Indian markets open weak

Wed, 28 Oct 09:30 am

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The major Asian stock markets have opened the day on a disappointing note. Stock markets in Indonesia and China are trading down by 1.2% and 0.6% respectively. The major stock indices in Europe and US ended their previous session in red. The rupee is trading at 65.09 per US dollar.

Indian stock markets have opened the day on a negative note too. BSE-Sensex is trading lower by 134 points (down 0.5%) and NSE-Nifty is trading lower by 35 points (down 0.4%). S&P BSE Midcap and S&P BSE Smallcap are trading marginally lower by 0.1% and 0.01% respectively. Major sectoral indices have opened the day in red with stocks from oil and gas and metal & mining sector witnessing maximum selling pressure.

Maruti Suzuki reported its results for the quarter ended September 2015. The revenues of the company grew by 13.2% on a YoY basis. The sales of passenger vehicle grew by 9.8% YoY to 353,000 during the September quarter. Reportedly, company's growth in the rural areas was higher as compared to the urban areas. This comes as a surprise as various automobile players are struggling in the rural areas. The company's sales in the rural areas grew by 10% as against 4% in the rest of the country.

The operating profitability of the company grew by 393 bps to 16.3% YoY. The operating profitability was higher on account of low raw material cost and favourable foreign exchange movements. The net profits of the company grew by 42.1% to Rs 12.3 bn on a YoY basis.

Further, Maruti plans to pay the royalty to parent company in rupee terms for all the new models it plans to introduce. Earlier the royalty was paid in Japanese currency ‘Yen'. Royalty payment in rupee terms will ensure that the average royalty outgo is capped and is not subject to foreign exchange fluctuation.

Richa Agarwal, Managing editor of Hidden Treasure, recently wrote an interesting piece, where she has discussed about the excess royalties paid by the Indian arm of the MNCs, to use the MNC's product technology or brand. Read this article to know more on how the investor's wealth is getting affected due to the high payment of the royalties.

Lupin Ltd, too reported its results for the quarter ended September 2015. The revenues of the company (including non-operating income) grew marginally by 4.7% YoY. Reportedly, excluding the non-operating income the growth in the revenues was just up by 2% YoY for the said period.

As per a financial daily, the managing director of the company stated that the slowdown in the approvals from the US market was the key reason for the dampening of the growth in revenues. The company has received 8 product approvals in this financial year. However the same did not make a significant contribution to the revenues as the product approvals have smaller revenue potentials.

The operating profits declined by 24% to Rs 7.1 bn YoY. The net profit of the company reported a decline of 35% to Rs 4 bn YoY. The stock of Lupin is trading down by 1.4%.