Indian share markets firm up

Fri, 23 Aug 01:30 pm

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Backed by sustained buying in index heavy-weights, Indian share markets picked up momentum in the post-noon trading session. Majority of the sectoral indices are trading in the green with consumer durables, oil and gas and banking stocks being the biggest gainers. Only realty, metal and pharma stocks are trading in the red.

BSE-Sensex is up 126 points and NSE-Nifty is up by 34 points. Both BSE Mid Cap and BSE Small Cap indices are trading up by 0.7% each. The rupee is trading at 64.6 to the US dollar.

Majority of the auto stocks are trading in the green, with Maharashtra Scooters and Eicher Motors being the major gainers. As per a leading financial daily, Hero MotoCorp has forayed into the Latin American market. The company launched its Hero range of two wheelers in Peru which include brands across segments such as scooter Pleasure, Passion Pro, Glamour, Hunk, Thriller, Karizma ZMR and Karizma R. Recently, Hero MotoCorp announced its global vision to be achieved by 2020. Under this, the company wants to surpass 100 m units in cumulative production and achieve annual sales of 12 m units. The company is also targeting sales reach in more than 50 countries and wants to set up more than 20 manufacturing and assembly plants across the globe. It may be noted that the past several quarters have been tough for Hero Motocorp as a subdued environment in the auto industry including two wheelers has been a drag on performance. For FY14, the company expects the motorcycle industry to grow not more than 7-8% after considering poor volume growth in the first quarter and assuming a pickup in volumes led by good monsoons and the festival season in subsequent quarters. Hero MotoCorp's stock is currently trading marginally up.

Most of the energy Stocks are trading in the green, with Oil and Natural Gas Corporation Ltd. (ONGC) and Indraprastha Gas being the leading gainers. As per a leading financial daily, Petronet LNG (PLL) has received the first LNG cargo of 1.23 lakh cubic meters from RasGas of Qatar at its Kochi terminal. However, only 10% of the terminal capacity will be utilized as Gas Authority of India Ltd (GAIL) has still not laid down crucial pipelines. As per PLL, GAIL has completed only phase-1 of the pipeline network covering only 44 km and this has a reach limited only to the industrial areas in Kochi. GAIL still has to complete a major part of the pipeline network of more than 900 km connecting to northern part of Kerala and states of Tamil Nadu and Karnataka. GAIL has said that regulatory issues at the state level have hampered the laying of pipelines. PLL will start commercial supply of gas from the Kochi terminal next week. Both GAIL and Petronet LNG stocks are down by around 1% each.