Energy, engg stocks not in favour today

Mon, 10 Nov 01:30 pm

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After starting the day on a firm note, the Indian stock markets slipped into the red and continued to trade below the dotted line thereafter. At the time of writing, the BSE-Sensex was trading lower by about 85 points or 0.3%, while the NSE-Nifty was trading lower by about 24 points. Stocks from FMCG and pharmaceutical spaces were in favour today, while those from the capital goods and oil & gas sectors were not in demand. Midcaps and smallcaps were trading flat with the BSE Mid Cap and BSE Small Cap indices trading higher by about 0.1% to 0.2%.

Stock markets in other parts of Asia ended the day on a mixed note with Japan closing lower by 0.6% while Hong Kong and China were up by about 0.8% and 2.3% respectively. The rupee was trading at Rs 61.45 to the dollar at the time of writing.

Auto stocks were trading weak led by Tata Motors, Mahindra & Mahindra and Maruti Suzuki. The Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM) announced official total sales volumes for the month of October 2014 recently. As per the agency, domestic passenger car sales declined by 3% YoY during the month of October 2014. Total sales for the month stood at 159,036 units, as compared to 163,199 units in same month last year. The story was the same for motorcycle sales as well, with volumes coming down by about 9% YoY; a little over 1.1 m units were sold during the month gone by. However, when it came to overall sales of two-wheelers, the volume decline stood at a lesser figure of 3.6% YoY, thereby indicating that the scooter sales volumes remained strong in the month gone by. Sales of commercial vehicles came in lower by about 4%YoY. On an overall basis, total volumes (across categories) were lower by 3.8% with the industry clocking in volumes of 1,787,146 units as compared to 1,858,594 units in same month last year.

Stocks of power companies were trading mixed with Adani Power and NTPC leading the pack of gainers, while CESC and NHPC were trading weak. As reported by a leading business daily, Tata Power will have wait for some more time to get clarity on its compensatory tariff decision on account of Justice M Karpaga Vinayagam, Chairperson of the Appellate Tribunal for Electricity, expected to retire this month, thereby delaying the entire process. It may be noted that while APTEL had approved the compensatory tariff, the Supreme Court stayed the order asking the former to re-hear the matter. As per an APTEL executive, there has been no replacement yet for the retiring head of the panel. This delay will only add to the uncertainties surrounding Tata Power's Mundra plant and was infact one of the key reasons for the stock to correct from levels of about Rs 110 to about Rs 80, before moving back up to levels of Rs 91 currently.