India Rally Snaps; April Exports Up 36.2%

Mayank Mehta, Chandrasekhar Atreya and Darlington Musarurwa
01 Jun, 2010
New York City

Stocks in Mumbai traded lower snapping the four day rally. Exports rise 36.2% in April. Coffee exports rise 50% in five months to May. Unitech Ltd is planning to execute a slum rehabilitation project after canceling Mumbai joint venture. NRB Bearings on a roll after liberal bonus issue.

[R]5:00 PM Mumbai, 8:30 AM New York – Stocks in Mumbai traded lower snapping the four day rally. Exports rise 36.2% in April. Coffee exports rise 50% in five months to May. Unitech Ltd is planning to execute a slum rehabilitation project after canceling Mumbai joint venture. NRB Bearings on a roll after liberal bonus issue.[/R]

The Sensex Index fell snapping the four day rally led by GDP expansion.

The Sensex index in India decreased 372.60 or 2.20% to 16,572.03 and CNX Nifty index fell 111.50 or 2.19% to 4,974.80. Among the Sensex 30 stocks, 3 rose and 27 fell.

On BSE trading, 1,077 stocks advanced, 1,672 declined and 101 were unchanged.

Ten metal shares fell 2.23% to 5.52% after the latest data showed Chinese manufacturing growth slowed in May 2010.

Shares of three air carriers rose 0.44% to 1.75% after state-owned oil marketing companies cut price of jet fuel by over 7%, a move that will cut fuel bill of airlines.

Rupee edged lower 14 paisa to 46.37 against one dollar.

Overseas investors bought a net 484 crore rupee worth of Indian stocks on May 28, increasing the total purchases this year to 205,700 crore rupees, according to India’s market regulator SEBI.

April exports increased 36.2% to $16.89 billion and rose 21.1% when measured in rupees. In April 2009 export was $12.40 billion or Rs.62,000 Crore. Imports in the month rose 43.3% to $27.31 billion from $19.05 billion over the same period last year.

Exports of green coffee from India rose 50% in the five months to May as demand in the biggest coffee importing countries rebounded, according to Coffee Board. Italy, Germany and Spain are amongst the biggest buyers of coffee from India.

Indian coffee growers exported 129,815 tons of green coffee between January and May as compared to 86,654 tons a year earlier, Deputy Director N.V. Nagarajaiah said over phone from Bangalore today.

All nine telecom players including state-owned BSNL and MTNL have paid Rs 67,719 crore to the government as fee for the 3G spectrum. Bharti Airtel paid the highest Rs 12,295.46 crore as license fee for 13 circles.

Meanwhile the provisional winning price for BWA spectrum touched Rs 7,221 crore on Monday. Interestingly over Rs 1,000 crore is being added everyday in the auction as bidders have only two pan-India slots available to bid.

The Maharashtra government signed on Monday 12 agreements with companies to set up projects in the state worth Rs 3,822.86 crore over the next few years. When completed these projects are expected to generate about 4,270 jobs.

Honda Motorcycle & Scooters India Pvt Ltd on Monday commenced the construction of its second two-wheeler plant near Bhiwandi, Rajasthan. HMSI will be investing about Rs 500 crore in the new plant that will be ready by mid-2011 and will have an annual capacity of 6 lakh units.

“We have reached our peak capacity at Manesar plant and so we are starting our second plant. Once fully operational the plant is expected to generate employment for 3,000 people,” said HMSI President and CEO Shinji Aoyama at the foundation-laying ceremony at the plant site.

Bharti Retail-owned Easy Day Stores is on an expansion spree amid reports that India may finally allow foreign investment in multi-brand retail.

The retail arm of Bharti which has a joint venture with the world’s largest retailer Wal-Mart in the cash and carry wholesale segment plans to more than double its number of stores this year.

It currently has 60 Easy Day stores spread across the northern states of India but plan to have presence in every Indian city with a population of more than a million in another five years, a company spokesman said.

Gainers & Losers

Ansal Housing and Constructions Ltd rose 1.9% to Rs 60.70 after the real estate company said fourth quarter net profit was Rs 6.96 crore compared to net loss of Rs 3.93 crore a year ago.

Aptech Limited rose 3.9% to Rs 134.65 after the retail and corporate training solutions provider said fourth quarter net profit rose 693% to Rs 11.9 crore compared to net profit to Rs 1.5 crore a year ago.

Everonn Education Limited rose 0.3% to Rs 339.30 after the company announced that it has signed an agreement with The Director, Secondary Education, Government of Haryana for the implementation of comprehensive computer education project in 213 Schools in 20 districts across Haryana for a period of five years under Build Own Operate and Transfer basis for Rs 47 crores.

Hotel Leelaventure Limited rose 1.2% to Rs 46.00 after ITC raised its stake in the company to 10% through open market purchases, from 8.48%.

K S Oils Limited fell 5.7% to Rs 57.00 after the edible oil company said fourth quarter sales increased 19.8% to Rs 1,062.7 crore and net profit fell 21.4% to Rs 37.8 crore.

Lanco Infratech Limited rose 1.1% to Rs 61.40 after the infrastructure development company said fourth quarter sales rose 13% to Rs 2,048 crore from Rs 1,814 crore a year ago. Net profit for the quarter rose 25.5% to Rs 113 crore compared to net profit of Rs 90 crore a year ago.

Lakshmi Vilas Bank Ltd fell 4.2% to Rs 79.50 after the bank said fourth quarter sales rose 24% to Rs 240.2 crore from Rs 194.2 crore a year ago. Net loss for the quarter was Rs 20.8 crore compared to net profit of Rs 20 crore a year ago.

Maruti Suzuki India Limited rose 1.8% to Rs 1,259.20 after the company reported good May sales.

Nirma Limited fell 1.1% to Rs 187.25 after the consumer and chemical company said fourth quarter sales fell 6% to Rs 773 crore from Rs 823 crore a year ago. Net profit for the quarter fell 57% to Rs 26 crore compared to net profit of Rs 60 crore a year ago.

NRB Bearings Limited fell 1.5% to Rs 89.25 after the company''s board recommended a liberal 1 for 1 bonus issue.

Simplex Infrastructures Limited fell 1.9% to Rs 478.60.

Tata Communications Limited fell 4% to 235.95 after the telecommunications company said full year sales rose 33.4% to Rs 11,025 crore from Rs 8,263 crore a year ago. Net loss for the year was Rs 598 crore compared to net profit of Rs 10.3 crore a year ago.

Unitech Limited fell 4.9% to Rs 68.95 after the company cancelled a joint venture with Omkar Realtors Developers Pvt. Ltd. to develop alternate accommodation for slum dwellers in Mumbai. Unitech will execute the ongoing slum rehabilitation projects through special purpose vehicles.

Zensar Technologies Limited added 1.3% to Rs 300.55 after the company announced that the board of directors has approved issue of bonus shares in the 1 to 1 ratio.