Petroleum and Natural Gas Minister Murli Deora said on Thursday that the government is trying to find an early solution to rising global oil prices, and is likely to take a decision on domestic fuel price hike by January-end. Hiking automobile fuel prices may not be the only answer to surging crude oil rates, he added. |
This could mean the government may also reduce the duty on petroleum products in the 2008-09 budget to help oil marketing companies, analysts said. Analysts expect the shares of state-run oil marketing companies to continue rising in the coming weeks as they are under-valued, even at current levels. While rising crude prices is a negative for oil marketing companies, it is a big positive for major players such as Oil and Natural Gas, Cairn India and Reliance Industries, analysts said. |
Mid-cap pharma abuzz The focus is likely to shift to the mid-cap pharma space next week as the benchmark indices are showing signs of peaking and there is not much steam left in frontline stocks, dealers said. |
Volatility in bank stocks Select bank shares may rise next week, while others are likely to be volatile on account of stretched valuations. "The results and Reserve Bank of India's monetary policy would be the triggers for banking stocks," said a banking analyst. Banks' third quarter performance would be boosted by other income. The cut in deposit rates is also likely to help ease the pressure on net interest margin, bankers said. Moreover, lower provisioning on account of the bullish government bonds market will boost the bottomlines. |
Though Finance Minister P. Chidambaram today expressed his wish that the lending and deposit rates should be 50 basis points lower, bankers do not expect RBI to cut rates at the third quarter review of its monetary and credit policy for 2007-08 (April-March) on January 29. Some brokerages see room for a rise in the stock prices of state-run banks despite their stretched valuations. |
Cement shares may dip Most cement shares could trade sideways next week with a negative bias as the Tamil Nadu government asked the cement makers to slash commodity prices to Rs 230-235 per 50 kg bag. Some buying is however seen ahead of the October-December earnings, which are likely to be robust, dealers said. The investors are cautious that the government may intervene if there are any further hikes. But the cement dealers are still expecting at least one hike of Rs 3-5 per 50 kg bag in the western and northern region by February 1. |