MMTC, the most valuable public sector undertaking (PSU), raced past oil exploration giant Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) in the market capitalisation (m-cap) ranking to occupy the number-two slot on Friday. MMTC, with an m-cap of Rs 2,71,103 crore (Rs 2711.03 billion), pushed ONGC (m-cap Rs 2,64,953 crore) down by a slot to the third position in the market cap chart on BSE.
In the first 10 months of CY07, Indian firms received orders worth Rs 128,147 crore.
The incessant rise of the rupee, which has dented the bottom line of export-oriented companies, has another side to it. With the Indian currency's value against the dollar moving from 44 on March 30 this year to under 40 now, a bunch of companies have received a boost. The corporate results of the second quarter make a telling revelation. As the rupee rose 10 per cent against the dollar, net import-based companies reported nearly 36 per cent growth in net profit.
Till 15 days ago, only two PSUs - Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) and National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC) - ranked amongst the five most valuable companies. But with two more PSUs, Mineral and Metals Trading Corporation (MMTC) and National Mineral Development Corporation (NMDC), seeing sustained rise in the last three months, the number has risen to four.
Second-quarter corporate results show a significant slowdown in sales and profit growth.
Larsen and Toubro (L&T), ICICI Bank and Reliance Industries (RIL) were the top-three stocks that accounted for over 60 per cent of the 991-point gain in the Sensex between October 15 (Sensex at 19,057) and October 29 (Sensex at 19,978). Larsen and Toubro, which was the top gainer among the Sensex stocks, was also the largest contributor, adding 336.09 points to the Sensex's total gains.
The BSE Sensex has recovered 60 per cent of the last week's loss in just two trading days. The benchmark index recovered by 935 points (+56 points yesterday) and (+879 points on Tuesday) after losing 1,492 points last week between October 16 and 19.Investors, who lost Rs 4.13 trillion (Rs 4.13 lakh crore) in just three trading days last week, have recovered 70 per cent of their loss or Rs 2.90 trillion (Rs 2.90 lakh crore) in the first two trading days of the current week.
The lower sales growth rate is on account of single-digit growth in sales by Reliance Industries (6.3 per cent), Reliance Energy (9.53 per cent), Hero Honda (5.48 per cent) and Biocon (7.52 per cent). Companies that posted a decline in sales included two-wheeler giant Bajaj Auto (- 3.03 per cent), pharmaceutical major Ranbaxy (-4.79 per cent) and Madras Aluminium (-11.13 per cent).
The country's two ubiquitous financial powerhouses, HDFC and ICICI Bank, have been the darling of participatory notes, the instrument through which overseas investors invest indirectly - through foreign institutional investors - in India's stock market. Among the stocks comprising Bombay Stock Exchange's Sensitive Index and National Stock Exchange's S&P Nifty, HDFC has the highest P-Notes holding in value, 14.2 per cent, followed by ICICI Bank's 9.1 per cent.
Powered by surging markets, seven companies, Reliance Communications (R-Com) and stock market debutant DLF among them, have joined the Rs 1 trillion (Rs 1,00,000 crore) club in terms of market capitalisation. New entrants are hard-core engineering and mining companies like National Mineral Development Corporation (NMDC) and Bhel - both in the public sector - and L & T. Bharti Airtel, SBI and ICICI Bank are other entrants.
Analysts expect that Bharti Airtel, Reliance Communications (RCom) and Idea Cellular will post over 50 per cent annual growth in revenues (year-on-year) and more than 10 per cent sequential growth (over the previous quarter). Bharti continues to lead in the subscriber addition race (2.1 million in August).
Analysts at stock broking houses Motilal Oswal, Religare Securities, IL&FS Investsmart and Sharekhan say that while Maruti Udyog is doing well, the other biggies Tata Motors and Mahindra & Mahindra would have weak single-digit performances that could lead to a decline in net profit.
Of the 43 new issues listed on the BSE between April and September 2007, 33 are currently trading at a premium over the offer prices. Of the 33, nine have appreciated by over 100 per cent each, while 15 gained between 25 and 100 per cent.
Four L&T executives, 2 from RIL and 1 from Tech Mahindra own over Rs 100 crore (Rs 1 billion) each in stock options.
Of the 508 crorepatis, 17 are from newly-listed companies while 26 joined their companies last year.
Sectors that are insulated from the sub-prime mortgage crisis unfolding in the US are the heavyweights in Indian stock indices. In comparison, sectors like information technology and pharmaceuticals, which depend a lot on the US market, carry less we
However, the income profile shows a classical pyramid-shaped society with only 600,000 households earning above Rs 18 lakh per annum, according to the Mr and Mrs India survey by brokerage firm CLSA Asia Pacific Markets.
The seven-day non-stop rally has recouped 75 per cent of the market capitalisation eroded during the preceding free fall as seven in every 10 stocks traded on the Bombay Stock Exchange staged a recovery (BSE).
IT-BPO firms offer end-to-end mortgage origination services and manage servicing activities.
At a time when software companies were reporting disappointing results on account of this, an unperturbed Chatterjee said Tata Steel would reap significant benefits from the new exchange rate, which would be disclosed with its results.
© 2025 Rediff.com - Investor Information - Advertise with us - Disclaimer - Privacy Policy - Sitemap - Feedback - About us - Terms of use - Grievances