Indian share markets inch upwards

Fri, 23 Aug 11:30 am

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After opening in red Indian share markets have recovered a bit in the last two hours of trade. The sectoral indices are trading mixed with Consumer Durables and Auto leading the indices in green; while Teck and Metal continue to be in red.

BSE-Sensex is trading up by 16 points and NSE-Nifty is trading almost flat. BSE Mid Cap is trading up 0.59% and BSE Small Cap index is trading up 0.55%. The rupee is trading at 64.6 to the US dollar at the time of writing.

Most of the Engineering stocks are trading positive today. EMCO and BHEL are leading the gainers; while Everest Kanto and Punj Lloyd are leading the losers. Larsen and Toubro (L&T) in its AGM which was held yesterday stated that it is planning to form a new subsidiary 'L&T Technology Services'. The company plans to buy the engineering business of its subsidiary- L&T Infotech. After it transfers the engineering business of L&T InfoTech to its E&C division, the subsidiary will become a technology services company.

The management also reaffirmed that it will try its best to maintain its guidance of 20% increase in order inflow and 15 % growth in sales for the current financial year. L&T stock is trading up 0.34%.

Metal stocks are trading mixed today. Gujarat Mineral development and Jindal Steel and Power are leading the gainers while Hindustan Zinc and National Mineral Development Corporation (NMDC) are among the losers. The Finance Ministry has asked ministry of mines to speed up the Cabinet note on the stake sale in Hindustan Zinc (HZL) and Bharat Aluminium Company (BALCO). It has also proposed that stake sale should be done via the auction route. HZL and BALCO are erstwhile public sector firms that were sold to mining major Vedanta Resources during 2001-03. The government has a residual stake of 29.5% in Hindustan Zinc and 49% in BALCO. The divestment program could bring in over Rs 130 bn to the government. The government may have to obtain a no objection certificate from Vedanta for the auction sale.

The long pending stake sale of government's share in Hindustan Zinc (HZL) got delayed as the mines ministry's legal advisor had suggested that the ministry revisit all divestment related issues of HZL. As per a deal between the Government and Vedanta, the Anil Agarwal led company had the option to buy back the government's 29.5% stake in the firm. Vedanta had first offered Rs 172.75 bn for buying out remaining stake of the government in both Hindustan Zinc and BALCO. Vedanta had valued government's 29.5% stake at Rs 154.93 bn in Hindustan Zinc. However the company's board later sweetened the offer by up to 15% to about Rs 186.06 bn. As per the government plan, it will auction the shares and Vedanta will be given an opportunity to match it. Hindustan Zinc is trading lower by 2.5%