Energy, metal & realty bouy the indices

Wed, 3 Mar 11:30 am

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The Indian markets continued to trade on a strong note during the previous two hours of trade. Currently, buying activity is being witnessed across sectors with stocks from oil & gas, metal, realty, power and banking sectors leading the pack of gainers. Stocks from capital goods sector are the sole ones failing to garner investors' interest.

The BSE-Sensex and the NSE-Nifty are currently trading higher by around 97 points and 35 points respectively. Stocks from the midcap and small cap spaces are trading in the green, with the BSE-Midcap and the BSE-Smallcap indices trading higher by 1.2% each. The rupee is trading at 45.87 to the US dollar.

According to a leading business daily, India's largest software exporter, TCS has won a 10 year, Rs 41.2 bn IT contract from UK's national pensions scheme. As per the contract, TCS will be responsible for setting up and maintaining the pension scheme's IT systems. This contract will be signed later this month and is expected to even be extended for 5 more years.

It may be noted that this is the largest public sector deal for any Indian IT player in UK. Adding to it, it is expected to bring in more opportunities from the £10 bn public sector IT outsourcing market in UK which is currently dominated by European IT firms. We believe that this is a significant win for TCS as the company aims to increase its presence in the European IT services market. In November 2009, it won a Rs 6.9 bn contract from Cardiff Council, a UK government's local authority. Currently TCS generates nearly 16% of its revenues from UK and around 10% from Continental Europe. UK is an important market for Indian IT companies and all the IT majors like TCS, Infosys, Wipro and HCL Technologies are ramping up their presence there. Currently, the IT stocks are trading mixed.

According to a leading business daily, healthcare major Glenmark Pharmaceuticals has received an approval from US Food and Drug Administration (USFDA) for marketing its anti- Parkinson's disease medicine in the country. The company will immediately start marketing and distribution of this drug called Ropinirole Hydrochloride in form of tablets in 0.25 mg, 0.5 mg, 1 mg, 2 mg, 3 mg, 4 mg and 5 mg strengths.

It may be noted that these tablets are the generic version of GlaxoSmithKline's Requip tablets sold in the US market. As per research estimates, Ropinirole Hydrochloride tablets grossed a total sales of around US$ 104 m in 2009 in the US market. We believe that this is a positive for Glenmark, particularly after the lackluster performance of the generics business in 3QFY10. Its sales from the generics business failed to impress by growing at a tepid 1% YoY 3QFY10. Also, its revenues from the US declined by 10% YoY during the quarter.