Monday
Feb 26 - Mar 03 2001
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Hoping the genie will be generous
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WITH only two days left for the Union Budget, stock markets have been behaving rather erratically. After crossing the 4400 level, the benchmark has reversed direction to move steadily southwards. And on Friday last the bellwether index fell by 140 points.
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Why fiddle with small savings?
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THERE has been demand from various sections, including economists, for reducing the interest rate on small savings. The reasoning extended for this demand is that a high rate of interest on small savings is preventing the reduction in overall interest rate for the economy. The economic logic for this may not be correct for the following reasons.
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Ignore the rumours
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 THE MARKETS are in a tizzy with everyone searching for an answer to the unexpected slide on Friday. While many rumours floated around, our inquiries revealed that none were true. The market was rocked by rumours of payment difficulties for a big broker in Calcutta. Our inquiries showed that no such significant problem existed. |
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Jittery before the budget
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| THE BSE index lost 208 points to end the last week at the level of 4,122, compared to 4,430 in the previous week. The broadbased national index also lost 136 points to close the last week at 2,084 against 2,220 in the previous week. |
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Coming back into favour
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| BOTH Indian Rayon and TVS Suzuki used to be favourites of the market as they attracted heavy volumes. But both the scrips lost their shine during 1999 and 2000. Now, some interest is coming back to the counter. We take a look at the prospects of both scrips in the short and medium-term. |
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After the dust settles down....
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| STERLITE Industries' decision to acquire 51 per cent stake in Balco is expected to be a drain on its profitability in the short-term. Reflecting this, on Friday the scrip shed the gains which it recorded a day earlier. A look at the issues involved in the takeover. |
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On the expansion path, confidently
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| POLYPLEX has wrested the opportunity to make a healthy comeback as polyester film has started doing better. But a series of internal measures together with longstanding relationship built up in US markets has also helped it make the most of the opportunity. We now look into the company's potentials |
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In for a correction / Sterlite Industries
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For the long-term / Polyplex Corporation
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Last laugh
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 THE RECENTLY concluded 51 per cent disinvestment in Balco for over Rs 550 crore had many politicians crying foul on the pricing and the transparency of the entire deal. However, such controversies are bound to erupt every time the government attempts to go ahead with its divestment of the PSUs identified for the purpose. |
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Good times in store
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| AFTER a rough patch, makers of electronic data storage devices can expect better times in the coming times. Prices of data storage products such as CDs and CD-ROMs have started moving up after a sharp decline over the past one year. Prices are learnt to have edged up 10 to 15 per cent since January. |
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Fed rate cut chances strong...
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| BEAR Stearns said there was a 60 percent chance that the Federal Reserve will cut US interest rates next week in the face of falling consumer confidence and stock prices and an uncertain outlook for business spending. |
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Crisil ratings / EIH
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| THE FAAA rating assigned to the fixed deposit programme of EIH has been reaffirmed. The P1+ rating assigned to the Rs 70-crore commercial paper programme of the company has also been re-affirmed. The ratings continue to reflect EIH's strong brand equity and comfortable business position in the luxury hotel industry, which is expected to be sustained in future. |
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Setting new sales records
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| AS we prepare for the annual ritual of the budget, the range-bound behaviour of the Sensex cannot but remind us how different year 2001 is from Y2K. While the closing value of the Sensex on February 23, 2000 was 5642.26, the same date this year has seen a Sensex of 4122.18. There is however, one point of similarity and that is in the sales and redemptions figures for the mutual fund industry in the first month of the new year. |
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An attempt to slow down the fall?
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 CAUTION has apparently gone out of fashion with central bankers-or at least with Alan Greenspan, chairman of America's Federal Reserve. On January 31, the Fed slashed its federal funds rate by half a point, to 5.5 per cent. |
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Why Asians can't export 'til they drop (again)
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| ALL right. We've already had an interest rate cut of a full percentage point, and we hope there's more coming, don't we? President Bush wants his $1.6 trillion tax cut. Some want it bigger, some think it's too big, but a Reaganesque sweep through our government's bank account is on the way. |
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A cheque every month
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| SBI Mutual Fund manages assets over Rs 5,100 crore spread across nine open-ended schemes. The fund had recently launched an open-ended gilt fund which had collected in excess of Rs 200 crore. This week we take a look at the offering of a monthly income plan by this asset management company to see what innovations are being offered to prospective investors. |
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Providing the missing hardware link
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| D-LINK India is entering the markets with a public issue of 15,23,740 equity shares of Rs 10 each for cash at a premium of Rs 290 per share. Of the total issue, 90 per cent will be through the book building route and the rest fixed price offer. |
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Tata Finance / Financing galore
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| TATA Finance is planning to enter the markets with a rights issue of 90,93,160 number of 9 per cent Cumulative Convertible Preference shares of Rs 100 each for cash at par, in the ratio of 1 CCP share of Rs 100 each for every 5 equity shares of Rs 10 each held, aggregating Rs 90.93 crore. |
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For corporatised programming
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| RECOGNITION of film-making as an industry is tempting producers to get a taste of the capital markets. Joining the queue is Future Communications. It is planning to enter the primary market with an IPO of 59 lakh equity shares of Rs 10 each and has filed a draft offer document with the Sebi. |
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Consolidating
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 JANUARY has seen the JM Equity Fund consolidate its holding in Tisco and book partial profits in IPCL. The fund, which is one of the oldest equity diversified funds in the market, had 44 per cent exposure to the information technology sector as of January end. |
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Turnaround in sentiments expected
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| BADLA rates declined to 12-13 per cent from 13.5-14.5 per cent in the last week. Net outstandings have declined from Rs 3,142 crore to Rs 2,870 crore. Long positions declined from Rs 3,562 crore to Rs 3,113 crore while short positions declined from Rs 461.5 crore to Rs 384 crore. |
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Hoping - but not expecting
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| ALLIANCE Capital Asset Management has built a name for itself through equity schemes such as Alliance Capital Tax Relief 96 and Alliance 95. These schemes have, in the long term, convincingly outperformed the benchmarks as well as the peer group schemes. Both the funds are managed by Sameer Arora, Head - Asian Emerging Markets. Amit Kumar of Investor's Guide recently queried the Singapore-based fund manager on the state of the India stockmarkets and the performance of the fund’s schemes. |
