Market movers: LIC sees first close in black; metals extend decline

NEW DELHI: Shares of Life Insurance Corporation of India finally saw some buying as the stock ended with gains of about a per cent. It was the first day that the stock closed in black since listing.

The buyers converged at the stock after heavy selling in the last few days made it appetizing. It still trades down over 13 per cent from issue price of the IPO. The market cap of the firms stands at Rs 5,21,021.69 crore.

Selling pressure
On the other hand, even some positive news flow was not enough to subdue the selling pressure in some stocks. They included Ramco Systems and Va Tech Wabag.

Global aviation software provider Ramco Systems announced that it would implement its Aviation, Aerospace and Defense software for Brunei Shell Petroleum (BSP), Brunei’s largest oil and gas company.

The company said Ramco’s Aviation Software would offer BSP modules covering Maintenance, Maintenance Inventory for Aviation, Flight Operations, Safety & Quality, CAMO and Technical Records, providing BSP with a next-gen digital platform for real-time data visibility across the organization and aircraft readiness management. The solution will also provide an in-depth analysis of BSP’s complex helicopter operations.

But the investors were not swayed and the stock fell nearly 5 per cent.

Similarly, Va Tech Wabag fell about 2 per cent even as the company’s subsidiary Ghaziabad Water Solutions Private Limited signed a concession agreement with Ghaziabad Nagar Nigam towards Design, Build, Finance and Operation of a new 40 MLD Recycle and Re-use Tertiary Treatment Reverse Osmosis plant.

The contract value will be worth Rs 594 crore.

Metals extend decline
Metal stocks continued to be under selling pressure extending their decline from Monday. They are falling as the government has increased taxes on the export of the commodity, which will hurt steelmakers’ bottom line.

Nifty Metal was down over a per cent. The biggest losers of the day were JSL Hisar, Welspun Corp, Hindalco Industries, Tata Steel and Hindustan Zinc.