Indian share markets slip in red

Wed, 4 Jul 01:30 pm

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Led by persistent selling across heavyweights, Indian share markets fell below the dotted line in the last two trading hours. Majority of the sectoral indices are trading in the negative with IT, Oil and gas and FMCG stocks being the biggest losers. Metal, realty and auto indices are among the handful that has managed to stay afloat.

The BSE-Sensex is trading down 13 points and NSE-Nifty is trading down 10 points. However, BSE Mid Cap index and BSE Small Cap index are trading up by 0.6% and 0.5% respectively. The rupee is trading at 54.7 to the US dollar.

Majority of the energy stocks are trading in the negative with Essar Oil and MRPL being the biggest losers and Petronet LNG and Indraprastha Gas being the biggest gainers. As per a leading financial daily, Petronet LNG has announced that its 5 m tonnes per annum Kochi terminal will be commissioned by year-end. But the terminal will operate at full capacity only from 2014 onwards due to delay in linking the terminal to Bangalore and Mangalore. Land issues are causing delay in establishing connectivity with the end-users in these two cities.

Power stocks are trading mixed with Nevyeli Lignite trading the strongest and National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC) trading the weakest. The management of Tata Power recently shared the company's plan with a leading business daily. The private power major aims at having total generation capacity of 26,000 megawatts (MW) by 2020. Of this, about one-fourth is expected to come from clean energy sources. At the same time, the company plans on tying up for securing about 50 m tonnes of coal a year. The company's management also shared its plans on setting up power plants abroad and has targeted seven countries for the same. These include South Africa and other Sub-Saharan Africa countries, Indonesia, Vietnam, Turkey and West Asia. It is believed that the company is doing a feasibility study of the market dynamics and scouting for opportunities in the same. The company is currently developing a 600 MW hydropower project in Nepal and a 114 MW hydropower project in Bhutan. After winning the 240 MW geothermal project in Indonesia in partnership with Australian company Origin Energy, Tata Power is bidding for a 10% stake in Australian based company, Geodynamics.

The management also discussed its plans on retail distribution. The company is believed to be aiming towards expanding its network in Mumbai. Tata Power is believed to have crossed the mark of 260,000 customers. In addition, its Delhi subsidiary Tata Power Delhi Distribution Ltd is continuing to perform well. The company is believed to be open to distribution opportunities in other states as well. The stock is marginally down.