Dull activity as year-end nears
Mumbai: The market has turned dull with the year-end approaching. Institutional investors were almost absent resulting in trading volumes getting depleted, even as small operators and day traders booked profits at higher levels. The combined turnover volumes on the Bombay Stock Exchange and the National Stock Exchange was Rs 6,347 crore.

Pharma stocks attracted speculative buying in an otherwise lacklustre market. Nicholas Piramal, Dabur India, Novartis and Parke Davis closed at higher levels. Other active stocks were Zee Telefilms, Digital Equipment and BFL Software. Bombay Dyeing also saw buying interest. An interesting factor was selling pressure on ACC and Gujarat Ambuja stocks. Both hit the lower end of the price band. Another prominent loser was Pentafour Software.

The BSE Sensex lost 56 points to end the day at 4818.73. The S&P CNX Nifty also closed 27 points lower at 1432.10.
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NSE revises trading time on 30th
Mumbai: The National Stock Exchange has revised the trading time for the capital market segment on 30 December from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. NSE will be closed on 31 December. It will resume normal trading activity on 3 January 2000. On 1 and 2 January the exchange will organise mock trading sessions to test the year 2000 readiness of all NSE applications and other systems.
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NHB plans mortgage-backed securities
Mumbai: The National Housing Bank is coming out with a mortgage-backed securities scheme for investors. The scheme will involve securitisation of a select pool of housing loans advanced by HDFC. P.P. Vora, chairman and managing director of NHB, said the issue will be followed by similar schemes based on loans advanced by other housing finance companies. Under the scheme, loans, secured by a mortgage on the housing asset financed, will be transferred to a special purpose vehicle, which will then make an issue of mortgage-backed securities to investors.

The investors will have security of their house property, which generally appreciates in value. Hence, even in the case of default by borrowers, the investors can be assured of realising their funds once the property is sold.
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Birla MF acquires 2 Apple schemes
Mumbai: Birla Mutual Fund has acquired two funds from the Apple group and re-launched them as funds with a focus on stocks of multinational and information technology companies. One of the funds, the Apple Midas Fund is being restructured as Birla MNC Fund, while the Apple Platinum Fund will be converted into an information technology fund called Birla IT Fund. The two schemes are being offered on a no-load basis with a minimum initial investment of Rs 5,000 from 27 December till 31 January 2000. The Birla IT Fund has assets of Rs 22 crore, while the Birla MNC Fund Rs 82 crore under their respective management.
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Sony plans share split
Tokyo: Sony Corporation says it is planning a two-for-one stock split in May 2000. The plan is to make it easier for individual investors to buy its stock, said Sony. The company, in the forefront of a high-tech buying spree on the Tokyo stock market, has seen the price of its shares almost treble in 1999.
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