IT holds the market firm

Thu, 1 Apr 11:30 am

   Previous Close   

   Pre-Open   

   09:30 am   

   01:30 pm   

   Closing   

Indian markets continue to trade above the dotted line in the last two hours of trade. Buying interest was seen in stocks in the IT, consumer durable and realty space. However, stocks in the FMCG and auto sector seemed out of favor with investors as they were trading in the red.

BSE-Sensex is trading higher by 60 points while NSE-Nifty is trading higher by 17 points. BSE-Midcap Index is up by 0.6% while the BSE-Smallcap index is trading 1.7% above yesterday’s closing. The rupee is trading at 44.93 to the US dollar

According to a report by management consulting firm, Tata Strategic Management Group, Health and Wellness (H&W) foods market in India has the potential to reach Rs 550 bn by the year 2015 up from the current Rs 100 bn. This represents an increase of 40% every year. New product development, technological advances in ingredient introductions and regulatory support are expected to drive this growth. We believe that India’s awareness of lifestyle diseases is increasing. Herein lies an opportunity for companies like Marico who are already present in the market and are expanding their line of health foods under the Saffola brand.

According to an estimate by leading consulting firm Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu, more than 15,600 new hotel rooms are set to be added to the hospitality market in 2010. This supply is 15% of the total hotel inventory in India and is spread across 92 hotels. Further, according to the firm, India has close to 415 projects or 68,480 rooms in various stages of development. It is believed that Indian Hotels, Taj GVK, Oriental Hotels EIH Limited, Hotel Leelaventure, ITC Hotels, Starwood and Marriott International are set to add over 3,000 rooms between them. The balance would be added by Hyatt, Accor, Intercontinental Hotel Group and a few foreign budget chains. Of the total upcoming room pipeline, 45% is located in the top 5 cities which are Bengaluru, Pune, Mumbai, Chennai and New Delhi. On the occupancy side, the average occupancy across 11 key cities in January 2010 was 68% (58% in January 2009). This is far below the peak occupancy rates of 79% in January 2008. With the room addition and increase in occupancy rates, we see a rebound in the hotel industry. However, with new room additions, we are unlikely to see the peak room rate witnessed 2 years back.