FMCG, banking stocks lead gainers

Tue, 7 May 01:30 pm

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Backed by consistent buying activity across indices Indian stock markets continued to trade in green in post noon trading session. Majority of sectoral indices were trading in green. Stocks from FMCG and banking stocks witnessed maximum buying interest.

BSE-Sensex is up by 155 points and NSE-Nifty is trading up by 50 point. While BSE Mid Cap is trading up by 0.65%, BSE Small Cap index is trading up by 0.52%. The rupee is trading at 54.14 to the US dollar.

Automobile stocks are trading mixed. Tata Motors and Escorts are witnessing maximum buying interest while Mahindra and Mahindra (M&M)and Eicher Motors stocks are witnessing selling pressures. As per the financial daily, Maruti Suzuki rivals Honda, Ford and Hyndai are targeting launch of new car models which would compete with Maruti's three models viz Swift, Swift Dzire and Ertiga. Reportedly, these three models together account for an estimated 50% of the Maruti's profits. Honda's model Honda amaze is already competing with Maruti's Swift Dzire. Honda Amaze was launched recently with an aggressive pricing. In the first month of its launch Honda sold approx 4852 units of this model. Similarly, Hyundai through its i10 model is targeting market share of Maruti's Swift in the premium hatchback segment. In upcoming period, Ford Ecosport and Chevrolet Enjoy MPV are looking to grab the market share of Suzuki Ertiga. The stock of Maruti was down by 0.09%

Most of Banks PSU stocks are trading in the green with Canara Bank and Union Bank being the major gainers. As per a leading financial daily, State Bank of India (SBI) country's largest public sector bank has initiated an investigative audit on the back of allegations of money laundering levied by online portal Cobrapost. In the sting operation conducted by Cobrapost during March this year, it showed how private banks like HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank and Axis Bank were helping their customers to convert black money into white money. Recently, Cobrapost through its latest expose Red spider 2 has also revealed that the money laundering was taking place in much larger scale which also involved various top state owned banks and insurance companies being part of such activity. Reportedly, as per Krishna Kumar Managing director of SBI said that it has zero tolerance for money laundering. SBI has started investigation on five instances quoted by cobrapost. The bank will be taking strict action if anything wrong is proved through these investigations. The names exposed by Cobrapost on the scam include Life Insurance Corporation, State Bank of India, Bank of Baroda, Punjab National Bank, Canara Bank, Tata AIG, Dhanlaxmi Bank, Indian Bank, IDBI Bank, Yes Bank, Federal Bank, Reliance Capital, and Birla Sunlife.