BSE director suspended
Mumbai: The Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) on Thursday suspended G.L. Gera, director (HRD & General Administration), for alleged financial mismanagement and other irregularities during his tenure at the exchange. A top BSE official said Gera had allegedly taken unauthorised access to the telephone lines of senior officials of the exchange. The official said the exchange had taken the matter seriously and would take all steps to get to the bottom of the issue.
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SEBI clears Maruti IPO
New Delhi: The Securities and Exchange Board of India has cleared the draft offer document for the proposed public offering of Government's 25 per cent stake in India's largest car manufacturer Maruti Udyog Ltd (MUL). The offer of sale, which is being done through the book-building route and is likely to hit the market by mid-June, is the first part of the two-stage divestment process that has been planned for the exit of the Indian Government from the joint venture company. About 72 million shares of MUL of face value of Rs 5 per share are on offer for subscription by public. Suzuki Motor Corporation has underwritten the issue at Rs 115 per share.
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New Securities Bill likely in ensuing session
New Delhi: After having strengthened the penal provisions in the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) Act to deter capital market misconduct, the Government has set its eyes on the adequacy of the penal provisions in other related securities laws of the country. A comprehensive Securities (Amendment) Bill is to be introduced in the ensuing session of Parliament to amend few laws including the Securities Contracts Regulation Act (SCRA) and Depositories Act. ``The idea is to integrate and reconcile the penalty levels in other Securities laws to that of the SEBI Act and make them on par. The penalty levels for misconduct by certain intermediaries in the capital market are still low,'' U.K. Sinha , joint secretary, ministry of finance and company affairs, said here on Thursday.
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Rain Calcining in MF buy list
Mumbai: The turnaround of Rain Calcining in the last financial year has attracted lot of institutional interest in the stock of the company. Dealers said there has been increased institutional interest in the counter and one of the largest private sector mutual funds has already taken around 1 per cent stake in the company over the last few days. In addition, another private sector mutual fund bought shares of the company on Thursday. One of the main factors for these two funds to buy shares of Rain Calcining is that the company has wiped out its accumulated losses and started reporting profits. Another factor is the rise in the international aluminium price would result in the rise in the price of the company's product— calcined petroleum coke— a raw material for manufacturing aluminium. The stock has already gained 50 per cent this month. On Thursday, the stock gained 7.12 per cent at Rs 15.05 with a volume of 3.02 lakh shares on the BSE and on the NSE it closed at Rs 15, up 7.53 per cent with a volume of 5.65 lakh shares.
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Tech trio drags on indices
Kochi: With a little help from HLL and ITC, the tech trio of Infosys, Satyam and Wipro pulled the benchmark indices down half a per cent on Thursday, thereby strengthening the perception that valuations for the IT sector look set to sink lower over the medium to long term. "With new lows being made almost on a daily basis amongst the tech stocks, the retail investor is getting worried. The question is would he have the guts to sell out or should he continue to wait for that elusive bounce," questions a leading market analyst. Infosys ended the day at Rs 2,689.05, down 3.53 per cent on the BSE and closed at Rs 2,678 down 3.96 per cent on the NSE. Wipro ended the day at Rs 824.05, down 3.95 per cent on the BSE while ending the day at Rs 831.80, down 3.22 per cent on the NSE. As for Satyam, it ended the day at Rs 160.10, down 3.47 per cent on the BSE while it closed at Rs 160.90, down 2.96 per cent on the NSE.
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Outlook bright for aluminium stocks
Mumbai: Even as domestic aluminium manufacturers face financial year 2004 with cautious optimism, equity analysts tracking the sector seem to be gearing up for good times, courtesy the rise in global alumina prices. Stocks of most aluminium companies such as Hindalco, Indal, Nalco and Madras Aluminium are witnessing action on this account. Shares of Hindalco on Thursday closed higher 3.40 per cent on the BSE at Rs 685 with 29,072 shares being traded. Nalco, however, closed marginally lower at Rs 87.70 with 1.24 lakh volume and Madras Aluminium closed higher by 1.67 per cent at Rs 61 with 1,475 shares being traded.
In a recent sectoral report, Enam Securities said, "Spot alumina prices have doubled to $250/tonne. We believe that contract prices are likely to cross the average seen in the past. This is owing to tight supply arising from Chinese imports and high concentration in the alumina market (top 90 per cent of supply controlled by a few groups).''
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