Exports, products seen boosting Nicholas Piramal
Mumbai: Exports and sustained inflows from new products appear to have attracted investors to Nicholas Piramal . The stock has already witnessed a 15-per cent rise in the last one-month and analysts predict a better performance going forward. On the exports front, several initiatives taken in early 2003 seem to be boosting sales. The company recently merged Global Bulk Drugs & Fine Chemicals, which has considerable exports business. Theexportsprojected for 2003-2004 is Rs 100 crore, against Rs 35 crore estimated for 2002-03, the company recently stated. NPIL is also banking on exports of vitamins products that it inherited from Roche. New products have also contributed considerably to the revenues. "The inherent strength in the business can also be gauged from the success of new products launched in the last year. These products contributed Rs 64 crore to revenues, about 5 per cent of sales. For 9 out of the 15 new products introduced in FY03, the company is among the first five players to have launched these products," said an analyst from a domestic brokerage firm. On Wednesday, the stock closed higher by 4.04 per cent on the BSE at Rs 291.15 with 25,427 shares being traded. On the NSE, the stock surged 4.30 per cent to close at Rs 291 with 92,591 shares changing hands.
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Bank of Punjab surges on takeover talk
Mumbai: Bank of Punjab touched a new high on the bourses on Wednesday, posting record volumes on the back of speculation that Scotiabank of Canada is acquiring a strategic stake in it. Hectic trading at the bank's counter drove the share price up 11.75 per cent on the BSE before it closed at Rs 22.35, while on the NSE, the stock climbed 13.10 per cent, closing at Rs 22.45. Trading volumes on the BSE stood at 20.36 lakh shares, up 102.7 per cent from yesterday's 10.04 lakh shares; on the NSE, volumes shot up by 174.4 per cent to 88.78 lakh shares. The counter was active since the early trading sessions with talks of Scotiabank, which has five branches in India, being close to acquiring a strategic stake. However, C.R. Sharma, managing director, Bank of Punjab, refuted the reports saying that there was no truth in these talks. On whether the bank was looking out for any kind of equity participation, he said,
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Tata Steel to delist from 7 exchanges
Mumbai: Tata Iron and Steel Company Ltd (Tata Steel) has informed the National Stock Exchange that its board of directors has approved voluntary delisting of its shares from seven stock exchanges. These exchanges are Kolkata, Pune, Kochi, Delhi, Kanpur, Magadh, Patna and Ahmedabad. The company plans to obtain its shareholders' approval by way of a special resolution at the company's annual general meeting to be held on July 23. The company's shares will continue to be listed on the BSE and NSE.
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New medium-term plan from StanChart MF
Mumbai: Standard Chartered Mutual Fund on Wednesday launched a medium-term plan under its Grindlays Super Saver Income Fund. The fund is targeting the retail investor and expects increased participation with this plan. The initial public offer will be open from June 16 to June 27. Speaking to newspersons in Mumbai, Naval Bir Kumar, managing director, Standard Chartered Asset Management Company Pvt Ltd said, "The fund is aimed at retail investors thereby diverting the traditional banking instruments such as fixed deposits to mutual funds.'' The medium-term plan will have a 6-12 month investment term. The fund will invest its corpus that is expected to fetch about Rs 140 crore in the IPO, in government securities, corporate debentures and highly liquid money market instruments, Kumar said. The mutual fund is expected to increase presence to 18-19 cities from the current 12 by the year-end. The number of distributors is also set to rise to 2,000 from the present figure of 1,500, Kumar added.
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Re firms up to 46.69; G-secs post gains
Mumbai: The spot rupee ended at another new high against the dollar on Wednesday at 46.6950/70, up by around six paise from Tuesday's closing at 46.76/77. The market continued to witness substantial dollar selling from across the board, including foreign, public sector and private banks, according to forex traders.
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Bank, power stocks help maintain momentum
Mumbai: The market was rather volatile on Wednesday. However, the firmness in the heavyweights kept the benchmark indices in the positive territory. The BSE Sensex opened firm at 3289.36 points but fell to a low of 3287.72 points. It later regained to close at 3314.60 points, higher by 25.05 points than Tuesday's close. The broad based S&P CNX Nifty closed the day higher by points at 1044.10 points. The power stocks gained more ground on Wednesday. BSES was higher by 12.7 per cent at Rs 259, Alstom Power by 10.9 per cent at Rs 99, ABB appreciated 4.9 per cent to Rs 378 and Tata Power was higher by 2.5 per cent to Rs 143.75.

PSU banks regained on buying interest. Punjab National Bank gained 9.5 per cent to Rs 152, Canara Bank appreciated six per cent to Rs 99.40 and Bank of Baroda gained 5.6 per cent to Rs 102.45 JB Chemicals edged up 5 per cent to Rs 203, on reports that it has entered into a strategic alliance with Arrow group in Canada to develop, manufacture and supply select basket of generic formulations for the Arrow group.
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