Reform expectations spur indices

Tue, 7 Aug Closing

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Indices in the equity market in India were in no mood to give up their gains and as a consequence, closed strongly on yet another occasion today. The BSE-Sensex edged higher by around 190 points (up 1.1%) while the NSE-Nifty managed gains of the order of 55 points. BSE Mid Cap and BSE Small Cap indices did not match their larger counterparts in terms of magnitude of gains but still closed creditably higher. Nearly 5 stocks gained for every one that closed the day in the negative on the Sensex.

While most indices in Asia closed higher today, Europe was seen trading mixed. The rupee was trading at Rs 55.2 to the dollar at the time of writing.

The Sensex may not have gone up more than 200 points for the second consecutive day of the week but it was still a very strong finish. While it was the global cues that led to the buoyancy in yesterday's trade, today's gains were mostly about reform expectations from the newly installed finance minister, Mr P Chidambaram. The fact that foreign institutional investors continued to line up to buy Indian equities also helped matters. Investors would do well to not get carried away by this new found interest in Indian equities. They should stay focused on identifying fundamentally good stocks and buying into them only if the valuations justify the same.

On a day when the index closed strong, Tata Chemicals, world's second largest soda ash manufacturer, ended in the red. This was mainly on account of a poor show put up by the company for the quarter ended June 2012. On a standalone basis, its net profits fell 39% YoY on the back of a 3% fall in total revenues. Bottomline on a consolidated basis fared even worse, falling 46% YoY on the back of a close to 5% growth in topline. The company witnessed forex losses to the tune of Rs 615 m as against a loss of Rs 51 m in the year ago quarter and this partly explains the poor bottomline performance. Its operating performance also suffered as margins fell by around 2%.

Engineers India Ltd, one of Asia's leading design, engineering and turnkey contracting company has bagged a project management consultancy contract for a 2,000 km natural gas pipeline project. The company will offer engineering consultancy services comprising of preparation of pre-bid documents and will also function as 'owner's engineer' apart from providing project management consultancy and construction supervision services. The company continues to bag orders thereby expanding its order book. It has recently received some big ticket orders from Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd (BPCL) as well as from Petronet LNG. The stock closed higher by 2% today.