After remaining close to the dotted line in the first half, the Indian equity markets saw a sharp fall in final hours of trade selling activity increased in the frontline blue-chips. While the BSE Sensex today closed lower by 604 points, the NSE-Nifty plunged by 165 points. Midcaps and smallcaps too languished in the red. While the BSE Mid Cap index closed the day lower by 1.6%, the BSE Small Cap index closed the day lower by 1.2%. All sectoral indices finished the day on a negative note, with metal, banking and capital goods stocks being the top losers today.
Asian markets finished mixed as of the most recent closing prices. The Shanghai Composite gained 0.92% and the Hang Seng rose 0.08%. The Nikkei 225 lost 1.96%. European markets are trading lower today with shares in France off the most. The CAC 40 is down 2.48% while Germany's DAX is off 2.31% and London's FTSE 100 is lower by 2.16%. The rupee was trading strong at 65.62 against the US$ in the afternoon session.
According to a leading financial daily, Infosys has signed a 3-year agreement with TOMS to become its worldwide partner to maintain and develop its digital platform. The agreement will enable TOMS to streamline the management of its web-based properties and introduce automation technologies to lower overall support and development costs. The company has also bagged Rs 14 bn contract from GST Network (GST-N) to build the IT system so that the goods and services tax (GST) regime is rolled out on schedule. The company is supposed to lay the IT-backbone to implement the GST regime and once the backbone is ready, the company will operate it for five years.
Stocks from the oil and gas sector languished in red with Gujarat Gas and Reliance Industries bearing majority of the brunt. Crude oil production rose in August 2015 to 319,300 ton, a rise of 5.6% on year-on-year basis, as per data compiled by Ministry of Petroleum & Natural Gas. The increase was however marginal as compared to July 2015 production even as the yield was more than the target. The natural gas production, on the other hand, was lower than the target. The production in August 2015, however, improved slightly to 2,836 million cubic metre as against 2,736 million cubic metre in August 2014 and 2,619 million cubic metre in July 2015.
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