India mkts lead gainers in Asia

Tue, 30 Aug Closing

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Taking off from where they left yesterday, the benchmark indices in Indian stock market gathered momentum since the start of the day's trade. Buying interest in banking, commodity and pharma heavyweights helped the indices lead the pack of gainers in Asia. While the BSE-Sensex closed higher by around 260 points (up 1.6%), the NSE-Nifty closed higher by around 81 points (up 1.6%). The BSE-Midcap and BSE-Small cap, also closed higher by 1.4% and 1.0% respectively. Except FMCG, indices across the board ended higher today.

As regards global markets, most major Asian indices closed in the positive today. European indices have started the trade on a mixed note. The rupee was trading at Rs 46.07 to the dollar at the time of writing.

Although India's GDP growth numbers for the first quarter of financial year 2011-12 (April to June 2011) came in lower than the last 5 quarters, at 7.7% the same continued to remain above broader market estimates. The data is likely to prompt the RBI to continue raising interest rates when it reviews monetary policy in September. With supply bottlenecks showing no signs of easing, the interest rates are unlikely to allow more room for the economic recovery to gather pace.

Watch and jewelry maker Titan Industries is aiming to increase its turnover near three-fold from watch division to Rs 35 bn by 2014-15, driven by network expansion and introduction of new designs in the branded segment. The company also expects its eye-wear division to break even by FY13. In this regard, the company will expand its eye-wear and accessories business with 177 stores. For the jewellery business under Tanishq brand, Titan will concentrate on opening large format stores for better inventory turns and less than 24 months break even. Further, during the current fiscal year Titan plans to open 100 new exclusive Fastrack stores across the country. In FY11, Titan had a 60% market share in the India's branded watch market.

As per industry body Automotive Component Manufacturers Association of India, the Indian auto parts industry's sales growth is likely to be lower at 12%-15% in FY12. This is because of an expected slowdown in vehicle sales. The lower revenue projection for the auto components industry this year mirrors the slowdown in overall demand due to higher interest rates and rising fuel prices. India's biggest car maker Maruti Suzuki India expects vehicle sales to grow less than 10% this fiscal year, due to the labour problems affecting production at Manesar plant. The auto component sector has seen growth of 54% YoY in exports in the last financial year.