Indian share markets remain buoyant

Mon, 28 May 01:30 pm

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After opening in the positive, the Indian share markets remained well above the dotted line in the last two trading hours. All the sectoral indices, barring realty are trading positive with power and banking stocks clocking the biggest gains.

The BSE-Sensex is trading up 106 points and NSE-Nifty is trading up 32 points. Both BSE Mid cap index and BSE Small cap index are trading up by 0.7% each. The rupee is trading at 55.3 to the US dollar.

Majority of the power stocks are trading positive with Reliance Infra and Tata Power being the biggest gainers. As per a leading financial daily, National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC)'s generation loss has widened in 2011-12 on account of lack of demand for electricity generated from expensive fuel. Reportedly, the surplus power unsold by NTPC in FY12 stood at 16.1 bn units as compared to 13 bn units in the previous year. According to Minister of State for Power, power utilities reported generation loss of 9 bn units and 11 bn units in FY12 due to shortage of coal and gas respectively. NTPC has said that electricity generated from expensive imported fuel even at Rs 4 per unit does not get immediate buyers. Currently 90% of the company's fuel needs are serviced domestically by Coal India whereas the balance is met through imports which are expensive. NTPC stock is up 0.95%.

As per a leading financial daily, Container Corporation of Indiaposted a 6.9% rise in topline during 4QFY12 backed by increase in contribution from value added services (VAS) that improved realizations. The company registered a 3.4% YoY growth in international handling (volumes) while domestic handling was down by 10.4% YoY, resulting in an overall throughput increase of 0.44% YoY. The operating profits for the quarter registered a modest increase of 3.5% YoY mainly due to year end discounts, the effect of which gets reflected in the last quarter. The overall operating margins for the quarter stood at 20.9% versus 21.6% in 4QFY11. During the quarter, EBIT margins for EXIM and domestic segment stood at 23.4% and 7.0% respectively (versus 26.7% and 11.0% respectively in 3QFY12). The net profits during the quarter declined by 8.1% YoY with margins slipping to 19.2% from 22.9% last year due to an increase in the tax liability. The topline for full year was up 5.9% YoY. The bottomline was up marginally by 0.2% YoY while margins slipped to 20.1% from 21.7% in FY11. The stock is up 1.5%.