Indices move lower post Diwali break

Thu, 15 Nov Closing

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The Indian stock markets started the day on a negative note today. The indices slumped lower in the morning session itself and languished in the red. Finally they closed the day well in the red. The BSE-Sensex closed negative, lower by around 148 points (down 0.8%). The NSE-Nifty also closed lower by around 40 points (down 0.6%). The smaller indices had a relatively better day on the bourses. The BSE Mid Cap index closed 0.2% lower and the BSE Small Cap closed 0.3% higher in trade today. IT and metal stocks saw a bulk of the losses today. Software stocks were hit on fears that the US economy (its biggest market) may still be in big trouble. Realty and consumer durables however were on the winning end in today's trade.

As regards global markets, Asian indices had a negative outing today. European indices opened the day weak. The rupee was trading at Rs 54.83 to the dollar at the time of writing.

Tata Motors global vehicle sales rose 6% in October from a year earlier. Sales at its key Jaguar Land Rover subsidiary rose 7%, after falling in September for the first time in 14 months. The company sold a total of 100,660 vehicles in October. Passenger vehicle sales was however slow, sales stood at 49,264 vehicles, down 5% from a year earlier. 27,897 Jaguar Land Rover vehicles were sold during the month. Commercial vehicle sales saw strong growth and rose 19% to 51,396 units. Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM) recently slashed its projected car sales growth for FY13 to between 1-3% from an earlier 10-12% forecast due to the economic slowdown, higher import tariffs and labour troubles at Maruti Suzuki. However during the festival period sales have picked up momentum.

With the year coming to a close soon the government is desperately trying to repair its finances. It is planning 10% stake sale in National Mineral Development Corporation (NMDC) by mid-December, which could fetch the exchequer about Rs 75 bn. Last week the Finance Ministry said it is looking at divesting stakes in three PSUs - Hindustan Copper, NMDC and Oil India by end December, which may fetch Rs 120 bn to the exchequer. The government has appointed Citigroup, Goldman Sachs, DSP Merrill Lynch, Enam Securities and ICICI Securities as Merchant Bankers for the NMDC stake sale. Currently, the government holds a 90% stake in NMDC.

The government plans to raise Rs 300 bn from disinvestment during FY13. However, it has not been able to come out with any public issue during the first seven months of the fiscal. Overall primary market activity has been slow.