), LML (up 1%) and Bajaj Auto (BJAT.BO, news) (marginally up) are leading pack of gainers, M&M and Hero Honda (HROH.BO, news) (each down 1%) are trading weak. As per a leading business daily, Bajaj Auto is preparing to unveil a new brand strategy signaling the emergence of a 'new' company. Slated for a May launch, this new positioning will allow the automaker to build separate brands around its different segments of products. The company has also factored in its commercial vehicle business in its new branding charter. This segmentation is expected to create separate identities for its mid and high-end motorcycles and commercial vehicle businesses. The move is quite similar to the model followed by international auto majors like Toyota and Volkswagen, and is aimed at creating a simple positioning platform for different category vehicles.
As per a leading business daily, Sun Pharmaceuticals will shortly spin off its research and development (R&D) activities into a new company called Sun Pharma (SUN.BO, news) Advanced Research Company (SPARC). The transfer will include the company's New Chemical Entity (NCE) and New Drug Delivery System (NDDS) programmes. Sun Pharma is planning to invest US$ 60 m to US$ 65 m in the new research company in the next three years. However, research for generic drugs will remain with the main company. Sun Pharma's R&D expanses amounted to almost 12% of its sales in FY06. Generic research represented around two thirds of the company's total R&D spend, while discovery research accounted for the remaining one third. The demerger would lower pressure on margins as Sun Pharma's R&D costs are expected to lower by 35% to 40%, resulting into margin expansion. The stock (marginally down), along with its peers Cipla (marginally down), Biocon (down 1%) and Wockhardt (down 2%), is trading weak.
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