Asian indices closed mixed today while Europe is trading mostly positive currently. The rupee was trading at Rs 46.4 to the dollar at the time of writing.

While the markets were in a positive mood right from the beginning, the announcement of the IIP numbers during the latter half of the day took the stock markets onto a different plane altogether. Clearly, at 10.4%, the growth in the index of industrial production (IIP) during the month of August was better than expected and far exceeded the 7% projection done by the Institute of Economic Growth (IEG), the economic think tank.

The showing also raised hopes that India would be able to grow its GDP in excess of 6% for the fiscal ended FY10, a number that had started to look insurmountable till only a few weeks back in view of the shortfall in agricultural production. But after heavy rains in some part of the country and now, the strong IIP numbers, the expected GDP growth looks well within the realms of possibility. And the markets seemed to have cheered the same today.

Automotive batteries major Exide closed lower by nearly 4% on the bourses today. The weakness was surprising given the fact that the company put up a stellar show for the quarter ended September 2009. It managed to grow its bottomline by a strong 92% on the back of a rather muted 6% growth in topline. It was the huge 9.5% expansion in operating margins that helped the company put up such a strong show. Thanks to benign lead prices and more reliance on recycled lead, which it produces in house, the raw material costs declined significantly as a percentage of sales and could be in for perhaps some structural change on this front. Exide's bottomline for the first half also grew strongly, posting a 70% YoY growth, again riding on the back of strong operating level show.

After losing 7% during the last week, the BSE IT index was back in the reckoning today, ending higher by nearly 3%. While the decline during the last week could be attributed to an overall bearish sentiment as well as the strengthening of the rupee against the dollar, a better than expected performance from software major Infosys and its cautiously optimistic stance brought back investors to the IT counters today. Furthermore, expectations that RBI would intervene to help stem the decline in the dollar against the rupee also helped ease concerns surrounding the exchange rate. It remains to be seen whether the strength would continue in the days to come as well. A lot will depend on how the September quarter numbers for the other IT majors add up. Among the major gainers today were Infosys, Wipro and TCS.