Barring Malaysia (down 0.4%) and South Korea (down 0.1%), all major Asian stock markets have opened the day on a firm note with stock markets in Japan (up 1%) and Hong Kong (up 1.3%) leading the gains. The Indian share markets have opened the day on a positive note. Barring FMCG and banking indices, all sectoral indices have opened on a firm note with the IT and consumer durables indices leading the gains.
The benchmark Indian indices have opened the day with new all-time highs. The Sensex today is up by around 101 points (0.4%), while the NSE-Nifty is up by about 24 points (0.3%). Mid and small cap stocks are also trading in the green with the BSE Mid Cap and BSE Small Cap indices up by around 0.55% each. The rupee is currently trading at Rs 60.60 to the US dollar.
Auto sector stocks have mainly opened the day in the green with Escorts and Ashok Leyland leading the gains. As per a leading financial daily, leading two-wheeler maker Hero MotoCorp reported its volume numbers for the month of August recently wherein it witnessed a 21.43% jump on a YoY basis. Total sales volumes stood at 558,609 units during the month. During the same month last year, sales volumes stood at 459,996 units. As per the company, this growth in volumes sets up a platform for the upcoming festive season. The company is planning to take advantage of the same by making as many as 10 new launches which includes new models as well as upgrades and modifications.
Mining stocks have mainly opened the day on a firm note with Sesa Sterlite and MOIL Ltd leading the gains. As per a leading financial daily, environmental norms have been eased further in an attempt to simplify the process of obtaining environmental clearance for coal mining projects. The Ministry of Environment & Forests has given its consent to eliminate public hearings for capacity increase of coal mines that have an annual capacity of 20 million tonnes. This decision was taken after the Ministry of Coal put forth a request. Following the Ministry of Environment & Forests' decision, the Expert Appraisal Committee can exempt public hearing for one time capacity expansion proposals of existing coal mines with a 20 million tonnes per annum capacity. The ceiling on additional production has been kept at 6 million tonne per annum, if the transportation of additional coal is done by means of conveyor or rail transport.
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