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Indian Markets Finish Strong
Tue, 19 Jan Closing

Indian equity markets snapped three-day losing streak as the indices gained further ground in the afternoon session and closed the day in the green. The BSE Sensex today closed higher by 291 points, while the NSE Nifty closed higher by 84 points. Midcaps and small caps too finished in positive as both the S&P BSE Mid Cap and S&P BSE Small Cap index closed the day higher by 1.75%. Gains were largely seen in capital goods and banking stocks.

Asian markets finished broadly higher today with shares in China leading the region. The Shanghai Composite is up 3.22%, while Hong Kong's Hang Seng is up 2.07%. Japanese stocks also rose for the first time in four days as Nikkei 225 was up by 0.55%. Meanwhile, European markets bounced back from 13-month lows, with mining and energy stocks leading the market higher after prices of major industrial metals and crude oil surged following the release of Chinese growth data. The CAC 40 is up 1.79%, while Germany's DAX is up 1.74% and London's FTSE 100 is up 1.54%. The rupee was trading at 67.56 against the US$ at the time of writing.

According to a leading financial daily, Larsen & Toubro's (L&T) construction arm L&T Constructions has won orders worth Rs 12.47 billion across various businesses. Under Buildings & Factories Business, the company has secured a prestigious turnkey order worth Rs 9.89 billion from a global major for the construction of its world class IT Park in Bengaluru. The scope of work includes civil, structural, mechanical, electrical, plumbing, high-end finishes, data center and other associated works. The project is scheduled to be completed in 30 months.

Under Power Transmission & Distribution Business, it has bagged an international order worth Rs 2.58 billion. Larsen & Toubro (Oman) LLC, a subsidiary of the company, has bagged an order valued OMR 16.026 million from Oman Electricity Transmission Company (OETC) for the construction of new 132kV Grid Stations at Dil Abdusalam (DAS) and Suwaiq on an engineering, construction and procurement basis.

As of the September 2015 quarter, L&T had a total of Rs 983 billion of debt. Meanwhile, it had only about Rs 482 billion of equity financing. In our recent edition of The 5 Minute WrapUp Premium, we have talked about the equity and debt numbers of L&T's various business lines (Subscription Required) and whether the company is being too aggressive with leverage (Subscription Required).

Oil and Gas stocks were in demand today as the sector finished up by 1% at the closing bell. Reliance Industries and Cairn India were the top gainers. Oil and Natural Gas Corporation Limited (ONGC) has reportedly decided to put all its fresh capital expansion plans at the Krishna Godavari basin (KG D2 Block) on hold. This is likely to hit the company's 2018 production deadline.

Reportedly, the company will invest in new projects and the current investments are likely to go on. The development of holding back on investments is credited to low crude prices and lack of clarity on premium gas pricing. Earlier, ONGC's plan was to invest Rs 530 billion and start production by 2018. The company was to peak output of 77 barrels per day along with 16-17 mmsmcd of gas.

Meanwhile, ONGC Videsh Ltd has refinanced a US$1.775 billion loan at lower rates to save nearly US$37 million in interest payout, besides extending the repayment tenure. The company had raised Euro 525 million through a 7-year bond issue in July 2014. Alongside, it also raised US$750 million by selling dollar denominated bonds of 5-year tenure and another US$750 million selling 10-year bonds.

The oil price has been falling and is now below US$30 per barrel. Data from the Petroleum Planning and Analysis Cell (PPAC) shows that the price of the Indian basket of crude oil as on December 11, 2015, was at US$ 35.72 per barrel. In the last one month, the price of oil has fallen by around 16%. This has affected the merchandise exports in the country . During the first six months of the year, the total exports fell by 16.4% as compared to the same period in 2014. Between July and November 2015, exports have fallen by 19.7%, compared to July and November 2014.

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