What India's Stocks Market Will Watch - Mar 5

[K.Karthik Raja]

What India's Stocks Market Will Watch - Mar 5
Wednesday, Mar 5 - Morning brief for the stock market

BIG PICTURE
* Chidambaram says no evidence with SEBI of massive insider trading *
Chidambaram says govt may take monetary steps to curb inflation
* Govt says looking into closure of terminals in Jan share market
crash * Chidambaram says govt plans to list many more central PSUs *
Govt mulls easing foreign direct investment norms
* Chidambaram hints at 14% central goods and service tax rate .
.
TOP EVENTS TODAY
* Board meetings of:
+ Power Grid Corp to consider interim dividend for 2007-08.
+ Reliance Energy to consider buyback of shares of the company.
* Press meet of:
+ Tata Consultancy Services to announce initiative in small and
medium business space.
+ Yes Bank. CEO Kapoor to speak on farm business.
+ Tata Autocomp. CEO Dhawan to speak.
+ Max New York Life. CEO Bennett to detail company's future plans.
+ MTNL. To sign pact with Transparency International.
+ Securities And Exchange Board Of India Chairman Bhave.
.
REVISED TRADING HOURS
* Revised NSE, BSE trading hours until Mar 18 due to sun outage:
+ Market opens 9:55AM.
+ Suspension of trade between 11:45AM and 12:25PM.
+ Market closes 4:15PM.

INDICATORS (previous session)
* Institutional net buy/(sale) in mln rupees, Mar 3: FIIs (6,835), MFs
(4,592)
* Sensex 16339.89, down 337.99 points; Nifty 4864.25, down 88.75
points
* Other markets:Crude:$99.52/bbl; rupee:40.32;gold $964.00/ounce;10-yr
yld:7.53%
.
OUTLOOK
* Seen weak tracking trend in overseas markets, trade likely to remain
choppy.
.
GLOBAL STOCK MARKETS
* U.S. shares ended mixed Tuesday as reports of bailout of Ambac
Financial Group helped indices recoup some losses, after a steep fall
on fears of the sub-prime mortgage crisis worsening.
* Asian markets were trading mixed with a negative bias, as Japan's
Nikkei dropped after poorer-than-expected company spending data dented
investor confidence about the country's economic health.
.
IPO WATCH
* TATA COMMUNICATIONS may float an initial public offering of its
retail arm.
* U.S.-based WiMax service provider Telsima Corp may go for an initial
public offer in 12-18 months.
.
SECTOR NEWS
BANKING: Reserve Bank of India has asked banks to assess financial
impact in case they have to provide support to their foreign
subsidiaries, as expressed in letters of comfort.
EDUCATION: Implementation of Education Bill 2008 to cost 480 bln
rupees.
.
ENERGY: Tata Power Trading Company plans to import 2 mln tn coal in
2008.
FARM & FOOD: Government relaxes ban on export of non-basmati rice to
allow five state-run agencies to sell 450,000 tn rice to Bangladesh.
FINANCE: Government said it has so far not noticed any specific
instance of significant losses suffered by large financial
institutions in India, especially from sub-prime mortgages in the
U.S.
INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY: Variable payouts and increments for the sector
to be lower this year.
LOGISTICS: JSW Group company JSW Infrastructure and Logistics is in
"advanced stages" of talks with West Asia-based group to form a 50:50
joint venture to build the proposed Kakinada port.
PUBLIC SECTOR UNITS: Finance minister says government aims to list as
many central undertakings as possible. Government has projected
divestment revenues of 11.65 bln rupees from sale of its equity in
state-owned enterprises.
RAILWAYS AND PORTS: Ongoing gauge conversion of Rajasthan-Delhi rail
route to broad gauge from narrow gauge is seen benefiting Gujarat-
based ports.
REAL ESTATE: Real estate services company Asipac Projects to set up
strategic business unit to offer investment banking, asset management
and procurement services for the real estate sector.
RETAIL: Reliance Industries' arm, Reliance Retail, has signed a joint
venture agreement with Pearle Europe for launch of a chain of optical
stores in India. .
SHARE MARKET: Govt says FII trading in stock market not causing
volatility. Religare Enterprises equity head sees share market
reviving from May-Jun.
STEEL: Steel makers today raised hot-rolled coil prices by 3,000
rupees per 1 tn.
.
STOCKS
* BAJAJ AUTO: Cuts bike prices by up to 3,000 rupees.
* DEVELOPMENT CREDIT BANK: Is looking at buying 30% stake in a company
that is associated with the equity market.
* ENTEGRA: Proposes to offer one share of face value 10 rupees for
every share held to shareholders on right basis, according to its
draft letter of offer.
* ESSAR OIL: Bags offshore oil and gas block in Vietnams's Song Hong
basin.
(DNA)
.
* EVEREST CANTO: Buy pressure vessel operations of Reunion Industries
for $64
mln (2.59 bln rupees). (NW18)
.
* EXCEL CROP CARE: Higher exports coupled with geographic and product
expansion is likely to help company sustain its current year's
turnover
growth in 2008-09 (Apr-Mar). (NW18)
.
* EXIDE INDUSTRIES: Promoters plan to invest 1.25 bln rupees into ING
Vysya
Life Insurance Co Ltd this month. Company is the majority shareholder
and
holds 50% stake. Other promoters are the Netherlands-based ING Group,
Ambuja
Cements, and Enam Group. (NW18)
.
* ICICI BANK: Government said the bank has lost $264.34 mln as of Jan
31 in
its overseas operations following the subprime mortgage crisis in the
U.S.
(NW18)
May have to provide $50 mln in the current quarter for sub-prime
losses,
in addition to $70 mln provided already in the last quarter. (NW18)
.
* INDRAPRASTHA GAS: Has cut prices of compressed natural gas by 30
paise per
1 kg to 18.90 rupees. (NW18)
.
* IVRCL INFRASTRUCTURES AND PROJECTS: Has won a contract worth 2.5 bln
rupees
to build the Batanagar township planned by Riverbank Holdings. (NW18)
.
* JAIN IRRIGATION SYSTEMS: Expects revenue from its irrigation
business to
grow 50-60% in 2008-09 (Apr-Mar) driven by recent acquisition of
Thomas
Machines S.A. (NW18)
.
* MARUTI SUZUKI INDIA: Company says March sales are likely to improve
over
January and February but a strong revival is unlikely for the next
couple of
months. (NW18)
.
* OIL AND NATURAL GAS CORP: Says subsidy burden for Jan-Mar is
estimated to
be up to 70 bln rupees on account of high crude prices. (NW18)
Expect a gross per 1 barrel realisation of $90 per 1 barrel in the
fourth
quarter of 2007-08 (Apr-Mar)
.
* PETRONET LNG: Is planning to set up a 1,500MW gas-based power unit
at Dahej
and a 760MW unit at Kochi. (NW18)
.
* POLARIS SOFTWARE LAB: Banks, especially those in the east coast of
the
U.S., are holding back projects against the backdrop of the sub-prime
crisis
while those in western and mid-west regions are exploring outsourcing
options. (NW18)
.
* PUNJAB NATIONAL BANK: Wants to sell 26% stake in its primary
dealership
subsidiary, PNB Gilts, if it gets necessary approvals from the
regulators.
(NW18)
.
* RELIGARE ENTERPRISES: Launches Religare Film Fund in collaboration
with
Vistaar Entertainment Ventures with a corpus of nearly 2 bln rupees
with a
lock-in period of five years. (NW18)
.
* STATE BANK OF INDIA: Government's stake in the bank may go up after
the
public sector bank's rights offer as some investors are unlikely to
invest in
the issue. (NW18)
.
* SUZLON ENERGY: Does not expect any slowdown in orders because of
cracks
discovered in rotor blades of wind turbines sold by it. (NW18)
.
* TATA COMMUNICATIONS: In pact with Telsima Corporation, a global
player in
WiMAX systems to provide WiMAX solutions for Tata Communications
broadband
wireless network in India. (NW18)
The company expects 200,000 wireless broadband customers by Mar
2009 and
plans to invest $500 mln in our WiMax services. (NW18)
.
* TATA MOTORS: May licence manufacturing of Nano to young
entrepreneurs. (FE)
.
* TATA TELESERVICES (MAHARASHTRA): Department of telecommunications
has given
the
go-ahead to Tata Teleservices and company's venture to launch their
services
based on global system for mobile communications. (NW18)
Department of Telecom directs Tata Teleservices to put Virgin
Mobile deal
on hold.
* UNITECH: Planned $1.5 bln (60.48 bln rupees) qualified institutional
placement put on hold. (BS).


K.Karthik Raja
www.kences1.blogspot.com