News

Maharashtra Seamless to join `BSE 200` from Jan 8, 2007
Maharashtra Seamless, a flagship company of the D.P. Jindal Group, will be included in `BSE-200` Index with effect from January 8, 2007 as per recent BSE meeting held on November 24, 2006.

Other companies to form a part of the BSE 200 league are Reliance Petroleum, Sun TV and Mahindra Gesco. Meanwhile, Glaxosmithline, NDTV, Novartis, Syndicate Bank and UCO Bank will exit to make place for these companies.

Maharashtra Seamless was recently accoladed as one of the 200 `Best Under A Billion` companies listed in Forbes Asia at Singapore.The company is consistently making significant inroads in the global market for supply of Seamless pipes and tubes with various international oil & gas companies. This has enabled it to increase the customer base globally.Now, the company is also considering to open the marketing / representative offices abroad to capture the rising opportunities currently prevailing in this sector.

During the quarter ended September 30, 2006 the company has posted a net profit of Rs 621.80 million as compared with Rs 283.70 million for the quarter ended September 30, 2005. This represents a growth of 119.71% over the comparable quarter.Total income (net of excise) has increased by 66.42% to Rs 3533.80 million for the quarter ended September 30, 2006, from Rs 2123.30 million for the quarter ended September 30, 2005.

The company manufactures a whole range of high-class, customizable and innovative seamless pipes and tubes using state-of-art technology. It also manufactures ERW pipes and seamless pipes.

NRIs can invest 100% in realty
In a bid to attract further investments by Non-Resident Indians (NRIs),Government of India has put in place a liberal and transparent investment policy structure for them.

As per the new guidelines, NRIs can now invest up to 100% via automatic route in housing and real estate sector involving construction of residential and commercial premises. They can also put in money in the development of townships and city and regional level urban infrastructure facilities such as roads and bridges.

Investment in participatory ventures in the aforesaid activities and investment in housing finance institutions too come within their ambit.

Further, NRIs can also invest up to 100% in Indian companies engaged in Air Taxi operation. For foreign companies, foreign direct investment (FDI) is permitted only up to 49% in this area. Other than investments under the FDI policy, NRI can also invest in various schemes of mutual funds and PSU Bonds, under the Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA) norms.

Interestingly, NRIs are permitted to invest up to 100% equity in partnership firms/ proprietary concerns, when foreign companies are restricted invest through such route. Agricultural/plantation activity or real estate business however are exceptions to this provision.

Under the portfolio schemes, NRIs are permitted to invest in shares and debentures through secondary market purchase from the stock exchanges. The investment limit for the shares and debentures stand at 5% and 10% respectively which is over and above the foreign institutional investors (FII) portfolio investments limits. This will ensure that NRI investment are not displaced by FIIs.

In addition to these, NRIs can acquire immovable property, other than agricultural land/ plantation property / farm house and transfer such property to a resident, another than NRI.

After Trading Hour News

Fiscal deficit falls by 5.6% in Oct
Revenue collection this year has increased by 30%. Commenting on the revenue collection, Finance Minister P Chidambaram has said he was confident of meeting the revenue and fiscal deficit targets. Both plan and non-plan expenditure are according to expectations.

On meeting the fiscal and revenue deficit target, Chidambaram said ``We have to meet the fiscal deficit and revenue deficit target for this year and continue to meet next year and next so that we wipe out revenue deficit by 2008-09 and take fiscal fiscal deficit to 3 percent by 2008-09.``

The fiscal deficit which declined by 5.6% in October this year, stands at Rs 871 billion as compared to Rs 920.6 billion in the same period last year. Revenue deficit was Rs 672.9 billion in the first seven months this year, as against Rs 702.84 billion in the corresponding period last year.

As a percentage of budget estimate, the revenue deficit for the current year is 79.4% of the budget estimate as against 73.7% last year while fiscal deficit stood at 58.6% of the budget estimate as against 60.9% last year.

According to Controller of General Accounts(CGA) data, at the end of October, the excise duty collection is higher at 7%, against the budget target of 6.4%. Customs registered a growth of 31% during the first seven months against the estimate of 18.1%, while services tax grew by 64% versus 43.52%.

MFs net buyers in equities worth Rs 1,164.7 mn on Nov 29
Mutual Funds (MFs) turned net buyers in equities to the tune of Rs 1,164.7 million on November 29. They bought equity worth Rs 6,437.1 million and sold equity worth Rs 5,272.4 million. Till November 29, they have been net buyers in equities worth Rs 637 million .

MFs were also net buyers in debt on November 29 to the tune of Rs 3,270.7 million. They bought debt worth Rs 9,908.6 million and sold debt worth Rs 6,637.9 million. Till November 29, they have been net buyers in debt to the tune of Rs 59,253.7 million.

FIIs net sellers in equities worth Rs 630 mn on Nov 29
Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) were net sellers in equities worth Rs 630 million (USD13.9 million) on November 29. They bought equity worth Rs 19,076 million and sold equity worth Rs 19,706 million. Till November 29, they have been net buyers in equities to the tune of Rs 93,801 million (USD 2,036.9 million).

FIIs were however, net buyers in debt on November 29 to the tune of Rs 634 million(USD14 million). They bought debt worth Rs 634 million. Till November 30, they have been net buyers in debt worth Rs 8,064 million (USD 176.2 million).

Till November 29, FIIs have thus been net buyers in both equities and debt to the tune of Rs 1,01,865 million (USD 2,213.1 million).In the derivatives segment, FIIs were net sellers to the tune of Rs 3,978.3 million on November 28. They bought derivatives worth Rs 62,878.1 million, while they sold derivatives worth Rs 66,856.4 million.

Contracts expiry fails to dampen sentiment

The market, which had softened from a peak, regained strength in the fag hours, the Sensex crossing 13,700 as buying resumed after the settlement of November 2006 derivative contracts. The November contracts expired today. As per reports, NSE F&O Open Interest had shot up by Rs 1,008 crore, to Rs 60,719 crore.

The 30-shares BSE Sensex finished with a gain of 79.58 points (0.58%), at 13,696.31. It was off 13,745.16, the day's high, reached within minutes of commencement of trade. Its low for the day was 13,630.58.

The S&P CNX Nifty rose 26.30 points (0.67%), to 3,954.50.

The market-breadth was negative, with 1,341 shares declining on BSE, compared to 1,217 that advanced. As many as 58 shares were unchanged. The BSE Small-Cap index closed at 6,647.08, a gain of 12 points while the BSE Mid-Cap index lost 6 points, to settle at 5,721.60.The BSE clocked a turnover of Rs 3,954 crore, lower than Rs 4,409 crore on Wednesday.Among the 30-Sensex pack, 18 advanced while the rest declined.

Private sector banking major HDFC Bank was the top gainer, up 3.21% to Rs 1,122, on a volume of 71,305 shares. It had moved in a range of Rs 1,102.90 – Rs 1,124. The BSE Bankex rose 1.30%; ICICI Bank (up 1.53% to Rs 870), SBI (up 1% to Rs 1314), Karnataka Bank (up 3.89% to Rs 129.50), UTI Bank (up 0.83% to Rs 475) and Kotak Mahindra Bank (up 1.86% to Rs 380) being the major beneficiaries of the rally in banking stocks.

IT shares witnessed renewed buying, with the BSE IT index being the top gainer among sectoral indices, advancing 1.38%, or 69.48 points, at 5,107.22.

Satyam Computers (up 0.73% to Rs 455), Wipro (up 1.70% to Rs 593) and Infosys (up 0.51% to Rs 2,168.20) advanced. The ADRs of the IT triumvirate, Infosys, Satyam and Wipro, rose between 0.5 - 1.8% on Wednesday. IT pivotals have surged in the past few days after reports that top Indian IT firms are chasing over a dozen deals on an average, the sizes of which range between $50 - $100 million.

Software major TCS rose 2.11% to Rs 1,189, after signing a 7-year deal worth $65 million for reorganising Somerfield's IT services. Somerfield is a leading UK-based, small-format food retailer.

Dr Reddy’s Lab rose 2.91% to Rs 756, as ICICI Securities reiterated a 'buy' on the stock, fairly valuing it at Rs 997. In a report released on Wednesday (29 November), ICICI Securities has revised upwards its FY 2007 EPS forecast for Dr Reddy’s by 33%, to Rs 43.60. It has revised upwards its FY 2008 EPS forecast by 6% to Rs 31.50. ICICI Securities expects strong earnings momentum to continue for Dr Reddy’s Lab over the next 3 - 4 quarters, on the back of a possible 180-day exclusivity for generic Zofran, and robust growth in the core generics business.

India’s largest private steel maker Tata Steel was the top loser, down 1.99% to Rs 467.50, as 4.36 lakh shares changed hands on BSE.

Index heavyweight Reliance Industries was down 0.24% to Rs 1,246.10, on a volume of 4.84 lakh shares.

Parsvnath Developers settled at Rs 526.30, on a high volume of 1.60 crore shares. It debuted on BSE at Rs 540, and surged to an intra-day high of Rs 579, the low being Rs 481.50. The real estate developer had priced its IPO at Rs 300 per share. The company's paid-up equity capital is Rs 181.60 crore. Face value per share is Rs 10. NSE has also admitted the scrip to its derivatives segment at a market lot of 700 shares.

Oil & refinery stocks slipped after the government announced a cut in retail prices of diesel and petrol by Re 1 and Rs 2, respectively, on Wednesday. This move will further hurt oil marketers' profitability. Indian Oil Corporation (down 3.74% to Rs 446), Hindustan Petroleum Corporation (down 2.72% to Rs 284) and Bharat Petroleum Corporation (down 2.88% to Rs 344) declined.

Among side-counters, Raipur Alloys & Steel jumped 20% to Rs 122.70, as Reliance Mutual Fund acquired 12.5 lakh shares at Rs 100.47 per share, vide block deals, on Wednesday. There were outstanding buy orders for 1.14 lakh shares at the upper limit, on BSE.

Leather products maker Crew BOS Products rose 2.13% to Rs 168, and Aztec Software advanced 1.75% to Rs 163.20 amid reports that RBI has raised FII-ceilings in both. While the apex bank has permitted 100% FII-buying in Aztec Software, it has been restricted to 49% in Crew BOS Products.

Gujarat Apollo Equipments surged 8.03% to Rs 197.10, extending Wednesday’s rally, as the company deferred the rights issue indefinitely on Tuesday. The company, in January 2006, announced a 1:2 rights issue at Rs 100 per share (premium Rs 90 per share), which entailed 50% equity dilution.

Crude oil prices eased for the first time this week on Thursday, but remained near a two-month high above $62 after a surprise draw-down in US winter fuel stocks and signs of solid economic growth in the world's top consumer. US light crude was 5 cents lower at $62.41 barrel, slipping after rising above $65.50 on Wednesday to its highest since 2 October, breaking free from the $58 - $62 confine, that has defined prices in the past two months.

All Asia/Pacific markets were trading in the positive, while European indices were a mixed bag.

The Nikkei average rose 1.23% to its highest level in more than two weeks on Thursday, as Honda Motor Co and other exporters advanced on upbeat US growth data and a weaker yen, and securities brokers such as Nomura Holdings climbed on the Tokyo market's rally. The Nikkei ended up 198.13 points, at 16,274.33, the highest since 14 November 2006.

Hang Seng index rose 0.96%, or 179.55 points, to 18,960.48.

The domestic economy grew by 9.2% in the July-September quarter from a year earlier, higher than market expectations of 8.90%, data released earlier today showed. The annual growth rate in the second quarter of the 2006/07 financial year was higher than the April-June rate of 8.9%.

On 28 November 2006, FIIs were net sellers of stocks to the tune of Rs 335.30 crore (gross purchases worth Rs 1894.80 crore and gross sales of Rs 2230.10 crore) while domestic mutual funds were net sellers of stocks to the tune of Rs 268.87 crore (gross purchases worth Rs 404.04 crore and gross sales of Rs 672.91 crore).

US stocks jumped on Wednesday, after the government raised its estimate for economic growth, and a surge in oil price lifted energy stocks, helping major indices recover most of the ground they lost from a big sell-off early in the week. The Dow Jones industrial average rose 90.28 points, or 0.74%, to finish at 12,226.73, while the Standard & Poor's 500 Index jumped 12.76 points, or 0.92%, to close at 1,399.48. The Nasdaq Composite Index advanced 19.62 points, or 0.81%, to end at 2,432.23.

News

Sensex settles on the cusp of 13,700
The market, which had softened from a peak, regained strength in the fag hours, the Sensex crossing 13,700 as buying resumed after the settlement of November 2006 derivative contracts. The November contracts expired today. As per reports, NSE F&O Open Interest had shot up by Rs 1,008 crore, to Rs 60,719 crore.

The 30-shares BSE Sensex finished with a gain of 79.58 points (0.58%), at 13,696.31. It was off the higher level after hitting 13,745.16, the day's high, within minutes of commencement of trade. Its low for the day was 13,630.58.

The S&P CNX Nifty rose 26.30 points (0.67%), to 3,954.50.

The market-breadth was negative, with 1,341 shares declining on BSE, compared to 1,217 that advanced. As many as 58 shares were unchanged.The BSE clocked a turnover of Rs 3,954 crore. Among the 30-Sensex pack, 18 advanced while the rest declined.

BHEL to expand annual capacity to 10,000 MW
Engineering gaint BHEL is currently expanding its annual capacity from 6000 mw per annum to 10,000 mw per annum. The expansion will be completed by 2007.

As per the overall share of BHEL out of the 65% in power sector, BHEL is likely to get orders of 39,000 mw during 11th five year plan period, i.e., around 7,800 mw per annum.

The capacity addition programme which is under finalisation for 11th five year plan envisages capacity addition of around 60,000 mw in five year period. Out of the envisaged 60,000 mw of power generation capacity addition, about 12,000 mw has been so far ordered on BHEL and about 14,000 mw on other suppliers.

The company has recently bagged its third successive order for a captive power plant (CPP) from Hindustan Zinc. Under the plans envisaged, the company`s plant shall cater to the captive power requirements of HZL’s unit at Jawar Mines at Udaipur in Rajasthan.

Update 4

Sensex regains strength
The market, which had softened under selling pressure, had regained strength. Volatility may wane once settlement of November 2006 derivative contracts, is complete. The November contracts are set to expire today. As per reports, NSE F&O Open Interest has shot up by Rs 1,008 crore, to Rs 60,719 crore.

At 14:39 IST the Sensex was up 47.67 points, at 13,664.40. It was off the higher level after hitting 13,745.16, the day's high, within minutes of commencement of trade. Its low for the day was 13,630.61.The market-breadth was negative, with 1304 shares declining on BSE, compared to 1,212 that advanced. As many as 69 shares were unchanged.
The BSE clocked a turnover of Rs 3,097 crore.Among the 30-Sensex pack, 17 advanced while the rest declined.

PSL jubilant on winning new order overseas
PSL rose 3.4% to Rs 207.50, on bagging an order worth Rs 308 crore for carbon-steel, bare-line pipes in Oman.A total of 96,260 shares changed hands in the counter on BSE.Early this month, PSL valued its order-book at Rs 1,465 crore, driven by buoyant activity in the oil & gas and water sectors.

PSL makes various types of pipes and pipe-coatings. It supplies to companies in the oil and gas transportation sector. Its clientele include ONGC, GAIL, HPCL and Indian Oil Corporation. PSL expects strong orders for large diameter pipes, both in India as well as globally, since these are more economical allowing large movement at lesser cost.

PSL has almost doubled the capacity of its pipes division with the addition of three pipe mills, recently. The aggregate pipe-manufacturing capacity of PSL now stands at 11 lakh tonnes per annum. The capacity expansion will aid volume growth over the next few years.

PSL is increasing focus overseas and has a significant presence in West Asia and North-East African countries.PSL reported 69.8% growth in net profit for Q2 September 2006 to Rs 13.52 crore, on 35.2% growth in net sales to Rs 308.62 crore.

Flex Industries upbeat as Delhi HC okays sub-units merger
Flex Industries jumped 14% to Rs 69, after the company said merger of two other group companies, has been cleared by the Delhi High Court.As many as 64,650 shares changed hands in the counter on BSE

Group companies, Flex Engineering and FCL Technologies, will now be merged with Flex Industries, enabling the accumulation of resources under a single entity providing end-to-end solutions in the packaging industry.

Flex Industries makes polyester films, BOPP films, poly- films and various combinations of these films as laminates. It also makes rotogravure cylinders for rotogravure printing. Flex Industries registered 5.5% fall in net profit for Q2 September 2006 to Rs 8.51 crore.

Flex Engineering makes packaging, printing and allied machines & structure and fabrication job. Flex Engineering registered a net loss of Rs 56 crore for Q2 September 2006, against a net profit of Rs 0.17 crore in Q2 September 2005.

FCL Technologies has two major segments: manufacturing and dealing in poly-condensation (PET chips) as well as inks & adhesives. FCL reported 46.9% fall in net profit for Q2 September 2006 to Rs 0.34 crore.

Flex Industries will issue about 1.06 crore equity shares to the shareholders of Flex Engineering on a swap ratio of 2:3. It will also issue about 17.73 lakh equity shares to FCL Technologies' shareholders as per 1:3 swap ratio.Meanwhile, Flex Industries is converting 54.8 lakh equity shares issued to UTI, IDBI, IFCI and LIC into 13.15 lakh zero rate secured optionally fully convertible debentures of Rs 100.

Update 3

Market prunes gains; breadth turns negative
After being positive for the previous two sessions, the market-breadth turned negative on BSE as selling emerged for small-cap and mid-cap stocks. Meanwhile, the market had also eased a bit on selling.

At 13:26 IST the Sensex was up 47.60 points, at 13,665.31. It was off the higher level after hitting 13,745.16, the day's high, within minutes of commencement of trade. Its low for the day was 13,630.90. However, volatility is likely during the latter part of trading as investors square off their positions, or roll over the November 2006 derivative contracts to the December series. The November derivatives contracts are set to expire today. As per reports, NSE F&O Open Interest has shot up by Rs 1,008 crore, to Rs 60,719 crore.

The market-breadth turned negative, with 1262 shares declining on BSE, compared to 1,193 that advanced. As many as 65 shares were unchanged.The BSE clocked a turnover of Rs 2,550 crore.Among the 30-Sensex pack, 15 advanced while the rest declined.

Parsvnath lists at 83 pct premium to issue price
Shares in real estate firm Parsvnath Developers Ltd. listed at 550 rupees on the BSE on Thursday, a premium of 83 percent over the issue price of 300 rupees.

At 9:57 a.m. shares in the company were trading at 550.10 rupees.New Delhi-based Parsvnath had total income of 6.54 billion rupees for the year to March 2006, and a net profit of 1.07 billion rupees.Parsvnath said it has development rights for an estimated 102.11 million square feet of saleable area and is present in 37 cities across the country.

Bharti Airtel and Google join hands
Bharti Airtel and Google announced a strategic partnership that is expected to set new grounds in mobile search and help redefine mobile internet in India.

As a part of the agreement, Airtel will bring Google search to the Airtel Live mobile WAP portal. Google will also incorporate advertising through its Mobile Ads product on the Airtel Live mobile portal. The Google search engine on Airtel Live mobile portal will enable the Airtel users to use the Google search engine to easily access content. Google will power searches on Airtel Live in two areas - on net (rich content on Airtel Live) and off net (internet on mobile).

Airtel Live has over 50,000 exclusive pieces of content, including information like news, stock ticker and sports scores and downloadable content like games, music, video clips and wall papers. Google will also incorporate Mobile Ads, which are text advertisements based on search terms that are displayed alongside search results on the Airtel Live mobile portal. This new business model is a first for both consumers and businesses in India.

Commenting on the alliance, Manoj Kohli, President, of Bharti Airtel said ``By offering Google services to our customers, Airtel strengthens its commitment to innovation. With this service, World Wide Web has literally converged into the handheld device enabling anytime, anywhere access to information and entertainment for Airtel customers.``

Brokerage buy call invigorates Dr Reddy’s Lab
Dr Reddy’s Lab rose nearly 2% to Rs 748.70 after ICICI Securities reiterated its buying rating on the stock estimating its fair value at Rs 997.1.5 lakh shares changed hands in the counter on BSE.

In a report issued on Wednesday 29 November, ICICI Securities has revised upwards its FY 2007 EPS forecast for Dr Reddy’s by 33% to Rs 43.60. It has revised upwards its FY 2008 EPS forecast upwards by 6% to Rs 31.50. It expects strong earnings momentum to continue for Dr Reddy’s Lab over the next 3-4 quarters on the back of a likely win of 180-day exclusivity for generic Zofran and robust growth in core generics business.

ICICI Securities has factored in a 7.5% equity dilution in Dr Reddy’s Lab following the ADR issue. But there would be slightly higher equity dilution than that with Dr Reddy’s Lab (DRL) announcing on Wednesday 29 November that it issued 1.8 million additional American depositary shares to underwriters at $16 each. Earlier, it had announced raising $200 million from secondary offering of 12.5 million ADRs. Dr Reddy’s Lab ADR rose 2.4% on Wednesday to $16.44 following the announcement.

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Update 2

GDP data, IT scrips keep the Sensex busy
IT stocks advanced on renewed buying, even as the Sensex gained further ground, boosted by robust GDP figures.

The domestic economy grew by 9.2% in the July-September quarter from a year earlier, higher than market expectations of 8.90%, data showed. The annual growth rate in the second quarter of the 2006/07 financial year was higher than the April-June rate of 8.9%.

At 12:27 IST the Sensex was up 69.36 points, at 13,686.09. It was off the higher level after hitting 13,745.16, the day's high, within minutes of commencement of trade. Its low for the day was 13,630.90. However, volatility is likely during the latter part of trading as investors square off their positions, or roll over the November 2006 derivative contracts to the December series. The November derivatives contracts expire today. As per reports, NSE F&O Open Interest has shot up by Rs 1,008 crore, to Rs 60,719 crore.

The market-breadth was strong. For 1,354 shares rising on BSE, 1,000 declined. As many as 93 shares were unchanged.The BSE clocked a turnover of Rs 2,153 crore.Among the 30-Sensex pack, 19 advanced while the rest declined.

GDP grows at 9.2% in Q2, agri declines to 1.7%
The country's economy grew by a robust 9.2 per cent in July-September 2006-07 compared to 8.4 per cent in the second quarter of last year on the back of high growth in manufacturing and services sectors.

However, growth in the farm sector, which accounts for about a fifth of the economy, declined to 1.7 per cent during the second quarter this fiscal compared to 4.0 per cent in the same period of 2005-06.

Manufacturing, which contributes 17 per cent in the GDP, registered a growth of 11.9 per cent in July-September 2006 as against 8.1 per cent in the corresponding period of 2005-06.

Patni Computer allots equity shares under ESOP
Patni Computer Systems, an IT services provider company, has allotted 61,130 equity shares of par value of Rs 2 each to certain employees of the company pursuant to the exercise of the options granted to them under the company`s stock option plan 2003 (Patni ESOP 2003).

The compensation committee of directors of the company has allotted the above mentioned shares on November 23, 2006.Patni Computer Systems provides information technology services and business solutions in domains like insurance and other financial services, manufacturing, telecom, logistics, retail etc.

On November 15, the company implemented mySAP ERP solution at Gujarat Reclaim and Rubber Products, the largest producer of reclaimed rubber in Asia. The deployment makes Gujarat Reclaim the first company in the reclaimed rubber Industry to have implemented mySAP.

Dr Reddy`s up on second ADS issue
The shares of Dr Reddy`s Labs were trading higher by 2.23% after it announced that it has issued additional 18 lakh ADSs. The shares are currently trading at Rs 751 (11.57 pm), compared with their previous close of Rs 734.65 (Wednesday). A total of 1,04,582 shares have changed hands at the bourses so far.

Dr Reddy`s Labs, on November 29 2006, announced the issuance of an additional 18 lakh american depositary shares to the underwriters at a public offer price of USD 16 per ADS pursuant to the exercise of the over-allotment option that the company had granted to the underwriters in a previously- announced offering completed on November 22, 2006. A total of 143 lakh ADSs have been issued under the offering (including this issuance).

On November 16, 2006, the company announced the pricing of the public offering of 125 lakh ADSs (excluding the underwriter`s over-allotment option) at a public offer price of USD 16 per ADS.The stock has gained 1.85% over the week and a fall of 0.05% over the month.

Investors gulp Sobha IPO, lukewarm to Ruchira

Bangalore-based Sobha Developers got an overwhelming response for its 88.93-lakh share initial public offer. The issue, which closed on Wednesday, was oversubscribed 104 times.

In comparison, Ruchira Papers’ IPO was lukewarm, attracting bids only 1.83 times the issue size, as per the data available with the National Stock Exchange, while going to press. Qualified institutional buyers (QIB) were the major subscribers to the Sobha Developers’ issue.

The portion reserved for QIBs was subscribed by over 164 times, while that for high net worth individuals (HNI) was subscribed 126 times. Even retail investors have shown good interest in the IPO, with the portion reserved for them getting oversubscribed close to 17 times.

Total bids received for the issue were more than 92.64 crore shares as against its total issue size of 88.93 lakh equity shares. The company proposes to utilise the net proceeds of the issue to finance land acquisition and fund ongoing projects. Part of the proceeds would be used to repay certain loans.

In the case of Ruchira Papers, the QIB portion was oversubscibed 1.63 times, while the retail portion was undersubscibed 0.6 times. The IPO of Ruchira Papers has been over subscribed 1.83 times and received 1.52 crore bids for its issue comprising 1.11 crore shares.

The issue proceeds will be utilised for setting up of a 33,000 tonnes per annum capacity for the manufacture of writing and printing paper, including a chemical recovery plant and a 6mw co-generation plant.

Kotak Investment Banking along with Enam Financial Consultants and IL&FS Investsmart were the book running lead managers to the Sobha issue. When contacted, S Ramesh, chief operating officer of Kotak Mahindra Capital, said, the buoyant performance of Sobha can be attributed to overall real estate sector doing well, promoter’s track record and the company’s backward integration.

Mr Ramesh said that the overall good sentiment in the primary market can also be attributed to the buoyant mood in the secondary market. When asked whether the arrival of mega IPOs like Cairn and DLF in the near future will suck out liquidity from the bourses, he said it was unlikely and there was sufficient liquidity in the system.

Basmati rice manufacturer L&T Overseas’ IPO is to close on Thursday and was subscribed by about 1.5 times at the time of going to press.

Update 1

Sensex clings to early gains
The BSE Sensex stayed firm as buying continued. However, volatility is likely during the latter part of trading as investors square off their positions or roll over the November 2006 derivative contracts to the December series. The November derivatives contracts expire today.

At 11:29 IST the Sensex was up 74.37 points, at 13,691.10. The Sensex came off the higher level after hitting 13,745.16, the day's high, within minutes of commencement of trade. Its low for the day was 13,630.90.

The market-breadth was strong. For 1,363 shares rising on BSE, only 832 declined. As many as 82 shares were unchanged.The BSE clocked a turnover of Rs 1,691 crore.Among the Sensex pack, 23 advanced while the rest declined.HDFC Bank was the top gainer, up 2.30% to Rs 1,112.15 on 17,654 shares.Software shares witnessed renewed buying interest. Satyam Computers (up 1.51% to Rs 457.50), Wipro (up 1.94% to Rs 594.30) and Infosys (up 0.61% to Rs 2,170.30) advanced.Software major TCS rose 1.51% to Rs 1,180.40, after signing a 7-year deal worth $65 million for reorganising Somerfield's IT services. Somerfield is a leading UK-based, small-format food retailer.ONGC was the top loser, down 0.75% to Rs 851, on a volume of 1.12 lakh shares.

IT doyens under the spotlight
IT pivotals edged higher tracking overnight gains in their ADRs, and after TCS announced a major order.

Satyam Computer rose 1.6% to Rs 459, Wipro gained 1.9% to Rs 594, TCS rose 1.6% to Rs 1,183 while Infosys added 0.5% to Rs 2,168. TCS hit Rs 1,184, a life high for the scrip.The ADRs of the IT triumvirate, Infosys, Satyam and Wipro, rose between 0.5 - 1.8% on Wednesday.

IT pivotals surged in the past few days following reports that top Indian IT firms are chasing over a dozen deals on an average, the sizes of which range between $50 - $100 million. Wipro has risen to current Rs 594 from Rs 549.30 on 17 November. Satyam Computer has surged to Rs 459 from Rs 433.50 on 17 November. TCS has gained surged to Rs 1,183 from Rs 1,085.50 on 16 November.

After trading hours on Wednesday, TCS said it had signed a 7-year, $65 million deal with Somerfield. Earlier, TCS had indicated that it will announce at least five deals worth over $ 50 million, in the future. A $90 million Qantas deal was the first one. Somerfield is the second.

ITC to procure 25,000 tonnes of wheat in Uttaranchal
Kolkata-based ITC has received a license for procuring 25,000 tonnes of wheat in Uttaranchal this year, as compared with 5,000 tonnes in last year, report Business Standard.

This licence will help ITC to procure wheat directly from farmers and pay a mandi tax of 2.5% in advance. It will result in Rs 50 lakh as tax payment.

NTPC likely to set up 500 mw coal-based plant in Sri Lanka
NTPC is all set to venture overseas. It will be setting up a 500 mw coal-based plant in Sri Lanka. The project is pegged at Rs 25 billion and will be executed by a joint venture (JV) between NTPC and Ceylon Electricity Board, reports Economic Times.

The company may ink a memorandum of understanding next month if everything goes well. NTPC is looking forward to getting a nod from the Sri Lankan government.

The Indian power major is likely to hold 50% equity in the proposed joint venture company, while Sri Lanka`s power utility, Ceylon Electricity Board will hold the remaining 50% stake. The proposed plant will be set up on a build, operate, own and transfer basis.

The 500 mw plant will be built in one go and would be run on imported coal. The annual requirement of coal would be around 2.5 million tonnes. At current prices, this will cost around Rs 6 billion per annum. It is likely that coal for the power plant will be imported from Indonesia through Sri Lanka`s Trincomalee port. Power from the plant will be sold in Sri Lanka.

Though the MoU is yet to be signed, the NTPC-Ceylon Electricity Board joint venture seems to be a done deal. NTPC has been in talks with the Government of Sri Lanka since 2005 to set up a power plant in the country.

The earlier proposal was for a 900 mw LNG-based plant. The Sri Lankan government had expressed a preference to tie up with NTPC rather than a private sector company.NTPC, which has an installed power generation capacity of 26,000 mw in India, plans to increase its capacity by nearly threefold over the next 10 years.

Cairn Energy plans JV with ONGC to build 500 km pipeline
The issue of evacuation of Cairn`s crude oil from its fields in Rajasthan is likely to be resolved soon, reports Business Standard.

Cairn Energy India, in a joint venture (JV) with ONGC, is planning to build a 500 km pipeline to evacuate crude oil from Mangala, Bhagyam, and Aishwarya fields. This move comes after putting aside the plan for setting up a greenfield refinery in the state.

Cairn is planning to invest an additional USD 500 million in the pipeline, sources said.The company has already worked out the logistics of the plan to build an insulated pipeline from Barmer to Mundra port, since the waxy crude oil discovered in Rajasthan can only be transported in a heated pipeline.
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After Trading Hour News

Cairn IPO to hit the markets on Dec 11
Cairn India will launch its initial public offering (IPO) on December 11 and close it on December 15, with a listing expected as soon as a week later.

``We want to list as soon as possible, and maybe after a week of the IPO closing,`` Cairn spokesman David Nishbet said.The company set a price range for the flotation of between Rs 160 and Rs 190 rupees per share, valuing the business at between Rs 282.45 billion and Rs 335.41 billion.

Cairn sold 209.67 million shares for USD 822 million in a pre-IPO placement offer last week out of which 176.53 million shares were sold to Malaysian state oil company Petronas at Rs 176.48 per share.After the private placement, Cairn its public offering from 538.5 million shares to 328.8 million shares.

TCS inks USD 65 bn deal with Somerfield
Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) has inked a seven year agreement with Somerfield, a leading UK-based small-format food retailer, to provide a full range of managed IT services.

Under this pact, the company will take over the entire IT operations, asset management and planning for Somerfield and provide a fully managed IT infrastructure and applications service within Somerfield, aimed at meeting its current and future business demands.

Moreover, as part of the agreement, the firm will manage third party hardware, software and services contracts with an estimated value of over USD 100 million over the duration of the agreement.

MFs net sellers in equities worth Rs 2688.7 mn on Nov 28
Mutual funds (MFs) remained net sellers in equities worth Rs 2688.7 million on November 28. They bought equity worth Rs 4040.4 million and sold equity worth Rs 6729.1 million. Till November 28, they have been net sellers in equities worth Rs 527.7 million.

MFs were however, net buyers in debt on November 28 to the tune of Rs 798.3 million. They bought debt worth Rs 4661.7 million and sold debt worth Rs 3863.4 million. Till November 28, they have been net buyers in debt to the tune of Rs 55933.4 million.

FIIs net sellers in equities worth Rs 3,353 mn on Nov 28
Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) turned net sellers in equities to the tune of Rs 3,353 million (USD 73.8 million) on November 28. They bought equity worth Rs 18948 million and sold equity worth Rs 22,301 million. Till November 28, they have been net buyers in equities to the tune of Rs 94,431 million (USD 2,050.8 million).

FIIs were however, net buyers in debt on November 28 worth Rs 1,673 million (USD 36.8 million). They bought debt worth Rs 1,673 million. Till November 28, they have been net buyers in debt worth Rs 7,430 million (USD 162.2 million).

Till November 28, FIIs have thus been net buyers in both equities and debt to the tune of Rs 101861 million (USD 2,213 million).In the derivative segment, the FIIs were net sellers to the tune of Rs 22,935.7 million on November 28. They bought derivatives worth Rs 54,237.5 million, while they sold derivatives worth Rs 77,173.2 million.

ICICI Bank exits from NCDEX
According to market sources, ICICI Bank offloaded its eight per cent stake in National Commodity and Derivatives Exchange (NCDEX) for an undisclosed amount.

Officials at the bank did not deny the development and said that if any such deal is struck the details will be disclosed at the end of the quarter as a matter of policy. However, a senior official did mention that the bank did intend to divest from NCDEX as it is not in that business. The investment was basically made for the development of the industry and that objective has been achieved.Officials at NCDEX were not aware of any such development.

Sobha Developers IPO oversubscribed 112.18 times
Sobha Developers` initial public offering (IPO) has received an astounding response from the investors as the issue has been oversubscribed by 112.18 times, as per the BSE website.

The IPO has received a total of 997.63 million bids as against the issue size of 8.89 million equity shares of Rs 10 each. The IPO which closed today, was made through book building route, to raise upto Rs 5.68 billion. The price band of the offer was Rs 550 to Rs 640.

The company proposes to use the proceeds of the issue to finance land acquisition and construction and development cost of some of the existing and proposed residential projects. The company also plans to use the proceeds to repay certain loans of the company.

Focus shifts to small-cap, mid-cap shares

Small-cap and mid-cap stocks came to the fore today as investors rotated money from frontline shares. The valuations of small-cap and mid-cap shares have turned attractive vis-a-vis frontline stocks following a surge some of the frontline stocks in the past few months.

BSE Small-Cap Index rose 103.62 points or 1.5% today to settle at 6,635.01 and BSE Mid-Cap Index advanced 76.64 points or 1.3% to 5,727.85. In comparison, Sensex rose a muted 14.78 points or 0.1% to settle at 13,616.73. The S&P CNX Nifty rose 6.45 points or 0.16% to settle at 3,928.20.

Volatility was high. After surging over 100 points at the onset of trading tracking firm Asian markets, Sensex gradually pared gains later and it even slipped into the red at one point of time at the fag end of the trading session. It recovered from the red and moved into the green again at close.

Sensex hit a low of 13,586.04 and high of 13,711.76.

Liquidation of positions in the November 2006 derivatives contracts ahead of expiry of November contracts on Thursday weighed on the bourses today. Five Sensex heavyweights Infosys, ICICI Bank, ONGC, Bharti Airtel and Reliance Industries (RIL) slipped into the red. These five stocks have a combined weightage of over 40% in Sensex.

Asian and European markets were firm today. Japan’s Nikkei 225 average jumped 221 points or 1.3% to 16,076.20 following robust industrial output data.

The market sentiment remains bullish due to strong FII inflow and expectations that corporate earnings growth will remain strong. Sensex has risen sharply over the past few weeks. The barometer index is up almost 45% in calendar 2006 so far.

Market would keenly watch the extent of rollover to December contracts from November 2006 contracts which expire on Thursday 30 November. A large rollover would mean traders expect the rally on continue whereas lower rollover would indicate correction might be on the cards.

The broad market depicted bullish trend today as gainers outpaced losers by a ratio of 1.77:1 on BSE. Select side counters surged.BSE clocked a turnover of Rs 4388 crore compared to Tuesday’s Rs 4161 crore.

Cement shares extended their recent upmove on firm cement prices. ACC gained 3.6% to Rs 1140, Gujarat Ambuja Cements rose 2.3% to Rs 146.55 and Grasim gained 2% to Rs 2770.

Cigarette major ITC advanced 2.5% to Rs 184.40. 9.3 lakh shares changed hands in the counter on BSE.

Auto shares rose after the government today announced a cut of Rs 2 per litre in price of petrol and rupee one per litre in diesel. Bajaj Auto rose 1.1% to Rs 2670, Tata Motors gained 0.8% to Rs 817 and car major Maruti Udyog added 0.6% to Rs 920.

Refinery shares slipped on worries that cut in retail fuel prices would put further pressure on their marketing margins. HPCL shed 3.5% to Rs 291.50 and BPCL lost 1.7% to Rs 354.

Indian Oil Corporation dropped 4.7% to Rs 459.90 and Bongaigaon Refinery shed 5.5% to Rs 50.65. Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) today recommended a swap ratio of four IOC shares for every 37 shares held in Bongaigaon Refinery, for merger of Bongaigaon Refinery in IOC.

Oil exploration major ONCG dropped 0.8% to Rs 859.80. ONGC has to sell crude at a discount to state-run refiners to help them reduce losses incurred due to state-set prices.

Bharti Airtel dropped 1.3% to Rs 620 on profit taking. Communist Party of India said on Tuesday it was against the entry of Wal-Mart Stores Inc. in India, a day after Bharti Enterprises – a Bharti Airtel group company announced a tie-up with the world's biggest retailer on Tuesday.

ICICI Bank shed 0.8% to Rs 855 and Reliance Industries dropped 0.1% to Rs 1249.

Software major Infosys shed 0.7% to Rs 2151 in volatile trade. On Tuesday, Infosys ADR rose nearly 1%.

Tata Steel dropped 0.04% to Rs 475.60 in volatile trade after Anglo-Dutch steelmaker Corus Group said on Wednesday its third-quarter earnings rose 63% on the back of higher steel prices. Corus last month agreed a 4.3 billion-pound takeover offer from Tata Steel. However, Brazil's Companhia Siderurgica Nacional has since proposed making a higher bid and it has been conducting due diligence with the help of senior Corus management. Corus this week delayed a shareholder meeting to vote on Tata's takeover offer until Dec. 20.

Tyre shares extended their recent rally as natural rubber prices remained low. JK Industries gained nearly 5% to Rs 141.90, CEAT rose 4.4% to Rs 131.75, Apollo Tyres rose 4% to Rs 357 and MRF rose 2.7% to Rs 4612.

Shriram Transport Finance jumped 6% to Rs 140. The company today reported 11.4% growth in net profit for Q2 September 2006 to Rs 39.49 crore (Rs 35.44 crore). Total income rose 37.8% to Rs 318.21 crore (Rs 230.76 crore).

Recently listed Lanco Infratech jumped 14% to Rs 267. The scrip rose on huge volume of 1.1 crore shares on BSE.

Torrent Power jumped 20% to Rs 84.80. Volumes in the stock were a huge 70.9 lakh shares on BSE. Torrent Power is the umbrella company of the newly amalgamated generation, transmission and distribution businesses of the Torrent Group. It debut on the bourses was listed on the bourses on Tuesday (28 November).

Distillation equipment maker Praj Industries gained 4% to Rs 195.20 after the company said on Wednesday it had secured an order worth 2 million euros to design a bio-ethanol complex in Belgium

Bilpower rose 0.2% to Rs 154.15 after the company said on Wednesday it bought 30,999 shares of Tarapur Transformers for Rs 3.41 crore. The firm has also funded Tarapur to the tune of Rs 4.95 crore

Jindal Saw jumped 6% to Rs 404.90 on strong Q4 results. Jindal Saw reported a surge in net profit for Q4 September 2006 to Rs 47.56 crore from Rs 24.13 crore in Q4 September 2005. Net sales rose 98.9% to Rs 1123.39 crore from Rs 564.71 crore.

Voltas gained 2.4% to Rs 110. 21.3 lakh shares changed hands in the counter on BSE.

GE Shipping lost 5% to Rs 213. The stock was relisted on Monday following a scheme of arrangement whereby it transferred its offshore services division to a separate company Great Offshore which would be listed separately.

Gujarat NRE Coke rose 20% to Rs 32.25 after the company said the shareholders of Zelos Resources which is listed in the Australian stock exchange last week passed a resolution giving effect to the company taking a controlling 85% stake in the Australian resources firm. Zelos Resources is now being renamed Gujarat NRE Resources NL.

BPO firm Tricom India rose 10% to Rs 123.60. On Monday, the company announced that it plans to put up a new centre at Nashik with a recruitment of 400 freshers to its fold.

NDTV lost 1.3% to Rs 229.75 after the company said it has entered into a strategic alliance with Karan Johar and Dharma Productions for its entertainment business

Torrent Pharma rose 3.6% to Rs 197. Dr. Reddy's Laboratories said on Wednesday it had signed a deal with Torrent Pharmaceuticals to sell the latter's anti-cholesterol products, Listril and Listril Plus, in Russia.

Kamat Hotels India rose 0.7% to Rs 170.45. The company said on Tuesday that Kotak Securities under its portfolio management schemes, raised its stake in the company to 5.09 percent. The schemes of Kotak Securities acquired 47,648 shares, or a 0.36 percent stake, on Nov. 24, the company said.

Gitanjali Gems rose 10% to Rs 239.90 on reports is in talks to acquire U.S. jewellery retailer Samuels Jewelers Inc. in a transaction valued at $25 million.

Update 4

Sensex registers small gain
Sensex ended with small gain of 14.78 points to settle at 13,616.73 in volatile trade. After surging over 100 points at the onset of trading tracking firm Asian markets, it gradually pared gains later and it even slipped into the red at one point of time at the fag end of the trading session. It recovered from the red and moved into the green again at close.

Sensex hit a low of 13,586.04 and high of 13,711.76.Liquidation of positions in the November 2006 derivatives contracts ahead of expiry of November contracts on Thursday weighed on the bourses. Five Sensex heavyweights Infosys, ICICI Bank, ONGC, Bharti Airtel and Reliance Industries (RIL) slipped into the red. Cement shares rose on firm cement prices. Auto scrips edged higher after the government cut retail fuel prices.

The broad market depicted bullish trend as gainers outpaced losers by a ratio of 1.77:1 on BSE. Select side counters surged.BSE clocked a turnover of Rs 4388 crore compared to Tuesday’s Rs 4161 crore.

Tie-up with Dr Reddy's Lab boosts Torrent Pharma
Torrent Pharma rose 4.39% to Rs 198.60 after it signed an agreement with Dr Reddy's Lab for exclusive commercialization of Listril and Listril Plus in Russia

The counter saw volume of 62401 shares on BSE. The stock had surged to Rs 206.10 in intra-day trade.The stock slipped in the past few days, from Rs 206.95 on 15 November to Rs 187.30 on 23 November on selling pressure. Here it found support and started moving higher to Rs 190.05 on 28 November.

Bongaigaon Refinery runs out of fuel on setting merger ratio
Bongaigaon Refinery and Petrochemicals slumped 5.50% to Rs 50.65 after Indian Oil Corporation’s board recommended a swap ratio of four IOC shares for every 37 shares held in Bongaigaon Refinery, for merger of Bongaigaon Refinery in IOC.

As many as 3.97 lakh shares were traded on the counter on BSE.Bongaigaon Refinery stock declined from Rs 56.30 on 15 November to Rs 53.60 on 28 November.Bongaigaon Refinery is 74.46% subsidiary of PSU oil refinery and marketing IOC. The company has presence in refinery, petrochemicals and polyster staple fibre.Bongaigaon Refinery & Petrochemicals (BRPL) posted 2.30% rise in net profit to Rs 50.29 crore for Q2 September 2006 as compared to Rs 49.16 crore for Q2 September 2005. Total income increased 40.60% to Rs 1754.89 crore (Rs 1247.89 crore).

NIIT signs pact with ITI, Cairo for building ICT manpower
NIIT has tied up with Information Technology Institute (ITI), Cairo, under the Ministry of Communications & Information Technology, Govt. of Egypt to build a pool of skilled professionals for the ICT industry in the country.

The tie-up is aimed at facilitating and developing a meaningful and mutually beneficial relationship to foster ICT capacity-building by way of class-room and online learning through the `NIIT Inside` model. This innovative business model from the company has its curriculum and training methodology embedded in programmes offered by a large number of universities and colleges in 30 countries across the globe.

L&T JV bags Rs 4.56 bn order from NTPC
Larsen & Toubro, in joint venture (JV) with Alpine Mayreder Bau GmbH, Austria has secured contract valued at Rs 4.56 billion from NTPC (a Government of India enterprise) for the execution of 4 x 130 MW Tapovan Vishnugad hydropower project in Uttaranchal.

The project includes construction of a concrete lined head race tunnel of approximately 11.3 km length and 5.6 m finished diameter, using, partly by, tunnel boring machine and partly by Roadheader or drill and blast. The project is located in district Chamoli on the Dhauliganga river, a major tributary of Alaknanda.

This is the second hydropower project the company will execute in Uttaranchal. The earlier project, Singoli Bhatwari project being implemented through BOT route, is located 125 km from Tapovan Vishnugad.

SBI launches SBI Life’s ‘Bancassurance Online’
SBI Life Insurance Co, India`s leading private life insurance company, announced the launch of `Bancassurance Online` the first e-initiative of its kind with its bancassurance promoter, State Bank of India.

Commenting on the launch, O. P. Bhatt, Chairman SBI said `Bancassurance Online` is a significant step towards integrating insurance with banking and it will provide my staff member’s information as well as education on life insurance.
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Update 3

Heavyweights lift index up
Though trading in the positive zone, the market has shed some of its gains during the previous trading hour. Sectors like auto, cement, banking, steel, engineering, telecom and software traded higher.

The 30 share-index is currently trading at 13,647.34, up 45.39 points (12.56 p.m).
Out of the total 2,513 stocks traded so far, 1,871 advanced, 589 declined while 53 remained unchanged.

Stocks who led the advances include Grasim, which inched up 2.12% to touch Rs 2773, Bajaj Auto, which buoyed up 1.90% to Rs 2,688.80 and SBI, which gained 1.69% to Rs 1315.25. Maruti, ITC and Dr Reddy`s were among the other major gainers.

Losers on the Sensex were Bharti Airtel, that declined 0.89% to Rs 623.05, Infosys, that dipped 0.63% to Rs 2153.10 and ONGC, that slid 0.54% to Rs 862.75. Wipro, Cipla and NTPC also slipped.

State Bank of India hits lifetime high
PSU banking major State Bank of India (SBI) rose 1.87% to Rs 1317.50 after a block deal was executed in the scrip in the FII segment at about 20% premium over Tuesday’s closing price.2.76 lakh shares were traded on the counter on BSE

The stock hit an all time high of Rs 1324.70 in intra-day trades. A block deal of 4 lakh shares was executed on the counter in the FII segment at Rs 1552.10 per share, about 20% premium over Tuesday’s closing price.

The stock witnessed a steady rally since mid July 2006, on sustained buying interest. From Rs 689.50 on 19 July 2006, the stock advanced 87.66% in roughly around four and half months time period to Rs 1293.45 by 28 November 2006, as buying demand continued.

SBI had reported 2.5% fall in net profit for Q2 September 2006, to Rs 1,184.49 crore (Rs 1215.36 crore). Net interest income rose 8% to Rs 3,898.65 crore (Rs 3,608 crore). Operating profit rose 24.6% to Rs 2,472.5 crore (Rs 1,982.9 crore).

The bank had raised Rs 6,000 crore of long-term resources through Tier II bonds between June and September 2006.SBI is the India’s largest commercial bank. Reserve Bank of India is the largest shareholder in the bank with 59.73% stake while total foreign holding in the bank is 19.83% and that of Indian public is 6.04%, as of September.

Update 2

Strong market breadth
The market was range bound in early afternoon trade. ITC and Dr Reddy’s Lab firmed up. Cellular services major Bharti Airtel (BAL) dropped. Index heavyweight Infosys remained subdued. Cement, auto, and banking shares were in demand.

At 12:21 IST, Sensex was up 67 points at 13,669. Sensex moved in a range of 13,655 to 13,886 since 11:30 IST.Sensex had surged over 100 points in opening trade. It had pared gains later.The market breadth was strong. 1,847 shares rose on BSE as compared to 542 shares that declined. 51 shares were unchanged. Gainers outpaced losers by a ratio of 3.4:1.BSE clocked a turnover of Rs 2039 crore.

SAIL to invest Rs 100 bn for modernising IISCO steel plant
Steel Authority of India (SAIL) would invest around Rs 100 billion for modernising the Burnpur-based IISCO steel plant, besides modernisation of the alloy steels plant, reports Economic Times.

The expansion and upgradation programme of IISCO, which was merged with SAIL,would involve a cost of around Rs 100 billion, sources said.

Reliance Retail sets for Chennai
Within days of opening its first `Reliance Fresh` retail outlet in Hyderabad, Reliance Retail has set its eyes on Chennai as the next destination, reports Business Line.

It is understood that Reliance will be opening a clutch of 10 stores in the city to start with, around December 25.These stores are expected to range in size from 1,500 sq ft to 3,500 sq ft. The retailer may also open 6 to 7 stores in Jaipur around the same time and Delhi and Mumbai too are likely to see stores opening up by early January.By March, Reliance Retail expects to make its presence in 6 to 7 states.

Sandvik to set up Rs 450 mn plant in Pune
On an expansion drive in India, Sandvik Asia (SAL), a wholly owned subsidiary of the USD 8-billion Swedish group, Sandvik, announced plans of setting up a new high speed steel taps plant under the Sandvik Tooling division in Pune, reports Business Standard.

The plant is expected to go on stream in the beginning of 2008 and will require an investment of Rs 450 million. It will have a production capacity of one million pieces in the first year with potential for further expansion.

Hilton plans JV with DLF to set up 75 hotels
US-based hospitality giant, Hilton has plans to create a 26:74 joint venture with DLF to develop and own 75 hotels and service apartments in the country over the next seven years, at an investment of upto USD 143 million, reports Business Standard.

The announcement comes a day after Accor of Europe tied up with Emaar MGF to set up 100 hotels in the next few years at an investment of USD 300 million.

ONGC Videsh wins oil block in Brazil
OVL (ONGC Videsh), the overseas arm of state-run Oil and Natural Gas Corp (ONGC), become richer by winning an oil exploration block in Brazil, reports Business Standard.

OVL paid USD 6,80,000 for the offshore S-M-1103 block in the Santos basin. The block has a potential for natural gas and light oil.The company was among the host of global energy giants that were awarded six blocks in Brazil`s eighth annual auction of oil and gas concessions.

NDTV partners with Karan Johar`s production company
NDTV, the Delhi-based media house announced its partnership with film maker Karan Johar`s production company, Dharma Productions, reports Financial Express.

Last month, NDTV had announced its foray into the entertainment business with plans of launching NDTV Entertainment channel. Karan Johar and his production company, Dharma Productions, will work exclusively with NDTV for entertainment programming. Karan will help originate concepts and new programming ideas for the channel and will be an ambassador for the NDTV entertainment brand.

Dharma Productions will produce shows for NDTV`s entertainment channel. The channel will have the first right of refusal over any programmes that Dharma produces for television. Karan Johar will also be on the board of NDTV`s entertainment company, and his company Dharma productions will hold an equity stake in it.

Gujarat NRE Coke buys 85% in Zelos Resources
Gujarat NRE Coke has acquired a controlling stake of 85% in Zelos Resources NL (ZCO), which is listed on the Australian Stock Exchange (ASX). The company shall now be known as Gujarat NRE Resources NL (GUJ), after it recently received a nod from shareholders of Zelos.

Volkswagen to sign pact with Maharashtra govt for Pune plant today
Europe`s largest car manufacturer, Volkswagen has planned to set up a manufacturing plant in Pune by investing USD 530 million. It will sign an agreement with the Maharashtra government for the facility in New Delhi on November 29, reports Business Standard.

The unit will be the 45th manufacturing facility of the Volkswagen group, while India will be the 19th country to produce its vehicles. On an average, the company produces more than 21,000 vehicles a day. The car-maker plans to roll out the mid-sized Passat brand.

News

LT Overseas IPO subscribed 1.5 times; Sobha 23 times
Real estate firm Sobha Developers' initial public offer is receiving a robust response from investors with the issue getting subscribed by more than 23 times, while basmati rice manufacturer L T Overseas' IPO was subscribed by about 1.5 times.

LT Overseas, which offers shares in a price band of Rs 50-56, received 1.04 crore bids for its offer of 70.35 lakh equity shares of Rs 10 each, according to information available on the Stock Exchanges.

The issue received a good response from qualified institutional buyers, with their portion getting subscribed by nearly three times, though FII have not bid for the issue as yet. The response was from domestic financial institutions.

Bangalore-based Sobha Developers' public offer got subscribed by over 23 times on its second last day of closing, receiving 20.90 crore bids for its total issue size of 88.93 lakh equity shares of Rs 10 each through book building process in the price band of Rs 550-640 per share.

The portion reserved for the Qualified Institutional buyers has been subscribed by over 42 times with foreign institutional investors bidding for 20 crore shares.

The IPO of Ruchira Papers has been over subscribed 1.36 times and received 1.52 crore bids for its issue comprising of 1.11 crore shares. The portion reserved for retail investors was oversubscribed 2.15 times, while non-institutional investors bid for 1.33 times of the shares reserved for them.The IPOs of Sobha Developers and Ruchira Papers close tomorrow while LT overseas offer would end on November 30.

Fictitious public issue applicants may get jail term
The government may make multiple applications for public offers punishable under the Companies Act and fictitious applications may be punishable with 5 years imprisonment, reports Our Bureau in New Delhi.

The standing committee on finance has recommended these measures in its report on the IPO scam. The panel has taken a bleak view on the way the different regulatory bodies have handled the scam. It has also endorsed a Sebi proposal to revamp the management of the two depositories , NSDL and CDSL.
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Govt likely to investigate all public offers made since 1999

The government has been asked to investigate all public offers made since 1999 to ascertain which ones have seen irregularities in allotment of shares.

It has also been ticked off for not giving “due seriousness” to the recommendations made by the joint parliamentary committees on scams. The drastic recommendation has been made by the standing committee on finance, in its report on the recent IPO scam.

It has also said the outcome of such investigations and action should be intimated to it. This could open a proverbial hornet’s nest for the government as that would mean opening up 894 public issues to decide if there has been any mischief in allotment to the eventual shareholders.

“The government should spare no effort to investigate and unearth any kind of manipulations in the IPOs since 1999, without further delay,” the committee has said in its report tabled in Parliament on Tuesday.

According to the committee, Sebi had not acted in time to take action against the damage in the IPO process. It, therefore, said that the committee is “perturbed over the fact that the irregularities in the IPO process are believed to have been going on since 1999 and the authorities have not made any effort, so far, to detect the irregularities.”

Sebi, on its part, has informed the committee it had examined 21 IPOs stretching back since 2003. The list includes Jet Airways, Shoppers’ Stop, IL&FS Investmart, Amar Remedies, NTPC and TCS, besides IDFC and YES Bank.

The 43rd report of the committee also said that action for implementing a comprehensive integrated market surveillance system should be speeded up. To eliminate benami transactions in securities, it has suggested the finance ministry and Sebi should develop a comprehensive central database of MAPIN fast.

Update 1

Firmness prevails; auto, banking shares in demand
The market held firm but it cooled off after an initial surge that was triggered by firm Asian markets. At 11:23 IST, Sensex was up 75 points to 13,677. Sensex had gained as much as 109.81 points to a high of 13,711.76 within minutes of commencement of trading. Sensex’s low was 13,649.20 and high 13,711.76 by morning trade.

The market breadth was strong. 1,708 shares rose on BSE as compared to 487 shares that declined. 76 shares were unchanged. Gainers outpaced losers by a ratio of 3.5:1.
BSE clocked a turnover of Rs 1447 crore.

Bank shares held firm as bond prices rose to fresh seven-month highs on Wednesday, boosted by expectations the government may cut retail fuel prices and help ease inflation pressures. A block deal took in State Bank of India in the FII segment that took place in early trade at about 20% premium over Tuesday’s closing price also provided firmness to bank scrips. SBI was up 1.8% to RS 1317. Bank of Baroda rose 1.2% to Rs 265, Canara Bank gained 1.2% to Rs 300, Corporation Bank rose 1.1% to Rs 398, and Bank of India rose 0.8% to Rs 199.30.

Among private sector banks, ICICI Bank rose 1% to Rs 871 and HDFC Bank added 0.8% to Rs 1097.

Auto shares rose following reports that the government is likely to announce a cut of Rs 2 per litre in price of petrol and a cut of rupee one per litre in diesel. Bajaj Auto gained 1.9% to Rs 2688, TVS Motors gained 1% to Rs 99.90, M&M rose 0.8% to Rs 826.90, car major Maruti Udyog added 1.8% to Rs 931 and Tata Motors rose 1% to Rs 818.90. The announcement of fuel price cut is likely to be made in parliament today.

Strong Q4 results lift Jindal Saw
Jindal Saw rose 1.3% to Rs 386 after it reported a 97% surge in net profit for Q4 September 2006.5,308 shares changed hands in the counter on BSE.

The stock witnessed volatility this month due to alternate bouts of buying and selling. The stock moved between Rs 351 to Rs 394 since early this month. Over the past few months, the stock firmed up. From a low of Rs 241 on 21 July, the scrip surged to Rs 381.10 by 28 November.

Jindal Saw reported a 97% growth in net profit for Q4 September 2006 to Rs 47.56 crore from Rs 24.13 crore in Q4 September 2005. Net sales rose 98.9% to Rs 1123.39 crore from Rs 564.71 crore. The results hit the market after trading hours on Tuesday 28 November.

The company said it has a strong order book of $1.2 billion (about Rs 5400 crore). The company also said it expects to demonstrate a better show in the next financial year.

Gujarat NRE Coke spurts
Gujarat NRE Coke jumped 13.94% to Rs 30.65 after the company said Zelos Resources NL (ZCO), a company listed in the Australian Stock Exchange is now "Gujarat NRE Resources NL” (GUJ) after it took a controlling stake in it.As many as 5.24 lakh shares were traded on the counter on BSE

The stock has been on a continued downtrend in the past one month. From Rs 35.10 on 19 October 2006, the stock slipped steadily to Rs 26.60 on 24 November 2006 on sustained selling. From here, the stock rose slightly to Rs 26.90 on 28 November as buying resumed.
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After Trading Hour News

Govt to scan Bharti, Wal-Mart deal: Nath
A day after global retail giant Wal-Mart announced its entry into the Indian market through a tie-up with Bharti group, the government on Tuesday said it would examine whether "permissible limits" with regard to foreign investments were adhered to.

"We will have a look (at) whether permissible limits have been adhered to," Commerce and Industry Minister Kamal Nath told reporters on the sidelines of the India Economic Summit.
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Infosys ADS gets huge response
The recently concluded sponsored ADS programme of the country’s second largest IT exporter-Infosys Technologies had huge response from the small investors - to be specific, shareholders who tendered just one share.
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Torrent Power re-lists at Rs 60 on BSE
Torrent Power Limited was on Tuesday re-listed at Rs 60 on the Bombay Stock Exchange after completion of its merger process.

The scheme of arrangement entailing the merger of three companies was approved by the Ahmedabad High Court on July 12, this year.The scheme of arrangement includes the amalgamation, between Torrent Power AEC Limited (TPAL), Torrent Power SEC Limited (TPSL), Torrent Power Generation Limited (TPGL) and Torrent Power Limited (TPL).

As per the arrangement, the entire undertakings of TPSL, TPAL and TPGL were transferred to TPL on a going concern basis.Consequent to this arrangement TPL allotted 22 equity shares of Rs 10 each fully paid-up for every one equity share of the same value held in TPAL.

TPL allotted 47 equity shares of Rs 10 each fully paid-up for every one equity share of the same value held in TPSL. One equity share of Rs 10 each fully paid-up was also allotted by TPL for every one equity share of the same value held in TPGL.
Accordingly, TPL has allotted 188.97 crore equity shares of Rs 10 each fully paid up pursuant to the scheme.

Satyam Computer allots shares under stock option plans
The compensation committee of directors of Satyam Computer Services has allotted 160,757 equity shares through circular resolution on November 28, 2006 under stock option plans of the company.

Subsequent to the above allotment, the paid up share capital of the company has increased from 65,62,12,973 equity shares of Rs 2 each aggregating Rs 1,31,24,25,946 to 65,63,73,730 equity shares of Rs 2 each aggregating Rs 1,31,27,47,460.

Recently, Satyam Computer Services, an IT service provider has launched its 100-seater development center in the Guangzhou Software Park, China. The 500 sq. m. state-of-the-art facility is designed to scale up to 1000 employees by 2008 end.The development center will serve as a nearshore set-up for the company`s customers based out of Hong Kong and Japan.

MFs net buyers in equities worth Rs 74.4 mn on Nov 27
Mutual Funds (MFs) turned net buyers in equities worth Rs 74.4 million on November 27. They bought equity worth Rs 3599.1 million and sold equity worth Rs 3524.7 million. Till November 27, they have been net buyers in equities worth Rs 3477.7 million.

Value of purchases by mutual funds has been the highest in debt segment over the last 40 trading days. Value of net purchases or sales by MFs also has been the highest in debt over the last 96 trading days.

MFs were also net buyers in debt on November 27 worth Rs 10759.1 million. They bought debt worth Rs 14146.1 million and sold debt worth Rs 3387 million. Till November 27, they have been net buyers in debt to the tune of Rs 55991 million.

FIIs net buyers in equities worth Rs 4,056 mn on Nov 27
Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) remained net buyers in equities to the tune of Rs 4,056 million (USD 89.2 million) on November 27. They bought equity worth Rs 30,829 million and sold equity worth Rs 26,773 million. Till November 27, they have been net buyers in equities worth Rs 97,784 million (USD 2124.6 million).

FIIs were also net buyers in debt on November 27, worth Rs 891 million (USD 19.6 million). They bought debt worth Rs 891 million. Till November 27, they have been net buyers in debt to the tune of Rs 5757 million (USD 125.4 million).

Till November 27, FIIs have thus been net buyers in both equities and debt to the tune of Rs 1,03,541 million (USD 2,250 million).In the derivative segment, the FIIs were net sellers to the tune of Rs 1,513.4 million on November 27. They bought derivatives worth Rs 46,621.8 million, while they sold derivatives worth Rs 48,135.2 million.

Market declines on weak global cues

Market traded in the red throughout the day’s trading session, tracking weak global markets. The volatility was high ahead of expiry of November contracts this Thursday (30 November), where open positions are quite large.

The 30-shares BSE Sensex lost 171.64 points (1.25%) to 13,601.95. It moved in a range of 13,577.38 and 13,691.12.The S&P CNX Nifty lost 45.70 points (1.15%) to 3923.20.

The total turnover on BSE was Rs 4049 crore, which was lower as compared to Rs 4441 crore on Monday (27 November).Market breadth was weak. 1072 shares advanced as compared to 1465 that declined on BSE. 83 remained unchanged. In early trade, the breadth was much weaker. The BSE Small-Cap index lost 45 points to 6,531.39 while the BSE Mid-Cap index declined 34.57 points to 5,651.21.Among the Sensex pack, 25 declined while the rest advanced.

Frontline IT stocks were the worst hit on profit booking, with the BSE IT index declining the most among sectoral indices, by 2.43% or 125.69 points to 5044.49. Satyam Computers (down 2.91% to Rs 451), Wipro (down 2.27% to Rs 588) and Infosys (down 2.79% to Rs 2165) declined.

Majority of the Indian ADRs ended in the red on Monday in a weak US market. Infosys ADR lost nearly 3% to $51.98, Satyam Computer ADR shed 3.2% to $22.99 and Wipro ADR lost 1.9% to $15.25. Also the rising rupee against the US dollar added to investors’ concerns for IT companies which derive a lion’s share of their venue in dollar terms. The rupee hit a two-week high on Monday 27 November.

Other major losers from Sensex pack were NTPC (down 2.79% to Rs 149.65), Reliance Energy (down 3.12% to Rs 529) and Reliance Communications (down 3.25% to Rs 471).

Index heavyweight Reliance Industries (RIL) lost 0.28% to Rs 1248.25 on 10.30 lakh shares. It declined from its intra-day high of Rs 1279.95. There are reports that RIL will sell piped gas at discount to LPG.

Hero Honda was the top gainer, up 1.62% to Rs 745 on 6.64 lakh shares. The stock rose following reports that the government is considering cut in oil prices. An announcement regarding fuel prices will be made in parliament on Wednesday 29 November.

Grasim (up 0.65% to Rs 2711), SBI (up 1.37% to Rs 1294.10) and Gujarat Ambuja Cements (up 0.38% to Rs 143.70) were the other gainers.

The BSE Metal Index declined 1.7% to settle at 8,921.50 on selling pressure. Hindustan Zinc (down 4.73% to Rs 926.50), SAIL (down 3.05% to Rs 85.75), JSW Steel (down 2.65% to Rs 323.50), Sterlite Industries (down 1% to Rs 545), Hindalco (down 1.72% to Rs 176.65) and Tata Steel (down 1.42% to Rs 475.40) were among the losers.

Among the side counters Donear Industries jumped 6.28% to Rs 165 on high volume of 70.80 lakh shares while Amar Remedies surged 20% to Rs 63.15 on high volume of 29.82 lakh shares.

Godfrey Phillips surged 10% to Rs 1140.55, on reports that the company is planning to issue bonus shares to reward investors in the next few months and at a ratio of 4 shares for 1 held. However, at the fag end of the trading session, the company denied rumours of bonus issue and stock split.

Force Motors rose 0.80% to Rs 421 after the company’s board approved the transfer of assets and liabilities of the heavy commercial vehicles division to its subsidiary Man Force Trucks. The company also approved investment of Rs 100 crore as equity capital in this subsidiary.

IVRCL Infrastructures & Projects gained 0.41% to Rs 412.60 after the company bagged orders worth Rs 388 crore from the irrigation department of the Andhra Pradesh government. The orders will be executed along with its joint venture partners, the company said.

Sadbhav Engineering advanced 2.45% to Rs 494.20 and PBA Infrastructure gained 2.64% to Rs 142 after Sadbhav Engineering said its joint venture with PBA Infrastructure has secured a construction contract worth Rs 297 crore. Sadbhav has a 51% stake in the joint venture and PBA holds 49%.

Torrent Power (TPL) the umbrella company of the newly amalgamated generation, transmission and distribution businesses of the Torrent Group settled at Rs 70.70 on BSE on high volumes of 1.30 crore shares. The stock was listed at Rs 60 on BSE. The stock hit a low of Rs 55.50 and high of Rs 76.30. Three companies Torrent Power AEC (TPAL), Torrent Power SEC (TPSL) and Torrent Power Generation (TPGL) were merged in TPL as a part of a scheme of arrangement. TPL’s equity capital is Rs 472.44 crore with face value of Rs 10 each.

Natco Pharma rose 1.60% to Rs 118.05 after it launched Pemnat (pemetrexed) for treatment of lung cancer.

TVS Motor was down 1.25% to Rs 98.90. As per reports, the company plans to invest $100 million over the next 3 year to set up a production base in Indonesia.

Eicher jumped 5% to Rs 131.80, the maximum permissible level of the day, after the company said it is considering delisting from BSE and NSE. Eicher has put up a board meeting on 28 November to consider proposal received from Eicher Goodearth, the promoters to initiate a voluntary delisting of the shares of the company from BSE and NSE in accordance with the provisions of the SEBI (Delisting of Securities) Guidelines, 2003.

Ashok Leyland rose 0.92% to Rs 44.05 on reports that it has tied up with French Company for supply of armoured vehicle in India.

Mirc Electronics lost 0.92% to Rs 21.45 after its Q2 September 2006 net profit slipped to Rs 10.5 crore as compared to Rs 11.5 crore in Q2 September 2005. Net sales rose to Rs 399.5 crore (Rs 316.5 crore).

DMC Vaults jumped 10% to Rs 20 after the company said has agreed to acquire FSI for 4,50,000 square feet at Rs 100 per square feet for development and construction of residential flats at Alwar, Rajasthan.

Rasandik Engineering Industries jumped 12% to Rs 146.35 after Reliance Mutual Fund acquired 1.4 lakh shares on Monday in a block deal on BSE at Rs 120. The stock had risen 13.7% on Monday to Rs 130.65 boosted by the block deal. Foreign fund Melchior Indian Opportunities was the seller.

Oil prices rose in Asian trading hours on geopolitical worries and hopes that OPEC will make further cuts in production. The New York Mercantile Exchange's main contract, light sweet crude for January delivery, rose $0.17 to $60.49 a barrel. Brent North Sea crude for January delivery gained $0.16 at $60.60.

All the European and Asia/Pacific markets were trading with losses except New Zealand’s NZX 50 which was up marginally by 0.02%.

The Nikkei average edged lower by 0.19% on Tuesday as losses in Honda Motor Co. and other blue-chip stocks were mostly offset by gains in Softbank Corp. and recently battered stocks such as banks. The Nikkei closed down 30.12 points at 15,855.26

Hang Seng index declined sharply by 2.94% or 564.48 points to 18639.53

US stock indexes sank on Monday, registering their worst day in months, amid concern about Google Inc.'s valuation and doubts about holiday spending after a disappointing sales estimate from Wal-Mart Stores Inc. In addition, downward pressure on the dollar for a fourth straight day hurt demand for US investments, while a rise in crude oil prices above $60 a barrel added to concerns about consumer spending. The Dow Jones industrial average fell 158.46 points, or 1.29%, to end at 12,121.71. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index lost 19.05 points, or 1.36%, to finish at 1,381.90. The Nasdaq Composite Index slid 54.34 points, or 2.21%, to close at 2,405.92.

Mutual funds were net sellers for the second day in a row on Friday 24 November. Mutual funds sold shares worth a net Rs 212.73 crore on 24 November compared to their outflow of Rs 276.24 crore on 23 November.

Update 4

Sensex witnesses high volatility
The volatility has been high ahead of expiry of November contracts this Thursday (30 November), where open positions are quite large.At 14:41 IST, the barometer index was down 140.77 points (1.02%) to 13633.38.

The Sensex slipped to a fresh intra-day low of 13577.38, a little while ago. It moved in a range of 13577.38 and 13691.12. Weakness across global bourses and fall in Indian ADRs on Monday weighed on the bourses in early trade.

The total turnover on BSE was Rs 3155 crore.Market breadth stayed negative with on BSE with 1003 shares advancing as compared to 1482 that declined. 70 remained unchanged. In early trade, the breadth was quite weak.Among the Sensex pack, 23 declined while the rest advanced.

Hero Honda revs up on hopes of cut in fuel prices
Hero Honda rose 1.6% to Rs 745 and car major Maruti Udyog gained 0.4% to Rs 915 on reports the centre is considering reduction in domestic retail fuel prices.

Both Hero Honda and Maruti Udyog (MUL) scrips have recovered from lower level after a recent setback. From a low of Rs 693.90 on 17 November, Hero Honda has risen to current Rs 745. MUL has recovered to current Rs 915 from Rs 870.10 on 20 November.

There are hopes that a cut in retail price of petrol may boost sales of bikes and cars. Reports today suggest that the centre is considering cut in oil prices. Oil Minister Murli Deora will meet Prime Minister Manmohan Singh later on Tuesday to consider a possible cut in retail fuel prices.

Bonus hopes send Godfrey Phillips surging
Godfrey Phillips jumped 10% to Rs 1140.50 following reports in a section of the media that there are rumours of a liberal bonus issue from the company.There were outstanding buy orders for 2,804 shares at the 10% upper limit.

The company has an equity base of Rs 10.40 crore. It has a hefty book value of Rs 344.30 per share, on face value of Rs 10. Since 1991, the company has issued bonus three times. On all the three occasions, the bonus issue was a liberal 1:1. The last bonus was in 1993.

A thinly traded scrip, Godfrey Phillips witnessed high volatility in the past two months due to alternate bouts of buying and selling. The scrip moved between Rs 1031 to Rs 1145 since late September 2006. The average daily volume in the scrip on BSE in the past one year was 1546 shares.

Pondy Oxides to announce 1:10 bonus issue
Pondy Oxides & Chemicals on Tuesday announced the bonus issue in the ratio of 1 share for every 10 equity shares held by the shareholders, subject to the approval of the members in their extra ordinary general meeting to be held on December 28, 2006.

The board of the company at its meeting held on November 16, 2006, had approved the consolidation of equity shares from Rs 2 to Rs 10, subject to the approval of the shareholders. It had also decided to hold the extra ordinary general meeting to get the approval of the shareholders for the same.

The company will list the shares of the company at National Stock Exchange of India and also consolidate the equity shares of the company.

Pondy Oxides & Chemicals is engaged in the production of metallic oxides and plastic additives. The company also provides zinc oxide, lead monoxide, red lead, lead stabiliser, paint driers, metallic stearates and lubricants.

Update 3

Sensex down 105 pts at 13,688.52
The market is still trading in the negative zone. It has touched a low of 13,588.51. Selling pressure is being witnessed across the board. Banking, IT, pharma, steel, telecom and auto stocks are trading lower.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 13,688.52, down 105.07 points (12.54 p.m).Out of the total 2449 stocks traded on the bourses so far, 1090 have moved up, 1284 have dropped and 75 remained unchanged.

Leaders on the index include Hero Honda, which inched up 0.94% to Rs 740, Grasim, which moved up 0.72% to Rs 2713 and Reliance, which gained 0.68% to Rs 1260.25. Maruti, Bharti Airtel and Gujarat Ambuja also ruled the gainers` charts.

Laggards on the BSE Sensex were Wipro, that declined 2.61% to Rs 585.95, Infosys, that dipped 2.25% to Rs 2177 and Satyam, that slid 2.01% to Rs 455.15. ICICI Bank, NTPC and Tata Steel were among the other losers.

Force Motors in top gear
Force Motors jumped 5% to Rs 439.75 after the company’s board approved the transfer of assets and liabilities of the heavy commercial vehicles division to its subsidiary Man Force Trucks.

The company also approved investment of Rs 100 crore as equity capital in this subsidiary.1,707 shares changed hands in the counter on BSE.A solid surge in the scrip in the second half of September 2006 proved short lived when the scrip slipped to Rs 408.70 on 9 November from Rs 523.25 on 6 October. The scrip moved between Rs 410 to Rs 438 since early this month.
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Infotrek Syscom to invest USD 5 mn
Infotrek Syscom, the e-waste management and re-cycling company, has planned to invest more than USD 5 million for having main equipments in their plant. They would comprise equipments like sheer, hammer mill, magnetic current separation system, baler, CRT separation system, cable stripper, material handling equipments and testing tools for the proposed capacity of 7,200 tons on two shift basis.

The company proposes to have eight collection centers spread over India in the next one year, to facilitate seamless e-waste management.

The company is working on the structured recycling process in collaboration with Global Electric Electronic Processing (GEEP). With GEEP`s expertise, this project would be known for Waste Electrical & Electronic Equipments (WEEE) Recycling Revolution in the organized sector in India. The company is associated with GEEP for setting up this facility for the first time in India, wherein 98-99% of all the basic ingredients will be recovered.

Infotrek Syscom is the only member of International Association of Electronic Recyclers, USA from India and is a promoter of a concept called E-Exchange India in association with Re-cyclenet Corporation, USA.

Hindustan Zinc clears ECB worth USD 125 mn
Hindustan Zinc on Tuesday said that it has made repayment of external commercial borrowing (ECB) of USD 125 million, which includes prepayment of USD 95 million.

The company posted a net profit of Rs 12,980 million during the quarter ended September 30, 2006 as compared with Rs 1,960 million for the quarter ended September 30, 2005.Total income has increased to Rs 24870 million for the quarter ended September 30, 2006 from Rs 7060 million for the quarter ended September 30, 2005.

Hindustan Zinc is India`s leading zinc producer. The company is a part of Vedanta Resources, a London-listed metals and mining major with aluminium, copper and zinc operations in UK, India and Australia. It is engaged in mining and refining ore to produce non-ferrous metals, zinc, lead and silver.

Update 2

Market breadth recovers from early trade
Although the market breadth was negative, it has recovered from that of opening session, as buying support emerged for small-cap and mid-cap stocks.

At 12:35 IST, the barometer index was down 96.82 points (0.71%) to 13676.88. After declining to an intra-day low of 13588.51 in early trade, the Sensex recovered smartly as buying support emerged at lower level. It moved in a range of 13588.51 and 13690.67. Weakness across global bourses and fall in Indian ADRs on Monday weighed on the bourses in early trade.

The total turnover on BSE was Rs 2029 crore.Market breadth was negative with on BSE with 1044 shares advancing as compared to 1285 that declined. 77 remained unchanged. In early trade, the breadth was quite weak.Among the Sensex pack, 22 declined while the rest advanced.

Order win lifts IVRCL Infrastructures
IVRCL Infrastructures & Projects gained 1.6% to Rs 417.50 after the company bagged orders worth Rs 388 crore from the irrigation department of the Andhra Pradesh government.

The orders will be executed along with its joint venture partners, the company said.
6.7 lakh shares changed hands in the counter on BSE.Ahead of the news, the stock had lost 3.2% to Rs 410.90 on 27 November. The stock had surged in the past few days on market talks it considering a listing for its real estate subsidiary that will help unlock value for the shareholders. From Rs 324.90 on 17 November, the stock rose 30.7% in a short while to Rs 424.70 on 24 November.

As per reports, IVR Prime the real estate arm of IVRCL Infrastructures is likely to file its prospectus in the next few weeks and it is reportedly scouting for a private equity investor for pre-IPO placement.
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China's ZTE bags $700 mn order from Reliance
China telecom equipment provider ZTE Corp has signed deals to supply $700 million in telecommunications hardware to Indian conglomerate Reliance Industries, Chinese media reported on Tuesday.

Combined, the deals are believed to be the largest overseas order ever for a Chinese telecommunications firm, the Beijing News reported.They include equipment for more than 4,300 base stations and 2.5 million handsets, the paper said. ZTE is China's largest listed telecommunications equipment company.

News

RIL`s piped gas to cost less than cooking gas of oil PSUs
The price of gas supplied to Reliance Industries` city gas consumers would be one-third the price of cooking gas (liquefied petroleum gas) being supplied by oil PSUs, reports Financial Express.

This plan is similar to the one adopted by the Reliance group in 2003 in the telecom business when it announced 40 paise-a-minute calls and forced competition to take notice.

RIL hopes to supply piped gas to 100 cities across the country by 2010 at rates cheaper than cooking gas cylinders. At present, a gas cylinder costs Rs 295 to the consumer, with PSUs bearing a subsidy cost of Rs 150, sources said.

RIL has applied for city gas distribution license in 100 cities and is awaiting finalisation of the city gas distribution policy by the government. Currently, only a few cities like Delhi and some in Gujarat have gas networks providing clean piped gas to households.

Around 20 million homes are likely to have access to piped gas by 2010. Even at the present LPG cylinder price, the piped gas being provided through city gas networks was around 30-45% cheaper basically due to the use of cost effective technology, sources added.

The petroleum ministry is ready with the policy for laying natural gas pipelines and setting up city gas distribution networks with a view to protecting consumer interest and simultaneously assuring adequate returns to investors.

Reliance expects to begin production from its Krishna-Godavari basin block by mid-2008. The reserves in the biggest gas discovery of 2003 are being continually revised upwards with 25 out of 33 wells drilled so far yielding new finds, sources said.

AI, Indian merger referred to secys panel
The Group of Ministers (GoM) looking into the merger of two-stated owned airlines, Air India and Indian has referred the issue to a committee of secretaries to study the various issues concerned with the merger process, reports Business Line.

The committee of secretaries will look at legal issues, stamp duty, and workers` problems. To be headed by the cabinet secretary, the committee is expected to submit its report within two weeks following which the GoM will meet again to take a view on the proposed merger, said the civil aviation minister, Praful Patel.

The consultants to the merger, Accenture, will also make a presentation to the committee.The government has been keen to merge the two airlines as their market share has been declining, while the market share of global airlines has been increasing.

Karur KCP bags USD 1.65 mn export orders
Karur KCP Packkagings has announced that it has bagged additional export orders for a value of USD 1.65 million from Europe and US based customers for supply till the end of January 2007. Further orders are expected for supply during the same period.

The company witnessed 26.41% jump in the total revenues including other income, during the quarter ended September 30, 2006. The revenues for the quarter stood at Rs 681.12 million. Its net earnings grew by 10.87% to Rs 12.38 million in the quarter.The Tamil Nadu based company manufactures paper, paper bags and poly propylene bags.

L&T to shut down the smaller units
Larsen & Toubro (L&T) has decided to close down divisions and units which do not achieve a revenue of Rs 5 billion by 2010, reports Economic Times.

The company has set a target of a minimum revenue generation of USD 1 billion for its overseas companies to ascertain whether to retain those businesses. The company will also limit itself to the Gulf region to remain globally competitive, as Americans, Japanese and Koreans and others from all over the world are in the Gulf. The move is also aimed at addressing the fast rate of attrition, almost 15% in design engineering.

The company is also planning to cut down the number of offices and sites to 150 from the current 400, to have a compact presence. It will not participate in civil contracts less than Rs 500 million and next year will raise this to Rs 1000 million.

The company has recently won a ship-building contract from Netherlands worth Rs 4.40 billion. It has decided to invest about Rs 20 billion in its ship-building venture and is scouting for a suitable location in the states of Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and Gujarat. L&T is also planning to develop real estate properties jointly with companies that have large banks, with the engineering company providing its expertise in construction.

Update 1

Sensex dips 135 points; IT, banking stocks declines
The market made further inroads into the negative terrain as intensified selling spree was witnessed in the index heavyweights, among the participants. IT, telecom, steel, banking, auto and pharma led the declines.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 13,638.46, down 135.13 points (11.56 a.m).
Out of the total 2358 stocks traded so far on the bourses, 937 have moved up, 1344 have dropped and 77 remained unchanged.

Leaders on the index include Hero Honda, which inched up 0.75% to Rs 738.60, Grasim, which moved up 0.46% to Rs 2706, Gujarat Ambuja, which gained 0.24% to Rs 143.50 and ACC, which went up 0.01% to Rs 1108.80.

Laggards on the BSE Sensex were Wipro, that declined 2.77% to Rs 585, Satyam, that dipped 2.34% to Rs 453.65 and Infosys, that slid 2.21% to Rs 2178. NTPC, ICICI Bank and Tata Steel are the other losers.

IT pivotals drop as ADRs fall
IT pivotals witnessed an across the board fall following decline in their ADRs on Monday.

Rising rupee verses the US dollar also triggered profit taking in IT scrips which had surged recently.Wipro shed 2.5% to Rs 586.50, Satyam Computer shed 2.3% to Rs 453.60, Infosys shed 2% to Rs 2182, HCL Tech shed 1.3% to Rs 632.50 and TCS lost 1.1% to Rs 1144.Majority of the Indian ADRs ended in the red on Monday in a weak US market. Infosys ADR lost nearly 3% to $51.98, Satyam Computer ADR shed 3.2% to $22.99 and Wipro ADR lost 1.9% to $15.25.

High volumes mark debut of Torrent Power
Torrent Power the umbrella company of the newly amalgamated generation, transmission and distribution businesses of the Torrent Group was trading at Rs 69.65 on BSE.

The stock was listed on the bourses today. The stock hit a low of Rs 55.50 and high of Rs 76.30. Early volumes in the scrip were a huge 49.1 lakh shares on BSE.

Sadbhav Engineering, PBA Infrastructure build on new order
Sadbhav Engineering rose 3.6% to Rs 500 and PBA Infrastructure gained 2.6% to Rs 142 after Sadbhav Engineering said its joint venture with PBA Infrastructure has secured a construction contract worth Rs 297 crore.

Sadbhav has a 51 percent stake in the joint venture and PBA 49%.Both Sadbhav Engineering and PBA Infrastructure scrips had surged ahead of the announcement which hit the market in early trade today. From Rs 400.60 on 23 November, Sadbhav surged 482.40 on 27 November. The scrip of PBA Infrastructure had spurted on 27 November. It had risen 5% on that day to Rs 138.40.

Only last week, Sadbhav Engineering was awarded the projects worth Rs 216.34 crore by the Government of Andhra Pradesh Irrigation and CAD Department. In early August 2006, Sadbhav had bagged a Rs 560-crore road construction project to improve and widen the Sardar Patel Ring Road around Ahmedabad from the City's urban development authority.