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IT Stocks Lead the Gains
Mon, 4 Apr 11:30 am

After opening the trading week on a firm note, Indian markets lost some ground and are trading just above the dotted line. Sectoral indices are trading mixed with IT and auto stocks leading the gains. Realty and FMCG stocks witnessed maximum selling activity.

The BSE Sensex is trading higher by 52 points and the NSE Nifty is trading higher by 16 points. The BSE Mid Cap index and the BSE Small Cap index are trading higher by 0.2% and 0.3% respectively. The rupee is trading at 66.24 to the US$.

Shares of Bajaj Auto are trading on an encouraging note (up 1.1%) after the company registered a rise of 22% in total sales to 305,800 units in March 2016 against 250,604 units in March 2015. The sales of the motorcycles increased by 26% and stood at 264,249 units in the month under review against 209,937 units in March 2015.

Moreover, the company also reported 2% rise in Commercial Vehicles sales, which stood at 41,551 units as compared to 40,667 units in month of June 2014. The company's total exports out of the above stood at 101,519 units, a rise of 3% as compared to 98,703 units sold in the corresponding month last year.

The company's revenues fell by 2% YoY, while net profits were up by 5% YoY during the December 2015 quarter. On the eve of India's 67th Republic Day, Bajaj Auto released a video showing a glimpse of its new range of V bikes made from the 'invincible metal of the INS Vikrant'. In our recent edition of The 5 Minute Wrap Up Premium, we highlight how patriotism could help Bajaj Auto sell motorcycles (Subscription Required).

Buying activity is seen across majority of the automobile stocks today with Mahindra Scooters and Tata Motors leading the gains.

Moving on to news from aluminum sector. National Aluminum Company (NALCO) has reportedly clocked a record production of alumina and bauxite in fiscal 2015-16. The company has registered an all-time high production of 63.40 lakh tonnes of bauxite in 2015-16 fiscal which is 10.47% higher, and 1.95 million tonnes of alumina, 5.51 % higher than the corresponding period previous fiscal. The Navratna PSU also produced 372,000 tonnes of metal registering an increase of 13.79% as compared to last fiscal. The script of Nalco is currently trading up by 0.2%.

On another note, global margins of aluminum companies have been under severe pressure due to concerns over Chinese aluminum exports and global meltdown in commodity prices (Subscription Required). Moreover, domestic aluminum companies are also struggling with higher fuel costs. Aluminum companies were forced to source coal from the open markets in the wake of cancellation of the captive coal blocks allotted to them by the Supreme Court last year. And price hikes taken to pass on the cost has further dented their competitiveness in the global markets. This has all been reflected in the weakening financial performance during the first half of FY16 (Subscription required).

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