Indian stock markets fall further

Fri, 9 Dec 01:30 pm

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The Indian stock market continued to trade weak on account of selling pressure in heavyweights during the last two hours of trade. Except for healthcare, all sectoral indices are trading in the red. Stocks from the auto, capital goods, realty and oil and gas are leading the pack of losers.

The BSE-Sensex is trading down by 318 points while NSE-Nifty is trading 94 points below yesterday's closing. The BSE Mid Cap and BSE Small Cap indices are trading down by 1.1% and 1.2% respectively. The rupee is trading at 52.23 to the US dollar.

Most of the software stocks have been trading weak with Moser Baer (India), Tech Mahindra, HCL Infosys and NIIT Ltd leading the pack of losers. However, CMC Ltd is trading in the green. As per a leading financial daily, HCL Technologies has stated that it aims for partnerships and acquisitions in Europe in the wake of current economic crisis. The crisis has made companies in the region candidates for acquisitions. The company would specifically target deals in Germany and France as it perceives continental Europe as a bigger growth area. It would further help the company establish a foothold in the region as its clients would prefer to work with a local vendor. The company had earlier bought UK based, Axon Software Group for US$ 658 m in 2008. The stock of the company is trading weak.

Most of the auto stocks have been trading in the red as well with Mahindra and Mahindra (M&M), Tata Motors and Maharashtra Scooters leading the pack of losers. As per a leading financial daily, Tata Motors is planning to replace its older light commercial vehicle (LCV) engines with new ones that have better fuel efficiencies and power. The company has decided so in order to maintain its dominant position in the segment in the wake of increasing competition with new players joining the older ones. Besides LCV, the company is also working on intermediate commercial vehicle (ICV) categories. As per the industry sources, the company has begun trials of the new engines and may showcase the same during the Auto Expo in Delhi scheduled to be held in January 2012. While it sources its medium and heavy commercial vehicle (M&HCV) engines from Cummins India, the LCV engines are being made in-house at its Pune plant. According to sources, the new LCV engines will have some input from Cummins India, but will be manufactured by Tata Motors solely. It expects the new 3-litre diesel engines to be launched within the next one year. The investment for upgradation of these engines is not expected to be too high.