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Sensex, Nifty pick up pace; SBI, Bajaj Auto, GAIL gainers

Bajaj Auto, SBI, Axis Bank, M&M and GAIL are top gainers in the Sensex. Among the losers are Dr Reddy's Labs, Hero MotoCorp, Sesa Sterlite and HDFC.

August 21, 2014 / 12:07 PM IST

Moneycontrol Bureau

11:30 am Buzzing: Metal stocks are reeling under heavy selling pressure as the government has decided to increase royalty rates on minerals.  Ferrous stocks like SAIL and Tata Steel slumped 2-3 percent intraday on Thursday after the cabinet hiked royalty rates on iron ore to 15 percent from 10 percent earlier.

MOIL fell around 1 percent as manganese royalty rates are increased to 5 percent from 4.2 percent earlier.

Steel companies are also weak on concerns of weak demand after slower growth in China as its factory sector slowed to a three-month low in August. The HSBC/Markit Flash China Manufacturing Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) fell to 50.3 from July's 18-month high of 51.7.

Meanwhile, the long-awaited government move will significantly swell the annual revenue of states. "Cabinet in-principle approved revision of mineral royalty. There are 55 such items but this excludes coal, lignite and sand for stowing," Communications and IT Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said after the Cabinet meeting.

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A day of resting is over for the bulls it seems. The market has once again picked up pace with the Nifty hovering around 7900. The 50-share index is up 33.25 points at 7908.55 and the Sensex is up 109.42 points at 26423.71.About 1608 shares have advanced, 729 shares declined, and 91 shares are unchanged.

Bajaj Auto, SBI, Axis Bank, M&M and GAIL are top gainers in the Sensex. Among the losers are Dr Reddy's Labs, Hero MotoCorp, Sesa Sterlite and HDFC.

Equity investors seemed reassured that the vast majority of the Fed's voting committee wanted to keep a pledge that rates would stay near zero for a considerable time after it stops buying assets, which is expected in October.

But the minutes also revealed a more active debate about whether an earlier hike in rates might be needed.

first published: Aug 21, 2014 11:00 am

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