Realty stocks boost the markets

Thu, 2 Dec 09:30 am

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The positive manufacturing data from China has spurred gains for the Asian markets which have opened in the positive. Japan, Indonesia and China are leading the pack of gainers. As for the Indian markets, these have also opened strong today. Stocks from the realty and banking sectors are the key gainers currently.

The BSE-Sensex is trading higher by around 225 points (1.1%), while the NSE-Nifty is up by about 60 points (1.0%). Mid and small cap stocks are trading in the positive as well, with the BSE-Midcap and BSE-Smallcap indices up by 1.4% and 1.5% respectively. The rupee is trading at 45.28 to the US dollar.

Construction stocks have opened the day in the positive. Currently Nagarjuna Construction and HCC are the main gainers. The problems for the construction major HCC do not seem to be ending. Following the emergence of the controversy regarding its Lavasa project, it has now postponed the US$ 436 m IPO of this business. The company had earlier planned for the IPO to hit the markets by end of this year. However, the environment ministry has issued a notice to the company for violating certain environment related rules. In light of the same, the ministry has threatened to raze all construction carried out in the area since 2006. While HCC has denied any violation, it still needs to settle the issue before construction work can resume in Lavasa. HCC is building a luxury home development in the Lavasa region of Maharashtra. As per the CFO, the IPO would take place only after the issue is effectively settled.

Power major NTPC has inked a deal with a Singapore based bank for a loan of US$ 300 m. The loan is for a period of seven years. The loan proceeds will be used by the company for funding its expansion plans during the current fiscal year. NTPC has stated that it is in the process of gaining the approval of RBI for this. Once the approval is received, the company would start to draw down the loan immediately. The company, however, declined from giving out the name of the Singapore bank. The company has already secured a loan facility of Rs 260 bn from domestic banks. However, it has not drawn down any amount from this facility as of now. As a matter of fact, NTPC has planned to spend Rs 290 bn as capex during the current fiscal FY11 to add to its generation capacity. The company has targeted an addition of 4,500 MW (megawatt) of new capacity during the year. The stock is currently trading in the positive along with Tata Power.