Major December quarter results scheduled today are Reliance Industries (RIL) and Ranbaxy Laboratories. Due to RIL’s substantial weightage in key indices, the Sensex and Nifty, RIL results will impact the market trend today. The other big results for the day are Reliance Energy, UltraTech Cement and Siemens.
Three brokerages expect between 7.2 - 27% growth in RIL’s Q3 net profit, between Rs 1904.20 crore and Rs 2255.80 crore, compared to a net profit of Rs 1776 crore in Q3 December 2005. The three brokerages expect between 21.1 - 46.1% growth in RIL’s Q3 sales, between Rs 22000 crore and Rs 26542 crore, compared to sales of Rs 18168 crore in Q3 December 2005.
According to analysts, though RIL’s refining margins will be lower in the December 2006 quarter, the shut down of the refinery in Q3 December 2005 offset a fall in refining margins of the company. RIL had a 40-day refinery shutdown in Q3 December 2005. They also reckon that performance of RIL’s petrochemicals division will be strong due to higher margins and strong volume growth aided by capacity expansion at this division.
Ranbaxy is expected to report a surge in net profit in December 2006 quarter. Ranbaxy's performance will be boosted in the December 2006 quarter mainly by a 180-day exclusivity of generic Zocor 80mg and the acquisition of Terapia. In March 2006, Ranbaxy acquired Romanian company Terapia. Foreign brokerage CLSA Securities expects a strong 161.7% growth in Ranbaxy’s consolidated net profit, to Rs 179.50 crore in December 2006 quarter from Rs 68.60 crore in December 2005 quarter.
FII inflow was Rs 101.30 crore on Tuesday (16 January), the day when the Sensex shed 15 points. FIIs were net buyers in three out of four trading sessions, from 11 January 2007 to 16 January 2007.
As per provisional data, FIIs were net buyers to the tune of Rs 11.87 crore on Wednesday (17 January), the day when the Sensex rose 17 points. They were net sellers to the tune of Rs 50 crore in index-based futures that day and net sellers to the tune of Rs 127 crore in individual stock futures.
Mutual funds are in buying mode. They were net buyers to the tune of Rs 72 crore on 16 January. Their net inflow was a substantial Rs 637 crore on 12 January and Rs 103.51 crore on 15 January.
Asian shares were in the green on Thursday. Key benchmark indices in Hong Kong, Japan, South Korea, Singapore and Taiwan were up between 0.04 - 0.4%.
Tech shares led US stocks lower on Wednesday, after Intel, the world's largest microchip maker, said late on Tuesday that quarterly profit fell 40% and gross margins will not improve. The Dow Jones industrial average slipped 5.44 points, or 0.04%, to end at 12,577.15. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index dipped 1.28 points, or 0.09%, to close at 1,430.62. The Nasdaq Composite Index fell 18.36 points, or 0.74%, to finish at 2,479.42.
Oil futures rebounded late in New York on Wednesday to end more than a dollar higher, off a 20-month low, as colder weather arriving in the Northeast helped lend support ahead of inventory data due out Thursday. US crude futures settled $1.03 higher at $52.24 a barrel, after slipping as low as $50.28, the lowest level since 25 May 2005.