The benchmark indices in Indian stock markets had a rather weak outing today despite some sporadic attempts to make inroads into the positive territory. The ratings downgrade by Standard & Poor's seemed to loom large on investor sentiments. Stocks from the energy, power, auto and commodity sectors were the key losers. While the BSE-Sensex closed lower by around 20 points (down 0.1%), the NSE-Nifty closed lower by around 13 points. The BSE Mid Cap and the BSE Small Cap were not spared either as they closed lower by 0.4% each.
As regards global markets, other Asian indices closed in the positive today while European indices have opened flat to negative. The rupee was trading at Rs 52.52 to the dollar at the time of writing.
ING Vysya Bank declared a good set of numbers for the fourth quarter and full year ended March 2012 yesterday. The bank has reported 20% YoY growth in net interest income while ythe net interest margins moved up slightly from 3.255 to 3.3%. The bank successfully managed to bring down its operating costs as the cost to income ratio came down from 67% in 4QFY11 to 57% in 4QFY12. Also the gross and net NPA came in lower at 1.9% and 0.2% of advances in 4QFY12 as against 2.3% and 0.4% of advances respectively in 4QFY11.
Meanwhile, textile major Raymond has reported 89.3% YoY decline in its consolidated net profit for the quarter ended March 2012. The company had posted a net profit of Rs 295 m in the corresponding quarter of FY11. Though the branded apparel business sales were up by 12%, the loss at the EBITDA level was on account of extended end of season sale for liquidating the inventory. The company's consolidated sales, however, increased by 20% YoY for the full year. Also in FY12, Raymond posted nearly three-fold increase in its consolidated net profit registering a growth of 190% YoY, backed by other income. The company was recently in the news for its likelihood to sell around 9.4 acres out of the 125 acres land it owns in Mumbai at Rs 1.4 bn.
