Metals continue to shine

Wed, 21 Jul 11:30 am

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After starting today’s session on a positive note, Indian indices have managed to hold on to the gains. Other key Asian markets are trading mixed with Hang Seng marginally in the green and Nikkei in the red. Stocks from FMCG and metal space are trading strong while stocks from banks and health care space are trading flat.

The BSE-Sensex is trading up by around 80 points, while the NSE-Nifty is up by about 26 points. Buying interest is also being witnessed among mid and small cap stocks as the BSE-Midcap and BSE-Smallcap indices are trading higher by 0.5% and 0.6% respectively. The rupee is trading at 47.2 to the US dollar

Auto stocks are trading mixed with M&M and Tata Motors leading the gains. Hero Honda is trading marginally in the red. As per a leading news daily, M&M’s two wheeler arm, Mahindra 2 Wheelers, plans to double its sales this fiscal. At present, the company has a market share of 6-8% in the scooter segment. In a move to double its sales, the company plans to increase its market share to 10% by the end of this fiscal. Right now, the company offers three models of scooters namely Flyte, Duro and Rodeo. And the total volumes for these three models stood at 70,000 units last year. The company is confident of maintaining these kinds of volumes in this fiscal as well. Apart from this, it also has plans to enter the motorcycle segment as a strategy to increase its overall sales volumes. Although the company did not divulge the number of new products it plans to launch, but we believe the planned entry into the motorcycles segment will help boost the volumes and top-line.

IT stocks are mainly trading positive with NIIT Technologies and Wipro being the top gainers. Mindtree recently announced its 1QFY11 results. The results were disappointing with its topline growing by a meager 1.3% QoQ. This was led by a 7% increase in volumes but this gain was offset by a decline in billing rates. Most of its business segments saw muted growth, except for the 'manufacturing' segment, which saw an increase of 10% QoQ. Operating margins fell by 6.2% QoQ during the quarter. This was due to wage hikes, rupee appreciation, increase in travel related expenses, and new 3G phone development expenses. Profits after tax declined sharply by almost 71% QoQ during the quarter. This was due to lower operating profits. Other income also fell due to forex losses in the current quarter as compared to forex gains last quarter. 715 employees (net) were added this quarter, thereby taking the total strength to 9,012 at the end of June 2010. However, the attrition rate increased to 17.8%. The company added 31 new clients during the quarter. It has a strong deal pipeline and has signed two large deals in the travel and transportation segment.