Fundamentals 14 Jan 2013

Nik's Diary

The Indian market opened flat to positive mirroring the marginally positive opening trades on the SGX Nifty and major Asian indices. Stocks in the US market fluctuated over the course of the trading day on Friday and ended flat. The choppy trading came as traders seemed reluctant to make any significant moves amidst mixed news from overseas. News of a new US$116bn stimulus package in Japan generated some positive sentiment, however, it got offset by a report from China showing acceleration in the pace of inflation which

suggested that the Chinese may not provide further stimulus. Moreover, a report from the Commerce Department showed that the US trade deficit widened to US$48.7bn in November from a revised US$42.1bn in October. The European markets also ended on a mixed note on Friday mainly due to larger than expected increase in Chinese inflation. The domestic markets surrendered initial gains to end on a negative note on Friday. India's trade deficit widened to US$17.7bn in December against US$14.7bn in the corresponding month last year. Weak IIP data and subdued global cues also weighed on investor sentiments. Meanwhile, investors will closely look forward to the WPI data (estimated 7.37% yoy), due to be released today.

Marginal decline in industrial production by 0.1%

Montek Singh Ahluwalia, deputy chairman, Planning Commission, said India's industrial output unexpectedly shrank in November due to statistical reasons. The index of industrial production fell 0.1% annually in November, according to data released by the Central Statistics Office, compared with revised growth of 8.3% in October. Output has grown in just three of the last eight months. Source: Economic Times

Trade deficit narrows for the second straight month in December 2012
The new year could see the balancing of trade between India and China a bit. Three joint working groups on trade, services and investment will meet next month to discuss issues affecting bilateral trade and investment. Among these, market access for Indian companies in China is a major concern for commerce ministry mandarins, who are otherwise confident of reaching the target of $100-billion bilateral trade by 2015. “The problem for the sustainability of this trade is that India’s trade deficit with China jumped to nearly $40 billion in the last fiscal year,” Asit Tripathy, joint secretary in the commerce ministry, told IANS on the sidelines of an event organised by the India China Economic and Cultural Council to promote the first China-South Asia Expo to be held in June in Kunming, capital of China’s Yunnan province. In 2011-12, trade between the two countries stood at $75.45 billion. While India’s exports were at $17.90 billion, imports stood at $57.55 billion. The deficit has widened over the last two fiscal years due to lower Chinese import of iron ore and copper that account for almost half of India’s exports to China. As a corrective measure, India has offered a large range of products from drugs and medicines to diamonds, seafood, and agricultural produce like rice and beef, textiles and light engineering goods to China to balance massive imports of manufactured goods from that country. Indian officials have presented to their Chinese counterparts a list of 916 items that could be sourced from India. India wants greater access for its value-added products and wants China to increase government procurement in sectors such as pharmaceuticals. “Up to this point there has only been some response on the pharmaceutical sector and a few agricultural products,” said Tripathy on the status of the long list of goods for market access. On most products and sectors there is however nothing forthcoming from the Chinese, he said. He was hopeful that the first joint working group meetings would help begin progress on the market access for Indian goods. “On the trade deficit with China one must consider that we are also importing products that are required here in India,” Tripathy, a negotiator with the Chinese, said, giving a rounded perspective on trade deficit. Source:Nvonews

JLR retail sales up by a strong ~15% yoy in December 2012

Tata Motors-owned Jaguar Land Rover has revealed its sales numbers for the year 2012.  The British car maker has sold 358,000 vehicles, up 30 percent as compared to last year. Jaguar Land Rover is present in 177 markets globally with China being its largest market. Sales in China surged 71 percent in 2012 with JLR selling 71,940 units. The UK was the next best-selling market for the company where it sold 68,333 units, up by 19 percent. JLR’s third best sales numbers were seen in the USA where 55,675 vehicles rolled out of its showrooms, up by 11 percent. The fourth and fifth best sales performance was in Russia and Germany respectively. Land Rover’s new Range Rover Evoque SUV, which was launched last year, clocked 108,598 units in one full year of production, making it the best-selling Land Rover model in its first year of production. The SUV maker has also seen good sales numbers from its other models such as the Discovery, up by 3 percent, and the Range Rover Sport, up by 4 percent. The new-generation Range Rover has also been launched in many global markets and deliveries have commenced as well. It is also available in India and is priced at around Rs 1.7 crore. Jaguar also reported a sales increase in 2012 as compared to the previous year. Sales were up 6 percent globally. According to Jaguar, this was possible due to the recent launches of derivatives of the XF saloon such as the 2.2-litre diesel variant and the XF Sportbrake. Jaguar's top five markets were the UK, United States, China, Germany and Russia which combined equated to 71 percent of sales for the year. The XF continued to do well with sales globally up 13 percent and the introduction of the XJ and XF with all-wheel drive was been well received in some international markets such as the US. JLR has announced a recruitment campaign which will help create as many as 800 jobs in the UK to support its future model line-up. It has also confirmed a US$600 million investment programme for its Solihull site that includes installation of an all-new body-shop for the new Range Rover and also upgrades to its paint application technologies, trim assembly, warehousing and JLR’s first customer handover centre. JLR also plans to invest around £2 billion in its products and facilities globally in the financial year to March 2013. It is also in process of building an all-new engine facility in Staffordshire Business Park, UK which will create 750 new jobs. JLR is also working on plans to extend its global production footprint particularly in India and China. CKD assembly of the Land Rover Freelander started in India last year. Source:AutoCar