Markets end weak ahead of RBI review

Mon, 28 Oct Closing

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Ahead of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) monetary policy scheduled for tomorrow (dated 29th October, 2013), the Indian equity markets witnessed a downturn post the afternoon session and closed the day on a weak note. The stocks from the Telecom sector faced the maximum selling pressures today. Mid-cap and small cap stocks too faced the brunt and these indices were seen down by 0.8% and 0.5% respectively. The BSE Sensex closed lower by 113 points and the NSE-Nifty was seen down by 44 points.

With respect to global markets, the Asian indices have closed on a positive note while the European indices have opened the day on a mixed note. The rupee was trading at Rs 61.52 to the dollar at the time of writing.

Except ADC India Comm, all telecom stocks closed the day in red today with Tata Teleservices and Reliance Communications witnessing the maximum selling pressures.

Bharti Infratel, in its second quarter earnings performance for FY14 has reported a 5% YoY increase in total revenues and a 12% YoY increase in net profits during the quarter. The operating margins have improved from 37.4% in 2QFY13 to 40% in 2QFY14. For 1HFY14 as well, the operating margins increased by 3% YoY to 39.9%. And these higher operating margins coupled with lower depreciation charges led net profits to increase by 12% YoY during the quarter. For 1HFY14, net profits increased by 37.7% YoY. Besides, the total towers on a consolidated basis stood at 82,476 and total co-locations stood at 159,997 at the end of the quarter. Moreover, average sharing factor improved by 1% YoY. However sharing revenue per tower declined by 1% YoY during the quarter.

The Consumer products' stocks traded on a mixed note today with P&G Hygiene and Emami Ltd closing the day on a positive note. Whereas stocks such as Archies ltd and Colgate ended the day on a weak note.

The FMCG major Dabur India declared its earnings performance today for the second quarter of FY14. The consolidated net profit for the company stood robust and was recorded at Rs 2.5 bn owing to healthy performance in FMCG segment. The net sales have risen by 14.9% to Rs 17.5 bn as against Rs 15.2 bn a year ago. The company's consumer care business has witnessed increase of 18.3% YoY at Rs 14.95 b, while the food business has grown by 15.7% to Rs 2.03 bn. As per the company, the strong performance comes on the back of strong demand from the rural network expansion despite the challenging environment. However, Dabur reported spike in overall expenses of 12.6% to Rs 14.5 bn on account of rising cost pressures. That said, these cost pressures were well managed through competitive pricing and improved efficiencies. The stock was down by 3.3% towards the end of the day.