Stocks In Action For July 24, 2012

The OMCs yesterday announced that they would be hiking petrol prices by Rs 0.70 per litre. This came into effect from midnight on July 24, 2012. The auto stocks are expected to see some selling today due to this move. The sector is highly correlated to fuel price movements and we have seen a rise in stock prices in the two times that petrol prices were cut this month.

Maruti Suzuki faced consistent selling yesterday when it ended the day 5.65 per cent lower on the back of delayed new launches due to the lockdown at the Manesar plant. The company said its other production facilities are facing no issues. The company is to also concentrate on solving labour issues by hiring permanent workers and not depending on contract workers like earlier, said media reports. Automobile Industry SIAM is going to raise the issue of the Maruti labour stir with the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) and the Haryana government, reported the media. The stock is expected to be in the negative till there is news on the reopening of the Manesar plant.

Tata Global Beverages announced its Q1FY13 results yesterday wherein their net sales climbed to Rs 1,714.88 crore from Rs 1,455.92 crore YoY. The firm posted a net profit of Rs 77.69 crore in the first quarter of FY13 as compared to Rs 160.92 posted for the previous year that included a one-time gain of Rs 88.90 crore. The stock may see some volatility today.

FMCG biggie HUL announced its Q1FY13 results as well and displayed some robust growth. Their figures were strong with net sales rising by 13.72 per cent. Their net profit saw an increase of 112 per cent due to an exceptional income of Rs 607 crore arising from the sale of properties. In terms of segment-wise growth, soaps & detergents went up by 24 per cent, personal products by 17 per cent, beverages by 7 per cent and packaged goods by 17 per cent. The stock is expected to witness an upward trend in today’s trading hours.

Idea Cellular disappointed investors with its sequential net profit falling by 2 per cent to Rs 234 crore. This was below analyst expectations of Rs 300 crore. The net sales too saw a very sluggish growth, having risen by a mere 2 per cent. The company saw a slide in the average realisation per minute which slid by 2.3 per cent to 41.2 paise in comparison to 42.2 paise seen in Q4FY12. The average revenue per user too declined to Rs 156 from Rs 160. The stock is expected to see a downward trend today.

Some of the major companies announcing their Q1FY13 results today are Ashok Leyland, Blue Dart, Canara Bank, Century Ply, Container Corporation of India, Essar Ports, IL&FS Investment Managers, ING Vysya Bank, Jindal Steel, Jubilant, LIC Housing Finance, Lupin, Pidilite, Sesa Goa, Shriram Transport, SKF India, Tinplate Co, Torrent Power and Wipro. All these companies are expected to see volatility with the directional bias depending on how the results are.