Engineering, software propel markets

Fri, 22 Jul 01:30 pm

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Indian stock market continued to trade firm due to buying interests in the index heavyweights over the last two hours of trade. All sectoral indices are trading firm except consumer durables. Stocks from software, capital goods, auto and oil & gas space are gaining the most while those from consumer durables space are trading weak.

The BSE-Sensex is up 275 points while NSE-Nifty is trading 84 points above yesterday's closing. The BSE Midcap and BSE Small cap indices are up by 1.0% and 0.7% respectively. The rupee is trading at 44.40 to the US dollar.

Engineering stocks have been trading mixed with Everest Kanto Cylinder, Thermax Ltd and Sanghvi Movers leading the pack of gainers. However, Praj Industries and Bharat Earth Movers Ltd (BEML) are trading weak. As per a leading financial daily, BHEL is looking at multi-modal transport options, including coastal shipping, to reduce the delivery time of boilers from its Tiruchirapalli unit in Tamil Nadu. The company is in talks with Karaikal Port in the union territory of Puducherry, to carry its equipment by sea and also with Indian Railways. It plans to unload its cargo at Karaikal Port and the port authorities will take care of loading and onward shipment and unloading at the destination.

As per the company management, BHEL is executing projects in the eastern region and would like to ship its heavy boilers and other items to Paradip (Orissa) or Haldia (West Bengal) ports. BHEL has started using railways to carry its boiler and its components booking 40 rakes to supply boilers and related items to its clients in north India. The cost thus incurred is just one third of road transport freight. It also results in shorter transport time of six days by rail versus 15 days by road. Regarding expansion, the management has said that the company's Tirumayam piping plant in Tamil Nadu, built at an outlay of around Rs.4 bn, will go on stream early next year. The capacity expansion at Trichy from 10,000 MW to 15,000 MW is in progress (at an outlay of Rs.2.8 bn) and is expected to be over by this December. The management targets to supply 850,000 tonne of fabricated steel components this year, up from 630,000 tonne achieved last fiscal. It is looking at supplying 40 percent of the order book during the first half of the year and the balance in the second half. The stock of the company is trading firm.

Most of the energy stocks have been trading in the green in the last two hours of the trade led by Gujarat State Petronet, Petronet LNG and Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals Ltd (MRPL). However, IOCL (Indian Oil Corporation) is trading weak. As per a leading financial daily, Hindustan Petroleum Corporation (HPCL) has said that it will not get oil supplies from Iran in August with Tehran. It has insisted on first resolving a seven-month-old payment row . It has been confirmed that HPCL has sought an additional one million barrels of oil for August from top producer Saudi Aramco. As per the management, the corporation will draw more from other suppliers with whom term deals are in place and it has made adequate arrangements to replace Iranian volumes for August. Since December, India and Iran have been struggling to find ways for New Delhi to pay for imports of 400,000 barrels per day or 12 percent of its oil demand after the Reserve Bank of India halted a clearing mechanism under U.S. pressure. Going forward, HPCL would seek additional supplies from United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Iraq and Saudi Arabia to meet its oil needs. The stock of the company is trading up.