The Indian indices continued to trade flat on profit booking in heavy weights during the last two hours of trade. Stocks from the auto and consumer durables space are trading firm, while stocks from the oil & gas and banking space are trading weak.
The BSE-Sensex is trading up by 10 points while NSE-Nifty is trading 4 points above the dotted line. BSE-Midcap index is trading up by 0.4% while and BSE-Smallcap index is trading 0.7% above yesterday's closing. The rupee is trading at 46.66 to the US dollar.
Hotel stocks are trading mixed with Hotel Leelaventure and Oriental Hotels trading firm while EIH Limited and Taj GVK are trading weak. Oriental Hotels declared its 1QFY11 results. The company's topline including contribution from its new Trivandrum property grew by 31% YoY. On a like-to-like basis the company's topline increased by 19% YoY. This was due to higher demand seen during the quarter. Operating profit margin remained flat during the quarter at 16.3%. The company's bottomline however increased by 186% YoY. This was due to higher other exceptional income registered during the quarter. The exceptional income consisted of compensation received by the company in connection with the surrender of lease on a plot of land. Excluding all onetime items, the company's bottomline grew by 18% YoY.
Engineering stocks are trading mixed with Cummins India and Welspun Corporation trading firm while Everest Kanto and Jain Irrigation are trading weak. As per a leading news daily, Praj Industries plans to set up three manufacturing plants this fiscal for its existing and new businesses. The company has plans to enter new verticals such as waste water treatment, customized equipment and heat exchanges for fertilizers, chemical, pharma and food & beverage industries. It plans to spend Rs 500 m on two plants for customized equipments which will be commissioned in this fiscal. With the commissioning of the first plant Praj's capacity will increase from 12,000 tpa to 15,000 tpa. The capacity expansion is likely to be funded internally as the company is sitting on a huge cash pile. As far as plans on waste water treatment are concerned the company is awaiting the results of a study by a global consulting agency. Right now Praj's order book is comfortably placed at Rs 7,000 m with 45% of the orders coming from the overseas market.
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