Thursday, November 30, 2006

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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