Monday, the Indian market is trading weak on the back of a setback in the other global markets in reaction to economic worries. Domestic issues like net selling by foreign funds and political uncertainty ahead of general elections scheduled to be held in April-May are also weighing on investor sentiment. A formal announcement from the election commission is likely in the next 1-2 days as the multi-phased elections would require the mandatory margin for issue of notification and campaigning.
After opening sharply lower at 8,763, the BSE Sensex fell further in the past hour. The index is now trading at 8,693, down 199 points or 2.23% and the S&P CNX Nifty is trading at 2,699, down 2.33%.
Banking, metal and IT stocks are the worst hit, while select realty and auto stocks are showing notable gains. On the BSE, the market breadth is extremely negative, with 979 decliners compared to 508 stocks that are advancing. The broad-based BSE 500 index is losing 1.67%, the mid-cap index is moving down 0.70% and the small-cap index is down 0.55%.
The board of directors of Reliance Industries approved a scheme of amalgamation of its subsidiary Reliance Petroleum with the parent company. Upon completion of the amalgamation, Reliance Petroleum shareholders will get one share of Reliance Industries for every 16 shares held by them on the record date to be fixed by the transferee company. The merger will be effective from April 1. 2009 and Reliance Industries is to extinguish treasury stock. Reliance Industries is losing 2.14% and Reliance Petroleum is down 0.07%.
Among oil-marketing companies, BPCL is moving up 0.40%, HPCL is rising 1.20% and IOC is down marginally after the price of crude oil retreated to near $43.50 a barrel in Asian trading.
Unitech is down 0.71% following reports that it may sell its office building Saket, New Delhi to Oriental Bank of Commerce for around Rs. 500 crore.
Infosys is losing 1.73% on reports that it has downsized around 5% of its employee force at Infosys Australia. Tech Mahindra is declining 1.21% following reports that it will launch a bid for beleaguered Satyam, jointly with a private equity fund.
Hero Honda is down 0.55% despite reporting a 24% rise in its vehicle sales in February. Dewan Housing Finance is up 0.19% after the company proposed to raise funds through a rights issue.
United Spirits is losing more than 2% on reports that Charoen's ThaiBev, listed on the Singapore Stock Exchange, initiated formal talks with the company for exploring a strategic deal. After opening at Rs.55, Edserv Softsystems is now trading near the day's high of Rs.103 on its debut on the Bombay Stock Exchange.
