Markets down in lacklustre session

Mon, 3 Sep Closing

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Indices in the equity market of India could not cross the break even line during the closing hours and consequently, closed the day in the red. While BSE-Sensex edged higher by around 45 points, NSE-Nifty closed the day only around 5 points lower. BSE Mid Cap and BSE Small Cap indices however bucked the trend and ended marginally higher. Nearly three stocks on the Sensex declined for every two the closed the day in the positive.

While Asian indices closed mostly in the positive, indices in Europe too are trading in the green currently. The rupee was trading at Rs 55.5 to the dollar at the time of writing.

With the parliament remaining non-functional and no major cues coming in from the west, investors chose to remain on the sidelines and this led to a rather lacklustre show today. Worse still, there seems to be no respite on the horizon what with most macroeconomic indicators not looking in the best of shape. However, attractive buys can still be had if investors chose to ignore the near term fundamentals and instead, focus on the long term and choose companies with a solid track record and strong management team at the helm.

Larsen & Toubro (L&T), one of India's largest engineering companies, is reported to have won new orders to the tune of Rs 10 bn across various business segments in the month of August 2012. This included orders worth Rs 3.8 bn from Delhi Metro Rail Corporation for the construction of elevated viaducts and stations and also a Rs 2 bn order from Rail Vikas Nigam for doubling the lines on one of the divisions of the North Western Railway. The company has also secured orders aggregating Rs 4.7 bn, which includes design and construction of IT campus in south India and construction of residential towers in Mumbai. At the end of June quarter FY12, the company's order book stood at Rs 1,531 bn, nearly 47% of which belonged to the infrastructure space. The stock closed nearly flat today.

State Bank of India (SBI), the PSU banking behemoth, also closed almost flat today. As per reports, the bank has inked a memorandum of understanding with Japan Bank of International Co operation. This has been done with the intention of helping small companies from Japan to do business in India. This step is likely to help Japanese Small and Medium Enterprises to meet their financial requirements from SBI. Besides, the Japanese government has also mandated JBIC to coordinate with regard to the needs of JSMEs.