Euro worries weigh down markets

Fri, 9 Dec 09:30 am

   Previous Close   

   Pre-Open   

   11:30 am   

   01:30 pm   

   Closing   

Asian stock markets have opened yet another day on a weak note. This is on account of the concerns that things may worsen in Eurozone region following the ECB's (European Central Bank) comments that they will not buy back bonds to increase liquidity in the region. Nearly all major markets are trading in the red. Stock markets in Hong Kong (down 2.5%), Korea (down 1.8%) and Japan (down 1.6%) are seeing heavy losses. The Indian stock market have opened the day on a negative note as well. Stocks in the realty and metal sectors are leading the losses.

The BSE-Sensex is down by around 296 points (1.8%), while the NSE-Nifty is down by around 81 points (1.6%). Mid cap and small cap stocks are trading in the negative zone as well, with the BSE Mid Cap and the BSE Small Cap indices down by about 1.2% and 1.0% respectively. The rupee is trading at 52.25 to the US dollar.

Auto stocks have opened the day on a weak note with Tata Motors, Bajaj Auto and Ashok Leyland leading the losses. The domestic car sales have increased to 171,000 cars in November this year which is 7% higher than the same period last year. This comes as a respite after nearly 4 months of sequential decrease in car sales numbers. The turnaround of trend is due to increased demand and the lower base effect of corresponding month last year. So far, high volumes passenger car segment de-grew by 3.5% in this financial year. The overall domestic auto demand is expected to be flattish in 2011-2012 on account of the increased interest rates as well as fuel costs. The industry has also faced problems of slowing demand and cost escalation due to fuel price hike and higher raw material cost respectively.

Mining stocks have opened the day on a weak note as well with Sesa Goa, Gujarat NRE Coke and National Mineral Dev Corp (NMDC) leading the losses. Coal India Ltd has lowered its production target for the current financial year from estimated 452 million tonne (mt) to 440 mt. The lowered targets have been attributed this to various reasons like heavy rainfall, strike and delays in the grant of forestry and environmental clearances to coal projects. The company had already seen a 5% drop in its production during the 6 month period ended September 2011. The company has already faced several problems related to environment clearances for its mines. In addition to his it also has faced concerns related to wage provisioning, rake availability as well as the draft mining bill. As the country's largest coal producer, Coal India accounts for nearly 80% of the total domestic production of coal. A miss in its target can create problems for the power sector who are already facing a severe coal shortage.