Oil stocks fizzle over gas hike verdict

Thu, 26 Jun Closing

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After trading weak during the post noon trading session, the Indian equity markets failed to recoup losses and ended the day in the red. While the BSE-Sensex today closed lower by 251 points, the NSE-Nifty closed lower by 76 points. Even the Smallcaps and Midcaps closed lower with both the BSE Mid Cap and BSE Small Cap indices recording losses of 0.3% each. oil and gas and Realty stocks were the biggest losers today. Oil & Gas stocks suffered the most due to an expected delay in gas price hike announced by the government.

As regards global markets, all Asian indices closed on a strong note today. The rupee was trading at Rs 60.1 to the dollar at the time of writing.

Food and Tobacco stocks closed the day on a mixed note. Golden Tobbaco and Nestle Ltd were among the leading gainers, while United Spirits and Britannia were at the receiving end. As per a leading financial daily, Nestle is working on launching variants of its Maggi brand in the Indian market. The company is working on plans to launch oat noodles and various such healthy alternatives. Reportedly, the said initiative comes on the back of fall in the market share of Maggi noodles as the competition has intensified. Maggi brand dominated 90% market share in the noodles segment three years ago, against current market share of 70%. In order to address its shrinking market share, the company is looking for new variety of launches. Even the company's wheat flour and multi gram noodles launched few years back have not been able to witness significant traction. It will be interesting to see how well Nestle is able to penetrate in the health segment, as competition continues to intensify from various players.

Given the immense competition should one invest in food and tobacco sector? What would be the best sector to invest in given the current scenario and looking at the next 3-4 year period? Share your views on Club Equitymaster.

Engineering stocks closed the day on a mixed note. While Sanghvi Movers and TRF Ltd were among the leading gainers Emco and BEML Ltd were at the receiving end. The stock of Crompton Greaves gained traction earlier today after the company along with its consortium partners got selected for an offshore wind project in the Netherlands. The order size is in excess of Euro 150 m. The project work shall start in second quarter of this fiscal and end by 2016. The scope of work includes design, delivery and installation of 2 high voltage offshore substations and 1 high voltage onshore substation. With this project the company has further strengthened its presence in European markets.