Thursday April 19, 01:30 PM
Bearish undertone continues... |
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By Equitymaster.com
Markets traded within a narrow band during the previous hour of trade as the bearish sentiments continued to prevail. The overall market breadth is negative with losers outnumbering gainers by a ratio of 9 to 1 on the Nifty. While selling is being witnessed across sectors, select banking, FMCG and pharma stocks are garnering investors' interests.
The BSE Sensex is trading at 13,524 (down 148 points) while the NSE Nifty is trading at 3,967 (down 45 points). The rupee is trading at 42.20 to the dollar.
Construction stocks are currently trading weak with IVRCL and HCC featuring among the major losers (each down 3%). According to a leading business daily, IVRCL is planning to enter the oil exploration business, possibly through an acquisition. The company will consider bidding in the seventh round of the National Exploration and Licensing Policy (NELP) programme, provided the acquisition is completed by then. According to the company, expanding into oil and gas exploration is the next logical step since it has been providing infrastructure services to the sector by undertaking oil pipeline laying projects for BPCL and IOC. The acquisition is likely to benefit IVRCL in getting the required technological know-how and skilled workforce.
Hotel stocks are currently trading weak with Hotel Leelaventure and EIH featuring among the major losers (each down 1%). According to a leading business daily, Hotel Leelaventure has secured a funding of US$ 110 m, including an option to increase it by US$10 m, through foreign currency convertible bonds (FCCBs). The FCCBs, which have a maturity of 5 years and 1 day, are convertible at a conversion price of Rs 90 per share (as adjusted from time to time), which is at a premium of 49.5% over yesterday's closing price. The fund will be utilized towards the company's earmarked capital expenditure of Rs 12 bn, which involves developing new properties in Chennai, Hyderabad and Pune. The proposed expansion will take the total room inventory from the current levels of 867 rooms to 2,096 rooms by the end of FY09.
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