Money on the markets

It was a results packed day as big companies like Reliance Industries, Bharti Airtel and Ranbaxy reported their quarterly earnings.

The profits of Reliance Industries, India’s largest listed company, fell 9.8 percent, its first drop in three years. Ranbaxy Labs’ foreign exchange losses pushed it into the red in the December quarter.

But Bharti Airtel’s profits jumped 25 percent as it signed up a record 8.2 million users and remained confident of sustaining growth.

The markets however remained lackluster as the benchmark index ended marginally higher by 35 points at 8813.

Realty stocks took a beating as its index ended down 5.4 percent. Shares in DLF dropped over 9 percent whereas rival Unitech shed 3.4 percent.

Fraud-hit Satyam Computer gained 6.6 percent in trade. Larsen & Toubro denied media reports that it would put a revival plan to the board of Satyam. Shares in L&T slipped 3.3 percent.

The government announced yesterday that it would unveil more relief steps for exporters in 10-12 days. Do you think it will help boost the overall market sentiment?