Languishing in the red

Tue, 4 Sep 01:30 pm

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The Indian equity markets continued to trade in the negative during the post noon trading session. Stocks from the technology, healthcare and capital goods sectors were amongst the to underperformers while those from the consumer durables and realty spaces founds the investors' interests.

The Sensex today is down by 30 points (down 0.2%), while the NSE-Nifty today is down by 10 points (down 0.2%). While the BSE Mid Cap Index is trading flat, the BSE Small Cap Index is trading down by about 0.1%. The rupee is trading at 55.4 to the US dollar.

Mining stocks are currently trading weak led by Ashapura Minechem, National Mineral Development Corpn and MOIL. A leading business daily has reported that Coal India (CIL) is planning to invest nearly Rs 594 bn as capital expenditure in the five-year period ending March 2017. This sum would include Rs 250 bn for overseas acquisitions. As per the Minister of State for coal Rs 244 bn is the capex for CIL. Apart from the amount left aside for the overseas acquisition, Rs 100 bn is for the development of coal blocks in Mozambique. The Minister added that as per the budget estimates, capex for the current year i.e. FY13, would be Rs 42.75 bn. This is mainly aimed towards coal production targets of about 464.10 m tonnes and dispatch targets of 470 m tonnes. In addition to this capex plan for the year, a provision of Rs 50 bn has been made towards acquisition of assets abroad and Rs 5 bn for development of coal block in Mozambique.

Auto stocks are currently trading mixed with Eicher Motor and Hero Motocorp trading weak while Ashok Leyland and Mahindra and Mahindra are leading the pack of gainers. Commercial vehicle manufacturer, Ashok Leyland (ALL) announced its sales volumes for the month of August 2012 recently. The company reported an over 30% YoY jump in sales during the month. In total, the company sold 9,432 units as compared to 7,232 units during the corresponding period last year. In the year till date i.e. April to August 2012 - the company sold a total of 46,704 units, which is higher by about 36% YoY. During the corresponding period last year, the sales volumes stood at 34,343 units. ALL's sales volumes growth fared better than its rival Tata Motors' commercial vehicle sales figures, which were higher by about 5% YoY to 45,142 units. While ALL's small CV (commercial vehicles) volumes reported a strong growth, the other CVs (medium and heavy) witnessed a decline on a year on year basis during the month.