Sensex Drops 1%; India, Malaysia to Sign Free Trade Deal

Chandrasekhar Atreya
27 Oct, 2010
New York City

Mumbai stocks dropped more than 1% weighed in by the expiry of monthly derivatives contracts and a weakness in financials. India and Malaysia finalize a free trade deal to lift trade between two nations. Tata Steel Jamshedpur production will reach 10 million tons by second quarter of 2011.

[R]5:00 PM Mumbai – Mumbai stocks dropped more than 1% weighed in by the expiry of monthly derivatives contracts and a weakness in financials. India and Malaysia finalize a free trade deal to lift trade between two nations. Tata Steel’s output at Jamshedpur will reach 10 million tons by second quarter of 2011.[/R]

Stocks in Mumbai traded lower led by losses in financials, as expiry of monthly derivatives contracts on Thursday weighed on sentiment pushing the index down by more than 1%.

The BSE Sensex lost 1.07% or 216.02 to close at 20,005.37. The CNX Nifty on the National Stock Exchange fell by 69.35 points to close at 6,012.65.

The rupee continued to trade weak in the afternoon session tracking losses in domestic shares and the month-end dollar demand from oil refiners weighing the currency down.

The rupee closed at Rs 44.47 in trade today.

India aims to add about 35 gigawatts of renewable power by 2015, a top official said Tuesday at an investment of about $55 billion as the country seeks to cut power deficit and carbon emissions.

“India’s current generation is 16.5 gigawatts and the renewable energy sector is giving healthy returns with the preferential tariff regime, attracting investments from the private sector,” said Debashish Majumdar, head of Indian Renewable Energy Development Agency.

India’s largest carmaker, Maruti Suzuki India said its premium compact car Ritz crossed the 100,000 unit sales within 17 months of its launch.

ONGC, India’s largest oil explorer, appointed two auditors to quantify its oil and gas reserves ahead of a planned share sale, Chairman R.S. Sharma said on Wednesday.

“We have appointed DeGolyer & MacNaughton and Gaffney, Cline & Associates as reserve auditors two weeks back to value our reserves,” Sharma said.

Tata Steel said Wednesday its Rs 15,000 crore new production unit at its Jamshedpur plant will go on stream by July to September 2011, increasing total capacity to 10 million tons per annum.

“Our Jamshedpur plant will have an annual production capacity of 10 million tons by the second quarter of next fiscal year,” Tata Steel Vice Chairman B. Muthuraman told reporters in New Delhi.

Oil and gas production resumed on Monday from India’s Panna-Mukta fields, a spokesman for BG Group Plc’s India unit said Wednesday, after a leak in the pipeline caused the output to be shutdown in July.

An India-Malaysia free trade deal is expected to almost double trade between the two nations by 2015. Two nations hope that the trade will lower the dependence on China and the U.S. markets.

The trade agreement is expected be signed by January 31, 2011 and be affective from July 1, 2011.

“When the agreement comes into force, $15 billion in trade can be reached by 2015, if not earlier,” Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak told reporters after meeting the Indian Premier in Kuala Lumpur.