The major Asian stock markets have opened the day on a weak note with stock market in Hong Kong (down 0.3%) and Japan (down 0.15%) being the leading losers in the pack. US and European stock markets too had closed on a negative note yesterday.
Back home, the Indian markets have opened the trading session on a flat note today. BSE Sensex is trading higher by 20 points (up 0.07%) while NSE-Nifty is trading lower by 3 points (down 0.03%). BSE Mid Cap and BSE Small Cap index indices are trading marginally, both up by 0.04% and 0.07% respectively. Among the sectoral indices, auto and banking are the leading losers while engineering stocks are leading the gains. The rupee is trading at 63.58 per US dollar.
Stocks in the Metals sector have opened the day on a mixed note. As per financial times, the retail sales growth for top steel makers in India has witnessed a boost for financial year gone by. The retail sales volume for JSW Steel for fiscal 2015, grew by 8% YoY as against the company's overall volume growth of 2% YoY. For Tata Steel Ltd, the branded products, retail and solutions volume grew 10% YoY against 3% YoY overall sales volume growth in India. For the same period, retail volume of state-owned Steel Authority of India Ltd (SAIL) grew 2% YoY against a 3% YoY decline in its overall steel volume.
Engineering stocks have also opened the day on a mixed note. As per a leading financial daily, engineering major Larsen & Toubro (L&T) has bagged an order worth Rs 27 bn from state run Oil & Natural Gas Corporation Ltd (ONGC) as a part of its expansion plan. This offshore contract for the Bassein Development project will be executed by L&T Hydrocarbon Engineering Ltd, a wholly owned subsidiary of Larsen & Toubro. The project which is a part of ONGC's strategy to enhance the field life is scheduled to be completed by December 2017. The cumulative production from the field till 2027-28 is pegged at 19.56 BCM of gas, 1.97 million cubic meter of condensate and 1.83 MMT of oil.
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