Friday March 16, 03:00 PM
Markets southbound... |
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By Equitymaster.com
The indices lost further ground during the previous hour of trade as selling activity intensified among the index heavyweights. The negative sentiment can be gauged from the fact that only 7 of the Nifty stocks are currently trading in black. While selling is being witnessed across the board, telecom, banking and engineering stocks seem to have borne the brunt of this bear hug.
The BSE Sensex is trading at 12,335 (down 209 points) while the NSE Nifty is trading at 3,593 (down 50 points). The Indian rupee is trading at 44.11 to the dollar.
Private sector exploration and production (E&P) major Reliance (RELI.BO, news) Industries and PSU gas major GAIL (India) have signed a host of memorandum of understandings (MoUs) for gas-based projects. The deal is to ensure smooth evacuation and marketing of natural gas from Reliance's gas fields in the Krishna Godavari basin. The gas production is expected to begin by 2008. The two companies have also signed five other MoUs in areas of exploration & production, transmission and marketing of coal bed methane, city gas distribution, operation & maintenance (O&M) and sharing of technology. Besides receiving revenue from transportation tariff, GAIL (GAIL.BO, news) expects to buy some of RIL`s KG basin gas. RIL has projected a peak production of 80 mmscmd (million metric standard cubic metres per day) from the gas field. Energy stocks are currently trading mixed with GAIL and ONGC (down 2% each) featuring among the biggest losers.
According to a leading business daily, Areva SA, the word's largest maker of atomic power stations, has raised its bid for REpower to Euro 140 per share, compared to Suzlon's bid of Euro 126 per share. The latest bid by Areva has valued REpower at Euro 1.4 bn. It should be noted that Areva already owns a 30% stake in REpower, a Germany based wind turbine manufacturer. Engineering stocks are currently trading negative with Suzlon (down 5%) and L&T among the biggest losers (down 4%).
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