Metals prop up markets

Mon, 26 Apr 01:30 pm

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In the last 2 hours of trade the markets continued to trade in the green as buying activity continues. Heavy buying activity was witnessed in stocks in the metal space while investors were seen booking profits on stocks in the oil & gas and realty space.

The BSE-Sensex is trading higher by 74 points while the NSE-Nifty is trading 26 points above the dotted line. BSE-Midcap Index is up by 0.7% while the BSE-Smallcap index is trading 0.8% above yesterday's closing. The rupee is trading at 44.31 to the US dollar.

As per a leading financial daily, competition in the oral care space is set to heat up. Johnson & Johnson (J&J) is looking to launch a toothpaste under its Listerine umbrella while GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) is planning to relaunch its Aquafresh brand, phased out a few years ago. These launches are likely to happen by the end of the year. GSK has already launched Sensodyne, a toothpaste for sensitive teeth, at the beginning of the year. However, Aquafresh would be positioned in the mass market space and the brand will be held, along with Sensodyne, by GSK's 100% unlisted subsidiary in India. It may be recalled, Procter & Gamble (P&G) has already announced the launch of its toothpaste under the Crest brand while Future Group has launched a toothpaste under the Sach brand. As of now Colgate is the market leader in the Rs 44 bn oral care space, followed by HUL and Dabur. However, with the entry of new players in the oral care space, we expect to see a change in the dynamics of this market.

A leading business daily reported that the Indian services sector has recovered from the economic downturn. According to a survey conducted by industry body CII, the Indian services sector's higher growth trends in the last 2 quarters indicate that it has recouped from the slowdown. As per statistics, out of the 51 different service sectors CII tracks, 14% (which includes telecom and mutual funds industry) have reported an over 20% YoY growth in FY10. The sectors like retail trade, air passenger traffic, advertising, logistics, healthcare and education & training services registered growth in the range of 10% YoY to 20% YoY. Also, only 6% of the service sectors reported flatness in growth. Moreover, the proportion of sectors reporting de-growth has declined from 18% in FY09 to 2% in FY10. We believe that this recovery has been largely aided by government's stimulus package which kept the consumer demand strong.