Markets languish in the red

Mon, 25 Jan 11:30 am

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The Indian markets continued to languish in the negative territory during the previous two hours of trade due to lack of buying activity needed to take the indices higher. Currently, selling activity is being witnessed across all the sectors except capital goods and FMCG. The stocks from the realty, IT, and telecom sectors are bearing the maximum brunt of profit booking.

The BSE-Sensex and NSE-Nifty are trading weak, down by around 120 points and 40 points respectively. This weakness is being witnessed in the mid and small stocks as well. The BSE-Midcap and the BSE-Smallcap indices are trading lower, down by around 0.8% and 0.2% respectively. The Rupee is trading at 46.21 to the Dollar.

As per a leading business daily, pharma major Lupin is planning to set up three new manufacturing facilities, and will invest Rs 2 bn for the same. As indicated by the company's management, these facilities are slated to come up in Indore before the end of FY11. It may be noted that this move will take the company's total number of manufacturing units to 11. These new facilities are in line with the company's aggressive expansion plan to tap the US and Japanese markets with new niche products in dermatology, injectables, eye care and oral contraceptives. Further, Lupin is developing 25 products each in the dermatology and ophthalmic therapeutic. These plans necessitate the setting up of these new manufacturing units. The stock of Lupin is currently lower along with its peers Sun Pharma and Biocon that are also trading lower.

IT major Tech Mahindra announced its 3QFY10 results recently. The company's topline grew by 4% QoQ in 3QFY10 on account of improved volumes in its ‘Telecom Service Provider (TSP)' segment. Operating margins declined by 1.7% QoQ during the quarter. This was on account of higher operating expenses, lower utilisation and the rupee's appreciation against the US dollar. Its bottomline grew by 2.3% QoQ during the quarter on the back of higher topline coupled with lower interest and tax outgoes. For 9mFY10, the bottomline declined by 40% YoY on account of huge interest burden subsequent to the acquisition of Satyam. In order to sharpen its focus towards the customers, the company is in a restructuring mode so as to react more efficiently to the changing market dynamics. Tech Mahindra's management indicated that it saw some definite signs of revival in its customer base particularly in the emerging markets like the Middle East and India. The company believes that IT outsourcing as a tool to improve operational efficiency will continue to drive growth in the developed markets.