Indian share markets fell deeper in red in the post noon trading session. Majority of the sectoral indices are trading negative with metal, realty and FMCG leading the losses. Oil and gas and IT are among the few stocks trading in green.
BSE- Sensex is down 70 points and NSE- Nifty is trading down 24 points. While BSE Mid Cap is trading down marginally, BSE Small Cap index is trading up by 0.1%. The rupee is trading at 54.8 to the US dollar.
Majority of the mining stocks are trading in red with Ashapura Minechem and Sesa Goa being the biggest losers. According to a leading financial daily, National Mineral Development Corporation (NMDC) has cut the price of its common grade iron ore by almost 6%. This price cut is expected to lower inputs costs for domestic steelmakers like JSW Steel and Essar Steel that had to rely on costly imports due to government clamp-down on illegal iron-ore mining. The country imported 9 m tonnes of iron-ore during April-November 2012 with overall imports expected to reach 15 m tonnes by the end of FY13. NMDC stock is currently up by 0.8%.
Most of the energy stocks are trading positive with Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd (HPCL) and Chennai Petroleum being the biggest gainers. As per a leading financial daily, Petronet LNG's Rs 42 bn LNG terminal at Kochi would be commissioned by the end of March 2013. The work on the 5 million tonne per annum capacity terminal is almost complete and the final testing on some equipment is going on. The Kochi terminal is the company's second LNG terminal after Dahej in Gujarat and is expected to operate at around 20% of its capacity, initially. In the second phase of the project, pipeline would be laid upto Bangalore by Gas Authority Of India Ltd. (GAIL) for which the construction will take at least a year. Petronet LNG stock is presently 0.6% up.
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