Indian equity markets are trading continued to trade strong during the post noon trading session. Barring stocks from consumer durables, healthcare and power sectors; all the sectoral indices are trading in green. The most noticeable upward movement is witnessed in the stocks of oil and gas and realty sectors.
BSE-Sensex is up by 213 points and NSE-Nifty is trading up by 57 points. While BSE Mid Cap is trading down by 0.43%, BSE Small Cap index is trading down by 0.24%. The rupee is trading at 59.65 to the US dollar.
Majority of the energy stocks are trading in the green with Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd. (BPCL) and Oil and Natural Gas Corporation Ltd. (ONGC) being the biggest gainers. However, Chennai Petroleum and Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals (MRPL) are among the few stocks trading in the red. As per a leading financial daily, Indraprastha Gas Ltd (IGL) has hiked price of compressed natural gas (CNG) used in vehicles by about Rs 2/Kg. The company has also raised the price of piped natural gas (PNG) provided to households by around Re 1 per standard cubic metre (scm). The company's profit margins are already under pressure due to higher share and cost of imported gas. For FY13, the raw material costs went up to 65.3% from 61.1% in FY12 (both as a % of sales). Therefore its operating margin contracted to 22.5% from 25.2% in the preceding year. The sharp depreciation in rupee has further added to its input costs. This has prompted the company to increase price of both CNG and PNG. IGL stock is currently up 0.8%.
Most of the Indian pharma stocks are trading in green with Panacea Biotech and Aurobindo pharma are leading among gainers, As per financial daily, the supreme court has dismissed the PIL filed against Ranbaxy on the adulterated drug charges. The PIL was filed against Ranbaxy for illegally manufacturing and selling of adulterated drugs. As per the petition, Ranbaxy's case in US case was quoted and was alleged that the company case in the US where Ranbaxy USA (subsidiary of Ranbaxy) admitted to selling substandard and adulterated drugs. The petition asked for sealing of Ranbaxy's manufacturing facilities viz Poanta and Dewas. Ranbaxy was trading up by 1.7%
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