Mkts gain ground, rise further

Wed, 3 Feb 01:30 pm

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The Indian markets gained further ground to rise to higher levels during the previous two hours of trade. Currently, buying activity is being witnessed across sectors led by stocks from the consumer durables, metal, realty and capital goods sectors.

The BSE-Sensex and the NSE-Nifty are currently trading higher by around 390 points and 115 points respectively. Stocks from the midcap and small cap spaces are also in the positive, with the BSE-Midcap and the BSE-Smallcap indices trading higher by 1.6% and 1.4% respectively. The rupee is trading at 45.99 to the US dollar.

As per a leading business daily, Axis Bank is launching a new service in India in association with Banque Privee Edmond De Rothschild. This service called the family office account will target ultra high net worth clients with a net worth of over Rs 1 bn. The bank, under this service, will provide a one stop banking solution for the family spanning across generations.

This means that under this service Axis Bank will provide solutions for the management of multi-generational needs, especially children’s education, healthcare issues of the family and its following generations, management of the entire assets and investments, tax and legal counseling, estate, bill-paying etc. The bank is targeting assets worth at least Rs 40 bn across a clientele of 20 in the next 2 years and a market share of 5% to 7% in the family office space in the next 3 to 5 years. With this service the bank is looking to diversify its income stream by cutting down its dependence on fee based income. The stock of Axis Bank is higher on the bourses.

The stock of Titan Industries is up nearly 4% currently. The stock has presumably got fillip on the back of capacity addition plans unveiled by the company that will entail a small investment of Rs 120 m. This would be the company’s fifth manufacturing facility and would increase the company’s manufacturing capacity from 11 m units to 16 m units. Titan Industries holds 68% share of the domestic organized watch market and is planning to expand its retail presence.  The company is planning to open 10 Helios, a multi-brand watch chain, stores in a year’s time.   The company foresees its time products division to end FY10 clocking a 15% growth on a year on year basis.

In 3QFY10, Titan Industries reported 30% YoY growth in revenues on the back of nearly 25% growth in time products revenues and 33% growth in jewellery sales. The company plans to bank upon the opportunity of rebound in consumption and extend reach for future growth. Apart from extending capacity domestically the company plans to house premium international watch brands like Versace, Seiko, Movado, Hugo Boss, Citizen, Fossil, DKNY, Nina Ricci, Roberto Cavalli, Esprit and Tommy Hilfiger. These moves are expected to help the company cater to the demand across demographics and help sustain growth in the future as well.