Indian share markets slip

Tue, 4 Dec 01:30 pm

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On account of selling pressure in index heavy-weights, Indian share markets slipped below the dotted line in the post noon trading session. Majority of the sectoral indices are trading negative with consumer durables, IT and auto stocks being the biggest losers. Oil and gas, pharma and power are among the stocks leading the gains.

BSE-Sensex is down 11 points and NSE-Nifty is trading down by 3 points. While BSE Mid Cap is trading up marginally, BSE Small Cap index is up by 0.4%. The rupee is trading at 54.8 to the US dollar.

Most of the FMCG stocks are trading in green with Henkel India and Godrej Consumer Products leading the gains. According to a leading financial daily, Marico, which provides specialized skin care services through its Kaya franchise, will launch smaller Kaya outlets from the 4QFY13. The move is aimed at increasing reach and at the same time curtailment of costs to achieve break-even in its Kaya business. Kaya contributes 7% to Marico's overall group turnover but continues to remain in red, clocking a loss of Rs 291 m (at PBIT level) in FY12. The company has said that the new format stores called Kaya Skin Bars will have area under 500 square feet and will entail a capital outlay of Rs 3.5-4 m, nearly half of the cost to set up regular Kaya Skin Clinics. These outlets will focus on offering products rather than services and will be manned by three employees as opposed to around eight-ten employess in its regular clinics. These stores will be first set up in cities such as Bangalore and Delhi before moving to Mumbai, Pune and Kolkata. Over the next five years, Marico aims to set up 150-200 of these small format stores which is more than double the number set up in the last ten years. Currently Marico has 107 clinics in India, Middle East, Singapore and Malaysia. Marico stock is marginally up.

Most of the auto stocks are trading in red with Ashok Leyland and Mahindra & Mahindra being the biggest losers. Bajaj Auto's sales volumes for the month of November 2012 stood at 372,293 units. This is lower by 1% YoY. During the same month last year, the company sold a total of 374,477 units. Motorcycle sales volumes declined to 326,727 units (about 88% of total volumes) during the month. This is lower by 2% YoY. However, sales of its commercial vehicles rose by 7% to 45,566 units as compared to 42,510 units in November 2011. Bajaj Auto's exports dropped by 4% YoY (124,115 units). As for the year to date i.e. April to November 2012 volumes, the same dropped by 4% YoY to 2,911,974 units. Exports volumes during this period were lower by 5% YoY (1,056,136 units). Motorcycle sales volumes were lower by 3% YoY during this 8-month period. Bajaj Auto stock is up 1.7%.