Indian markets open flat

Fri, 30 Oct 09:30 am

   Previous Close   

   Pre-Open   

   11:30 am   

   01:30 pm   

   Closing   

The major Asian stock markets have opened the day on a mixed note with stock markets in Indonesia (down 0.6%) and Hong Kong (down 0.2%) being the top losers. However stock markets in China and Japan are trading up by 0.1% and 0.2% respectively.

The major stock indices in Europe and US ended their previous session on a disappointing note after US official numbers showed a sharp decline in the economic growth. The rupee is trading at 65.25 per US dollar.

Indian stock markets have opened the day on a flattish note. BSE-Sensex is trading lower by 3 points (down 0.01%) and NSE-Nifty is trading higher by 1 points (up 0.02%). However S&P BSE Midcap and S&P BSE Smallcap have opened firm. Both the indices are trading higher by 0.5% and 0.2% respectively. Major sectoral indices have opened the day on a mixed note. Stocks from FMCG and automobile sector are witnessing maximum selling pressures. However pharmaceutical and banking sector are in maximum demand

National Thermal Power Company (NTPC) reported its results for the quarter ended September 2015. The revenues of the company grew by 6.9% on a YoY basis. The growth was driven on the back of commissioning of the 800 MW hydropower plant. This plant registered a healthy Plant Load Factor (PLF) of 83%. The average PLF reported an improvement of 400 bps to 77%. Reportedly, the average tariff increased marginally by 0.9% to Rs 3.29 per unit in the first half of the current fiscal year.

Operating profits of the company grew by 24% YoY, due to lower fuel costs. This helped in margin expansion of 310 bps to 22.5% for the quarter.

The net profit of the company reported a growth of 40% YoY. However the huge growth in the net profit is primarily because of a tax writeback of the previous year. Excluding the impact of tax write back, net profits increased just by 4.8% YoY .

Going forward, the key concerns for the company will be lower demand from the State Electricity Board (SEB). The dismal state of the SEBs has led to poor demand for the power companies. Recently, Tanushree Banerjee, Managing editor of The Indian Letter, has discussed about the reasons behind the dismal state of the SEBs and the steps that should be taken to revive the distribution sector. Read on to know more about Tanushree's views on this aspect.

The stock of NTPC is trading up by 2.3%.

As per an article in leading financial daily, Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) have asked mobile operators to compensate consumers for every call drop which takes place. The telecom operator will have to pay Rs 1 for every call drop that occurs due to a fall in their network. However, they have asked TRAI to roll back the compensation policy. Further, operators have also challenged the technical basis on which TRAI calculates the call drops. In response to this TRAI has asked operators to suggest some other ways to measure the call drop data. TRAI will review its decision after six months taking into consideration the measures taken by the operators to address the call drops. Recently, Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI) had written to TRAI stating that such a move could have an impact of 3-5% on the financials of the company.