Indian markets open in the red

Thu, 21 Jul 09:30 am

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   11:30 am   

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Asian stock markets have opened the day on a weak note. Benchmark indices in Korea (down 0.7%), China (down 0.6%) and Hong Kong (down 0.2%) are the biggest losers. However, markets in Indonesia (up 0.2%) are witnessing buying interest. The Indian stock markets have opened the day on a weak note as well. Stocks in the realty and auto sectors are weighing down the markets. However, stocks in the consumer goods space are seeing some gains.

The BSE-Sensex is down by around 61 points (0.3%), while the NSE-Nifty is down by around 25 points (0.5%). Midcap and small cap stocks are trading in the negative zone as well, with the BSE Midcap and the BSE Small cap indices down by about 0.1% each. The rupee is trading at 44.47 to the US dollar.

Power stocks have opened the day on a negative note with NTPC and Torrent Power leading the losses. The country's largest coal producer, Coal India (CIL), has stated that it will most likely miss its output target for the June quarter. The company has blamed the weather for this. As per the company's management, they would miss the target of 98.7 m tones (MT) by 2.4 MT. The company's Chairman said that the production was in-line with the target during the months of April and May. However, the early onset of monsoons wrecked the production during the month of June. The monsoons have affected production as well as transportation of the company's coal fields in the eastern belt. The rainfall recorded at the Eastern Coalfields Ltd, Bharat Coking Coal and Central Coalfields was almost double as compared to that seen last year. Due to this disruption, CIL would be able to achieve a production of 96.3 MT for the quarter ended June 2011.

Pharma stocks have opened the day in the red as well with Lupin Ltd, Orchid Chemicals and Ranbaxy Labs leading the losers' pack. Dr Reddy's has announced its first quarter results for financial year 2011-2012 (1QFY12). Sales stood at Rs 19.8 bn and were up almost 18% YoY. The strong sales number was driven by growth in North America, Russia & CIS countries. New launches from the Bristol facility helped in the strong performance in North America. However, the India business grew at a mere 6% YoY which is low as compared to the overall industry rate of around 14% YoY. In the domestic markets 12 new products were launched during the quarter. The Research & Development expenditure stood at Rs 1.2 bn which is a growth of 21% YoY. Net profits stood at Rs 2.6 bn and were up by around 25% YoY. %.