Tata Motors Will Announce Orders for Cheapest Car: Week Ahead
Tata Motors Ltd., India’s biggest maker of trucks, will announce the number of bookings it has received for the Nano, the world’s cheapest car.
Tata, based in Mumbai, may have got 1 million orders for the Nano, the Business Standard reported yesterday, without saying where it got the information. The automaker will unveil the final figure on April 28, the newspaper said.
Tata Motors is guaranteeing the cheapest price for only the first 100,000 cars, betting the economic slowdown will lure customers even though orders won’t be completed for more than a year. Bookings for the Nano opened April 9 and closed April 25.
Bharti Airtel Ltd., India’s biggest mobile-phone operator, and second-ranked Reliance Communications Ltd. will report earnings this week.
Bharti may on April 29 report fourth-quarter profit rose to 21.9 billion rupees ($437 million) from 18.5 billion rupees, according to a survey of 17 analysts. Reliance Communications may on April 30 say net income climbed to 13.4 billion rupees from 15 billion rupees.
Other companies reporting this week include Tech Mahindra Ltd. today, Sterlite Industries (India) Ltd. on April 28 and Biocon Ltd. on April 29.
The third round of India’s elections will take place on April 30, with voting in 107 constituencies including Mumbai. Counting of all votes will take place on May 16.
Bonds, Stocks
India’s 10-year bonds completed a fourth weekly gain, the longest winning streak this year, on speculation rising cash at banks and debt purchases by the central bank will boost demand for the securities.
The yield on the 6.05 percent note due February 2019 fell 29 basis points last week to 6.12 percent in Mumbai, according to the central bank’s trading system. The price climbed 2.05 per 100-rupee face amount to 99.48.
India’s benchmark Sensitive index climbed to a six-month high, ending the week at 11,329.05. Wipro Ltd. gained 14 percent last week, the best performer on the benchmark index, after the nation’s third-largest software developer reported a profit of 9.07 billion rupees in the quarter ended March 31, beating analyst estimates.
ACC Ltd., India’s biggest cement maker, climbed 9.8 percent after posting a profit of 4.05 billion rupees, beating the 3.36 billion rupee median estimate in a Bloomberg survey.
The rupee completed a seventh weekly gain, the longest winning streak since October 2007, on speculation a rally in local stocks will attract foreign funds.
The rupee strengthened 0.1 percent last week to 49.8125 per dollar in Mumbai, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. The currency has added 1.9 percent this month, paring five quarters of losses.
