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Tue, 31 May 09:30 am

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Most Asian stock markets have opened the day on a firm note. Stock markets in South Korea (up 1.5%), Japan (up 1.3%) and Hong Kong (up 0.9%) are trading firmly in the green whereas China (down 0.1%) and Indonesia (down 0.1%) are in the red. The Indian stock markets have opened the day on a firm note. Stocks in the Realty and Consumer Durables space are leading the gains. However, auto and Oil & Gas are trading flat.

The BSE-Sensex is trading higher by around 89 points (0.5%), while the NSE-Nifty is up by around 33 points (0.6%). BSE Midcap index and the BSE Small cap is up by about 0.6% and 0.5% respectively. The rupee is trading at 45.1 to the US dollar.

Pharma stocks have opened the day on a firm note with Piramal Healthcare and Cipla trading firm. Pharma major, Sun Pharma announced its fourth quarter results for 2011 (4QFY11). The company has reported 35.5% YoY and 12.2% YoY increase in sales and net profits respectively. Sales increased by 35.5% YoY in 4QFY11. This was primarily due to inclusion of Taro's (subsidiary's) financials into the consolidated statements of Sun Pharma and better performance of branded domestic sales. Operating margins shrink by 8.4% YoY during the year owing to increase in employee costs and other manufacturing costs (as percentage of sales). Net profit increased by mere 12.2% YoY due to low operating margins and higher base effect due to low taxes in the same quarter previous year. Board recommended a dividend of Rs 3.5 per share (dividend yield of 0.8%). Currently the stock is trading in green.

Software Stocks have opened the day on a firm note with Wipro and Infosys trading firm. Tech Mahindra has announced its fourth quarter results for the financial year 2010-2011 (4QFY11). The company reported a 4.2% QoQ growth in sales and a whopping 64% QoQ decline in its net profit. Net sales grew by 4.2% QoQ on the back of improved demand from the telecom sector. For FY11, revenues grew by 11.1% YoY. Operating margins fell marginally by 0.1% to 20.5% as compared to 20.6% in the previous quarter (3QFY11). This was on account of higher employee costs (as a percentage of sales). Bottom line declined by a whopping 64.1% QoQ mainly due to losses on account of its associate Mahindra Satyam as compared to the gains seen during the previous quarter (3QFY11). Excluding share of associate company's loss, net profit was up marginally by 0.5%. The company's employee base stood at 38,333 as at the end of December 2010, which means that about 4,125 employees were added during the quarter. The company has recommended a dividend of Rs 4 per share (dividend yield of 0.6%).