After opening in the red, the Indian Indices have continued the downward trend in the last two hours of trading. Selling is witnessed in IT and metal stocks; while Engineering and Oil & Gas are leading the gainers.
The BSE-Sensex is trading down 90 points and the NSE-Nifty is trading down 28 points. The BSE Mid Cap index is trading up 0.5% and the BSE Small Cap index is trading up 0.4% today. The rupee is trading at 60.05 to the US dollar.
Automobile stocks are trading mixed today. Escorts and Eicher Motors Ltd are leading the gainers. TVS Motors and Bajaj Auto are leading the losers. According to a survey by JD Power; an American market research firm, the Indian tractor market is going to grow at a compounded annual growth rate of 8-9% for the next five years. As per the research, lower penetration levels will be the main catalysts for growth. Also, the growth will lead to increase in demand for foreign tractors. A key finding of the survey is that at least 80% of the farmers conveyed that they will consider buying a different brand of tractor than they currently owned. This will boost sales of foreign manufacturers such as Kubota Case New Holland, AGCO and John Deere. In turn, it may also pose stiff competition to domestic manufacturers such as Mahindra & Mahindra, Escorts Ltd and Tata Motors.
FMCG stocks are trading mixed today. Bata India and Marico Ltd are leading the gainers. Emami Ltd and Godrej Consumer are leading the losers. Dabur India Ltd. has planned a capex of Rs 3.5 bn on capacity expansion for FY15. The company expects the consumer market to come out of the downtrend in the next two quarters. The capex will be Dabur's largest manufacturing investment in a single financial year and is double fold as compared to its average annual capex of Rs 1.5-2 bn. The company aims to use the capex to focus on innovation and expansion of business across categories and geographies. Dabur is trading flat today.
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