Cement shares again in rescue act
Mumbai: Cement shares prevented a major downtrend in the stock markets on 6 August. In the trading, cement shares showed intense activity with Madras Cements, ACC, Gujarat Ambuja, Grasim, India Cement and Prism Cement appreciating considerably. The fact that the cement industry has recorded a growth of 19 per cent in its sales in July provided the impetus.

However, on the last day of the settlement cycle, it was a weak market with major index shares sliding. Hindustan Petroleum, Reliance Industries and Glaxo led the downtrend. The 30-scrip Sensex too dropped to 4575.30, registering a loss of 25.89 points over the previous day's close.

Cipla shares were in the limelight with the announcement of bonus shares. Auto shares, including Hero Honda and TVS Suzuki, also ruled firm with foreign funds indulging in purchases of these shares. The business registered a volume of Rs 2,345.82 crore.

On the National Stock Exchange, the S&P CNX Nifty dropped 6.5 points to close at 1,316.80 points. The NSE did business worth Rs 2,508 crore.
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Sebi to seek exchanges views on negotiated deals
Calcutta: The Securities and Exchange Board of India will seek the opinion of stock exchanges on whether to continue with negotiated deals. With demat trading gaining in importance, it is necessary to decided whether negotiated deals outside exchanges are necessary any longer, M.P. Patel, executive director of Sebi said.
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Finance ministry not for smaller IPOs
New Delhi: The finance ministry is understood to have opposed the proposal of the Securities and Exchange Board of India that infotech companies be allowed to float smaller-sized initial public offers compared to other industries. Sebi has proposed that 10 per cent of the issued equity should be allowed to be offered for the IPO against the current stipulation of 25 per cent of issued equity.

The ministry contends that if knowledge-based industries are given a concession, other industries too would seek similar concessions. In spite of the finance ministry's opposition, Sebi is planning to take the issue to its board for a decision soon.

Meanwhile, a member of Sebi's advisory committee on the primary market, Prithvi Haldea of Prime Database, has written to Sebi that an additional safeguard in the form of a minimum application amount of Rs 1 lakh should be simultaneously imposed on such offerings.

This minimum application size should be set in order to ensure that fly-by-night operators do not take small investors for a ride, Mr Haldea has said.
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NSE suspends 7 members
Mumbai: The National Stock Exchange has suspended seven members with effect from 6 August for their failure to meet the requirement for continued membership of the exchange and the clearing corporation. The members are Ami Securities, Arihant Equity Fund, Investment Point India, Leaprofin Securities, Mahadev Stock Broking Company, POL Securities and Sushant Capitals.
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SBI Magnum Funds for sale
Mumbai: The State Bank of India Mutual Fund's Magnum Sector Funds Umbrella has opened for sale and repurchase with the net asset values of the four funds shown in the positive.

The NAV of the information technology fund is quoting at Rs 12.03, the fast moving consumer goods fund at Rs 10.50, pharma fund at Rs 10.32 and the contra fund at Rs 10.72.

The scheme has mopped up Rs 12 crore during the initial subscription period. A bulk of the investment has come from IT Fund and Contra Fund.
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