A dull start to the week

Mon, 8 Jun Closing

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   Pre-Open   

   09:30 am   

   01:30 pm   

Indian equity markets continued their losing streak amid weak global cues. Weakness in the benchmark index was visible from the morning session itself. While the BSE-Sensex closed lower by 245 points, the NSE-Nifty closed lower by 71 points. BSE Mid Cap and the BSE Small Cap too closed on a negative note and were down by 1.5% each. All the sectoral indices were trading significantly in the red with Consumer Durables and Metal stocks bearing the majority of the selling pressure.

Asian shares extended losses as Chinese imports and exports reported disappointing data for the seventh consecutive month raising concerns over a slowdown in the world's second largest economy. European markets are lower today with shares in France leading the decline. The CAC 40 is down 0.43% while Germany's DAX is off 0.41% and London's FTSE 100 is lower by 0.04%. The rupee was trading weak by 34 paise at 64.09 against the American dollar.

Shares of Mahindra & Mahindra's (M&M) ended the trading day in green after it was reported that the company's wholly owned subsidiary -Mahindra First Choice Services (MFCS)-multi-brand certified used car company, has projected total investment of almost Rs 1.25 bn in Uttar Pradesh (UP) over the next five years. While, the company would invest almost Rs 250 m for setting up spare part warehouses in UP, the remaining portion of Rs 1 bn investment would accrue from the franchisees operating the auto service workshops. Currently, it has 66 workshops across 30 odd cities, including four in UP at Noida, Greater Noida and Ghaziabad. By 2016, the company plans to open 30 new workshops in UP.

According to a leading financial daily, Kotak Mahindra Bank and ING Bank have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) where both institutions will cooperate and explore opportunities arising from cross border business, investment and trade flows across Belgium, Netherlands and Luxembourg, Western Europe, Eastern Europe, North America, Asia and Australia. Reportedly, the MoU covers an array of co-operation in areas such as trade finance, remittances and services related to Non-Resident Indians, Nostro and Vostro accounts, funding to counterparties' corporate relationships, fee-based products, direct banking and digital strategy, and cross-border debt capital markets and M&A. In November, Kotak Mahindra Bank and the former ING Vysya Bank announced the scheme of merger, where both Kotak Mahindra and ING expressed intent to explore areas of cooperation in cross border business. Effective April 1, 2015, ING Vysya Bank has merged with Kotak Mahindra Bank creating a Rs 2 trillion institution.