Sensex Declines; RIL Net Surges 32%

Chandrasekhar Atreya
28 Jul, 2010
New York City

Stocks in Mumbai traded lower in the session. Reliance Industries closed unchanged after net surged 32% and face a stagnant natural gas production. Aban Offshore soared 7% after it received $235 million insurance settlement.

[R]5:00 PM Mumbai – Stocks in Mumbai traded lower in the session. Reliance Industries closed unchanged after net surged 32% and face a stagnant natural gas production. Aban Offshore soared 7% after it received $235 million insurance settlement.[/R]

Stocks traded lower through the day and dropped sharply in the final hours of trading.

The Sensex index in India decreased 120.24 or 0.67% to 17,957.37 and CNX Nifty index fell 24.75 or 0.46% to 5,405.85. Among the Sensex 30 stocks, 12 rose and 18 fell.

On BSE trading, 1,217 stocks advanced, 1,622 declined and 97 were unchanged.

Aster Silicates was trading at Rs 129.40 a 9.66% premium over the initial public offer price of Rs 118.

Rupee edged lower 6 paisa to Rs 46.72 against one dollar.

Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee on Tuesday maintained that RBI’s policy decision to hike its short-term lending and borrowing rates by 25 and 50 basis points would help rein in inflation without impacting the growth momentum.

SKS Microfinance allotted shares to 18 anchor investors including Fidelity and Reliance Mutual Fund at Rs 985 per share. Some of the other anchor investors in the offering are JP Morgan, Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, ICICI Prudential, Nomura, and Birla Sun Life.

The company offered as much as 18% of the equity to anchor investors who are required to hold the shares for at least 30 days, according to a July 16 filing by the company.

Reliance Industries Ltd said Tuesday sales increased 88% to Rs 61,007 crore for the first quarter ended June 30 from Rs 32,441 crore in the previous year. Net profit in the quarter surged 32% to Rs 4,851 crore from Rs 3,666 crore in the quarter a year ago.

Exports in this period almost doubled to Rs 32,849 crore, the company said. During the quarter under reference, 16.89 million tons of crude was refined reflecting a utilization rate of 109%.

Improved operating margins saw Larsen & Toubro report a 15% growth in its net profit for the first quarter at Rs 666 crore against Rs 578 crore in the quarter a year ago.

A year ago quarter net profit of Rs 1,598 crore included Rs 1,020 crore realized from the sale of its long-term investment in UltraTech Cement. Excluding one time gain, the profit from operations amounted to Rs 578 crore.

Ashok Leyland, the company controlled by Hinduja Group, reported sales increase of Rs 2,347.98 crore in the quarter ended June, up from Rs 918.07 crore in the same quarter last year.

The net profit soared to Rs 122.64 crore compared to Rs 7.77 crore in the same quarter in the prior year. The company sold 21,400 vehicles as compared to 7,693 a year ago. Domestic sales stood at 19,460 units as compared to 6,790 in the previous year.

Gainers & Losers

Aban Offshore Limited gained 6.9% to Rs 881.00 after the company said on Wednesday reinsurers have settled a claim of $235 million for its semi-submersible rig, which sank in the Caribbean Sea, sending it shares up as much as 8.5%.

Asian Paints Limited increased 4.0% to Rs 2,537.00 after the company reported first quarter net profit rose 26.2% to Rs 222.19 crore.

Bajaj Electricals Limited rose 1.4% to Rs 257.95 after the company reported first quarter net profit rose 37.5% to Rs 22.50 crore.

Blue Dart Express Limited gained 4.2% to Rs 1,131.00 after the courier company reported second quarter net profit surged 124.1% to Rs 25 crore compared to net profit of Rs 11.4 crore a year ago.

BOC India Limited rose 1.3% to Rs 265.30 after the company reported second quarter net profit rose 127.7% to Rs 24.21 crore.

Godrej Industries Limited advanced 3.1% to Rs 189.10 after the chemicals company reported first quarter net profit rose 197.9% to Rs 48.74 crore.

HCL Infosystems Limited added 0.1% to Rs 105.80 after the company secured an order of Rs 40 crore from the Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India, for digitizing data collected by the Census of India.

JK Lakshmi Cement decreased 6.8% to Rs 63.00 after the company reported first quarter net profit fell 78.6% to Rs 16.81 crore.

Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals Limited dropped 3.0% to Rs 77.30 after the company reported first quarter net profit declined 93.2% to Rs 28.46 crore.

Mahindra & Mahindra Limited rose 0.3% to Rs 642.15 after the diversified conglomerate reported first quarter net profit surged 40.3% to Rs 562.39 crore.

Patni Computer Systems Limited declined 6.4% to Rs 478.00 after the provider of information technology services reported second quarter net profit declined 3.39% to Rs 153 crore.

Petron Engineering Construction Limited climbed 2.1% to Rs 443.25 after the company secured an order of Rs 58.63 crore.

Redington (India) Limited rose 1.2% to Rs 379.00 after the company’s board approved raising the foreign institutional investment limit in the company to 100% and investment limit of non-residential Indians to 24%.

Reliance Industries Limited fell 1.5% to Rs 1,037.50 after the company reported first quarter net profit soared 32.3% to Rs 4,851 crore.

SpiceJet Limited advanced 4.5% to Rs 58.60 after the company reported first quarter net profit soared 109.6% to Rs 55.22 crore.

Sun TV Network Limited rose 2.7% to Rs 458.90 after the company reported first quarter net profit surged 42.7% to Rs 170.95 crore.

Sun Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd rose 2.0% to Rs 1,805.35 an international specialty pharmaceutical company reported first quarter net profit surged 244.4% to Rs 564.32 crore.

XL Telecom & Energy Limited increased 3.9% to Rs 33.05 after the company secured two overseas orders totaling Rs 65.70 crore for supply of solar photovoltaic panels to Europe.