FMCG stocks buck the trend

Mon, 23 May 11:30 am

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Indian stock market indices have been trading in the negative over the last two hours of trade on the back of persistent selling activity across index heavyweights. Barring FMCG, stocks across sectors are trading in the red.

The BSE-Sensex is down by 200 points while NSE-Nifty is trading 67 points below Friday's closing. BSE Midcap and BSE Small cap indices are down by 0.9% and 0.7% respectively. The rupee is trading at 45.20 to the US dollar.

FMCG stocks are trading strong led by Camlin Limited and Godrej Consumers. As per a leading financial daily, FMCG major Dabur is planning to bring the Turkish brand "Hobby" in India. It wants to launch personal care products by the brand like body wash, shampoos and soaps in the high end segment. Hobby and New Era are brands by Hobi Kozmetic. It may be recollected that Dabur had acquired this Turkish company last year. The products of Hobi Kozmetic are sold across 35 countries including Middle East and North Africa. Dabur had made this US$ 3.2 bn acquisition with an aim to strengthen its position in these markets. Hobby products are expected to be available in Indian markets by September this year. These will be imported from the Turkey plant of Hobi Kozmetic.

Energy stocks are trading weak led by MRPL and Petronet LNG. As per a leading financial daily Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd (HPCL) is in talks with potential partners for its Rs 450 bn project. The proposed project is to be set up in the petroleum, chemical and petrochemical investment region (PCPIR) region near Visakhapatnam. HPCL's potential partners for this project include PSUs and Total of France. While HPCL has been allocated about 1,500 acres in the PCPIR by the Andhra Pradesh government, the company is looking for a partner willing to supply 50-60% of the feedstock. For this project, HPCL will be setting up a petrochemical facility of 15 mtpa capacity along with a 350 MW captive power plant. The company already has a petroleum refinery of 8.5 mtpa capacity near the proposed site. This is also expected to be increased to 15 mtpa with an investment of about Rs 100 bn. The proposed petrochemical complex will consist of a petrochemical project. This will include aromatics and olefin plants which will be used to produce value added products. Aromatics project for production of paraxylene, benzene and PTA will happen in a phased manner. Moreover a naphtha cracker for production of olefins (ethylene, propylene), and other downstream units are also planned for the project.