Tuesday March 20, 02:30 PM
Northbound journey... |
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By Equitymaster.com
Markets moved deep into the positive territory during the previous hour of trade as buying activity intensified among index heavy weights. Currently, only 13 stocks on the Nifty are trading in the red indicating optimism among investors. While buying is being seen across sectors, select auto, pharma and software stocks are facing the brunt of profit booking.
The BSE Sensex is trading at 12,791 (up 146 points) while the NSE Nifty is trading at 3,723 (up 44 points). The rupee is trading at 43.87 to the dollar.
Steel stocks are trading a mixed bag. While Tata Steel (down 1%) and JSW Steel (down 2%) are trading weak, SAIL (up 2%) is trading firm. As per a leading business daily, the steel industry has asked the government to place a competitive restriction on iron ore exports at 90 MT for the current year in a move to conserve this key raw material required by the steel industry. The industry has also asked for a 15% reduction on the cap on iron export every year until the exports are brought to zero. India currently exports close to 100 MT of iron ore mostly to China. Restricting exports is a long-standing demand of the steel industry, which feels that iron ore needs to be preserved to meet the capacity expansion plans of the indigenous steel sector. In the budget the government has already tried to address the issue of iron ore exports by imposing export duty. However, when the steel industry reaches a capacity of 200 MTPA, it will require 350 MT of ore. Thus restricting iron ore exports is a move to conserve raw material and ensure steady supply to the indigenous steel industry from a long-term point of view.
As per a leading business daily, IVRCL Infrastructure has received allotment of 33 acres of land from Noida for residential units at a cost of Rs 2,280 m. The company plans to commence the construction of 2.9 m sq ft of dwelling space spread over about 1,800 units at an estimated construction cost of around Rs 8,000 m. The project would be funded through internal accruals and debt and the development is expected to begin by August 2007. The project is expected to generate revenues of about Rs 10 bn over a period of three to four years. The stock (up 2%), along with its peer Hindustan Construction (up 1%), is trading firm.
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