Sensex in India Rebounds 3%; Rupee Gains

Mayank Mehta, Chandrasekhar Atreya and Darlington Musarurwa
10 May, 2010
New York City

Stocks in India closed higher and the benchmark index surged nearly 3% following the Asia wide rally. Rupee strengthened and is likely to gain further as investors may return to emerging markets. Vedanta Resources agreed to acquires mining asssets from Anglo American Plc.

[R]6:00 PM Mumbai, 8:30 AM New York – Stocks in Mumbai traded higher. Talwalkars Better Value Fitness sees modest debut. Pratibha Industries secures order for Rs100 crore. Dalmia Cement retracts from 52-week high. Geodesic hardens on buyback plan. Fund raising plan boosts Kemrock Industries.[/R]

The Rupee is likely to further strengthen as measures to solve the European debt crisis spurs demand for assets in best performing economies and policy makers favor appreciation of the currency to help tame inflation, said Standard Chartered Plc.

Emerging market stocks including India rallied after the worst weekly drop in more than a year after European lenders agreed on a near $1 trillion loan to arrest Greece’s fiscal woes from spreading. In India Sensex gained 2.8% to 17,229.48.

Vedanta Resources Plc, the mining company controlled by Anil Agarwal will buy the Zinc Mines Skorpion in Namibia, Lisheen in Ireland, and a 74% stake in Black Mountain Mining in South Africa, from Anglo American Plc, the company said in London today.

The acquisition will add to Vedanta’s copper, zinc, lead, iron ore and aluminum mines in India, Australia and Zambia as the company diversifies its production. Vedanta said the acquisition will add to its zinc capacity by 37% to 1.46 million tons a year which would be about 11% of global supply.

Suzuki Motor Corp, Japan’s second largest maker of mini cars, said that profit is expected to increase by 3.8% this year driven by rising sales in India. Sales is expected to rise to 2.5 trillion yen from 2.47 trillion yen in the previous year.

The Sensex index in India increased 561.44 or 3.35% to 17,330.55 and CNX Nifty index rose 146.90 or 2.93% to 5,164.95. Among the Sensex 30 stocks, 28 rose and 2 fell.

On BSE trading, 2,213 stocks advanced, 612 declined and 56 were unchanged. Metal, realty, auto and banking stocks led the rally.

Shares of Talwalkars Better Value Fitness were trading at Rs 151.50 at a premium of 18.36% over the initial public offer price of Rs 128 per share.

Rupee edged higher 40 paisa to Rs 45.08 against one dollar.

Gainers & Losers

Dalmia Cement (Bharat) Limited slipped 5.4% to Rs 245.40 after a top official said private equity firm Kohlberg Kravis Roberts and Company had agreed to invest up to Rs 750 crore in a venture.

Engineers India Limited declined 6.1% to Rs 466.90 on profit booking after the stock soared 29% in the preceding two trading sessions.

Geodesic Limited fell 0.6% to Rs 114.50 after the company''s board approved buyback of own shares at a price not exceeding Rs 150 per share which is a 28.48% premium over the current the market price.

Jubilant Organosys Limited added 2.4% to Rs 344.00 after the global life sciences industry said fourth quarter sales rose 10% to Rs 600.4 crore from Rs 548 crore a year ago. Net profit for the quarter was Rs 92 crore compared to net loss of Rs 15.3 crore a year ago.

Kale Consultants Limited rose 2.6% to Rs 119.40 after the company secured an overseas order for its software products for an undisclosed sum.

Kemrock Industries and Exports Limited gained 7.2% to Rs 743.25 after the company''s board approved raising $250 million via equity linked instruments in domestic or international markets.

Patels Airtemp (India) Limited gained 5.3% to Rs 94.00 after the company recently received orders worth of Rs 16.30 crore from Indian Oil Corporation for supply of heat exchangers for Paradip Refinery Project, Orissa.

Piramal Healthcare Limited rose 0.5% to Rs 549.55 after the pharmaceutical company said fourth quarter sales rose 10% to Rs 683.9 crore from Rs 623 crore a year ago. Net profit for the quarter rose 0.2% to Rs 116.6 crore compared to net profit of Rs 116.3 crore a year ago.

Pratibha Industries Limited added 3.4% to Rs 384.80 after the company said that the company secured a BOT project for construction of Bridges in Baramati City including maintenance of roads from Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation for construction of two bridges, maintenance of the bridges and total road length of about 34 kms within Baramati City, commercial development of 8.4 hectors of land and collection of toll at five entry points of Baramati city for a period of 19 years and 4 months.

Reliance Industries Limited rose 3.9% to Rs 1,074.85 extending Friday''s gains after the Supreme Court ruled in favor of the company on a gas dispute with Reliance Natural Resources.

Triveni Engineering & Industries Limited added 4.7% to Rs 108.85 after the engineering company said second quarter sales rose 30% to Rs 593.8 crore from Rs 457.6 crore a year ago. Net profit for the quarter fell 61% to Rs 14.9 crore compared to net profit of Rs 37.8 crore a year ago.

Unichem Laboratories Limited rose 0.6% to Rs 398.55 after the pharmaceutical company said fourth quarter sales rose 18% to Rs 171.6 crore from Rs 144.9 crore a year ago. Net profit for the quarter rose 20% to Rs 33.9 crore compared to net profit of Rs 28.2 crore a year ago.