After opening firm, the Indian Markets continued to trade positively. Sectoral indices are trading on an encouraging note with stocks from the banking, capital goods and auto sectors leading the gains.
The BSE-Sensex is trading up 389 points (up 1.5%) and the NSE-Nifty is trading up 112 points (up 1.4%). The S&P BSE Midcap index is trading up by 1.3% while the S&P BSE Smallcap index is trading up 1.2%. The rupee is trading at 65.25 to the US$.
Automobile stocks are trading positively with Force Motors and Tata Motors leading the gains. As per an article in Economic Times, the board of Maruti Suzuki India has approved a contract manufacturing agreement which is proposed to be signed with an arm of parent Suzuki Motor Corp (SMC) for the upcoming plant in Gujarat. The agreement is for a period of up to 30 years and will implement the Gujarat project, subject to regulatory and minority shareholder approvals. The Gujarat plant will have a total installed annually capacity of 7.5 lakh units. It's expected to be operational by May 2017. On a separate note, Suzuki Motor Gujarat (SMG), under the new agreement, will operate on a no-profit and no-loss basis, manufacture and sell the products to Maruti in consideration for the price of the products in accordance with the order from Maruti. We had highlighted this issue as a serious corporate governance concern in an edition of The 5 Minute WrapUp. The stock of Maruti Suzuki is trading down by about 3.8%.
Stocks in the energy space are also trading firm with gains led by Essar Oil and Gulf Oil Lubricants. As per a leading financial daily, state-run Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) is planning to seek government support for its US$ 6 billion deep-water project in the KG basin. The company decided this after it was convinced that the oil and gas prices might not rise in a hurry. Furthermore, the company is also reworking its field development plan to trim capital spending and boost output to make the project work at the prevailing oil prices. Due to this, the company is changing its budget estimates and aiming to bring down oil production cost by US$ 10. ONGC's production cost is about US$ 60 per barrel currently. On similar lines, a target has also been set to reduce gas production cost by US$ 1-2 from US$ 6-7 a unit presently. The stock of ONGC is trading up about 0.6%.
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