After a negative opening, Indian stock markets continued to trade deep in the red in the last two trading hours. All the sectoral indices are trading negative with realty, banking and FMCG stocks being the biggest losers.
The BSE-Sensex is trading down 246 points and NSE-Nifty is trading down 94 points. Both BSE Mid cap index and BSE Small cap indices are trading down by 1.5% and 1.3%, respectively. The rupee is trading at 53.3 to the US dollar.
Majority of the large IT stocks are trading negative with Info Edge and Infosys being the biggest losers. As per a leading financial daily, IT major Infosys filed 50% higher number of patent applications in FY12 on a year-on-year basis. The company was granted 47 patents by the United States Patent and Trademark Office out of the total 143 filings in FY12. Infosys, also, jacked up its R&D spends by nearly 100% to US$ 140 m during the year. The company plans to double the strength of its engineers in the Product Research and Development Centre in India to 1,000 by 2014. Infosys in its guidance note has said that it is working on a new model wherein products and platforms would contribute 30% to its revenues. Reportedly, the company is working on 10-12 products in supply chain, healthcare and other areas.
Most of the mining stocks are trading negative with Gujarat NRE Coke and MMTC being the biggest losers. According to a leading financial daily, Coal India Ltd (CIL) has included some clauses in the fuel supply agreements (FSAs) to make sure it avoids penal provisions in case of a default in supplies. The company has been forced into signing FSAs with the power developers. However, the power developers have refused to sign FSAs with these insertions. The new draft FSA provides a mere 0.01% penalty in case of supply shortfalls. Besides, it proposes reasons like breakdown of equipment, failure of contractors to deploy machinery or spare parts, issues regarding transportation of coal, shortage of explosives and even power cuts to be good enough to release CIL from liability to perform its obligations under the pact. Hardly a quarter of a total of 48 FSAs that were supposed to be signed for power plants commissioned till December 2011 have been inked till now. CIL stock is down 0.8%.
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 "Indian stock markets remain depressed". 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!