Backed by persistent selling activity Indian markets continued to trade weak during the post noon trading session. Most of the sectoral indices are trading in red with consumer durables and banking stocks leading the pack of losers. While, stocks from capital goods and healthcare sectors are among the leading gainers.
BSE-Sensex is down by 123 points and NSE-Nifty is trading down by 38 points. While BSE Mid Cap is trading down by 0.19%, BSE Small Cap index is trading down by 0.64%. The rupee is trading at 62.24 to the US dollar.
Most of the Indian pharma stocks are trading in green, with Aurobindo pharma and Dishman Ltd being the leading gainers. Aurobindo has declared its September quarter results. Net sales grew by 27.7% YoY, led by growth in both formulations and API (Active pharmaceutical ingredients) segment. Among the export formulations US witnessed robust growth of 72% YoY. However ARVs (Anti retroviral) sales declined by 7.6% YoY. On the margins front, company's EBITDA margins improved by 6.4% to 21.9%, leading to EBITDA growth of 80% YoY for the said period. Lower sales of low margin ARV also helped the margin improvement. However on the bottom line, the growth was just 5% YoY. This was largely due to forex loss incurred during the quarter vs forex gain in 2QFY13. Aurobindo is currently trading up by 9.5%
Majority of the energy stocks are trading in the red with Chennai Petroleum and Jindal Drill being the major losers. Only Hindustan Petroleum Corporation LTd (HPCL) is trading positive. As per a leading financial daily, the de-regulation of bulk diesel prices has opened up this segment for participation by the private refinery companies. Therefore companies like Reliance Industries and Essar Oil are bidding to supply high-speed diesel to the country's single largest consumer, the Indian Railways. While Reliance Industries has bid for 11 locations, Essar Oil has bid for only one location in Gujarat. Presently public sector oil marketing companies (OMCs), Indian Oil Corp Ltd (IOCL), Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd (BPCL) and HPCL offer a discount of 52 paise per litre over bulk diesel rate of Rs 63 a litre. Reportedly OMC's are not keen to extend discounts any longer after diesel rates have become market-linked and are around Rs 9-10 higher than the subsidized rate.
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