After opening in the red, the Indian Indices have remained below the dotted line in the morning session. The selling pressure was the highest in oil and gas and consumer durables stocks.
The BSE-Sensex is down 65 points and the NSE-Nifty is trading down 20 points. The BSE Mid Cap index is trading up 0.3% and the BSE Small Cap index is trading up 0.1%. The Rupee is trading at 62.64 to the US Dollar.
Most Information Technology (IT) stocks are trading positive today. HCL Tech and Tech Mahindra are among the stocks leading the gainers. According to a leading business daily, India's third largest software company, Wipro has won a large contract from the Indian Air Force (IAF). The contract, with a size of over Rs 9 bn, is for electronic monitoring and automation of the IAF's fleet management. The main objective of the IAF in awarding this contract is to replace its old system of manual log entries with a completely paperless web-based system. This will enable the IAF to respond quickly to any war-like situation. It will also help to significantly reduce costs. TCS and CMC were also among the bidders for this multi-year contract. The project which has been named the 'e-Maintenance Management System' will be rolled out in phases, with the first phase covering only the most critical installations of the IAF. Subsequently the new system will cover all of its 170 locations.
Power stocks are trading mixed today. Indiabulls Power and CESC Ltd are leading the gainers. KSK Energy and Torrent Power are leading the losers. Power Grid Corporation of India Ltd (PGCIL)'s follow-on public offer (FPO) has received an approval from the cabinet. The offer includes raising of fresh equity of 13% and a divestment of 4% stake by the government. PGCIL will issue fresh 601.8 m shares through the offer. The government will sell 185 m shares under the issue. Although the FPO price is not fixed yet, at the current price of about Rs 90-95; it is expected to raise close to Rs 73 bn. PGCIL will be using the FPO amount for its capital expenditure plan for the next two years while the government will use its share of proceeds to meet its divestment target. This would be the second follow-on offer from PGCIL, which sold a 10% stake in November 2010 at a price of Rs 90 per share.
For information on how to pick stocks that have the potential to deliver big returns, download our special report now!
Read the latest Market Commentary
Equitymaster requests your view! Post a comment on "Oil & gas stocks drag down markets". Click here!
Comments are moderated by Equitymaster, in accordance with the Terms of Use, and may not appear
on this article until they have been reviewed and deemed appropriate for posting.
In the meantime, you may want to share this article with your friends!