Asian stock markets have opened the day on a mixed note with the markets in Japan (up 0.4%) and South Korea (up 0.4%) leading the gains. However, markets in Taiwan (down 1%) and Hong Kong (down 0.4%) are trading in the red. The Indian share markets have opened the day on a positive note. Barring healthcare and banking indices, most sectoral indices have opened on a firm note with consumer durables and IT indices leading the gains.
The Sensex today is up by around 63 points (0.2%), while the NSE-Nifty is down by about 8 points (0.1%). Mid and small cap stocks are also trading in the green with the BSE Mid Cap and BSE Small Cap indices up by around 0.4% and 0.6% respectively. The rupee is currently trading at Rs 60.91 to the US dollar.
Public sector bank stocks have mainly opened the day in the red with Bank of Baroda and Punjab and Sind Bank leading the losses. However, Indian Bank and Dena Bank were trading in the red. As per a leading financial daily, India's leading public sector lender State Bank of India has taken the lead in the flagship Jan Dhan Yojana by opening over 30 lakh accounts so far. As of September 8, SBI has opened about 21.16 lakh accounts in rural areas and 8.8 lakh accounts in urban areas. The second highest account additions have been by Punjab National Bank (PNB). PNB opened about 20.24 lakh accounts. The other major additions were by Canara Bank (16.21 lakh accounts), Central Bank of India (15.98 lakh accounts) and Bank of Baroda (14.22 lakh account). However, it is worth noting that major taken together opened just 5.8 lakh accounts. This is significantly lower than even regional rural banks which have opened 49.28 lakh accounts.
Retail sector stocks have opened the day on a firm note with Provogue India and Shoppers Stop leading with significant gains. As per a leading financial daily, Tata Group firm Titan Company has stated that it has commissioned a new manufacturing plant in Tamil Nadu for its watch division, entailing an investment of over Rs 750 million. The facility which is located at Kallapalayam in Coimbatore will manufacture high-end stainless steel cases meeting global standards of quality. It must be noted that the new plant has been set up with technical assistance from SEIKO EPSON, Japan. The initial capacity of the facility is 1 million cases per annum. It is scalable to 2 million per annum and has an employment potential of 250 people.
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