Tech scare for stock markets

Tue, 12 Jul Closing

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While the markets came off the day's lows during the closing stages of the day, the damage during the earlier part was enough to force the markets to close deep in the red for the third day in succession. Thus, while BSE-Sensex edged lower by around 310 points, losses on the NSE-Nifty stood at around 90 points (down 1.6%). BSE Midcap and small cap indices weren't spared either as both of them lost in the region of 1% each. The advance to decline ratio on the Sensex was extremely skewed towards the latter as only two out of a total of 30 stocks closed the day in the green. The worst hit was tech bellwether Infosys as it lost more than 4% on account of below par results that it posted for the first quarter of the current financial year.

Almost all Asian indices closed in the negative today whereas Europe too is covered in a sea of red currently. The rupee was trading at Rs 44.7 to the dollar at the time of writing.

Midcap major Sintex Industries announced its 1QFY12 results today. The company posted a consolidated topline growth of 22.1% YoY, driven by both the plastics as well as textiles business division. Operating margins managed an expansion of 1.9% YoY, led by lower employee costs and other expenditure, both as a percentage of sales. As a consequence, there was a strong 38% YoY growth in operating profits. Bottomline however grew at a lower rate of 20% YoY as higher interest expenses as well as tax rates took toll. Coming back to topline growth, the plastics division, which forms around 89% of the company's consolidated sales, grew by 23.4% YoY during the quarter. This was primarily led by the sub-segment of building material (prefabs and monolithic construction), where sales grew by 32.0% YoY during the quarter. On a segmental basis, while the textiles segment witnessed margin erosion, the plastics segment reported a minor improvement in PBIT (Profit before Interest and Tax) margins during the quarter. Despite the decent growth in bottomline, the stock closed around 4% lower on the bourses today.

Glenmark Pharma was one of the rare stocks that managed to close the day in the positive today. The stock closed higher by more than 2%. The buoyancy seemed a result of news reports that the company has received the second and final upfront payment of US$ 25 m towards the GBR 500 deal signed by the company with Sanofi in early May 2011. On account of this payment, the company has now received the entire upfront payment of US$ 50 m. It should be noted that the company had entered into an agreement with Sanofi whereby the latter would receive a license for the development and commercialisation of GBR 500. It is a novel monoclonal antibody, used in the treatment of Crohn's disease and other inflammatory conditions. In addition to the US$ 50 m, Glenmark could also receive milestone payments that could reach more than US$ 600 m.