Stocks In Action For 19th December 2012

Sri Lanka has said that it will not cut import tariffs on automobiles in the near future. Last week, India had expressed concerns over this but Sri Lanka has said, the hike in import duty had not been directed towards India. Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers has said that the hike in import duty in Sri Lanka has affected Indian vehicle exports. Indian companies such as Bajaj Auto Maruti Suzuki, Mahindra and Mahindra and Hero Motocorp actively export their products to Sri Lanka and hence we expect some volatility in the share prices of these companies today.

Business Line reports that the National Aluminum Company Ltd (Nalco) has resumed mining operations in the Panchpatmali bauxite mine. Mining is being done in full swing at this site located in Odisha. It also said that operations have been at the fullest since Monday.  Operations were closed at this mine as its 30 year mining lease had expired in November. We expect Nalco shares to gain on the bourses today.

Shares of Reliance Power may slip as promoters are reported to be reducing their stake by 5.42% to bring it down according to the SEBI guidelines which will make it mandatory for the promoter shareholding to come down to 75%. The company has not disclosed any floor price for this purpose. A total shares worth Rs 1500 crore will be up for sale today.

Domestic Healthcare major Apollo Hospitals has said that it would build 10 more hospitals which specialize in Heart and Cancer treatment. It will invest a total of Rs 400 crore in the next three years and expects that these hospitals will be operational by 2015. On the back of this news shares of Apollo Hospitals may extend gains today.

Investors should also watch Cement stocks today as the commerce ministry has said that it will take up the issue of penalty of Rs 6307 crore levied on certain companies with the Competition Commission of India (CCI). The commerce ministry has supported the cement companies on their argument of keeping idle capacity due to the slower demand. CCI on the other hand had slapped penalties on the cement companies alleging them of the cartelisation. One should watch out for the stocks like ACC, Ambuja, Ultratech, Jaypee, Shree Cement, etc.