After a weak opening, Indian stock markets turned positive for a brief period, but slipped below the dotted line in the last two trading hours as selling intensified. Barring FMCG and capital goods, all the sectoral indices are trading negative. Consumer durables, realty and banking stocks are the biggest losers.
The BSE-Sensex is trading down 73 points and NSE-Nifty is trading down 24 points. Both BSE Mid cap index and BSE Small cap indices are down 0.4% and 0.6% respectively. The rupee is trading at 50.9 to the US dollar.
Auto stocks are trading mixed with Tube Investments and Escorts being the biggest gainers and Maharashtra Scooters and Eicher Motor being the biggest losers. As per a leading financial daily, Hero MotoCorp is focusing on developing multiple technological tie-ups after it ended its collaboration with Honda, a year ago. As per the company, complete shift to the Hero brand will take 6-12 months. The company recently entered an agreement with US-based Eric Buell Racing (EBR) having a presence in high-end racing bikes. The company wants to adapt EBR's technology for mid-segment bikes beyond 200 cc which are likely to be launched by 2013; while bikes on complete EBR platform would be launched by 2013-14. Hero Motocorp does not want to limit its technological partnership to a single company but is looking for 3-4 tie-ups with technical experts. The company is working with AVL & Ricardo for engines and wants to seek technological support for styling of bikes and for small engines in the 100-125 cc range. The stock is down 0.8%.
Majority of the Indian pharma stocks have been trading positive with Strides Acrolab and Elder Pharma trading the strongest. As per a leading financial daily, Dr Reddy's will be going for a joint venture (JV) with Japan-based Fujifilm. The JV will set up a manufacturing facility to develop and produce generic drugs for the Japanese market and is expected to benefit from Fujifilm's advanced quality control technologies and DRL's expertise in cost competitive production technologies for active pharmaceutical ingredients and formulations. It will take 2-3 years for the company to come out with products. However, the company will have to obtain product approvals from Japansese authorities before the launch. A definitive agreement regarding this is expected to be signed by June 2012. The stakes of Fujifilm and DRL will be 51% and 49% respectively as per the agreement. DRL stock is up 2.3%.
For information on how to pick stocks that have the potential to deliver big returns, download our special report now!
Read the latest Market Commentary
Equitymaster requests your view! Post a comment on "Volatility mars market indices". Click here!
Comments are moderated by Equitymaster, in accordance with the Terms of Use, and may not appear
on this article until they have been reviewed and deemed appropriate for posting.
In the meantime, you may want to share this article with your friends!