Indian share markets continued to remain range bound with negative bias in the post-noon trading session. Majority of the sectoral indices are trading in the red with healthcare and metal stocks being the biggest losers.
The BSE-Sensex is trading down 50 points and the NSE-Nifty is trading down 27 points. Meanwhile, the S&P BSE Midcap index is trading down by 1.2% and the S&P BSE Smallcap index is trading down by 0.7%. The rupee is trading at 66.40 to the US$.
Majority of the FMCG stocks are trading in the red with Godrej Consumer and United Spirits amongst the least favored stocks. According to a leading financial daily, ITC is reportedly planning to offer its distribution network to startups and smaller FMCG companies that want to go national for a fee to create a new revenue stream. This will cover all parts of the country through a network of around 4.3 million shops. The tobacco-FMCG-hospitality major is even open to the idea of acquiring stake in some of these smaller companies. The scrip of ITC was trading up by 0.2 % at the time of writing.
Stocks from the Oil & gas sector were trading with modest losses in the afternoon trade with IOC and GAIL witnessing majority of the selling activity. Shares of Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) were trading in the green after it was reported that the company's overseas investment subsidiary ONGC Videsh (OVL) has acquired a 15% stake in Vankor oil field in East Siberia, Russia's second-largest oil field from Rosneft for about $1.35 billion. The 15% stake will give OVL about 3.5 million tonnes of oil a year. Under the terms of the agreement, OVL will get two seats on the Board of Directors of Vankorneft - a Rosneft subsidiary that operates the Vankor field. Rosneft will retain full control of infrastructure of the Vankor cluster.
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