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Mid & small caps bear the brunt
Tue, 16 Sep Closing

After trading in the negative territory during the post noon trading session, the Indian equity markets failed to recoup losses and closed in the red. While the BSE Sensex today closed lower by 324 points, the NSE-Nifty closed lower by 109 points. Midcaps and Smallcaps too closed on a weak note today. While the BSE Mid Cap index closed lower by 3.4%, the BSE Small Cap index was down by 4%. Realty and power stocks were the biggest losers today.

As regards global markets, Asian indices also closed weak today with the exception of Korea. The rupee was trading at Rs 61.08 to the dollar at the time of writing.

Aluminum stocks ended the day on a weak note today. Hindalco has decided to postpone its share sale plan to institutional investors worth Rs 50 bn. As per news reports, uncertainty over access to cheap raw materials was one of the reasons for postponing the sale which was supposed take place this month. The company needs access to coal for its smelting process. However, after the Supreme Court declared some coal mines as illegal, Hindalco's access to coal may get restricted as the company was part-owner in one of the mines whose license has been cancelled. As a result, the company would have to obtain coal from outside which may not be cost effective. As such, citing raw material availability concerns, it has decided to postpone its share sale plan.

Energy stocks closed on a weak note today. IOC and HPCL were the biggest losers. Diesel prices were awaiting a cut of Rs 0.35 per litre for the first time in 5 years as global crude prices have declined. However, the government has decided to hold on to the rates amidst a pending decision on de-regulation. With a fall in global crude prices, the under recovery situation is improving. In fact, in the second half of September we may well an over-recovery. In other words, profit on sale of diesel as against a loss. As such, a cut in the prices was imminent. However, the government has decided to wait for the formal decision on de-regulation before affecting this cut.

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