Indian stock markets have built on their early morning gains and are trading in the positive. Among sectoral indices, all except power and realty stocks are trading weak.
The BSE-Sensex is trading higher by 83 points and NSE-Nifty is trading down by 18 points. BSE Mid cap and BSE Small cap indices are up by 0.1% and 0.3% respectively. The rupee is trading at 53.58 to the US dollar.
Automobile stocks are trading in the green led by Bajaj Auto and Mahindra & Mahindra (M&M). As per a leading daily, Ashok Leyland has slashed the prices of its commercial vehicles by 1%. This comes after the government decided to provide some relief to the sector by reducing excise duty on truck chassis from 15% to 14%. This will be applicable on all vehicles whose bodies are installed outside the manufacturer's facility. The price reduction will come into effect immediately. We may note here that Ashok Leyland had earlier raised the prices of its vehicles by 5% after the excise duty hike announced in the Union budget. Energy stocks are trading in the red led by Essar Oil and Petronet LNG.
According to a leading financial daily, state run oil companies like Indian Oil Corporation (IOC), Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited (HPCL) and Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited (BPCL) may hike petrol prices by Rs 8 this month. With this, the oil companies want to recover their losses of Rs 50 bn. These companies also intend to follow a practice of revising these prices every fortnight. It may be noted that so far, the companies have not increased rates due to political pressure. However, with the budget session coming to an end this month, the state run oil companies want to raise petrol prices in order to recover their losses.
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