India Stocks Weak; GAIL, Firstsource Down

Mayank Mehta
28 Oct, 2009
New York City

Stocks in Mumbai fell for the second day on the worries that rising interest rates and inflation may force government to withdraw economic stimulus. HCL Technologies and Firstsource declined on lower than expected earnings. GAIL India Ltd net drops 30%.

[R]6:00 PM Mumbai, 8:30 AM New York – Stocks in Mumbai fell for the second day on the worries that rising interest rates and inflation may force government to withdraw economic stimulus. HCL Technologies and Firstsource declined on lower than expected earnings. GAIL India Ltd net drops 30%.[/R]

Stocks in India dropped for the second day in a row on the worries that the government may be forced to withdraw its stimulus if inflation remains high. The Parliament passed information act that will allow tighter monitoring of cybercrimes.

The Sensex index in India decreased 69.91 or 0.4% to 16,283.49 and CNX Nifty index fell 20.55 or 0.4% to 4,826.15. Among the Sensex 30 stocks, 19 declined and 11 rose.

On BSE trading, 1,054 stocks advanced, 1,622 declined and 72 were unchanged.

Finance Secretary Ashok Chawla on Wednesday said that any further measures by the Reserve Bank of India to withdraw special liquidity measures could come in January 2010, the month when the next monetary policy review is scheduled.

Rupee edged lower 27 paisa to 47.00 against one dollar.

Gainers & Losers

Andhra Bank rose 1.7% to Rs 113.15 said second quarter net interest income rose 18.7% to Rs 514.66 crore from Rs 433.52 crore a year ago. Net profit for the quarter rose 70.2% to Rs 274 crore compared to net profit of Rs 161 crore a year ago.

Aventis Pharma Limited closed unchanged at Rs 1,550.00 after the drug maker said third quarter sales rose 4.3% to Rs 258.5 crore from Rs 247.9 crore a year ago. Net profit for the quarter fell 2% to Rs 43.8 crore compared to net profit of Rs 44.6 crore a year ago.

Axis Bank Limited fell 2.4% to Rs 928.65 and the rating agency upgraded its view on hybrid Tier 1 and 2 level bonds.

Bank of Baroda rose 3.3% to Rs 502.80 said second quarter net interest income rose 22.5% to Rs 1,388.6 crore from Rs 1,133.8 crore a year ago. Net profit for the quarter rose 60.4% to Rs 634.2 crore compared to net profit of Rs 395.3 crore a year ago.

BEML Limited the manufacture of rail coaches and spare parts slipped 4.1% to Rs 975.55.

Jet Airways reached a high of Rs 386, up 16% from the day''s low and closed up 4% at Rs 381. SpiceJet jumped 2.5% at Rs 36.85 on its plan to raise $50 million to expand in international markets.

Firstsource Solutions Limited slipped 2.5% to Rs 30.35 after the global provider of business process outsourcing services said second quarter sales rose 15% to Rs 488.4 crore from Rs 425 crore a year ago. Net profit for the quarter rose 2.8% to Rs 29.1 crore compared to net profit of Rs 28.3 crore a year ago.

HCL Technologies Limited dropped 1.9% to Rs 313.30 after the global information technology services company said first quarter sales rose 28.9% to Rs 3,031.4 crore from Rs 2,351.7 crore a year ago. Net profit for the quarter fell 10% to Rs 320.1 crore or Rs 19.3 per diluted share compared to net profit of Rs 355.9 crore or Rs 21.1 per share a year ago.

Hexaware Technologies Ltd surged 11.2% to Rs 79.85 after the global provider of information technology said third quarter net profit jumped more than three-fold from a year earlier because of lower costs and a smaller foreign-exchange loss.

Ispat Industries Limited fell 0.7% to Rs 20.75 after the iron and steel maker said second quarter sales fell 36% to Rs 2,048.00 crore from Rs 3,199.00 crore a year ago. Net loss for the quarter was Rs 79.4 crore compared to net loss of Rs 26.74 crore a year ago.

Jyoti Structures Limited declined 4.7% to Rs 132.50 an engineering procurement construction business said second quarter sales rose 18% to Rs 469.6 crore from Rs 420.8 crore a year ago. Net profit for the quarter rose 4% to Rs 20.9 crore compared to net profit of Rs 20.1 crore a year ago.

Kingfisher Airlines Limited fell 1.2% to Rs 47.40 after the domestic airline said second quarter sales fell 13.6% to Rs 1,142.1 crore. Net loss for the quarter was Rs 418.23 crore compared to net loss of Rs 483.2 crore a year ago.

Lanco Infratech Limited rose 2.9% to Rs 498.00 an integrated infrastructure development company said second quarter net profit rose 219.5% to Rs 127.38 crore.

McLeod Russel India Limited rose 5.7% to Rs 215.00 after the business of cultivation, manufacture and sale of tea said second quarter net increased on better prices.

The Phoenix Mills Limited fell 1.1% to Rs 151.80 after the luxury retail and hospitality company said second quarter sales rose 12.8% to Rs 26.4 crore from Rs 23.4 crore a year ago. Net profit for the quarter rose 20.7% to Rs 17.5 crore compared to net profit of Rs 14.5 crore a year ago.

Punj Lloyd Limited rose 1.2% to Rs 204.45 after the engineering procurement construction said marginal de-growth in top-line by 2.8% to Rs 2,872 crore (Rs 2,953 crore), which was in line with our estimate of Rs 3,086 crore.

Reliance Industries Limited rose 1.7% to Rs 2,024.70 and Asia Pulse quoted Kotak Securities said that the refiner uses aggressive accounting policies that raise questions about earnings quality.

Sasken Communication Technologies Limited increased 2.2% to Rs 151.95 after the provider of telecommunication software services said it has acquired the multimedia software offerings and certain assets of U.S. based Ingenient Technologies for an undisclosed amount.

Shriram Transport Finance Company Limited rose 1.9% to Rs 397.50 an asset financing non-banking financial company said second quarter sales rose 19% to Rs 1,062 crore from Rs 894 crore a year ago. Net profit for the quarter rose 24.7% to Rs 207 crore compared to net profit of Rs 166 crore a year ago.

State Bank of India rose 0.6% to Rs 2,218.20 after the top lender, expects credit growth to pick up despite the expected rise in interest rates, Chairman O.P. Bhatt said on Tuesday.

Sun TV Network Limited increased 3.4% to Rs 331.65 said is looking at foreign partners to produce non-fiction contents. The company on Tuesday joined hands with Dutch firm Endemol to launch a television game show.

Usha Martin Limited fell 3.2% to Rs 64.75 said second quarter net profit plunged 64.9% to Rs 14.65 crore.

Asian Markets Review

The Nikkei 225 Index in Tokyo closed lower 137.41 or 1.35% to 10,075.05, Hang Seng index in Hong Kong decreased 408.01 or 1.84% to 21,761.58, and CSI 300 index in China higher 14.60 or 0.44% to 3,329.33. ASX 200 index in Australia decreased 68.40 or 1.44% to 4,685.10. The FTSE Bursa KL Composite index in Malaysia was lower 11.25 or 0.89% to 1,249.05.

The Kospi Index in South Korea decreased 39.82 or 2.41% to close at 1,609.71, SET index in Thailand closed lower 10.59 or 1.48% to 703.95. JSE Index in Indonesia decreased 69.89 or 2.88% to 2,355.31. The Sensex index in India decreased 69.91 or 0.43% to 16,283.49.