Sensex Drops; ONGC Starts Shale Gas Drilling

Chandrasekhar Atreya
23 Sep, 2010
New York City

Stocks in India fell for the second day and most of Asian markets were closed for a holiday. A reading of the wholesale price index was higher in August. ONGC started drilling for shale gas in West Bengal. Monsoon rains in India are 44% above long term average.

[R]5:00 PM Mumbai – Indian stocks fell for the second day as most of Asian markets were closed for a holiday. A reading of the wholesale price index was higher in August. ONGC started drilling for shale gas in West Bengal. Monsoon rains in India are 44% above long term average.[/R]

India’s stocks traded lower for a second day on profit booking after the market rallied nearly 11% this month since trading across Asia was thin as markets in Japan, China, Hong Kong and South Korea were closed.

The BSE Sensex Index lost 0.40% or 80.71 points to close at 19,861.01. The CNX Nifty Index on the National Stock Exchange dropped 0.5% to 5,959.55.

Food price index rose 15.46% while fuel price index climbed 11.48% in the year to September 11, according to the latest government data today. In the prior week, annual food and fuel inflation stood at 15.1% and 11.48% respectively.

The primary article index was up 16.8% in the last week compared with an annual rise of 16.22% in the previous week, which was the first reading of a new series of data with a different base year of 2004-05, new components and weights.

The wholesale price index, the most widely watched gauge of prices in India, gained 8.5% in August.

Oil and Natural Gas Corp began shale gas exploration by drilling the first well in West Bengal, the company said in a statement today.

NTPC’s Pakri-Barwadih coal mining project, for which the Union Coal Ministry allotted coal blocks, got forest clearance from the Ministry of Forest and Environment for its stage II work. The clearance gives NTPC 1,026 hectares of land proposed to supply 15 million tons of coal to thermal power station to help it reach the target of producing 75,000 megawatts of power by 2017.

Delhi-based Bhushan Steel said it made a takeover offer of Bowen Energy of Australia by offering an unconditional 10 cents per share offer at 79% premium. Bhushan Steel is already Bowen’s largest shareholder. Bowen owns coal tenements in Queensland’s Bowen Basin.

India’s basmati rice exports to West Asia could be hit after Saudi Arabia and Iran took measures to curb imports. Even shipments to Europe are under a cloud after a prominent Hamburg-based laboratory alleged high levels of pesticide residue in Indian basmati in June.

Tecpro Systems said it sold 1.32 million shares in public offering to anchor investors at Rs 335 per share.

ONGC said it may spend about Rs 4,000 crore to buy 10 onshore rigs and four offshore rigs in three years to bolster its drilling activities, U.N. Bose, a company director said in an interview in New Delhi today.

Larsen & Toubro said it would form a joint venture company with the South Africa-based Befula Investments to explore opportunities in the power sector.

Stung by the sharp criticism of the Supreme Court the government decided to increase the storage capacity by 17 million tons over the next five years.

“We have started putting in place an additional storage capacity of one million tons of food grains this fiscal. Over the next five years, we will create additional storage facilities for 17 million tons,” Minister of State for Agriculture K.V. Thomas said in New Delhi today.

Monsoon rains were 44% above normal in the week to September 22, the weather office said Thursday, adding to concerns of a late withdrawal of the seasonal downpour in the rice and cane growing northwest India.