Hisar by-poll: Bishnoi leads, Cong third

All eyes are on Hisar in Haryana where the results for the by-polls for the Lok Sabha seat will be announced on Monday. Stakes are high for both the Congress and Team Anna. The big question is whether the voters will respond to Anna Hazare's call to defeat the Congress, making Hisar a turning point.

Initial leads show Kuldeep Bishnoi of the Haryana Janhit Congress was leading. He said that Anna should have targeted all corrupt parties and not just the Congress.

Ajay Chautala of the Indian National Lok Dal has accused the Congress of running a smear campaign against him. He was following Bishnoi at the second spot in the initial leads.

Congress' Jai Prakash who claimed the Anna factor has failed was coming in third in the early counting.

It has been Team Anna's first brush with electoral politics with Kejriwal campaigning against the Congress in these elections making it a referendum on the Jan Lokpal Bill despite reservations by other members of the team like Santosh Hegde.

The Opposition seems to have benefited indirectly from the anti-Congress tirade. Kuldeep Bishnoi, the political heir of former Chief Minister Bhajan Lal who before his death had defected from the Congress to launch his own outfit, is contesting these elections in alliance with the BJP. Kuldeep hopes to polarise the anti-incumbency and pro-Anna votes.

For the Congress which was on a weak wicket, the Hisar by-poll has turned into a high profile poll with Team Anna calling for its defeat. All eyes are now on the poll results to determine who the voters have decided to push to victory.

Zee Ent Q2 cons net profit up 23% at Rs 160 cr

Zee Entertainment has announced its second quarter results. The company's Q2 consolidated net profit was up 23% at Rs 160 crore versus Rs 130 crore.

Its consolidated net sales were up 2.86% at Rs 718 crore versus Rs 698 crore.

Advertising revenue down 4% to Rs 395 crore, YoY, and up 2% QoQ.

Subscription revenue up 6% to Rs 291 crore versus Rs 274 crore and down 4.6% QoQ

HDFC Q2 net profit up 20% at Rs 971 cr

Housing finance company HDFC has reported a rise of 20% YoY in net profit of Rs 971 crore for the quarter ended September 2011. The company had posted net profit of Rs 807.5 crore in same quarter the previous year.

Total income shot up 37% to Rs 4,077 crore from 2,970 crore year-on-year.

Profit from sale of investment increased 47.5% to Rs 87 crore from Rs 59 crore during the same period.

In a press conference, vice-chairman and CEO of HDFC, Keki Mistry said net interest margin in Q2 was 4.3%

Loan book growth was at 25% and disbursements growth stood at 19%.

Capital adequacy ratio in the July-September quarter was at 13.8% and spreads stood at 2.8% in same quarter.

"There is no impact on asset quality due to rising interest rates," he said.

Tijaria Polypipes surges 13% on debut

Shares of Tijaria Polypipes , a plastic pipes manufacturer, surged 13% in the opening trade to hit a high of Rs 67.75 on the National Stock Exchange. But, it could not hold those gains for long. It slipped to near its issue price of Rs 60 a share and was hovering around the same.

Total trade volume on both exchanges was nearly 72.6 lakh equity shares as against issue size of one crore shares.

Tijaria Polypipes manufactures high-grade HDPE, MDPE and LDPE plastic pipes and sprinkler systems under the brand names of Tijaria and Vikas. At present, the company has an installed manufacturing capacity of 20,664MT HDPE pipes, 7,392MT PVC pipes and 7,200MT of PET flakes & granules per year. Its products are used in irrigation, telecommunication, industrial, infrastructure and housing sectors.

The company now proposes to expand its current manufacturing capacity and diversify into the manufacturing of polyster zippers long chains, mink blankets & PET sheets and also proposes to manufacture the raw materials required for it. The company will manufacture partially oriented yarn (POY), draw texturised yarn (TY) and monofilament yarn all under one roof. The company plans to set up two new units at industrial areas of Rajasthan Industrial and Investment Corporation (RIICO) at Ramachandrapura and Sitapura Extension, close to Jaipur.

The total project cost is estimated at Rs 108.52 crore. For implementing the new project the promoter group has contributed Rs 8.52 crore as equity capital and the company has arranged a term loan of Rs 40 crore from banks. The company raised Rs 60 crore through the issue.

Sensex gains 100 pts

The Nifty jumped above 5100 level post announcement of September inflation numbers, which stand at very high levels, but have not risen from the August levels. The 30-share BSE Sensex rose 105 points to 16,989.17 and the 50-share NSE Nifty gained 26.5 points at 5,104.30. Major buying was seen in technology, oil & gas, power, capital goods, auto (barring Maruti), FMCG and banks stocks were leading the market higher.

Inflation for the month of September came in at 9.72% as against 9.78% in previous month, which was on expected lines. CNBC-TV18 poll saw it at 9.7%.

TCS was the leader among largecaps, gaining over 2%. Other largecaps like Reliance Industries, NTPC, BHEL and Wipro gained more than 1.4%.

ONGC, ITC, Bharti, Infosys, SBI, ICICI Bank and HUL moved up 0.7-1%. Jindal Steel was top gainer, rising 4%.

However, the sell-off continued in Coal India, DLF, Tata Steel, Sesa Goa and Maruti, which fell 2-5%. SAIL, Cipla, Sterlite, Hindalco, JP Associates, Reliance Infrastructure and Reliance Communications slipped 0.5-1%. HDFC and HDFC Bank were marginally lower.

The market breadth was mixed; about 682 shares advanced as against 649 shares declined on National Stock Exchange.

At 10:49 hours IST : Nifty hovers around 5078; Coal India, Sesa Goa plunge

The NSE benchmark was hovering around its previous closing value of 5078. Buying was seen in technology, FMCG, oil & gas and power stocks while metal, realty and HDFC group companies' shares were on sellers' radar. The 30-share BSE Sensex was trading at 16,943.06, up 59 points and the 50-share NSE Nifty was trading up 14 points to 5,091.6.

Portfolio manager PN Vijay feels that Indian stocks look very attractive for the long-term, but the market sentiment needs to improve for a genuine bull rally.

Heavyweights Reliance Industries and ONGC were trying to maintain positive trend on the market, gaining 0.5-0.7%.

JSPL surged nearly 3% after seeing sell-off in yesterday's trade. Technology space continued to trade higher for the third consecutive session after Infosys' Q2 results. TCS, Infosys, Wipro and HCL Tech were up 0.5-1%.

Even FMCG space was quite supportive - ITC and HUL rose 0.7% each. From the power pack, NTPC and Tata Power moved up 1% each.

SBI, BHEL, L&T and ICICI Bank were flat in trade - these stocks were playing a part in today's volatility.

However, metal stocks were under pressure. Coal India, Tata Steel and Sesa Goa tanked 3-4.5%. SAIL, Sterlite and Hindalco were down 1-1.7%.

From the realty space, DLF plunged 3.5%. Maruti Suzuki has remained on bears' radar due to labour problems at its Manesar plant, falling 2%.

About 616 shares advanced as against 636 shares declined on National Stock Exchange.

At 9:20 hours IST : Sensex volatile; metals & banks down, IT & FMCG gain

Indian equity benchmarks opened marginally lower, as they continue to consolidate for the second consecutive session. Benchmarks were hovering around their previous closing values. Metal and banking stocks were under pressure while technology and FMCG stocks were on buyers' radar.

Among frontliners, Sesa Goa, Hindalco, Tata Steel, Sterlite, SAIL, DLF, Coal India, SBI, ICICI Bank, Axis Bank, L&T and Maruti were down.

However, ITC, HUL, Grasim, Reliance Industries, Tata Power, NTPC, Bharti Airtel, TCS, HCL Tech, Infosys and Wipro were supporting the market.

New listing - Tijaria Polypies rallied 5% to Rs 63 a share on Day 1.

WWIL gained 2%. Dish TV and Hathway Cable were up nearly 1%.

Balaji Tele gained 4% ahead of quarterly results. BILT surged 3%.

Century Textiles rose 3% as there were reports that company may merge its cement business with Ultratech.

However, AP Paper lost 3% post disappointing second quarter results.

Kingfisher Airlines lost 3% as HPCL said it has suspended fuel supplies to Kingfisher in Delhi.

Dhanlaxmi Bank and Jubilant Foodworks were down 1.5%.