Realty, metal stocks drag markets

Fri, 22 Oct 01:30 pm

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   09:30 am   

   11:30 am   

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A sudden spurt in profit booking led the Indian markets to nosedive into the red during the previous hour of trade. Currently, stocks from the realty, metals and FMCG spaces are leading the pack of losers, while those from the IT, consumer durables and oil & gas spaces are amongst the top gainers. The market sentiments currently seem neutral as the overall advance to decline ratio is evenly balanced.

The BSE-Sensex is currently trading lower by about 50 points (down 0.3%), while the NSE-Nifty is down by about 25 points (down 0.4%). Stocks from the mid and smallcap spaces are however, finding some favour as the BSE-Midcap and BSE-Smallcap indices are trading higher by 0.2% and 0.4% respectively. The rupee is trading at 44.56 to the US dollar.

Auto stocks are currently trading weak led by TVS Motor, M&M, Ashok Leyland and Tata Motors. Two-wheeler major, TVS Motor announced its results for the quarter ended September 2010. The company reported a revenue and profit growth of 43% YoY and 123% YoY respectively. Revenue growth was led by an increase in sales volumes of products across the board, led by a 32% YoY rise in sales of total two-wheelers and a three-fold rise in sales volumes of three-wheelers. The company performed well at the operating level, with its margins expanding to 7.6% from 6.9% last year. The reason for the same was lower other expenses. TVS’ net profits saw a sharper rise as compared to the increase in operating profits on account of lower interest expenses and a marginal rise in depreciation and amortisation charges. The growth in the bottomline would have been higher, had it not been for the higher tax outgo. Revenues and profits rose by 42% YoY and 123% YoY respectively during 1HFY11 as compared to the corresponding period last year.

Food inflation numbers for the week ended October 9 were announced recently. The figure declined to 15.53% as compared to 16.37% during the preceding week. The key reason for the same was lower prices of vegetables such as potatoes as well as improved food supplies. It is reported that on an annual basis, prices of potatoes have nearly halved, while those of onions have reduced by about 8%. However, prices of other essential items such as cereals, milk and fruits continued to rise. Among other food items, milk prices rose by about 22% during the week compared to the same period last year. Fruit prices are believed to be higher by about 16%. Overall, vegetable prices remained high with a 12% increase on an annual basis. It is predicated that the food inflation numbers should begin easing soon on account of good monsoons leading to prospects of a bumper crop ahead.