Mid cap stocks buck the trend.

Despite some buying interest seen in telecom, pharma and energy stocks in the final hours of trade, the indices in Indian stock markets managed to close just above the dotted line today. While the BSE Sensex closed higher by around 50 points (up 0.3%), the NSE Nifty closed higher by 16 points. Although the BSE Small Cap index too failed to make much headway into the positive, the BSE Midcap index ended higher by around 1%.

As regards global markets, Asian indices across the board closed higher today while European indices have opened lower. The rupee was placed at Rs 54.55 to the dollar at the time of writing.

The government's move to put 8.5 billion tonne (bt) coal reserves up for auction has reportedly enticed major interest from the top cash-rich PSUs in the energy space including Coal India and NTPC, vying to grab the natural resource. The firms are drawn in by the Deocha Pachami block in West Bengal's Birbhum district, which happens to be the country's largest thermal coal block, with over 2 bt coal reserves. Coal India (CIL), which already owns majority of the coal blocks in India and is the world's largest coal miner, wants to exploit the reserves alone.

As per a business daily, auto major Tata Motors, has launched a new format of passenger car showrooms and will upgrade 4-5 more such showrooms in the metros during this quarter. These showrooms comprise of video wall, wi-fi capable lounges, merchandising of accessories and lifestyle products, a cafe and play areas for kids. At present, the company has 1,000 sales points and 900 service points in the country. Recently, the company's reported a fall of 20.2% in sales (including exports) of commercial and passenger vehicles in December 2012.