Indian stock open in the green

Tue, 12 Nov 09:30 am

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The major Asian stock markets have opened the day on a mixed note with Hong Kong (down 0.7%) and Malaysia (down 0.3%) leading the losses. However, the stock markets in Japan (up 1.6%) and South Korea (up 1.0%) were leading the gains. The Indian stock markets have opened the day on a positive note. Barring auto and metal stocks, all sectoral indices have opened in the green with stocks in the realty and consumer durables space leading the gains.

The Sensex today is up by around 68 points (0.3%), while the NSE-Nifty is up by around 30 points (0.5%). The midcap and smallcap stocks have also opened in the green with the BSE Mid Cap index and BSE Small Cap index up by around 0.6% and 0.4% respectively. The rupee is trading at 63.44 to the US Dollar.

Steel stocks have opened the day on a mixed note with Steel Authority of India Ltd (SAIL) and Tayo Rolls Ltd leading the losses. However, JSW Steel Ltd and JSW Ispat Ltd were leading the pack of gainers. SAIL has announced results for the second quarter of the financial year 2013-14 (2QFY14). The net sales for the quarter were up by 7% on a year on year (YoY) basis. The company reported about 14 % YoY growth in saleable steel during the quarter. However, the average sales realization during the quarter declined by 8% YoY. The operating profits during the quarter were down by around 22% YoY. The operating profit margins for the quarter stood at 6.5%, down by around 240 basis points (2.4%) YoY. As per the management, the price of imported coal during the quarter moderated to US$ 135 per tonne, as compared to US$ 220 per tonne in 2QFY13. The net profit for the quarter jumped more than two fold on a year on year basis. However, this was mainly due to one time gain of around Rs 10.6 bn from the global mining major Vale towards damages due to non-supply of full quantity of contracted hard coking coal. Excluding the one time gain, the bottomline declined by around 77% YoY.

Food & Tobacco stocks have opened the day on a mixed note with Golden Tobacco and Wadala Commodities Ltd leading the losses. However, Britannia Ltd and Sterling Biotech Ltd were leading the gains. The FMCG major Britannia Industries has announced results for the second quarter of the financial year 2013-14 (2QFY14). The net sales during the quarter were up by 13% on a year on year (YoY) basis. The management stated that more than 50% of the growth in sales was on account of the price hikes taken earlier during the year. The rest of the growth came from increased sales of higher margin products and slight rise in volumes. The overall expenses during the quarter increased by around 8.8% YoY. An increase in the sales and improvement in the margins led to a 66% YoY jump in the net profit for the quarter. This was despite a slowdown in the demand in the last couple of months. As per the management, the growth in the net profits was the result of better cost management and revenue management. Besides, it was supported by a moderation in the increase in the commodity prices as compared to last year.