Retail stocks dip as stalemate continues on FDI

The shares of retail companies fell for the second consecutive day on the bourses on Tuesday, amid the ongoing political logjam over the government's decision to open up the sector for foreign investors.

The political upheaval over FDI in retail business failed to subside even after an all-party meeting on Tuesday, and a united opposition, joined by some UPA constituents like Trinamool Congress and DMK, stalled the Parliament proceedings with demand for an immediate rollback of the government decision.

Amid the political opposition, shares of retail companies like Pantaloon Retail, Trent Ltd, Vishal Retail, Koutons Retail, Shopper's Stop and Provogue fell by as much as 12 per cent. An overall weakness in the stock market added to the downtrend of the retail stocks.

The benchmark indices Sensex and Nifty fell by about 1 per cent each.

In this backdrop, investors continued to stay away from the retail shares and Kishore Biyani-led Future group's Pantaloon Retail (India) Ltd plunged 11.89 per cent to close at Rs 196.80, while Shares of Tata group's retail venture Trent Ltd lost 3.78 per cent to Rs 985.90.

Koutons Retail plunged 7.26 per cent, Provogue (India) closed down by 3.46 per cent, while Shopper's Stop ended 2.78 per cent lower and Vishal Retail fell by 1.23 per cent.

Retail stocks had lost value on Monday also, while bucking the overall uptrend in the stock market amid the political slugfest over the FDI issue.

Before the political opposition had intensified, the retail stocks had recorded smart gains on Friday following the government decision to allow 51 per cent FDI (Foreign Direct Investment) in the multi-brand or supermarket retail business, and to do away with the present 51 per cent cap for FDI in the single-brand retail business.