Indian stock markets traded in the red during last two hours of trade after a weak opening. Among the sectoral indices, losses were seen in auto and IT stocks, while Private Sector Units (PSU) and capital goods stocks traded in the green.
The BSE-Sensex is trading down by 40 points and NSE-Nifty is trading down by 10 points. However, BSE Mid cap and BSE Small cap indices are trading up by 0.5% each. The rupee is trading at 53.13 to the US dollar.
Auto stocks are mainly trading in the green led by Mah Scooters and Tata Motors (Telco). As per a leading daily, one of India's top automobile companies, Ashok Leyland has reported an increase of 20% in its December 2011 sales. The sales for the month were 9,088 units as compared to 7,568 units in the same period last year. The growth in sales is mainly due to exceptional performance by its newly introduced light commercial vehicle "Dost". The sales of Dost are estimated to be 1,099 units in December 2011. Ashok Leyland is soon to introduce another commercial vehicle at the auto expo.
Energy stocks are trading in the red led by Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd. (BPCL) and Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd (HPCL). According to a leading financial daily, Reliance Industries Limited (RIL) has received an in principle approval from the government for its US$ 1.5 bn plan to develop new gas fields in the D6 block which is estimated to produce 10 mmscmd. Reliance and its partner British Petroleum (BP Plc) now have barely four months of the favourable weather window to start work on the project. They would be able to scrape through if vessels are available and can be deployed by February. BP had urged the government to approve the plan by the end of December to take advantage of the 4 month window of good weather in the deepwater of Krishna Godavari (KG) basin, failing which the project would have been delayed by another year as the deep sea region faces adverse weather for the rest of the year.
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