Small Caps buck trend

Thu, 23 Jul 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 135 points, the NSE-Nifty closed lower by 47 points. BSE Mid Cap followed the broader market trend and closed with marginal losses, while BSE Small Cap bucked the trend and ended the day up by 0.5%. Healthcare and Banking stocks were the biggest losers today.

Asian markets finished broadly higher today with shares in China leading the region. The Shanghai Composite is up 2.43%, while Hong Kong's Hang Seng is up 0.46% and Japan's Nikkei 225 is up 0.44%. Meanwhile, European stocks also edged higher in early trade. The rupee was trading at 63.71 against the US$ in the post noon session.

According to a leading financial daily, BHEL has signed three Memorandum of Understandings (MoUs) with Kazakh companies. The first MoU was signed with JSC Samruk Energy, the national power utility of Kazakhstan having a major share in the Kazakh power sector. A second MoU towards comprehensive co-operation in the energy sector for design and construction of power plants and CHP (combined heat and power plants) was signed with KUS, one of the largest utility companies in the Kazakh power sector operating in power generation, heat production, transmission, sale of heat and electricity, etc. KUS is owned by the Ordabassy Group, total assets of the group being more than US$ 9 bn. The company and KAZNEX INVEST, the National Export and investment Agency of Kazakhstan, working under the Ministry of investments and Development of the Republic of Kazakhstan, also agreed on co-operation in attempting projects in Kazakhstan and a MoU to this effect was signed.

IT sector companies ended the trading day with moderate losses led by Tech Mahindra and Mphasis. According to a leading financial, Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) has decided to set up a 60,000 square feet research and development (R&D) centre at the International Institute of Information Technology (IIIT), in Hyderabad. The centre will perform research in Intelligent Systems, a critical area for carrying out sustainable innovation, in topics like natural language processing, robotics and cognitive sciences. The new facility will also act as a force multiplier in attracting projects and funding from other entities in the government and industry sectors, and coordinate research in related domains across different centers of IIIT.