With indices in the Indian stock markets making no further attempt at rising, markets closed the day on a negative note. While BSE-Sensex edged lower by around 150 points (down 0.9%), fall on the NSE-Nifty came in at around 50 points. BSE Mid cap and BSE Small cap indices weren't spared either as both of them lost in the region of 1% each. More than three stocks declined for every one that closed the day in the positive on the Sensex.
Most Asian stocks were also covered in red today. Europe though is trading in the green currently. The rupee was placed at Rs 53.4 to the dollar at the time of writing.
With today's fall, the market is effectively flat for the week now. The fall seems to have been triggered by poor performance of the rupee that, if reports are to be believed, fell to a fresh four month low against the dollar. Further, with employment reports from Europe and US not coming encouraging, it gave investors one more reason to exit their counters. Thus, with data both locally as well as internationally looking gloomy, further correction from the current levels cannot be ruled out.
Auto stocks came under heavy selling pressure today with biggest losers being TVS Motors and Hero Moto Corp. The latter lost to the tune of 8% today. This was despite the news that the company has hiked the prices of its products by upto Rs 1,000 in order to offset rising input costs. Apparently, the hike has not helped calm investor nerves as they are worried over the issue of slow ramp up in company's R&D and higher competition from its erstwhile partner, Honda Ltd. Most worrisome is the impending launch of Honda's new 110 cc bike as it will be in direct competition with Hero's bread and butter model Splendor.
HCL Tech, one of India's most improved IT companies, has entered into an agreement with Siemens PLM software, a business unit of Siemens Industry Automation Division, for the Indian market. As per reports, the partnership will facilitate delivery of advanced, highly flexible and scalable PLM solutions across industry verticals with specific focus onto Aerospace & Defense, Automotive and Ancillary markets. The stock of HCL Tech however closed marginally lower today.
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