Indian stock market indices continue to trade firm over the last two hours of trade on the back of buying interest in heavyweights. All sectoral indices are in the green led by banking and technology stocks.
The BSE- Sensex is up by 447 points and NSE- Nifty is up by 132 points. BSE Midcap and BSE Small cap indices are up by 1.9% and 1.7% respectively. The rupee is trading at 45.86 to the US dollar.
Energy stocks are trading in the green led by Reliance Industries Ltd and Essar Oil. As per a leading financial daily, state run energy firms - IOC (Indian Oil Corp), GAIL (Gas Authority of India Ltd) and Indraprastha Gas Ltd. have alleged that private companies in city gas distribution (CGD) space have suppressed input costs and have bid aggressively to get licences to supply natural gas. These licenses would allow the private companies to distribute gas to households and automobiles. The regulatory board wants to expand natural gas usage to 300 cities, out of which GAIL wants to set up networks in 200 cities. The above mentioned state run firms have enjoyed a monopolistic position in the CGD space till now. They are now facing tough competition from the domestic and foreign firms such as BG group and the Adani group. In order to stall the private companies' plans to enter CGD, the state run firms have approached the Petroleum and Natural Gas Regulatory Board (PNGRB) regarding the unfair bidding.
GAIL has also questioned the awarding of pipeline projects to other companies. These developments have upset PNGRB's plans for next round of bids.
Realty stocks are trading in the green as well with IVRCL Ltd. and Welspun Projects Ltd. leading the sectoral gains. As per a leading financial daily, DLF Ltd is in talks with financial services firm IDFC to sell its 70% stake in DLF IT Park in Noida. The company's move to sell its 70% stake is a part of its strategy to exit non core areas. This move will help the company reduce its debt which stood at Rs 215 bn as on 30th June, 2011. As per industry sources, the company is looking to raise around Rs 9.5 bn through the sale. Recently, the company was slapped with a penalty of Rs 6.3 bn by the competition regulator for abusing its dominant market position.
The DLF IT park in Noida has a total of 1.3 million square feet (sq ft) space with Computer Sciences Corporation as the marquee tenant. The building is yet to reach full occupancy.
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