The benchmark indices in the Indian stock market tanked in the last two hours of trade, presumably on the back of key rate hikes announcement by RBI. All the sectoral indices are trading in the red with auto, banking and realty leading the pack of losers.
The BSE-Sensex is down by 313 points while NSE-Nifty is trading 95 points below yesterday's closing. BSE Midcap and BSE Small cap indices are also down by 1.3% and 1.2% respectively. The rupee is trading at 44.38 to the US dollar.
Most of the Cement stocks are trading in the red with India Cements and ACC leading the pack of losers. However, the stocks of Birla Corporation and Ultratech are getting some buying interests. The Indian cement producers, facing cost and capacity pressure, have got relief from the Meteorological Department's initial forecast of a normal monsoon this year. After an all-time high food grain production in the 2010-11 crop year, a follow on good harvest is expected to boost construction of pucca houses in rural and semi-urban centres, thus generating business for cement manufacturers in the country. The demand of cement will improve further on back of UPA government's plans to build 10 million houses under the Rajiv Awas Yojana for the slum population.
Most of the Auto stocks are trading in the red with Mahindra & Mahindra, Tata Motors and Maruti Suzuki leading the pack of losers. However, Eicher Motors is trading in the green. As per a leading financial daily, Mahindra and Mahindra Ltd. has announced an overall sales growth of 23 % YoY for the month of April 2011.
The company has registered a sales growth of 21% in the domestic market. That translates into a sale of 30,349 units in the domestic market this April (versus sales of 25,037 units sold in the April 2010).The passenger vehicles of the company including the utility vehicles registered an increase of 20% to 15,459 units this month (versus 12,923 units April 2010).The company's exports surged to 1,741 vehicles during the month (versus 856 units in April 2010).
In a recent interview, the management said that it expects raw material prices to soften. However, it could go for a rate hike if that does not happen. The management expects growth rate between 15% and 20% for tractors and around 20% growth rate for autos this year.
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