Mumbai: Fertiliser stocks gained up to 4 per cent, with a pick-up in monsoon rains across most parts of the country and drought hit areas of Maharashtra receiving good rain fall.
The Indian Meteorological Department data shows widespread rains lashed most places over Uttarakhand, Madhya Pradesh, Vidarbha, Chhattisgarh, Odisha, Konkan & Goa, Rayalaseema, Madhya Maharashtra, coastal Andhra Pradesh, coastal & north interior Karnataka, Nagaland, Manipur, Mizoram & Tripura as well as many places over Patna, Gangetic West Bengal, Gujarat region and Telangana.
Further, IMD, in its forecast, said a well-marked low pressure area over northwest Bay of Bengal & adjoining areas of West Bengal and Odisha coasts persists, which would help the advance of Southwest Monsoon into the remaining parts of North Arabian Sea, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, some parts of Rajasthan & Himachal Pradesh, some more parts of Uttar Pradesh and remaining parts of Uttarakhand during the next 72 hours.
With the El Nino scare now receding and heavy weekend rains, investors bought agri-input stocks as the market opened on Monday.
The top gainers among the fertiliser stocks were Chambal Fertilisers & Chemicals (4.25 per cent), Deepak Fertilisers & Petrochemicals (3.57 per cent), National Fertilisers (2.43 per cent), Rashtriya Chemicals & Fertilisers (3.06 per cent), GNFC (2.08 per cent), UPL (1.19 per cent) and GSFC (1.10 per cent).
Other agro-input makers also gained, led by agro-chemicals maker Rallis India (2.68 per cent) and seed companies Monsanto (2.07 per cent) and Kaveri Seed Company (1.66 per cent).
The Australian Bureau of Meteorology (has indicated that El Nino is unlikely to develop further, and that it may stay neutral, at least till November 2019. El Nino, a Pacific Ocean phenomenon is correlated with lower-than-normal monsoon rainfall in India.
However, worries persists for fertiliser companies that have key market in south India where select pockets are facing an acute water shortage.
