Andrew L D'Cunha
Mumbai, Oct 21: The BSE Sensex lost 151 points to day, closing at 16785 dragged down by capital goods major L&T' after the company revised its guidance for FY12. The index touched intraday low of 16752 and high of 17032. Nifty slipped 42 points to close at 5050.
Engineering and construction firm L&T's profit grew 15% (YoY) rise in second quarter FY12 at Rs 798 crore while net sales was at Rs 11,254 crore up 20.5%. The company has maintained revenue guidance at 20-25%. However, it has revised order inflow guidance to 5% from 15% for FY12.
L&T, Bharti Airtel, Tata Motors, Hindalco and DLF were amongst the major Sensex losers. However Bajaj Auto, Maruti, Hero MotoCorp, BHEL and SBI were the gainers.
Market is awaiting direction from RBI policy on October 25 and European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF) meeting has been postponed till Wednesday (October 26) after split between Germany and France over bailout plan. Market is expected to remain highly volatile due to these events.
Asian markets traded in narrow ranges on Friday as investors are anxious and cautious ahead crucial meetings to find a solution to Europe’s debt crisis. Japan’s Nikkei ended almost flat, Taiwan’s Taiex closed with a 0.1% gain, and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index rose 0.2%. As an exception South Korea’s Kospi advanced 1.8% amid a strong performance for some technology and construction firms. After witnessing sharp loss on Thursday, European market are trading in positive zone today on hopes that a plan to tackle the euro-zone debt crisis will be presented soon.
The rupee dived to its lowest level in 30 months on Friday on strong dollar demand and on expectations of foreign fund outflows from domestic shares on a sudden bout of risk aversion ahead of the euro zone summit over the weekend. Rupee hit 50.18 per dollar today morning.
Gold rose more than 1% on Friday, recovering from previous session's 2-week low, following firm overseas markets and fresh buying by stockists and jewellers to meet the seasonal demand . Gold also got support from weaker rupee Gold surged Rs 375 to Rs 26,940 per 10 grams .
Andrew L D'Cunha, Managing Director, WinWin Fin Advisory Pvt. Ltd. Mangalore. Email: finadvisoryltd@yahoo.com.