Indian share markets remain buoyant

Thu, 27 Sep 01:30 pm

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Indian share markets continued to hover well above the dotted line in the post-noon trading session. Barring oil & gas and IT stocks, all the sectoral indices are trading positive with consumer durable, FMCG and capital goods stocks leading the pack of gainers.

BSE-Sensex is up 65 points and NSE-Nifty is trading up 9 points. BSE Mid Cap is up 0.8% and BSE Small Cap index is up 0.5%. The rupee is trading at 53.2 to the US dollar.

Majority of the food stocks are trading positive with United Spirits and Tata Coffee leading the pack of gainers. As per a leading financial daily, Britannia, which sells more than 40% of its products in rural India, is tying up with non-governmental organizations (NGO's) and state governments to provide micro-nutrient enriched products to school children. The company feels that the school children in rural India are suffering from anemia because of low iron intake in their diets. As per the company, 50% of its products that include biscuits, bread and dairy products are already fortified with micro-nutrients. Britannia has partnered with NGO's like Navjyoti India Foundation and Naandi Foundation to launch program across different schools in India. The company has also partnered with World Food Program and Mid-day meal scheme in Chennai and Puducherry to supply fortified biscuits to school children. Britannia has been facing stiff completion in the biscuit segment from existing as well as new players. The company has changed its strategy towards differentiated offerings on the health plank in both biscuits and snack foods. With this initiative, the company wants to extend the health tag to its mass segment that particularly cater to the bottom of the pyramid. Britannia stock is currently down 1.1%.

All the auto stocks are trading positive led by Tube Investments and Mahindar & Mahindra. As per a leading business daily, two-wheeler major Hero Motocorp has tied up with a company based in Nepal to sell its products there. It would be supplying and selling its entire product range which would be available through 70 outlets by the distributor NGM. The company plans to increase this reach to 100 in one year. It may be noted that after ending its joint venture with Honda Motors towards the end of 2010, Hero Motocorp plans to aggressively expand its export segment and is targeting to generate 10% of volumes from the segment by the end of FY16. Earlier this month, the company entered the Sri Lankan market. Further, it is believed that the company is likely to enter at least 50 countries, most of which would be situated in Africa and Central America, by the end of this fiscal.