BY ANIMA SINHA

 

LONDON: European shares rose on Tuesday, starting the month on a stronger footing, with sentiment boosted by optimism over the outlook for the U.S. economy as investors snapped-up stocks beaten down in the recent sell-off.

By 0809 GMT, the pan-European FTSEurofirst 300 index of top shares was up 0.6 percent at 1,176.11 points, after closing 0.8 percent higher on Monday.

Sentiment towards equities was helped by bullish comments from billionaire investor Warren Buffett who said that he saw the need for "major acquisitions", a sign stocks may be cheap, and gave aggressive earnings forecasts for his Berkshire Hathaway collection of businesses.

"It's very important that the U.S. economy is now showing signs of strength ... and forecasts for this year's GDP is starting to exceed 4 percent. This is certainly good news for the world economy," said Heino Ruland, strategist at Ruland Research in Frankfurt.

Among individual movers, Luxottica rose 1.9 percent after the world's biggest premium eyewear said late on Monday that it expected demand from the U.S. and emerging markets to help profit growth to exceed sales this year.

Maruti Suzuki sales up 16% in February

NEW DELHI: The country's largest car-maker Maruti Suzuki India on Tuesday reported a 15.51 percent jump in sales during February, 2011, to 1,11,645 units.

Sales in the same month last year stood at 96,650 units, Maruti Suzuki India (MSI) said in a statement.

The national capital-based company also reported a 19.79 per cent increase in domestic sales during February to 1,01,543 units from 84,765 units in February, 2010.

MSI's exports, however, fell by 15 percent to 10,102 units from 11,885 units in the year-ago period, the company said.

Sales of the company's once bread-and-butter M800 model declined by 14.66 percent to 2,712 units in the month under review, compared to 3,178 units in February, 2010, the statement said.

In the A2 segment -- comprising Maruti's Alto, WagonR, Estilo, Swift, A-Star and Ritz models -- the company witnessed 19.39 percent growth in sales to 72,090 units from 60,380 units in the same month a year ago.

A3 segment sales -- consisting of the SX4 and DZiRE models -- increased by 27.01 percent to 13,024 units from to 10,254 units in the corresponding period a year ago, the company said.

MSI's total passenger car sales rose by 19.02 percent to 87,851 units in February from 73,812 units in the same month of 2010, it added. 
Anima Sinha
PGDM 2nd sem

By Ankit kumaR

 

MUMBAI: Indian markets were near day’s highs as sentiments turned bullish after the Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee presented better-than-expected budget in the parliament.

The minister has said that fiscal deficit for FY 11-12 is seen at 4.6%. He is expecting economy to grow at 9 percent in 2011-12 up from an 8.6 per cent current fiscal.

At 12 pm; Bombay Stock Exchange’s Sensex was at 18274.10, up 450.70 points or 2.53 per cent. The 30-share index touched a low of 17964.39 and high of 18280.84 intraday.

National Stock Exchange’s Nifty was at 5466.80, up 133.55 points or 2.50 per cent. The broader index touched a low of 5373.55 and high of 5474.75 in trade so far.

“Hourly MACD has managed to hold on to the bullish crossover, whereas daily oscillators continue to show mixed signals. Nifty has resisted near the 21-DEMA as well as the declining trend line from the January peak. It has also closed in the red for second consecutive month indicating downside risks in the coming month.

Nifty needs to break below 5230 convincingly to improve the bearish structure for a test of 5000. Until then it is advisable to wait on the sidelines for further clarity on market direction,” said Edelweiss report.

BSE Midcap Index was up 2.15 per cent and BSE Smallcap Index moved 1.45 per cent higher.

Amongst the sectoral indices, BSE Auto Index advanced 5.04 per cent, BSE Bankex moved up 3.43 per cent and BSE Capital Goods Index gained 3.33 per cent.

M&M (7.96%), Maruti Suzuki (6.03%), Jaiprakash Associates (5.16%), NTPC (5%) and Bajaj Auto (4.94%) were the top Nifty gainers.

Maruti Suzuki sold a total of 1,11,645 units in February 2011, up 15.5 per cent against 96650 units in the same month last fiscal. Auto stocks also surged higher after the finance minister did not hike excise duty on automobiles.

Bharti Airtel (-1.36%), TCS (-0.35%), Wipro (-0.34%) were the only Sensex losers.

Market breadth was positive on the BSE with 1835 advances against 819 declines.

LANG hires new marketing VP

Margie Cochrane has joined the Los Angeles Newspaper Group as senior vice president of sales and marketing, LANG CEO Fred Hamilton announced Monday.

Cochrane comes from the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, where she was senior vice president of advertising, responsible for print and interactive sales for a staff of 100 employees. Previously, she was the director of advertising for the Arizona Republic in Phoenix, the largest metro newspaper in the Gannett Co., where she was responsible for the sales management of four divisions.

Cochrane led the restructuring of sales departments at both the Journal Sentinel and the Arizona Republic.

Before joining Gannett, Cochrane spent 15 years at Denver's Rocky Mountain News in sales management positions. She has more than 20 years of experience in the industry.

As LANG's senior advertising executive, Cochrane will lead the group's multimedia sales efforts, while working closely with the individual sales leadership at LANG's nine newspapers. Her hiring capped a nationwide search.

"Margie is an experienced team leader who understands the challenges and opportunities in today's advertising market," Hamilton said. "We're excited to have her on board as we work with our advertisers to increase their reach and target their audiences over multiple media platforms." 

DEEPAK KUMAR

PGDM 2ND SEM

Low subsidy to impact oil marketing cos results: RS Sharma

RS Sharma, Former Chairman of ONGC, in an interview with CNBC-TV18 gave his views on how he read the budget presented by finance minister Pranab Mukherjee for financial year 2011-12.
He said, “There has to be much larger support to come from the government on subsidy figures.” However, he added that looking at the current numbers, the oil marketing companies may not show positive results.

DEEPAK KUMAR
PGDM 2ND SEM

 

4 Ways Marketing Can Help You Get Paid Faster

While marketing can do many things for your business such as help you acquire new customers or increase your sales, helping you get paid faster is probably not among the things that you are focusing your marketing efforts on - but perhaps you should be. Here are four ideas for how simple changes in your marketing could help your small business get paid faster

DEEPAK KUMAR

PGDM

2ND SEM

Auto stocks higher after Budget; TVS Motor jumps over 6%

Auto stocks rose by over 4 per cent in early trade on the BSE today, bolstered by the government's move to keep the central excise duty rate unchanged.

Shares of Bajaj Auto went up by 4.62 per cent to an early high of Rs 1,327 on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), becoming the top gainer among the BSE 30-Sensex stocks.

Market observers termed the Budget as positive for the automobile sector.

"Overall, the Union Budget 2011-12 is positive for the automobile sector as central excise duty has been kept unchanged. Further, special incentives have been announced for companies manufacturing hybrid vehicles in India," Angel Broking said in a note.

"Moreover, broader measures like increased focus on rural and infrastructure spending would support long-term growth of the sector," it said.

Auto bluechips attracted the most attention in early trade on the BSE. Another major gainer was Mahindra & Mahindra, which rose by 3.98 per cent to touch an early peak of Rs 638.60.

Tata Motors, Hero Honda and Maruti Suzuki also saw heightened buying interest from investors. Tata Motors rose by 3.43 per cent, while the country's biggest car-maker Maruti gained 2.26 per cent and two-wheeler giant Hero Honda 2.22 per cent.

Similarly, TVS Motor Company soared by 6.60 per cent to an early high of Rs 54.10.

Meanwhile, the BSE benchmark Sensex was up by 215.06 points at 18,038.46 at 1014 hrs today.  

 

DEEPAK KUMAR

PGDM

 2ND SEM