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Sensex Ends Day in Red; Realty Stocks Top Losers
Mon, 19 Mar Closing

After opening the day in green share markets in India  witnessed choppy trading activity and ended the day well below the dotted line. Sectoral indices too ended the day in red, with stocks in the realty sector and stocks in the metal sector leading the losses.

At the closing bell, the BSE Sensex stood lower by 253 points (down 0.8%) and the NSE Nifty closed down by 100 points (down 1%). The BSE Mid Cap index ended the day down 1.6%, while the BSE Small Cap index ended the day down by 2%.

Asian stock markets finished mixed. As of the most recent closing prices, the Hang Seng was flat and the Shanghai Composite was up by 0.3%. The Nikkei 225 was down by 0.9%. Meanwhile, European markets, were trading on a negative note. The FTSE 100 was down by 1.3%, The DAX, was down by 0.9% while the CAC 40 was up by 0.7%.

The rupee was trading at Rs 65.06 against the US$ in the afternoon session. Oil prices were trading at US$ 65.91 at the time of writing.

In news from stocks in the automobiles sector. Tata Motors share price is in focus today as the company delivered electric hybrid buses.

Tata Motors handed over 25 hybrid electric buses to Mumbai's planning authority Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA).

The buses, under the Starbus brand are developed indigenously by the company and run on dual power, combining diesel and electric motor.

The bus is powered by a new-generation Bharat Stage IV i.e. BS-IV diesel engine, while the electric motor is powered by 'Prismatic Cell', which is said to be the most advanced Lithium Ion batteries in the automotive industry.

Apart from these, Tata Motors is also fulfilling an order for electric vehicles (EVs) to Energy Efficiency Services Ltd. (EESL) as part of a plan to equip the government with EVs to curb emissions.

Currently, electric vehicle sales are low in India, rising 37.5% to 22,000 units in the year ended 31 March 2016 from 16,000 in 2014-15. Only 2,000 of these were cars and other four-wheelers, according to automobile lobby group Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (Siam).

The government wants to see 6 million electric and hybrid vehicles on Indian roads by 2020 under the National Electric Mobility Mission Plan 2020.

Is India Prepared to Meet the Ambitious Battery Car Target?


The government is targeting to have all cars propelled by electric engine by 2030. The target is more daunting than in many advanced countries.

According to the industry, the 2030 target would require eight to ten times the global stock of such vehicles. India would need to sell more than 10 million electric cars in 2030, compared to 5,000 electric vehicles India had on the road in 2016.

As you can see from the chart above, India is barely visible compared to other developed countries when it comes to battery cars.

As an article in Business Standard suggests, such a big jump in scale for the auto industry in 13 years seems difficult. The basic infrastructure is missing. There are not enough charging stations. For this massive shift, the charging stations will need to be as ubiquitous as petrol pumps.

Another issue is the price of the lithium ion battery, which constitutes 30% to 40% of the cost of the car. For this plan to succeed, the price of the battery needs to come down.

The auto industry is already facing regulatory headwinds. The shift from BS-IV emission norms to BS-VI has been two years ahead of schedule without an intermediate stage. The government, if it is serious about such ambitious targets, should offer the necessary infrastructure support and do its bit for a smooth transition.

Tata Motors share price ended the day down by 1.3%.

Moving on to news from stocks in the PSU sector. BHEL share price was in focus today after it commissioned a hydroproject.

The state run company said it has commissioned first unit of 110 MW of the Kishanganga hydro-electric project of NHPC in Jammu and Kashmir.

In all, the project consists of two other units which are on advanced stages of commissioning. The total project will generate over 1,350 million units of clean electricity.

BHEL was entrusted with execution of the Electro-Mechanical (E&M) package for the project comprising design, manufacture, supply, installation and commissioning of Vertical Shaft Pelton Turbines and matching synchronous Generators, Controls & Monitoring (SCADA) System along with electrical and mechanical auxiliaries.

The equipment was supplied from BHEL's manufacturing units at Bhopal, Jhansi, Rudrapur and Bengaluru while the execution of works on site was carried out by the company's Power Sector Northern Region division and Transmission Business Group.

In J&K, BHEL has so far commissioned 31 Hydro sets with a cumulative capacity of 1,257 MW.

BHEL share price ended the day down by 2.9%.

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