Indian equity markets continued to trade weak over the last two hours of trade. Auto and FMCG stocks witnessed maximum buying interest while Realty and IT stocks witnessed maximum selling pressure.
The Sensex today is down by 158 points, while the NSE-Nifty today is down by 55 points. BSE Mid Cap index and the BSE Small Cap index are down by 1.28% and 1.57% respectively. The rupee is trading at 51.65 to the US dollar.
Steel stocks are trading in the red led by Steel Authority of India Limited (SAIL) and Tata Steel. According to a leading financial daily, Tata Steel is planning to invest GBP 400 m in its European unit during the current financial year. This is despite the slowdown in demand for steel in the European continent. The company is investing to improve the performance of the operations in Europe and in areas which can provide quick returns. The investments in Tata Steel Europe will be partly funded from internal resources. The company is hoping that the steps being taken by governments in Euro-zone economies to mitigate the financial crisis may help in improving the demand in the near term.
Food stocks are trading in the green. Britannia and Godfrey Phillips are the biggest gainers while Tata Coffee and Lakshmi Energy are the biggest losers. According to a leading financial daily, Britannia Industries may be closing in on a deal to sell its six-acre prime real estate land in Bangalore for about Rs 5.5 bn by the year-end. The land, which houses Britannia's corporate head-office and residential quarters, has been on the block since December 2011. Many property developers and few other corporate houses have looked at how this prime land can be leveraged. Piramal Group, Bharti-Walmart are among the few prominent players who have explored this land parcel. Bombay Realty, the realty arm of the Wadia Group, which owns Britannia Industries, is also understood to be exploring ways on how they can work on this parcel. This is the second time that Britannia is trying to unlock this land after its attempt in 2008 fell through.
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