Indian equity markets continue to trade strong over the previous two hours of trade. Pharma and FMCG stocks witnessed maximum buying interest while Realty and Power stocks witnessed maximum selling pressure.
The Sensex today is up by 118 points, while the NSE-Nifty today is up by 32 points. BSE Mid Cap index is down by 0.15% while the BSE Small Cap index is up by 0.27%. The rupee is trading at 54.31 to the US dollar.
Mining stocks are trading in the green led by National Mineral Development Corporation (NMDC) and Manganese Ore India Limited (MOIL). According to a leading financial daily, a wholly owned subsidiary of Coal India (Coal India Africana Limitada) has found coal seams during exploration in Mozambique. The company which had drilled four boreholes in Mozambique has hit coal in all four of them, making it the subsidiary's first success overseas. Coal India Africana plans to start production in Mozambique by 2016. This will improve fuel availability for power firms in India that have started to sign fuel pacts with the coal monopoly. The company had recently awarded the exploration contract for its Mozambique block after twice cancelling the bids.
Shipping stocks are trading strong led by Bharati Shipyard and Varun shipping. According to a leading financial daily, Shipping Corporation of India (SCI) is planning to go slow on its vessel acquisition plan. The asset prices have come down sharply. It should have been an ideal time for acquisition. But the company is not being able to take advantage of the situation as economic slowdown has stressed its cash flow severely. SCI was ticked off by the auditor for missing its acquisition target in 2011-12. The national carrier current fleet strength is 81 vessels of 5.855 million DWT (deadweight tonnes). It was to increase by another 26 last year. SCI has now 21 vessels on order, which would be delivered by 2014.
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