NSE leads in stock futures trading segment worldwide
Mumbai: According to the World Federation of Exchanges, the National Stock Exchange (NSE) has emerged as global leader in stock futures trading. The NSE led in stock futures trading with 41,67,787 contracts traded for February, with the Johannesburg Stock Exchange holding second position with 8,41,985 contracts and Euronext Liffe coming in third with 4,22,475 contracts.

In the past few months NSE had remained at the top as well with the number of contracts traded being much higher than in February. The highest number of contracts traded was in December 2004 with 52.38 lakh contracts being traded.
In the index futures category, NSE was at number five while in index options and stock options it was at number 13.

In terms of type of market participants in the derivatives segment, retail investors continued to be major players with a share of 58.68 per cent in February. This was followed by proprietary trading which accounted for 35.76 per cent during the month and institutional investors accounting for the remaining 5.56 per cent.
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SEBI extends deadline for compliance with clause 49 norms
Mumbai: SEBI has postponed the deadline for conforming to the implementation of the amendments in Clause 49 of the Listing Agreement to December 31.

Briefing the press after SEBI's board meeting here today, the Chairman, M. Damodaran, said, "It was felt that as of March 31, a large number of corporates would not be in a state of preparedness to fully comply with all the requirements of Clause 49".

"Clause 49 is a means to an end. It seeks to improve governance levels in Indian corporates and with that observation, it is necessary to ensure that the spirit of Clause 49 finds appropriate expression and implementation," he added.

As stated earlier, the SEBI Board has given corporates time till December 31, to be fully compliant.

During the process of implementation of the new regulation, if any major problems arise, SEBI is willing to look at the need for making minor modifications without diluting the content of the Clause, he said.

SEBI expects that during the next nine months, listed companies will identify an adequate number of independent directors and will attempt to equip them with orientation programmes in order to enable them function adequately at the board level. Corporates had earlier raised concerns about finding appropriate independent directors who qualify in the context of Clause 49.

SEBI also clarified that PSUs are not being treated differently. Government officials who are on the boards of PSUs represent the majority shareholder and are not "independent".

With regard to the PSUs, Damodaran said that "PSUs will be expected to be as compliant as non-PSUs."
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Scandent to upgrade Dhaka Stock Exchange's trading system
Coimbatore: Scandent Solutions has signed a multi-million dollar deal with the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE) for upgrading its electronic trading system. Scandent's TESA is a flagship product for equities trading.

It is being implemented on the HP Non Stop platform, and the present deal aims to enhance TESA with additional functionality and support the migrated system.
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Gokaldas Exports prices IPO in the band of Rs375-425
Mumbai: Gokaldas Exports (P) Ltd is to enter the capital market with an initial public offering of 31.25 lakh equity shares of face value Rs10 each, with the IPO being priced at Rs375-425 a share, through a 100-per cent book-building route. The offer will open on March 30 and close on April 6.

According to the company, 18.75 lakh shares or 60 per cent of the equity shares will be issued on a discretionary basis to qualified institutional buyers. Another 15 per cent (4.68 lakh shares) will be allocated to wholesale bidders and not less than 25 per cent to retail bidders.

The issue is expected to bring in Rs117-133 crore. Proceeds of the issue will be used to set up four factories, three in Bangalore and one in the Special Economic Zone in Chennai. It will also be used to retire some working finance loans from banks. The issue is entirely a fresh allotment and does not involve dilution of promoters' stake.

According to the company, the book value per share is currently at Rs105 and the earnings per share for last year was Rs33. Post-IPO, the promoters' holding will be reduced to 76.9 per cent from 93.99 per cent. The issue will constitute 18.818 per cent of the fully diluted post-issue paid-up capital of the company.

The book-running lead manager to the issue is Enam Financial Consultants Pvt Ltd and co-book-running lead manager is IL&FS Investsmart Ltd. Karvy Computershare is the registrar and the stock will be listed on the BSE and the NSE.

Last year the company recorded 35 per cent growth because it added another six factories to its fold. It has 43 factories and a workforce of 31,000.
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Allahabad Bank public offer to open on April 6
Mumbai: The Kolkata-based Allahabad Bank is entering the capital market with its second public offer of 10 crore shares. The issue is slated to open on April 6 and close on April 12. The price band will be decided a day prior to the issue opening. The bank had issued its initial public offer in 2002, when it raised Rs100 crore.

Of the ten crore shares, one crore shares are reserved for employees and one crore for the existing shareholders. Around eight crore shares will be for public issue, the bank has said.
The Government's stake in the bank will come down to 55 per cent, post-the public issue. The capital adequacy ratio, currently at 13.2 per cent, is expected to rise to around 15.5 per cent, the bank has said.

Allahabad Bank has also announced that it is setting up a 40:60 joint venture with the Punjab National Bank for starting banking operations in Kazakhstan. The bank said that it had obtained a licence from the Kazakhstan Government and the joint venture would likely start operations within two months. As part of expanding its overseas operations, the bank is also planning to set up a branch in Hong Kong and a representative office in China, the bank said.

The money raised through the public issue will be used for growth plans and to meet the future capital requirements arising out of implementation of Basel II norms.

For the nine months ended December 2004, the bank reported net profit of Rs462.48 crore. As per the budget projection, for FY 2005 the operating profit is likely to be around Rs1,100 crore and net profit is likely to be around Rs600 crore, the bank has said.
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