Late buying fuels indices

Tue, 6 Nov Closing

   Previous Close   

   Pre-Open   

   09:30 am   

   11:30 am   

   01:30 pm   

Buying interest in select heavyweights from pharma, energy and cement sectors in the final hours helped the indices in Indian stock markets surface into positive territory after languishing in the red for most of the session. While the BSE-Sensex closed higher by around 55 points, the NSE-Nifty closed higher by 20 points. The BSE Mid Cap and BSE Small Cap indices ended higher by around 0.5% each.

Asian indices closed a mixed bag today while Europe is trading in the positive currently. The rupee was placed at Rs 54.47 to the dollar at the time of writing.

Coal India (CIL) is targeting to double its production capacity from its subsidiaries in the state of Chhattisgarh in the next 5 to 6 years. The world's largest coal producer is eyeing production to jump from 110 million tonnes (MT) to 220 MT by 2017 if rail connectivity is established.

The company has planned a capital expenditure of Rs 75 bn on building three railway lines and after commissioning of these railway lines it would spend another Rs 75 bn on new projects. CIL accounts for 80% of the domestic coal production. For FY12, the company has fixed a production target of 468.74 MT while the off-take target has been fixed at 474.70 MT. CIL missed its revised FY12 production target as it achieved only 435.84 MT as against 447 MT.

Cipla has announced results for the September 2012 quarter. The company has reported 24% YoY growth in sales and a 62% YoY increase in net profits. Domestic business witnessed growth of 14% YoY. Both the revenue segments viz branded and non-branded grew by the same rate. In the current quarter non branded contributed revenues of ~15% of sales at Rs 1442m. International business grew by robust 33%, driven by higher contribution from Escitalopram generics under 180-days exclusivity to its partner. Though management has not given the revenue from this product we believe its contribution to be ~$45m. Indore SEZ contributed Rs 1500m for the quarter and Rs 3000m for 1HFY13. Operating margins improved dramatically by 6.6% leading to a 58% YoY growth in operating profits. This growth was due to higher intake of high margin supply of Escitalopram, lower contribution from low margin ARVs, forex and higher prices realized in few segments. Bottomline increases by 62% YoY during 2QFY13, inspite of higher tax growth of 90%. PAT margin improved by 5.4%. Cipla has done capex of Rs 2000m for 1HFY13, and has guided for Rs 5000m for the full year.