The Indian stock market continued to trade weak on account of selling pressure in heavyweights. Stocks from the FMCG and software sectors are leading the pack of gainers while those from Banking , Public sector Units (PSU) and oil and gas are trading weak.
The BSE-Sensex is trading down marginally by 20 points while NSE-Nifty is trading 9 points belowe yesterday's closing. The BSE Mid Cap and BSE Small Cap indices are trading down by 0.2% and 0.1% respectively. The rupee is trading at 49.81 to the US dollar.
Food and Tobacco stocks have been trading mixed with Wadala Commodities, United Spirits and Nestle India leading the pack of gainers. However, Sterling Biotech, Godfrey Phillips India and Golden Tobacco are trading weak. As per a leading financial daily, GlaxoSmithKline Consumer Healthcare (GSK Consumer) has forayed into the Indian breakfast cereal market through 'Horlicks', the company's flagship brand. It has come up with oats cereal under the Horlicks brand, which is estimated to have a market size of about Rs 2 bn and is growing at the rate of 25% in India. The company has placed the product in various retail outlets in South India. It plans to take it to the rest of the country after testing the market in the region. Currently, the breakfast cereal market is dominated by firms like Kellogg's and PepsiCo. Last year, the company had announced an investment of over Rs 3 bn on repositioning Horlicks as the company's umbrella brand. Besides, the company had announced that it plans to achieve sales of Rs 3 bn by 2012 from its foods business. The stock of the company is trading in the green.
Finance stocks have been trading mixed as well with India Infoline, Mahindra Finance and Prime Securities leading the pack of gainers. However, JM Financial, Reliance Capital and Infrastructure Development Finance Company (IDFC) are trading weak. Infrastructure Development Finance Company (IDFC) has reported results for the quarter ended September 30, 2011 (2QFY12). The company's bottomline is up 72.6% Year-on-Year (YoY). The topline has registered a growth of 50.9% YoY for the quarter. On a consolidated basis, the net profits and total income were up 54.9% YoY and 40.8% YoY. The gross nonperforming assets (NPA's) of the company stood at 0.19% (as a % of gross advances) as compared to the 0.23% in the corresponding quarter last year. The net NPAs as a proportion of net advances stood at 0.09% during the quarter, down from the 0.12% as at the end of September 2010.
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