Indian equity markets recover

Fri, 14 Mar Closing

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After facing maximum selling pressure during the day, the markets recovered in the last hour of trading session. Backed by gains in heavyweights, the Indian benchmark indices closed the day on a positive note. Stocks from the capital goods and realty sectors posted healthy gains today. The BSE Small Cap and the BSE Mid Cap indices; however; were down by 0.3% and 0.2% respectively. The BSE Sensex closed higher by 35 points and the NSE-Nifty was up by 11 points.

On the global front, most of the Asian indices closed the day on a pessimistic note and European indices too opened the day on a weak note. The rupee was trading at Rs 61.17 to the dollar at the time of writing.

As per a leading financial daily, the Economic Advisory Council has pegged the Indian economic growth at 5.2% for the final March quarter of FY14. Higher farm output growth is expected to boost the economic growth for the current fiscal. For the following fiscal, the economic growth is expected to pick up to 5.5-6%. Contraction in industrial output and investment slowdown has dragged India's economic growth. For the December quarter the economic growth was reported at 4.7% levels which stood lower than expectations. This has made it tougher for the economy to achieve the government's growth target of 4.9% for the current fiscal.

Barring few such as Eastern Silk Ind., Alok Industries, Page Industries, stocks from the Textiles sector closed the day on a weak note with Vardhman Holdings and Bombay Dyeing leading the pack of losers.

As per a leading business daily, textile major Raymond is looking to overhaul its operations, as it is looking to cut its borrowing levels and sell stakes in group companies. Further, the company is also looking to launch a ready-to-wear line. As part of the latter, Raymond is believed to offer a wide range of shirts and shirting fabric, trousers, suits and accessories under the Raymond brand , besides suiting fabrics. The brands that the company has under its ready-to-wear umbrella include Park Avenue, Parx and ColorPlus, which cater to various segments of the market. As for the sale in group businesses, the Hindu Business Line has reported that the company is looking to sell stake in its engineering arm JK Files as well as its fast moving consumer goods business JK Helene Curtis. Currently, the company's net debt stands at Rs 15.5 bn. It may be noted that earlier this year, the company also discussed about its plans to either sell or jointly develop its 125-acre plot of land in Thane. However, the company has been talking about this development for a while now.