Indian share markets open in the red

Thu, 21 Nov 09:30 am

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   11:30 am   

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Barring Japan (up 1.6%), the major Asian stock markets have opened the day on a negative note with stock markets in Hong Kong (down 0.7%) and China (down 1.1%) leading the losses. The Indian share market indices have opened the day on a weak note as well. All sectoral indices have opened in the red with the stocks in the banking and realty space leading the losses.

The Sensex today is down by around 167 points (0.8%), while the NSE-Nifty is down by around 45 point (0.7%). Mid and small cap stocks have also opened in the red with the BSE Mid Cap and BSE Small Cap indices down by around 0.2% and 0.1% respectively. The rupee is currently trading at Rs 62.82 to the US dollar.

Steel stocks have opened the day mainly in the red with Tayo Rolls Ltd and Tata Steel Ltd leading the losses. As per a leading financial daily, Steel Authority of India Ltd (SAIL) is planning to raise the iron ore production capacity to 43 million tonnes per annum (MTPA) by 2015-16 in order to expand its steel making capacity. It normally takes 1.6 tonne of iron ore to produce one tonne of steel. Currently, the production capacity stands at 28 mtpa. It plans to invest around Rs 700 bn on its mines and steel plants for expansion. SAIL expects that with the ongoing and proposed expansion at the mines, it would be able to achieve 58 mtpa iron ore production by 2020. The company gets all its iron ore needs from captive sources. Of the various mines, the major boost in iron ore production is expected to come from the Rowghat mine, where the company plans to produce 12 mtpa iron ore. SAIL has already received all statutory clearances for the mine to develop. However, it has not been able to do much work so far at the ground level because of Maoists' threats.

Power stocks have opened the day mainly in the red with National Thermal Power Corporation Ltd (NTPC) and GVK Power and Infrastructure Ltd leading the losses. The country's largest power producer, NTPC has sought market regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India's (SEBI's) permission to raise up to Rs 17.5 bn through tax free bonds in the current financial year. As per a draft proposal filed with SEBI, the tax free secured redeemable non-convertible bonds will be of face value of Rs 1,000 each in the nature of debentures having tax benefits. The amount will be aggregating up to Rs 10 bn. Further, there will be an option to retain over subscription up to Rs 7.5 bn for issuance of additional bonds. The funds thus raised would be used for funding of capital expenditure and refinancing for meeting the debt requirement in on-going projects. Currently, NTPC has a capacity of nearly 42,000 MW. It aims to add about 14,000 MW to its total capacity by the end of 2016-17.