Barring Malaysia (down 0.1%), the major Asian stock markets have opened the day on a firm note with Japan (up 1.5%) and Taiwan (up 1.0%) leading the gains. The Indian share market indices have also opened the day on a firm note. Barring banking and capital goods, all sectoral indices have opened in the green with stocks from the realty and metal spaces leading the gains.
The Sensex today is up by around 51 points (0.3%), while the NSE-Nifty is up by around 13 points (0.2%). Mid and small cap stocks are also trading in the green with the BSE Mid Cap and BSE Small Cap indices up by around 0.3% and 0.4% respectively. The rupee is trading at Rs 54.06 to the US dollar.
Shipping stocks have opened the day on a mixed note with Aban Offshore Ltd and Hindustan Oil Exploration Company Ltd leading the gains. However, ABG Shipyard and Essar Ports have opened in the red. Shipping firm The Great Eastern Shipping Company (GE Shipping) has declared its results for the quarter ended March 2013 (4QFY13) and financial year 2012-13 (FY13). The consolidated revenues for the quarter were down by 6% year on year (YoY). While the shipping segment of the company grew by 2% YoY, there was a growth of 5% in the revenues for the offshore segment. The company's operating margins for the quarter contracted by 2.2% due to adverse movement on most of the cost heads. The bottomline for the quarter grew by 114% YoY on the back of income from sale of assets and absence of forex losses. For full year, the topline and bottomline grew by 2% YoY and 70% YoY respectively.
Auto stocks have opened the day on a mixed note with Tata Motors and Escorts leading the gains. However, Ashok Leyland and Bajaj Auto are leading the losses. As per a leading financial daily, India's largest carmaker Maruti Suzuki's total sales volumes in April 2013 declined by 3.1% on a year on year (YoY) basis. The company's domestic sales stood at 90,523 units for the month of April, up by 0.3% YoY. However, exports for the month stood at 6,779 units, down by 33.3% YoY. The company's total production for the month of April 2013 has declined by 7.58% YoY to 105,416 units.
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