Autos, Realty, Metals Lift India Indexes

123jump.com Staff
24 Jul, 2009
New York City

Improved monsoon rains in the last seven days and earnings momentum lifted the benchmark index Sensex higher. Rupee edged higher. Earnings released from 450 companies to date have increased 17.4% in the first fiscal quarter.

[R]5:00 PM Mumbai, 7:30 AM New York – Improved monsoon rains in the last seven days and earnings momentum lifted the benchmark index Sensex higher. Rupee edged higher. Earnings released from 450 companies to date have increased 17.4% in the first fiscal quarter.[/R]

A pick up in monsoon rains in the last seven days helped to trim rain deficit for the season so far. The Indian Meteorological Department said rains averaged 15% above normal in the last one week and lowered its estimate of deficit for the season to 19% from 27%.

The net profit at 450 companies that have released earnings so far increased 17.4% to 30,691 crore rupees and net sales increased 5.5% to 202,529 crore rupees in the first fiscal quarter this year compared to a year ago. The data was reported by Capitalmarket.com.

The Sensex index in India increased 147.92 or 0.97% to 15,378.96 and CNX Nifty index gained 44.30 or 1% to 4,567.85. The indexes opened higher on the strength in Asian markets but dropped in the negative territory at mid-day. In the late afternoon indexes recovered to close higher.

Market is awaiting rating decision on Tuesday from Reserve Bank of India and an indication of how the government plans to borrow money without disrupting the markets.

Rupee closed up 0.67% to 48.39 against one U.S. dollar.

Gainers & Losers

The turnover on the NSE decreased to 19,068 crore rupees from 21,378 crore rupees.

Of the stocks traded on the BSE, 1,773 increased, 923 decreased and 89 were unchanged. Of the stocks in the Sensex, 23 increased and 7 decreased.

Stocks of auto makers led the gainers after Maruti Suzuki reported earnings gain of 25%. Maruti Suzuki India surged 6.4% to 1,378 rupees after gaining 6.7% yesterday. Tata Motors surged 8.6% to 369.80 rupees ahead of earnings next Tuesday.

Bajaj Auto increased 1.3%, Mahindra & Mahindra increased 3.6% and Hero Honda added 3.9%.

Sterlite Industries increased 2.8% and National Aluminum Company increased 1.5% on the media reports that the company has increased the aluminum price by 5,000 rupees a metric ton.

Reliance declined 1.4% to 2,010 rupees ahead of earnings and ONGC increased 3.4% to 1,130 rupees after the company reported net profit declined 27% on 25.8% fall in sales.

Bharti Airtel closed at 415.90 rupees after the company split the stock two-to-one from the closing of 813.90 rupees yesterday.

Realty stocks edged higher. DLF surged 6.5%, Unitech increased 2.8% and Parsvnath Developers added 7.6%.

Asian Markets Review

The Nikkei 225 Index in Tokyo closed higher 151.61 or 1.55% to 9,944.55, Hang Seng index in Hong Kong increased 165.09 or 0.83% to 19,982.79 and CSI 300 index in China higher 15.59 or 0.43% to 3,667.56. ASX 200 index in Australia increased 25.70 or 0.63% to 4,089.80. The FTSE Bursa KL Composite index in Malaysia closed higher 3.73 or 0.32% to 1,155.88.

The Kospi Index in South Korea increased 6.10 or 0.41% to close at 1,502.59. SET index in Thailand closed higher 2.05 or 0.33% to 614.24 and JSE Index in Indonesia increased 24.94 or 1.15% to 2,185.65. The Sensex index in India increased 147.92 or 0.97% to 15,378.96.