Indian share markets remain firm

Fri, 24 May 11:30 am

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After shedding some gains made during the early hours of trading Indian share markets bounced back in green during the previous two hours of trade. Capital goods and realty are leading the pack of winners while IT and healthcare are facing the maximum selling pressures.

The BSE-Sensex is up by 61 points and NSE-Nifty is up by 16 points. BSE Mid Cap index is trading up by 0.2% while BSE Small Cap index is trading up by 0.1%. The rupee is trading at 55.59 to the US dollar.

Engineering shares are trading on a mixed note with ABB Ltd and Alstom T&D leading the gains while Elecon Engineering and Bharat Bijlee are leading the losses. Bharat Heavy Electricals (BHEL) has announced its fourth quarter and annual results for the financial year 2012-13. Sales (including other operating income) have declined by 2.2% YoY in 4QFY13. Sales for FY13 have grown by just 1.1%. Operating profit has declined by 6.4% YoY during the quarter. The company's total material cost as a percentage of sales has reduced from 57.8% to 56.4% YoY. However, increase in other expenses as a percentage of sales has negated the effect of decline in material cost. As a result, operating margin declined by 1.1% from 25.3% to 24.2% YoY in 4QFY13. FY13 operating profit has also dropped by 4.7% YoY leading to a 1.2% decline in operating margin.Net profit has declined by 4.2% YoY during the quarter. Rise in interest expenses (up 121% YoY) and decline in other income has impacted the profitability. For FY13 too, net profit has declined by 5.6% YoY due to the same reasons. The company has declared a final dividend of Rs 3.3 per share during the quarter. BHEL's share is trading down by 1.5%.

Steel shares are trading on a mixed note with Tata Steel and Adhunik Metaliks leading the gains while Tata Sponge and Gujarat Mineral Development are leading the losses. Tata Steel has reported its fourth quarter and annual results for the financial year 2012-13. The company has reported a YoY fall of 16.1% in its net profit of 4QFY13. However, total income of the company has increased by 16.4% YoY for the same period. For the year ended March 31, 2013, the company has registered 24.4% YoY fall in its net profit while total income of the company has increased by 12.3% YoY in FY13. On a consolidated basis, for the full year ended March 31, 2013, the company has posted net loss after taxes, minority Interest and share of Profit / (Loss) of Associates of Rs 70.6 bn as compared to a net profit of Rs 53.9 bn in the previous year. Total income, however, has increased by 0.5% to Rs 1352 bn for the year under review as compared to Rs 1344.7 bn for the period ended March 31, 2012. Tata Steel's share is trading up by 4%.