Mid, small caps lead the gains

Fri, 20 Jun 11:30 am

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The Indian stock markets are trading marginally higher led by sustained buying activity among the index heavy weights during the previous two hours of trade. The mid and small capitalization stocks are leading the gains. Among the sectors, consumer durables and energy stocks are leading the pack of gainers, while pharma stocks are witnessing the selling pressures.

The BSE-Sensex is trading up by 30 points and the NSE-Nifty is trading up by 9 points. The BSE Mid Cap index is trading up 0.4% and the BSE Small Cap index is trading up 0.2% today. The rupee is trading at 60.01 to the US dollar.

Steel stocks are trading mixed. While Tata Sponge is trading firm, Maharashtra Seamless is trading lower. As per a leading business daily, the government owned SAIL's mine seems to be under trouble over the misuse of forest land. As such, the government's forest advisory committee has issued a warning letter over the possibility of forest land being diverted for non-forest purposes at SAIL's Bolani iron ore mines in Odisha. The company's Bolani iron ore mine has 5.5 mtpa (million tonnes per annum) capacity, whose mining lease has recently been renewed for 20 years. According to the committee report, the company has been using forest land within the lease area for processing, storage and transportation of iron ore raised without waiting for the stage II approval. However, as per the company's internal scrutiny and investigation there has been no diversion in case of forest land. However, the impact of this may not be the severe as it has sufficient iron ore inventories in its other mines. SAIL is trading marginally lower today.

Pharma stocks are trading mixed. Natco Pharma is leading the pack of gainers, while Sun Pharma and Ranbaxy are trailing weak. As per a leading business daily, the merger clearances between Sun Pharma and Ranbaxy might get delayed as it still waits all regulatory hurdles. The merger between the companies that was announced on April 6th is still at the preliminary stage with SEBI and Competition Commission of India (CCI). As per CCI the approval might be delayed as both companies earlier has been in a competition. As such it might require them for a detail evaluation and investigation in the deal. Ideally, CCI takes about 30 days for merger and acquisitions decision, though it can be up to 210 days from the application date. Sun Pharma is concerned with the deal clearances, as unless it is approved they can't officially intervene in Ranbaxy's plant and take corrective measures for pending issues with US FDA.