Indian equity markets continued to trade weak over the previous two hours of trade. Oil and gas and IT stocks witnessed maximum buying interest while metal and realty stocks witnessed maximum selling pressure.
The Sensex today is down by 43 points, while the NSE- Nifty today is down by 16 points. BSE Mid Cap index and the BSE Small Cap index are up by 0.17% and 0.22% respectively. The rupee is trading at 54.83 to the US dollar.
Power stocks are trading in the green led by Tata Power and Torrent Power. According to a leading financial daily, National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC) will place work orders to import 7 m tonnes of additional coal in January. This will take the total imported fuel by the power producer to 16.4 m tonnes in the current financial year. Earlier this fiscal, NTPC placed order for the import of 9 m tonnes of coal. The additional supplies are expected to start this month. In FY12, the public sector company imported 12 m tonnes of coal. NTPC will procure 7 m tonnes on 'For Power Station Basis.' The concept means the supplier would be responsible for timely supply of coal, and payment would be made based on quality and quantity of coal received at the power plant. The supplier would be selected through bidding. The bids have been invited on October 9, 2012.
Auto stocks are trading weak led by Tube Investments and Force Motors. According to a leading financial daily, Maruti Suzuki's new Rs 40 bn Gujarat plant is expected to be commissioned by the middle of 2015. The plant at Bechraji in Mehsana district of the state will manufacture 250,000 cars annually. This will be in addition to 17.5 lakh units manufactured presently in the other two plants at Manesar and Gurgaon. With this, the total annual production of the country's largest car maker would go upto 20 lakh units per annum. We may note here that the auto company earlier this year faced labour troubles at its Manesar plant which affected production of cars.
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