Indian Auto Sales Surge 61%; Additonal Stimulus

Mayank Mehta
08 Dec, 2009
New York City

The Indian government plans to increase its spending by $5 billion to support food, fertilizer and energy prices. Auto sales in November surged 61% as small cars drive sales. Bus, truck and motor cycle sales also gained. JSW Energy initial public offering was oversubscribed on the second day.

[R]6:00 PM Mumbai, 8:30 AM New York – The Indian government plans to increase its spending by $5 billion to support food, fertilizer and energy prices. Auto sales in November surged 61% as small cars drive sales. Bus, truck and motor cycle sales also gained. JSW Energy initial public offering was oversubscribed on the second day of subscription.[/R]

The Sensex index in India increased 244.54 or 1.4% to 17,227.68 and CNX Nifty index rose 81.25 or 1.6% to 5,147.95. Among the Sensex 30 stocks, 27 rose and 3 fell.

On BSE trading, 1,865 stocks advanced, 949 declined and 78 were unchanged.

Reliance Industries increased 2.5% as the company negotiates with more than a dozen banks to build as much as $10 billion war chest for the acquisition of LyondellBasell.

The ruling coalition government said on Tuesday it will seek parliamentary approval to spend an extra Rs 25,725 crore ($5.5 billion) for the current fiscal year and Finance Minister Mukherjee said the government does not need to increase its borrowing to fund the spending.

The initial public offer of JSW Energy was subscribed 1.48 times on the second day of issue today. The price band for the offering is between Rs 100 and Rs 115. The issue closes on Wednesday.

Rupee edged lower 31 paisa to 46.59 against one dollar.

November Auto Sales Surge 61%

November auto sales surged 61% to 133,687 units according to the latest data released by the Society of Automobile Manufacturers. Trucks and buses sales increased 98% to 40,847 and motorcycle and scooter sales added 39% to 790,613 in the month.

Automobile sales are expected to increase 10% in the fiscal year ending in March from the previous year sales of 1.22 million cars as the demand for small cars drive the sales.

Tata Motor increased 2.8% to Rs 723.50, Maruti Suzuki India Ltd decreased 0.6% to Rs 1,568.45 and Bajaj Auto ltd increased 1.4% to Rs 1,646.

Gainers & Losers

3i Infotech Limited increased 4.4% to Rs 88.95 said private equity firms Carlyle, Apax Partners and Kohlberg Kravis Roberts are interested in buying India''s ICICI Group''s 27% stake in IT firm, the Economic Times reported on Tuesday.

Barak Valley Cements Limited increased 4.8% to Rs 29.10 said that Badarpur Energy, a wholly owned subsidiary has acquired three tea companies Goombira Tea Estates, Chargola Tea Company and Singlacherra Tea.

BF Utilities Limited surged 10.0% to Rs 1,237.65, after the stock plunged nearly 22% in the previous ten trading sessions.

Cipla Limited fell 1.0% to Rs 347.85 said that the National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority has sent a notice to the company for allegedly overcharging customers.

JK Lakshmi Cement Ltd advanced 1.5% to Rs 137.50 after the company fixed December 18 as the record date for a 2-for-1 stock split.

Jindal South West Holdings Limited added 4.8% to Rs 1,857.35 after a foreign institutional investor hiked its stake in the firm.

Kiri Dyes and Chemicals Limited rose 8.9% to Rs 657.35 said that the company through its Singapore subsidiary acquired DyStar Group assets through insolvency, subject to approvals under laws of Germany.

Larsen & Toubro Limited added 1.1% to Rs 1,656.40 after the engineering and construction major said its infrastructure division received a Rs 844 crore contract from Nuclear Power Corporation of India at the Kakrapar Atomic Power Project in Gujarat.

The Motor and General Finance Limited rose 3.1% to Rs 41.05 after one of the promoter group companies hiked its stake in the firm.

Mundra Port and Special Economic Zone Limited gained 2.5% to Rs 571.95.

Nelcast Limited increased 4.9% to Rs 61.15 after the maker of iron castings said that the company has completed its capacity expansion at Gudur location and started the commercial production.

New Delhi Television Limited rose 3.3% to Rs 164.95 said that the company has, on December 8 entered into a conditional agreement with Turner Asia Pacific Ventures, Inc. for the sale of 76% stake in NDTV Imagine Ltd for $67 million in a filing to the Bombay Stock Exchange.

Patni Computer Systems Limited fell 0.5% to Rs 464.35 after a foreign brokerage rated the stock as ''underweight'', on weaker than expected margins.

Piramal Healthcare Limited slipped 1.6% to Rs 412.80 after the stock rose 5.0% to Rs 419.50 on Monday, December 7.

Rajratan Global Wire Limited climbed 4.9% to Rs 95.10.

Tata Steel Limited rose 2.2% to Rs 568.55 after November 2009 sales grew 35% to 4.98 lakh tons from 3.70 lakh tons a year ago.

Asian Markets Review

The Nikkei 225 Index in Tokyo closed lower 27.13 or 0.27% to 10,140.47, and Hang Seng index in Hong Kong decreased 264.44 or 1.18% to 22,060.52, and CSI 300 index in China lower 44.81 or 1.22% to 3,624.02. ASX 200 index in Australia decreased 5.90 or 0.13% to 4,670.60. The FTSE Bursa KL Composite index in Malaysia was lower 3.90 or 0.31% to 1,261.46.

The Kospi Index in South Korea decreased 4.87 or 0.30% to close at 1,627.78. SET index in Thailand closed lower 2.76 or 0.39% to 698.82. JSE Index in Indonesia increased 0.13 or 0.01% to 2,483.89. The Sensex index in India increased 244.54 or 1.44% to 17,227.68.