Metal stocks lead markets higher

Thu, 19 Aug 09:30 am

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The Indian markets have started today's session on a positive note. The benchmark indices opened above the breakeven mark and have remained firmly in the positive territory. Other key Asian markets are in the green with Japan (up 1%) leading the pack of gainers. The US markets closed higher by 0.1% yesterday.

Currently in India, heavyweights from the BSE-Sensex are trading strong with metal and FMCG majors finding investors' favour. The BSE-Sensex is trading higher by around 85 points, while the NSE-Nifty is up by about 21 points. Buying interest is also being witnessed among mid and small cap stocks as the BSE-Midcap and BSE-Smallcap indices are trading higher by 0.5% and 0.6% respectively. The rupee is trading at 46.58 to the US dollar.

Steel stocks have opened the day on a positive note. Gainers here include JSW Steel and SAIL. As per a leading business daily, Tata Steel plans to utilise its 3,200 acres of land lying idle at Gopalpur, Orissa. It will play the role of the anchor tenant for an industrial park which will come up on the site. Two projects are set to be launched- a 50,000 tonne per annum (tpa) ferroalloys plant and 40,000 tpa bar mill. The two projects will cost about Rs 10 bn. This will be the third ferroalloys plant of Tata Steel in Orissa. The company is operating two ferroalloys plants at Bamanipal and Athgarh with capacities of 50,000 tpa each. The Gopalpur industrial park will be suitable for investors in the field of steel and steel downstream, speciality and bulk chemicals and engineering. The total infrastructure cost for the industrial park is estimated to be Rs 50 bn. It may be noted Tata Steel had acquired 3,200 acres in mid 1990s for setting up of a 10 m tonne steel plant at Gopalpur. However, it shelved the project and the land was lying vacant.

Pharma stocks have opened the day on a strong note. Gainers here include Abbott India and Novartis. As per a leading business daily, Aventis Pharma expects to launch a prostate cancer drug by next year for which it is currently in the process of getting approval from the drug controller general of India. The company has already received approval from the USFDA for the drug Cabazitaxel. In addition, nearly half of its 15 to 20 molecules in the pipeline have reached the third phase of development. These molecules could be for therapeutic areas like diabetes, thrombosis and other types of cancer besides cardiovascular diseases.