Markets up on capital goods stocks

Tue, 7 Sep 01:30 pm

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Indian indices continued to trade range bound, retaining their opening gains in the previous two hours of trade. Stocks from capital goods and metal space are seeing buying interest while stocks from the realty and banking space are seeing a sell off.

The BSE-Sensex is trading up by 76 points while NSE-Nifty is trading 22 point above the dotted line. BSE-Midcap index is up by 0.36% while BSE-Smallcap index is trading 1% above yesterday's closing. The rupee is trading at 46.73 to the US dollar.

Banking stocks are trading mixed with Federal Bank and Kotak Mahindra Bank trading firm and Bank of India and Yes Bank trading weak. As per a leading finance daily, State Bank of India is expected to extend its teaser home loan scheme beyond 30th September. This decision comes on the back of the strong demand seen for this product. It may be noted that SBI offers home loans at 8% for first year, at 9% for second and third and 1.75% above the base rate from fourth year for loans up to Rs 5 m. Currently SBI's base rate stands at 7.5% per annum. While the final decision on the extension of this loan product will be taken later this month, in case of an extension, it will directly hurt HDFC. HDFC has in the last week raised its retail prime lending rate by 0.5%. This has resulted in its floating home loan rates increasing by 0.5%. Following the rise in HDFC's benchmark rate, its fresh home loans upto Rs 3 m are now available at 9.25% a year, loans between Rs 3 m and Rs 5 m at 9.5% and loans above Rs 5 m at 9.75% per annum.

Oil & gas stocks are trading mixed with Aban Offshore and Essar Oil trading firm while Reliance Natural Gas and Cairn India are trading weak. As per a leading financial daily, Reliance Industries Limited (RIL) is looking to make a full buyout in shale gas in the near future. It may be noted that RIL has already got into 3 shale gas joint ventures with US firms this year. Potential targets for RIL include Fort Worth, Texas-headquartered Quicksilver Resources Inc, Denver, Colorado-based Enduring Resources and companies with assets in the Horn River shale formation in Canada. Texas-based EOG Resources is also believed to be on RIL's radar. Shale gas accounts for between 15 % and 20 % of U.S. gas production currently and is expected to quadruple in coming years, sparking off a scramble to acquire shale gas assets. Potential competitors for RIL in acquiring shale assets include Royal Dutch Shell, Total, Mitsui, Chevron and Encana.