Markets News

Market Waves..
Forewarning what to expect in the next sequence of...
Waves Up 1-2-3-4-5....to.... Waves Down 5A-5B-5C

Wave 1......Up........ .Rebound from recent Bottom. Mass pessimism ebbs here.
Wave 2......Down.....Test of Lows...But previous lows not hit
Wave 3......Up..........Powerful Wave...Strength, Breadth, Easy-Credit , Real
prosperity
Wave 4......Down.....Surprising disappointment...Signals that best part of
growth over
Wave 5......Up..........Final Advance...Psychology creates overvaluation.
Leverage at highest.
Wave 5A....Down.....Breakdown...Inexplicable fall. Viewed as buying opportunity
Wave 5B....Up..........Narrow, Emotional Advance...Aggressive euphoria+
denial <----You're now HERE
Wave 5C....Down.....Worst of Bear market...Strength, Breadth, Fundamentals
collapse
(From Frost and Prechter)


Nifty
Today:
The RBI's decision will govern movements after noon. If they hike, then
all will fall, especially Banks, Autos and Housing company shares. But IF they
don't hike, then expect a huge pullup. The markets have assumed the worst
when they hiked the CRR last week and anything contra-that continuance, would
be excellent for the bulls and bad for shorters. Meanwhile, Indian bond prices fell
even more yesterday on assumption that the RBI will not hike today.
Do anything in the Trading a/c today only after the RBI starts getting priced in at
noon.
Anything that rises from 10 am till 12 noon will fall off by that end-time.

Next five days:
We stay trading-bullish in the Nifty after the Fed's decision is
priced in on Wednesday night. However, if the Fed say that they're stopping
future cuts because of rising inflation, then the markets will trade down from
Friday onwards...for a couple of days at least.
In case the Fed say they're stopping more cuts this year because they think the
credit crisis has beenn "licked", then expect Wall Street to really celebrate.
For a few days.

Short term:
We see "macro" issues of US subprime delinquencies/housing
debts/credit card overdues/falling house prices etcetera, overtaking the market's
headaches.
Medium to Longer term: Wall Street's headaches will overtake this temporary
trading rally.
We stay bearish for the medium to long term.


Bank Nifty
Today: Allow the RBI's decision to get priced in at noon.
If hike, then a slip.
If no hike, then a rise.


Gold
If the Fed do not signal an end to further cuts, expect gold to rise.
It could go to $930-950. This is a probability that nobody can write off.But all you have to do is to wait for such rises, and then add more shorts.The price action made during the past six sessions looks like a trade-up might be in store for gold. This could take gold from the current $894 to a possible-high of$ 950.
We'll know better after the Fed announces on Wednesday night.
If conditions change, temporarily at that, for a trade-up in gold, then we'd say you must add more shorts in the carryover mode after it pulls up. However, if you're trading gold for one-three days, then, but only after Wednesday nights' decision is priced in, should you book profits in your trading shorts...stay out of buying.... and be ready to short again at higher levels. Some explanation for the future bearish trend of gold is that the Fed might want this weak dollar to stop falling. If they say or imply something like that, expect a rising dollar to make Funds shift more monies to the dollar...and sell out their longs in gold bought in leverage since 18th January.
All know that gold has no industrial use like silver has. Gold has no other reason to be bought except as a "hoarding" thing when people get worried about the future.
Once again, the paradox of stocks versus commodities is: Stocks go up on Hope. Commodities go up on Fear.
And when the dollar rises, fear pervades the gold market that countries like China and India may dump their gold andf shift monies to the dollar. Especially these two newly-developed countries because ALL their reserves are parked in the dollar.



The Mood
>Expectation on The Street:
Quarter point cut on Wednesday, and then no more for the rest of the year
The mood has been tempered about expecting any more cuts by the Fed. Somehow, the Fed's snoopers and insiders manage to get Wall Street to "expect" correctly !
>US bond prices rose during the wait last night. Yield on the 10 year fell from 3.86% to 3.83%
The dollar stayed where it was yesterday: 1.5655/euro.
The yen too: 104.19/dollar
Oil too stayed at $118.59.
Everybody are waiting, nervously as always, for the Fed to start their two-day meeting today and announce tomorrow night.
Our markets will be closed on Thursday and thus be able to factor in the Fed only on the morn of Friday.
>Bad mood:
GM to lay off 3,500 by axing 1 shift each at 4 pickup, large SUV factories due to weak sales.
...Sagging pickup truck and sport utility vehicle sales have forced General Motors Corp. to shut down one shift each at four North American factories and lay off about 3,500 workers.
...The world's largest automaker by sales said Monday that the cuts, to take effect starting this summer, were brought on by weak demand due to high gasoline prices and an economic downturn.
http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/080428/gm_cuts.html
>What The Street would prefer:
If the Fed says they're cutting now but won't for the rest of the year because it's
"working", then players would be alright with that.
But if the Fed says they're cutting now and won't for the rest of the
year...because of inflationary pressures...THEN The Street would be awfully
upset ! We should expect a drop in Wall Street.


Existing risks:
>Credit-inflation funded by petrodollars and cheap-interest money
>Housing loan defaults in the US
>Credit card default in the US
>Sub-prime blowups of banks, brokerages and investment banks in the US
>Personal-spend dropping in the US
>Consumer confidence in the US falls to a five year low
>US home sales fell to their lowest in nine years
>The S&P Case/Shiller Home Price index at 20-year low
>Construction loan problems for banks in the US and India.

Markets For 28-04-2008

April 2008 was a great month for stock markets as Nifty rallies from 4800 to 5100 + lvls. This we have predicted earlier & also on SMS
Also technical reasons were given showing charts that y we r bullish on markets, after reading u will to get the idea.
There we have spotted Nifty lvls like
" Anyways our views are bullish on the markets & we will see upside rally in the days to come as imp resistances are 4925 , 5050 , 5170 & 5250 while imp supports are 4725 , 4650 & 4580. "
We are very close to 5170 lvls as we Nifty closes abv 5100+ lvls, any close abv 5170 lvls nw wil take markets to 5250 , 5325 & 5400+ lvls, this r pure technical lvls, Those who are long on the markets can use trail stop loss like 4925 lvls on closing basis. Any close below 4925 spot lvls can reverse the trend.
We have given Technical buy calls on 04 April 2008 like Reliance pack, Banking Stocks & Engineering / capital goods stocks, one can check the then prices & prices closed on 25 April 2008, Stock prices just rose by 10 to 15 % approx
In last few days other sectors which outperformed were Telecom, Metals, Sugar.
We would like to continue with our trading recomendations on Reliance pack, Banking & Capital goods / Engineering stocks with trail stop losses or Trail stop loss @ 4925 spot Nifty lvls.
One who is happy with such 10 to 15% gains in prices can book profits as these are handsome returns in short span of time.

NIFTY Analysis : Due to encouraging global closing Nifty has closed on a positive note and closed almost 112 points up from its previous day's close. One interesting things note here is from last 4 day it sustain above 5000 marke and don't cross 5100 marke only because of F&O expire and after April contract expire it zoomed and close above 5100 mark. On daily chart it has formed a "Rising Threee" pattern, which is a bullish sign. Now Nifty is approaching its 200 DMA(5150). If it crosses 5150 then the next hurdle will be 5210(Equivalent level of 200 DMA of SENSEX). So be cautious around these levels. On downside 4980 will be the strong support level for Nifty. So all correction should be used as buying opportunity. Sector wise. almost all sectors are looking good So buying should be considered in fundamentally strong scripts with at least six month time frame. For monday, support exists at 5080 and then at 5010. On upside resistance exists at 5160 and then at 5210.
Strategy :Above 5075 no problem for bulls it will zoom to kiss 5152 and then 5193 level if stay above it then heavy buying will start and it will go to 5270 level. support @ 5034 and then 4957.

BSE SENSEX : For a day trader, it will zoom to kiss 17256 to 17387 level if cross this also then zoom to kiss 17625 level. support @ 17018 and then 16887 level.


The results of RNRL is on 28thApril.
Once market touched 17230 - 17350 ,Start exitting ur all positions once and Wait for a dip...

WEEKLY BUY CALL
SATHAVAHANA ISPAT(526093)
Buy around 62 for a tgt of 75 by 02nd May with STRICT SL @ 54

R System Tgt 115++
Guj Appollo Tgt 245++
Euro Ceramic Tgt 160++
Rama News Tgt 44++
Hdil ABV 750 t-850,sl-715

RNRL- TP 125,SL 121,Tgt 128/130+
NAGARFERT - TP 51.3,SL 50.2,Tgt 52.5/54+
RAMANEWS - TP 39.4,SL 39.2,Tgt 42.95/45+

Hoteleela expected to deliver a news this week.. Trgt 60+
on Monday watch chambal...castrol...rcom...dlf...jaiprakash...rpl

Matrix Labs.
Time frame : 1 month
BUY Future only if u can hold it for sometime if it goes in loss. In cash Dont leverage

ORIENTBANK BUY ABV205 SL 204 TGT 207/210+,
TRIVENI BUY ABV 116 SL 115 117/119+.
Buy Renuka Fut ABV 130 with SL 127,TGT 135/139+

CESC : It will zoom to kiss 459 level and if cross this level also then zoom to kiss 468 to 480 level. support @ 447 and then @ 438 level.
REL : grab @ opening it will zoom to kiss 1391 and then 1422 level if stay above then next target is 1474 level. support @ 1339 and then @ 1308.
ICICI BANK : Grab @ opening it will zoom to kiss 939 and then @ 963 level support @ 904. Stop loss @ 880.

Markets Close 25-04-08

The Indian Market closed with handsome gains backed by the favoring cues from the global markets as well as better results by some of the telecom companies that boosted the sentiments of the investors. The market opened on a firm note but pare some of its gains during the mid session due to weekly inflation figures that grew to 7.33% for the week ended April 2008 as against 7.14% last year. However, the market gathered the momentum after the mid session as the buying intensified across the telecom, banking and metal baskets. This resulted the Sensex to cross the 17000 mark to touch an intraday high of 17,150.92. The market breadth was weak as 1455 stocks closed in red while 1251 stocks closed in green.
The BSE Sensex closed higher by 404.90 points at 17,125.98 and NSE Nifty closed up by 111.85 points at 5,111.70. The BSE Mid Caps closed up by 51.81 points at 7,056.21 while Small Cap closed lower by 13.29 points to close at 8,727.72.
Major losers from the BSE are Guj NRE (6.38%), Dish TV (5.87%), Mosear Baer (5.21%), Hind Const (4.53%), United Spirits (3.87%) and HMT (3.20%) and India Cements (3.09%).
Gainers from the BSE are Bharti Airtel (9.61%), Chambal Fert (8.35%), Rel Comm (8.31%), Welspun Guj (6.84%), Nagarjuna Fert (6.69%), Reliance Capital (6.64%), RNRL (6.49%), Triveni Eng (6.29%).
Bharti Airtel has reported a growth of 44% in consolidated net profit to Rs1,898.85 crore for the quarter ended March 2008 as compared to Rs1,318.56 crore reported during the corresponding period last year. The yearly net profit grew by 57.4% to Rs6,395.38 crore as against Rs4,062.01 crore last year
The Metal index surged 370.75 points to close at 15,735.18. Major gainers are Welspun Guj (6.84%), Hind. Zinc (5.63%), Jindal Steel (4.51%), Sterlite inds (3.69%), Ispat inda (1.60%), Tata Steel (3.45%), SAIL (1.43%) and Nalco (1.34%).
The Bankex index advanced by 286.03 points to close at 8,868.08. Scrips that jumped are ICICI bank (4.54%), SBI (4.01%), HDFC bank (3.59%), Canara bank (2.56%), CentBOP (2.51%), Yes bank (2.26%), PNB 2.35% and Axis bank (1.65%).
The Oil & Gas index closed up by 179.23 points at 11,554.59 as RNRL (6.49%), BPCL (2.67%), ONGC (2.20%), Reliance industries (1.69%), HPCL (1.66%), RPL (0.72%), Essar Oil (0.63%) and IOCL (0.21%).
The Realty index closed up by 112.64 points at 8,149.77. Gainers are Anant Raj (11.90%), Indbul Real (5.39%), Unitech (1.48%), Sobha Developers (1.04%) and HDIL (0.88%).
The Capital Goods index grew by 101.44 points to close at 13,921.87. Scrips that gained are Kirloskar BR (6.67%), Jyoti Structures (3.24%), Lakshmi Machines (2.44%), Suzlon Energy (1.53%), BEML (1.32%) and L&T (1.02%).

The market surged today taking cues from buoyant corporate results, good rollovers in derivatives and firm global equities. However, the market breadth was negative. Both the benchmark indices - BSE Sensex and S&P CNX Nifty settled above the key levels of 17,000 and 5,000. The market had witnessed a bout of volatility in mid-afternoon trade after inflation data was released. The wholesale price index based inflation rose to 7.33% for the week ended 12 April 2008, as against 7.14% in the previous week, data released a little while ago showed.

For the next trading day Nifty will face resistance at 5153 and 5194 having support at 5034 and 4957.

Rumours of markets giving up its gains in Monday afternoon.So be careful

STOCK IDEAS FOR THE NEXT FEW DAYS-

• DLF (667.85): If maintain above 670 it will move for target of 695-705

• Adlabs (734.20): If maintain above 736 it will move for target of 780/790

MUTUAL FUND Activity

Reporting Date	Equity			Debt
	Gross Purchases (Rs. Cr)	Gross Sales (Rs. Cr)	Net Investments (Rs. Cr)	Gross Purchases (Rs. Cr)	Gross Sales (Rs. Cr)	Net Investments (Rs. Cr)
24/04/2008	882.10	849.00	33.10	589.50	1,079.20	-489.70
23/04/2008	560.60	465.50	95.10	699.20	950.10	-250.90
22/04/2008	709.80	806.50	-96.70	647.70	730.60	-82.90
21/04/2008	734.80	635.20	99.60	1,087.30	1,354.10	-266.80
17/04/2008	953.70	1,039.90	-86.20	1,018.40	1,006.00	12.40
16/04/2008	525.70	782.40	-256.70	1,507.20	993.30	513.90

FII Activity

Reporting Date	Equity			Debt
	Gross Purchases (Rs. Cr)	Gross Sales (Rs. Cr)	Net Investments (Rs. Cr)	Gross Purchases (Rs. Cr)	Gross Sales (Rs. Cr)	Net Investments (Rs. Cr)
25/04/2008	3,675.20	4,201.30	-526.10	0.00	6.10	-6.10
24/04/2008	2,927.80	3,190.90	-263.10	0.00	0.00	0.00
23/04/2008	2,742.10	2,349.80	392.30	0.00	0.00	0.00
22/04/2008	2,893.40	2,616.00	277.40	0.00	0.00	0.00
21/04/2008	4,067.50	3,368.50	699.00	0.00	0.00	0.00
18/04/2008	1,188.60	1,184.80	3.80	0.00	0.00	0.00
17/04/2008	1,764.60	1,761.00	3.60	0.00	0.00	0.00
16/04/2008	3,544.30	3,463.40	80.90	0.00	0.00	0.00

7 Gems- Investments Picks

These seven companies should see their earnings double in the next three years, which in turn should positively reflect on their respective stock prices.

The steep fall in stock valuations, the day-to-day gyrations in the market and increased uncertainties globally, have all sent shivers down the spine of domestic investors, while largely keeping foreign investors at bay.

While there aren't any conclusive signs of market sentiments turning positive, the current scenario provides long-term investors the opportunity to take a plunge into the market and buy high-quality stocks at far cheaper valuations.

Although the current turmoil is more to do with global events and to some extent due to the fears pertaining to earnings slowdown, one can still pinpoint companies capable of delivering an earnings growth of 25-30 per cent annually for the next three years. In other words, their earnings should double over the same period.

While experts have always suggested investing in the domestic growth story including in sectors such as FMCG, retail, media, financial services (including banking), telecom, infrastructure and, oil and gas, the answer to superior returns lies in one's ability to pick the right stocks.

A good investment would ideally be a combination of robust fundamentals, sound promoter/management, market leadership in the business (preferred), healthy growth prospects, reasonable valuations and minimum downside risk, all of which put together should help achieve above-market returns.

The Smart Investor brings to you a few of such stocks, which with the exception Reliance Petroleum (due to no past track record as it is yet to commence operations), largely meet the criteria.

The current market turmoil is only making things more attractive. Even if the market goes for a toss, their relatively high-quality characteristics should act as a cushion.

Aban Offshore The record high crude oil prices, worldwide shortage of rigs and investments to spruce up domestic oil production will benefit Aban Offshore, which provides rigs and allied equipment to the oil and gas industry.

The company's well-timed fleet expansion in a tight supply, high demand scenario and renewal of longer-duration contracts at higher day rates would boost earnings over the next few years.

Aban is set to add five assets (four new jack-ups and a recently acquired semi-submersible rig) between CY08 and CY09 to its existing fleet of 16 offshore assets (post the acquisition of Sinvest).

Further, the company has renewed its longer duration contracts at much higher day rates, which means higher growth in profits.

For example, its two contracts with ONGC for three years each – one commencing from March 2008 and another already commenced from December 2007 – have been renewed at $150,000 per day each as against $45,000 and $28,000-$56,000 a day respectively, reflecting a more than three-fold rise in value of contracts.

Another contract, for six years, with Oriental Oil, which commenced from October 2007, was renewed at $87,000 (as compared with $40,000). Analysts expect this kind of supply tightness to continue till CY10.

The company's acquisition of Sinvest, gave it access to premium jack-up rigs and quicker supply of rigs, which otherwise would have taken about three years.

Thus, the expected strong operational cash-flows will help Aban bring down the huge debt on its books (high debt to equity ratio of 1.7 in FY07) and boost earnings.

Lastly, while the growth in earnings in FY09 is steep as compared with the EPS of Rs 40 for trailing 12 months, it comes on the back of a loss in FY07 (due to five-fold rise in interest costs).

Nonetheless, after adjusting for the low base effect, Aban's expected growth in earnings is more than healthy and its future prospects continue to be good, all of which make it a good bet. ON HIGH GROWTH TRAJECTORY Price as on EPS P/E ROCE 28-Mar-08 Rs CAGR (%) FY05-07 TTM Rs FY09E Rs FY10E Rs CAGR (%) FY07-10E TTM (x) FY09E (x) FY10E (x) FY09E (x) FY10E (x) Aban Offshore 3,032.40 NA 40.00 442.00 582.50 132* 75.80 6.90 5.20 20.00 23.00 Titan Industries 1,114.65 135.00 27.10 48.00 60.00 35.70 41.10 23.20 18.60 27.50 30.00 Voltas 173.60 92.00 8.23 8.70 10.70 46.50 21.10 20.00 16.20 60.00 NA Reliance Petroleum 161.70 NA NA 8.00 20.00 NA NA 20.20 8.10 11.00 25.00 IDFC# 160.90 17.40 44.00 53.00 63.00 34.00 3.70 3.00 2.60 19.00 21.00 HDFC Bank# 1,401.05 17.50 330.00 373.00 436.00 30.00 4.20 3.80 3.20 17.00 20.00 ABB@ 1,195.95 49.20 23.20 32.30 42.90 40.20 51.50 37.00 27.90 36.20 36.50 TTM= Trailing Twelve months ending December 2007 * FY08-10E# EPS=Book Value P/E=Price to book value ROCE=ROE TTM=FY08E @ TTM= CY2007 FY09E=CY2008 FY10E=CY2009 CAGR CY07-10e Though EPS for FY11 is not mentioned, prospects beyond FY10 remain healthy, and EPS should double by FY11

ABB ABB, a leading player in the power equipment (transmission and distribution) and industrial automation technology businesses, reported strong growth for the year ended December 2007, wherein revenues shot up by 39 per cent to Rs 5,930 crore and order backlog was up 49 per cent at Rs 5,020 crore followed by a 100 basis points improvement in operating margins to 12.2 per cent.

Such robust growth is expected to continue and orders are expected to flow in for the next few years, given growth in the power sector (in India as well as globally) and investments in sectors such as minerals, energy, oil and gas in emerging markets, driving demand for its automation division.

The Indian power sector is expected to witness investments of Rs 6,16,300 crore during the Eleventh Plan period (ending 2012), out of which the transmission and distribution sector – the target market for ABB – is allotted Rs 1,74,300 crore.

After completing its $100 million capex and augmenting its manufacturing facilities, ABB h announced yet another investment of a similar amount, spread over the next 18 months. ABB's parent expects the business from its Indian operations to double by 2010, which is an indication of robust growth for ABB going forward.

HDFC Bank HDFC Bank, the second largest private bank in India, trades at a premium to other larger private and public sector banks due to its ability to sustain its superior financial track record, especially in areas such as net interest margins, return ratios, profit growth and asset quality, irrespective of the interest rate scenario.

Going forward, the bank is expected to continue its robust organic growth – 42 per cent, 40.5 per cent and 31 per cent in advances, net interest income and net profit respectively, reported in the past four years.

Its recent acquisition of the relatively smaller private bank, Centurion Bank of Punjab (CBoP), should help expand its geographical reach. Its branch network would jump by 52 per cent to 1,148 branches, ahead of its larger peer ICICI Bank, with greater concentration in northern and southern states.

HDFC Bank's balance sheet size, total advances and total deposits will shoot up as well, by 3r cent, 43 per cent and 43 per cent, respectively.

However, its CASA (current and savings bank account) ratio will decline from 58 per cent to 50 per cent, which will impact margins, while its overall asset quality is also expected to be impacted slightly.

However, these concerns are only short-term in nature and should be offset on account of the long-term benefits from better synergies, rationalisation of employee and branches as well lower expenditure on technology.

Also, CBoP's dominant position in the retail (two-wheelers and cars) and SME (small and medium enterprise) segments, distribution of third-party products and substantial non-resident client base will strongly complement to that of HDFC Bank.

IDFC Infrastructure Development Finance Company (IDFC) has been a preferred lender to infrastructure projects due to its long track record and age old association with the government in policy formulation.

However, due to pressure on margins in this wholesale financing business, IDFC has formed its strategy of stepping up its fee-based income by acquiring stakes in various businesses including brokerage firm SSKI, buyout of Standard Chartered Mutual Fund, and private equity along with debt finance and syndication opportunities.

Nevertheless, infrastructure financing would remain a key revenue stream for the next f years due to the astounding (around $500 billion) opportunity in infrastructure spending.

Moreover, with India's economic growth still one of the highest in the world, even after the expectations of a mild slowdown, and favourable demographics (leaving more disposable income in the hands of people), the financial services industry is expected to experience buoyant times.

For example, the Indian asset management industry has grown over 40 per cent in the last four years and is expected to grow at a rapid clip in the future as well. All this suggests that IDFC is not only set to grow at more than healthy rates, but should also emerge as a formidable financial institution.

Reliance Petroleum Apart from the promoter company, Reliance Industries (RIL), Reliance Petroleum (RPL) also offers a good investment opportunity as its 29 million metric tonne per annum (580,000 barrels per day) refinery, the world's sixth-largest is likely to come on stream before the scheduled December 2008.

The commissioning of capacity is well timed, given that the outlook for gross refining margins (GRMs) is bullish till FY12.

Globally, refining margins are likely to remain buoyant between $5-$10 per barrel from 2008 to 2012, thanks to the huge demand-supply mismatch and the time lag of three to four years for new capacities to come on-stream.

Also, increasingly stringent environmental standards leading to demand for light and cleaner products, and thus, high prices are further strengthening the case for higher GRMs.

The company's promoter, Reliance Industries' gross refining margins improved by 380 basis points in nine months ended December 2007 to $14.9 a barrel, almost double of the benchmark Singapore complex margins of $7.7 a barrel. Since RPL will be able to process even complex crudes it will earn relatively high refining margins.

The key thing to look in this case is the movement of the rupee against the dollar, which is bullish, though it would be partly offset by low cost incurred by the company due to its plant location in a special economic zone, benefiting from incentives like zero duty on imports of plant and machinery and fiscal benefits like a tax holiday (no minimum alternative tax; 100 per cent for first five year followed by half that for another five years).

Titan Industries Titan's focus on branded products, and its strategy of capturing less penetrated market segments and catering to every income group will help it reap rich fruits.

The company is a market leader in the organised watch segment with a 40 per cent share with brands like Titan, Sonata and Fast Track. It braced up its branded jewellery business and today, its Tanishq brand enjoys a strong recall in the organised market.

Organised jewellery retailing business has a meagre share of 3-4 per cent, but with a growth of 25-30 per cent, it is expected to gain higher share, thus benefiting Titan. Further, it has rightly identified new markets with strong growth potential.

It has also entered the $450 million Indian eyewear market with its Fast Track brand and precision engineering equipment business catering to automobile, medical and aerospace industry (global size of $35 billion). It has also ventured into the Rs 2,500-3,000 crore Indian prescription eyewear business under the brand Titan Eye+.

All these indicate that Titan is set to report high revenue growth driven by its branded jewellery business and supported by new segments.

Although profitability will trail sales growth due to lower margins in the jewellery business, it is still expected to be substantial. Moreover, periodic introduction of brands and ability to identify new segments boosts confidence about the company's prospects.

Voltas Voltas, the engineering and air-conditioning major, is expected to gain immensely from the rising capital expenditure across sectors like retail, IT and entertainment, and higher infrastructure spending in India and other emerging markets such as West Asia.

Being the second largest player in the Indian organised heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) market after Blue Star, the company is expected to reap benefits of immense opportunities in the air conditioning market, especially the non-residential segment, which is expected to almost triple to Rs 37,600 crore in the next five years.

Apart from HVAC, Voltas will also gain from the growth in the construction activities, which in turn throw up opportunities in the fledgling MEP (mechanical, electrical and plumbing) industry.

The company has established itself in its MEP business, which is growing at 40 per cent year-on-year, which had an order book of Rs 3,500 crore (international orders worth Rs 2,700 crore and Rs 800 crore worth of domestic orders) as on December 2007.

To its credit, the company has executed orders at nine out of the ten domestic airports, and is currently working on the upcoming international airport at Hyderabad.

The total investment of Rs 40,800 crore planned towards airports over the next five years reflects a huge market and hence, growth potential for players including Voltas and Blue Star.

Also, Voltas, which commands a 17 per cent share in the air-conditioner market, should benefit from increased consumer spending. All this put together indicate strong growth prospects for Voltas