Friday March 9, 02:00 PM
Further in the red... |
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By Equitymaster.com
Benchmark indices continued to slide further during the previous hour of trade. The advance to decline ratio is currently in the favour of decline with just 8 of the nifty stocks trading in the green. However, on the overall NSE, advances are outnumbering declines in the ratio of 1.1:1. Selling pressure is being witnessed across sectors, with major losers being cement and telecom stocks.
The BSE Sensex is trading at 12,908 (down 141 points) while the NSE Nifty is trading at 3,722 (down 38 points). The rupee is trading at 44.29 to the dollar.
According to a leading business daily, Reliance (RELI.BO, news) Industries, the private sector petroleum major, is in the midst of negotiations to acquire a refinery in Nigeria. While the company refused to name the refinery it plans to acquire, it is widely speculated that RIL is eyeing the nine-million-tonne Port Harcourt refinery. The step seems to harness benefits from proximity to crude oil reserves and potential export markets for the company. Other Indian entities including the Essar group and the HPCL-Mittal combine are also in the fray for the refinery. Reliance already has a greenfield refinery project in Yemen, where it has a stake in two oil blocks. RIL is also considering setting up a petrochemical complex in the Gulf region, in order to build capacities close to key raw material centres and markets. The stock is currently trading weak (down 1%), while HPCL is currently trading flat.
Following in the footsteps of other telecom majors, Tata Teleservices has also decided to spin off its mobile phone tower business into a separate entity. The company is in talks with several firms about spinning off its mobile phone towers into a separate unit, part or all of which could then be sold. Tata Teleservices operates CDMA mobile services in India, one of the fastest-growing mobile markets, and is restructuring itself to turn profitable. The stock is currently trading firm (up 2%), while its peer MTNL (MTNL.BO, news) and RCOM are currently trading weak, down 5% and 2% respectively.
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