Indian share markets remain in red

Thu, 20 Mar 01:30 pm

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Indian share markets continued to languish below the dotted line in the post-noon trading session. Barring consumer durables, IT and pharma, all the sectoral indices are trading in the red. Capital goods, realty and banking stocks are the biggest losers.

BSE-Sensex is down 47 points and NSE-Nifty is trading 24 points down. BSE Mid Cap is trading marginally down whereas BSE Small Cap index is trading up by 0.3%. The rupee is trading at 61.1 to the US dollar.

Most of the engineering stocks are trading in the red with Crompton Greaves and Cummins being the biggest losers. As per a leading financial daily, Crompton Greaves (CG) has signed a contract with the state utility of Paraguay. As per the contract, the company will supply 19 single and three phase transformers amounting to a total of 683.3 MVA for the expansion of the country's 220 kV electricity network. CG has a global manufacturing capacity of 95,000 MVA comprising of 46,000 MVA in Asia, 31,000 MVA in Europe and 18,000 MVA in North America. The company will manufacture the transformers in India and will supply them in three lots. For the quarter ended December 2013, consolidated topline grew by about 12.8% YoY and strong performance at the operating level saw the company post a profit of Rs 620 m as compared to a loss of Rs 1,894 m in 3QFY13. Crompton Greaves stock is currently trading down 2.8%.

Power stocks are trading mixed today. While JSW Energy and KSK Energy are trading firm, Jaiprakash Power and PTC India are trading weak. As per a leading business daily, NTPC got some respite from the Delhi high court in respect of it challenging the CERC (Central Electricity Regulatory Commission) for the new 5 years tariff regulation that is expected to adversely impact the company's financials. The court has refused to grant a stay on NTPC's challenge but it has issued notice to CERC and has directed it to consider any representative for the matter. The matter would be held for the next hearing on 19th May.

The new CERC tariff would come into effect from 1st April 2014 and remain in force till 2019. The company has challenged the norm saying that CERC has acted arbitrarily on fixing the new norm. NTPC further states, that the norm would give benefits to the distribution companies which would help them write off their earlier losses at its expense. The company suffers a loss of about Rs 350 on every tonne of coal it consumes for electricity generation.