Moneycontrol Bureau
12:50 pm Global business confidence slump: Worldwide business confidence slumped to a five-year low, with company hiring and investment intentions at or near their weakest levels in the post-global financial crisis era, according to a new survey.
"Clouds are gathering over the global economic outlook, presenting the darkest picture seen since the global financial crisis," said Chris Williamson, chief economist at Markit. The number of companies expecting their business activity to be higher in a years' time exceeded those expecting a decline by just 28 percent. This was below the net balance of 39 percent recorded in the summer, the Markit Global Business Outlook Survey showed.
The tri-annual survey, published, looked at expectations for the year ahead across 6,100 manufacturing and services companies worldwide.
12:30 pm Interview: The Narendra Modi-led government is taking quick steps to give necessary boost to the Railways and has recently released rail wagon orders. Speaking to CNBC-TV18, AK Vijay, CFO, Texmaco says the company expects business to improve in Q3 and Q4.
The wagon maker company is working at 60-70 percent capacity and expects improvement in demand from American market going ahead.
The government had allocated 2,400 wagons to the company in April 2014, of which close to 1,200 wagons were released the same month. The remaining 50 percent wagons will be issued now and the process will be completed by April 2015, adds Vijay.
Don't miss: Metal stocks rally post China's surprise rate cut
The market is slightly losing its morning gains. The Sensex is up 91.82 points at 28426.45 the Nifty is up 26.60 points at 8503.95. About 1303 shares have advanced, 1354 shares declined, and 92 shares are unchanged.
Oil stocks are weak dragged majorly by Reliance and ONGC. HDFC, HUL and M&M are among the laggards. Metal stocks are still seeing good buying interest with gainers like Hindalco and Tata Steel. Infosys, Tata Power and BHEL are up 2-3 percent.
Oil prices could plunge to USD 60 a barrel if OPEC does not agree a significant output cut when it meets in Vienna this week, market players say. Brent crude futures have fallen 34 percent since June to touch a four-year low of USD 76.76 a barrel on November 14, and could tumble further if OPEC does not agree to cut at least 1 million barrels per day (bpd), commodity fund managers say.
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