Pharma, banking stocks buck the trend

Thu, 18 Feb 01:30 pm

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Persistent selling activity led the Indian markets to continue to trade in the red during the previous two hours of trade. At the time of writing, the market sentiments remained pessimistic as the overall decline to advance ratio was poised at 1.3 to 1 on the BSE. However, there was mixed action seen on the bourses, as stocks from the healthcare, banking and IT spaces were amongst the gainers. Stocks from the energy, metals, realty and power spaces were amongst the top losers.

The BSE-Sensex and the NSE-Nifty are currently trading lower by around 90 points (down 0.6%) and 25 points (down 0.5%) respectively. The BSE-Midap Index is trading lower by about 0.3%, while the BSE-Smallcap Index is trading flat. The rupee is trading at 46.31 to the US dollar.

Trading higher by about 5%, the stock of Havells India is in favour today on the back of the company's plans of manufacturing ceramic metal halide (CMH) lamps, which are considered to have the highest efficiency light sources in the industry. These lamps are designed for indoor and outdoor lighting applications. As per the company's management, Havells would be able to produce about 1 m units per annum. In fact, it goes on to add that this plant will be the world's first to manufacture CMH lamps. The company plans to export nearly 90% of the production and is targeting revenue of about Rs 1 bn from this product range alone. However, considering that the company reported net sales of about Rs 17.8 bn (standalone) during 9mFY10, the contribution from this segment will be marginal. During FY09, the consolidated net sales stood at about Rs 55 bn.

IT stocks are currently trading firm led by CMC, Infosys, Satyam and Tech Mahindra. Software major, Wipro has further forayed into the defence space by tying up with CAE Inc, a company which provides training systems integration and simulation technologies. Both the companies recently announced an agreement to jointly address the growing simulation-based training, operations, maintenance and training support services opportunities for India's defence forces. As part of the deal, both the companies will be providing joint investments, sales support and local production support based on the respective expertise of each company. As per Wipro, it along with CAE will be collaborating to provide training systems integration and simulation-based solutions for areas like war gaming, C4ISR (Command, Control, Communications, Computers, Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance) and a range of defence platforms expected to be acquired by India's defence forces.

While the company has not given any figures of the business that it expects to generate from this venture, it must be noted that Wipro earns nearly 22% of its IT revenues from India, of which defence is a small but critical segment.