Indian markets open firm

Thu, 15 Oct 09:30 am

   Previous Close   

   Pre-Open   

   11:30 am   

   01:30 pm   

   Closing   

After last few sessions of dull performance, the major Asian stock markets have opened the day on an encouraging note. Stock markets in Hong Kong, China and Japan are trading up by 2.1%, 1.4% and 1.3% respectively. The major stock indices in Europe and US ended their previous trading session on a disappointing note. The rupee is trading at 64.73 per US dollar.In line with the Asian peers, even Indian markets have opened the day on a positive note. BSE-Sensex is trading higher by 160 points (up 0.6%) and NSE-Nifty is trading higher by 52 points (up 0.6%). Stocks from S&P BSE Midcap and S&P BSE Smallcap are also in demand. Both the indices are trading higher by around 0.7% each. Major sectoral indices have opened the day in green with stocks from engineering and capital goods sectors witnessing maximum buying interest. Hindustan Unilever Ltd (HUL) - India's largest FMCG company recently, declared its results for the quarter ending September 2015. The company's revenues grew by 4.7% YoY for the quarter. This growth was primarily driven on account of a 7% increase in sales volume. The company had cut the prices of in its soaps and detergents category. This helped in better growth in the volumes of these products. However, the company witnessed weak demand from the rural market. The operating profit margins expanded by 0.4% on account of lower input costs. The cost of goods sold during the quarter fell by 3.2%. However the benefits from lowers input costs were spent largely towards advertisement and promotion expenses. The A&P spent increased by 23.7% YoY basis. Subsequently, the operating margins improved marginally. On the bottom line, the net profit fell by 2.6% to Rs 9.6 bn on a YoY basis. The stock of HUL is trading down by 2%.As per the financial daily, Tata Motors have set a target to double the market share in the passenger market segment by 2020. The company expects the market share to grow to 10% from 5.7% currently. The company's projection is based on the new launches in its pipelines. The company is set to launch four new passenger vehicles in the coming 18 months. The sale of passenger vehicles was more than 76000 in the first half of this year. The company expects the sales from passenger vehicles to reach 2 lakh by the end of this fiscal year.Meanwhile, Jaguar Land Rover sales were up by 3% in September on a MoM basis. Reportedly, the company has stated that the sales in UK, Europe and North America have shown impressive growth despite a challenging macro-economic environment. However the sales from China remained subdued during Q2FY16. The company plans to launch new models of Range Rover Evoque and Jaguar XJ in the fourth quarter of FY 16. In fact, Radhika Pandit, Managing Editor of ValuePro, recently wrote an article in 'The 5 Minute Wrap Up Premium' highlighting the future prospects from Jaquar Land Rover (subscription required). The article gives an in-depth view about the growth prospects from China after the recent China Meltdown. If you are interested in the stock, then this is a must read! The stock of Tata Motors is trading up by 2.2%