Barring Japan (up 0.7%), all major Asian stock markets have opened the day on a weak note with Hong Kong (down 1.8%) and China (down 1.4%) leading the losses. The Indian share markets have also opened the day on a negative note. Stocks in the auto and capital goods space are leading the losses. However, consumer durables and information technology stocks are trading firm.
The Sensex today is down by around 62 points (0.3%), while the NSE-Nifty is down by around 20 point (0.3%). However, mid and small cap stocks are trading in the green with the BSE Mid Cap and BSE Small Cap indices up by around 0.2% and 0.1% respectively. The rupee is currently trading at Rs 61.80 to the US dollar.
PSU Bank stocks have mainly opened the day on a weak note with Oriental Bank of Commerce, Canara Bank, Bank of India, Allahabad Bank and Union Bank of India leading the losses. As per a leading financial daily, leading public sector lender State Bank of India (SBI) has announced that it plans to raise Rs 20 bn from bonds. The executive committee of the bank's central board has granted approval for the allotment of Basel III compliant Tier 2 bonds. The bonds will carry a coupon of 9.69%. They tenure of the bonds will be 120 months (10 year bullet). The bonds would be issued by way of private placement.
Mining stocks have opened the day on a weak note with National Mineral Development Corporation (NMDC), Coal India Ltd (CIL) and Moil Ltd leading the losses. As per a leading financial daily, state-run coal mining giant Coal India has missed its production and sales target for the nine month period ended December 2013 (9MFY14). The company had set a production target of 335 million tonnes for the April-December 2013 period, but the output fell short by 15 million tonnes. On the other hand, the company fell short on its sales target of 354 million tonnes for the same period by 13 million tonnes. As per the company, the production was adversely impacted by the strong heat-wave conditions during summer and heavy monsoon rains. The other factors that hit production were workers' strike, impact of Cyclone Phailin as well as law and order problems in certain areas. The company is likely to miss its annual production target for the financial year 2013-14 by 17-18 million tonnes.
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