Indian Exports Fall 29%; Educomp $100 M Offering

Mukesh Buch
08 Jul, 2009
New York City

Mumbai stocks dropped tracking losses in global markets. Worries of rising debt dragged rupee to a 2-month low. Exports in June fell at a slower pace of 29% after falling at 33% in March and April. Educomp Solutions raised $100 million and stocks plunged 10%.

[R]5:00 PM Mumbai, 7:30 AM New York – Mumbai stocks dropped tracking losses in global markets. Worries of rising debt dragged rupee to a 2-month low. Exports in June fell at a slower pace of 29% after falling at 33% in March and April. Educomp Solutions raised $100 million and stocks plunged 10%.[/R]

In volatile trading stocks traded mostly lower during the trading hours as comments from government officials failed to lift market sentiment. Exports dropped in June 29% and Planning Commission Chairman Ahluwalia suggested the government budget is sufficient to meet growth targets.

The Sensex index declined 3% or 397.39 to 13,773.06 and CNX Nifty declined 127.05 or 3.02% to 4,075.10.

Of the Sensex stocks, 24 declined, 1 increased and 5 were unchanged.

On BSE trading turnover edged higher to 5,384 crore rupees from 5,304.88 crore rupees. Of the stocks traded, 539 increased 1,971 decreased and 57 were unchanged.

Rupee declined 0.85% to 48.92 against a dollar on the post budget jitters and worries of rising government deficit.

Exports in June Fall

Commerce and Industry Minister in a statement to Rajya Sabha said that June exports declined 29% from a year ago to $11.01 billion. The exports in March and April fell 33.3% and in May declined 29%.

Gainers & Losers

In volatile trading, Reliance Industries decreased 1.4% to 1,829 rupees.

Godrej Consumer Products dropped 4% to 162.80 rupees after a block trade of 344,000 shares changed hands on the NSE at 164.50 rupees according to Capitalmarket.com.

InduInd Bank increased 7.7% or 83.25 rupees after it reported preliminary report of 86.5 crore rupees in the first quarter ending in June.

Real estate companies fell sharply after investors were disappointed with the lack of new incentives for home and commercial builders. Indiabulls Real Estate Ltd dropped 9.7% to 185.85 rupees, DLF Limited declined 7.7% to 284.45 rupees and Unitech Limited plunged 10.8% to 68.05 rupees.

Educomp Solutions Limited declined 9.5% to 3,442.25 rupees as the company looks to close its offering of $100 million from international investors at a price of 3,750 rupees a share. The NSE offer document suggests that company is looking for investment from institutional investors.

A decline in oil price to $61 a barrel and the recent hike in retail prices of petrol and diesel lifted the stocks of oil refiners and marketers.

Indian Oil increased 3.9% to 562.35 rupees, Bharat Heavy Petroleum Corp added 4.3% to 463.90 rupees and Hindustan Petroleum Corp edged up 2.8% to 325.60 rupees.