Indian stock markets indices are trading strong over the last two hours of trade on the back of sustained buying activity witnessed across index heavyweights. metal and realty stocks lead the rally.
The BSE-Sensex is up by 320 points, while the NSE-Nifty is up 94 points. BSE Mid cap index and the BSE Small cap index are up by 1.07% and 1.05% respectively. The rupee is trading at 53.25 to the US dollar.
Engineering stocks are trading in the green led by Punj Lloyd and BGR Energy. According to a leading financial daily, Larsen And Toubro's (L&T) construction division has secured new orders worth Rs 20.5 bn across various business segments during December 2011. The company's water and effluent treatment business has bagged two major orders aggregating worth Rs 12.6 bn. In the building and factories segment, a new order worth Rs 3.8 bn has been received from a reputed developer in Mumbai for the construction of 4 residential towers. Moreover, in the rail infrastructure segment, new orders including additional orders aggregating Rs 4 bn has been bagged from various clients. This includes a major order for the construction of a viaduct including electrical, signaling and telecommunication works between Villupurum-Virudhachalam-Ariyalur section from Rail Vikas Nigam (RVNL).
Mining stocks are trading strong led by Metals and Minerals Trading Corporation of India Ltd. (MMTC) and Coal India. According to a leading financial daily, Government of India (GOI) has raised export duty on iron ore lumps and fines to 30% from 20% as it seeks to conserve supplies for its domestic steel industry. This is good news for steel players like Tata steel and Jindal South-West Steel (JSW Steel) who depend to some extent on domestic iron ore supplies. Though the Government did not provide any rationale for the latest duty hike, exporters see the steel lobby's hand behind the move. The steel industry has been demanding a ban on iron ore exports for some time now in a move to conserve the raw material with huge capacity addition in the pipeline. Post the duty hike, iron ore exporters in India are expected to further lose market share in China, their key market, to global giants like Rio Tinto and BHP Billiton.
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