Jaswant asks SEBI to probe bank stock swing
New Delhi: The Finance Minister,Jaswant Singh, has asked the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) to look into the "abnormal movement of public sector bank stocks over the past several weeks" and immediately submit a report to the Ministry.

Admitting that the movement of the share prices of several public sector banks over the past few weeks was abnormal, Singh y said, "I, as Finance Minister, feel responsible. I have asked the SEBI Chairman to look into the fluctuation, collect information and correct the impression in the market".
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Merger woes sink Digital Global; prompt ratings cut
Bangalore: Market heavyweights such as Morgan Stanley, Credit Lyonnais Securities Asia, Kotak Securities and a host of foreign and local brokerages have cut their price targets and recommendations on the Digital GlobalSoft stock following the weekend merger announcement with a services unit of parent Hewlett-Packard. The Digital stock sank in early trade by close to 34 per cent on the Bombay Stock Exchange but retraced a little to close at Rs 372.35, down 25.54 per cent from its previous close. Morgan Stanley, which cut Digital to `underweight' from `equal weight', said in its recent report that "merger could dilute Digital's earnings by 20-25 per cent". Analysts said lack of clarity on the merger issue in the post-announcement analyst meet could fog the growth outlook for the company. CLSA has sharply slashed the price target on Digital Globalsoft to Rs 300 from Rs 472, retaining a `sell' rating on the stock. According to CLSA's latest report, the house believes that the merger ratio was "grossly against minority shareholders". HP India unit is being valued at $367 million, 1.1 times Digital, whereas it has close to one-third the employees and about half the revenues. However, Morgan Stanley said despite expectations on strong revenue growth, margin pressure and a hardening rupee would continue to be concern issues for Digital GlobalSoft. Kotak Securities has also cut its rating to `underperform' from `in line' on the Digital stock. A hefty dividend payout of Rs 24 per share cushioned the fall to some extent, an analyst with a local brokerage said. Over the weekend, Digital announced that it would merge parent HP's India Software Organisation with itself through a share swap. Digital's board approved the transfer of the HPS ISO division in exchange for 278 lakh shares and 76.7 lakh convertible preference shares. The preference shares will convert into 76.7 lakh equity shares 18 months from the date of allotment. Following the merger, HP's equity stake in Digital will ultimately rise to 76.2 per cent. Digital's equity will rise to Rs 60.8 crore from Rs 33 crore in the first stage, and subsequently to Rs 68.47 crore after the conversion of the preference shares.
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Hathway Bhawani CAShes in
Mumbai: With conditional access system (CAS) almost inevitable in the first phase of its implementation, market players have turned bullish on the pure cable distribution company Hathway Bhawani Cable, as it is the only listed cable distribution company.
Another factor is the talk of Star TV, which has an indirect holding in the company, increasing the stake in the company. Dealers said the talk of Star hiking the stake was in the market for quite some time, but market players feel that with the Government guidelines on cable distribution now coming into effect, the multinational might increase its stake. On these hopes, the stock has almost doubled in the last one month and on Monday also select market players picked the stock. It closed at Rs 14.96, up 19.97 per cent with volumes of 73,672 shares.
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Monsoon cheer for fertiliser cos on the bourses
Mumbai: As the rains came down in Kerala, the stocks of fertiliser companies rose on the exchanges on Monday. News of a meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Disinvestment scheduled this week to discuss the sale of Government equity in RCF pushed them up even more. Share prices of fertiliser producers — private and State-owned — gained, with Nagarjuna Fertilizers leading the group with a 20 per cent gain for the day. It closed at Rs 7.78 on the BSE on Monday. SPIC closed 11 per cent higher at Rs 8.77 per share, up Rs 0.86 from its previous close of Rs 7.91 on the BSE. "The fertiliser sector suffered because of lower sales from a weak monsoon last year. Generally, the second quarter of every year brings in positive results for most fertiliser manufacturers," said a senior RCF official. According to analysts, the arrival of rains brought overall cheer to the stock market on Monday. And fertiliser companies were only part of the positive wave. Gujarat State Fertilizer Company (closed at Rs 24.75 per share on BSE, up 5.77 per cent), Chambal Fertilizers (at Rs 15.90 per share on BSE, up 3.25 per cent), Madras Fertilizers ( Rs 18 per share on BSE, up 3.15 per cent) and Deepak Fertilizers (Rs 24.75 per share on BSE, up 3.56 per cent). Tata Chemicals was among the other gainers.
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No brokerage for tariff business of PSUs: IRDA
Hyderabad: With its recent circular on brokerage and commissions paid to insurance brokers creating confusion over the tariff and non-tariff businesses of public sector entities, the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (IRDA) has announced a clarification here. In the latest notice, the regulator said it received communications from insurance brokers seeking clarification as to whether they would be allowed to service the non-tariff portfolio in respect of public sector entities.
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Triumph Intl jumps 10-fold
Mumbai: Penny stocks seem to be gaining ground even without any reasons. Among this list is one of the Ketan Parekh's listed entity Triumph International Finance, a stock broking and merchant-banking firm. The stock price of Triumph has gained from 60 paisa in the beginning of April this year to Monday's market price of Rs 6.58, a rise of almost 1,000 per cent. Triumph International Finance was one of the companies involved in the 2001 scam and SEBI had cancelled its licence for operating various stock market-related business activities. Stockbrokers said after the licence was cancelled there is no business with the company.

However, the rise in the stock price of Triumph has caused concern among the market players and they feel that the movement in the stock prices is not normal, in line with the overall market. A look at the trading pattern of Triumph International shows that in April few hundred shares were traded, but in the last few days the volume has increased and on Monday's trading the volume was 10,052 shares; the stock gained 17.92 per cent to close at Rs 6.58. A BSE stockbroker said, "This kind of trend is always seen when the markets are rising and several investors are stuck with such dud stocks."
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Steel stocks steal the show
Kolkata: The Steel Authority of India and Essar Steel stocks on Monday witnessed record volumes and price gains. Both the counters recorded several block deals on the top bourses. According to market sources, to an extent institutional buying was responsible for the huge volumes in these stocks. The SAIL stock recorded a traded quantity of 1.08 crore shares (15.94 lakh shares) and closed at Rs 14.39 (Rs 12.44) on the BSE. The Essar Steel stock finished at Rs 12.15 (Rs 10.30) with a traded quantity of 86.94 lakh shares (10.75 lakh shares) on the NSE. Even though the price-earning ratios of both the stocks are still in the negative zone, SAIL's turnaround in Q4 of 2002-03 and Essar Steel's reduction in losses have attracted a section of market players.
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