Metals lead gains

Mon, 27 Sep 11:30 am

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   09:30 am   

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After starting today's session on a robust note, Indian indices continued to trade strong. Other key Asian markets are all trading in the green with most major indices gaining 1% or more. Currently heavyweights in the Sensex are trading positive with stocks from the metals and consumer durables space finding investors' favour. However FMCG and IT stocks are trading flat.

Currently, the BSE-Sensex is trading up by around 150 points, while the NSE-Nifty is up by about 41 points. Some buying interest is witnessed amongst the mid and small cap stocks as the BSE-Midcap and BSE-Smallcap indices are trading up by 0.7% and 0.8% respectively. The rupee is trading at 45.11 to the US dollar.

Textile stocks are trading strong with Vardhaman Textiles and Arvind Mills leading the gains. However, Alok Industries is trading in the red. In a bid to expand its manufacturing facility, Arvind, one of India's largest denim manufacturer plans to set up a denim manufacturing plant in Bangladesh. For this purpose, the company plans to enter into a JV with Nitor Group of Bangladesh. Post the expansion, Arvind's manufacturing capacity will increase to 140 m meters. The company plans to invest US$ 60 mn over a period of three years in order to expand its manufacturing capacity. In the first phase, 10 m meters shall be set up over the next 12 months with an investment of US$ 25 m. Setting up of a plant in Bangladesh offers unique advantage in the form of tax breaks and wage differential.

The denim fabric manufactured in Bangladesh will cater to the requirements of European countries. Further, since the company already has an exposure to Bangladesh in the form of ready market the plant is expected to be profitable right from inception.

Construction stocks are trading mixed with Lok Housing and Construction and BL Kashyap leading the gains. Hindustan Construction Company (HCC) is also trading strong. Maytas Infra and Nagarjuna Construction are trading weak. HCC has announced that it has been awarded a Rs 6.6 bn contract from GMR (Badrinath) Hydro Power Generation. The project involves setting up a 300-MW hydel project in Uttarakhand. The project is a run-of-the-river development on the Alaknanda River at Badrinath, in Chamoli district of Uttarakhand. The project work is divided into two parts valued at Rs 2.7 bn and Rs 3.9 bn respectively.

HCC has constructed over 25% of India's hydel power generation capacity, according to company reports. This includes various projects in the challenging Himalayan region.