UTI mulls IPO launch
Mumbai: Mr M. Damodaran, chairman and managing Director of the AMC, Unit Trust of India said here that UTI Asset Management Company (P) Ltd could go for a public issue of equity if any or all of its sponsors wished to exit the fund.

This is to enable existing shareholders of the asset management company to divest their stakes in the company.

Speaking on `The New face of UTI' at the Indian Merchants' Chamber here, Mr Damodaran said, "it is certainly our intention to return to the people the mutual fund that is theirs... it is basically a timing issue... we want to give the ownership of UTI back to the people."

Sponsored by State Bank of India, Punjab National Bank, Bank of Baroda and Life Insurance Corporation, UTI AMC manages about Rs 16,500 crore of assets under 29 different funds offering equity, debt and combination plans.

MR A.K. Sridhar, president and chief investment officer, UTI AMC, said UTI may launch an offshore fund, targeting non-resident Indians and foreign investors, offering capital protection to investors.
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Equity funds do well
New Delhi: Three consecutive months of bull-run have led to a drastic improvement in the performance of equity funds.
Pharma funds in particular have done well clocking the highest three-monthly returns of 41.04 per cent, followed by petroleum funds at 40.8 per cent.
Other equity fund categories such as tax planning, diversified funds and index funds have posted high three-monthly returns of 34.52 per cent, 34.5 per cent and 33.14 per cent, respectively. Even FMCG funds have been able to rake 27.82 per cent returns during this period. Among equity funds, technology funds have registered the lowest returns, with their three-monthly returns at 16.06 per cent.
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Cement, steel stocks rise
Mumbai: The Sensex closed above the 3,900-mark at 3,926.07 up 36.66 points.
The NSE S&P CNX Nifty Index was up 12.15 points to close at 1,246.90.

On the back of a good monsoon and June quarter results, the undertone of the market looked good.

Cement and steel stocks shone on sustained institutional buying.

ACC was up 3.44 per cent to close at Rs 209.05, Gujarat Ambuja Cements was up 2.75 per cent to close at Rs 235.20, Grasim was up 2.74 per cent to close at Rs 594.45 and L&T was up 1.54 per cent to close at Rs 273.20.

Jindal Steel was up 14.47 per cent to close at Rs 695.75. More than 1.52 lakh Jindal Steel shares were traded on BSE. Steel Authority of India was up 5.58 per cent to close at Rs 35.95. More than 1.41 crore SAIL shares were traded on BSE.

PSU stock HPCL was up 4.16 per cent to close at Rs 362.80 and volumes traded were of the order of 9.67 lakh HPCL shares.

FMCG behemoth Hindustan Lever was up 2 per cent to close at Rs 175.55.

Heavyweight Reliance Industries was up 1.43 per cent to closed at Rs 361.55 and State Bank of India was up 0.88 per cent to close at Rs 432.15.

Among tech stocks Infosys Technologies closed at Rs 3,453.65, up 1.44 per cent over its previous close. Satyam Computer closed at Rs 199.20, up 1.17 per cent over its previous close.
i-flex solutions was down 4.35 per cent to close at Rs 1,065.35. More than 1 lakh i-flex shares were traded on BSE today.

Old economy stocks Tata Steel was up 1.61 per cent to close at Rs 240.15, Castrol India was up 1.53 per cent to close at Rs 216, Hindalco was up 1.12 per cent to close at Rs 891.10 and Tata Motors was up 1.10 per cent to close at Rs 248.15.

Among banking stocks HDFC was down 1.97 per cent to close at Rs 469.25 and BHEL was down 1.40 per cent to close at Rs 299.50.

IFCI was up 11.58 per cent to close at Rs 13.39. More than 1.12 crore IFCI shares were traded on BSE today.

FMCG pivotals Nestle India was down 2.64 per cent to close at Rs 572.25, Colgate-Palmolive was down 0.74 per cent to close at Rs 147 and ITC was down 0.25 per cent to close at Rs 769.
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iGate up on joint venture news
iGate Global Solutions stock hit a 52-week high of Rs 190.45 on Tuesday after the company announced setting up a joint venture in India with Software AG, a German IT major.

iGate shares ended went up by 7.06 per cent ending the day at Rs 182.85. More than 2.58 lakh shares were traded on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE).

For the quarter ended June 30, 2003, iGate recorded a net profit of Rs 6.34 crore (Rs 7.86 crore) on a total income of Rs 93.96 crore (Rs 92.84 crore).

On a consolidated basis, for the quarter ended 30 June 2003, the group's net profit stood at Rs 7.71 crore (Rs 8.06 crore) on total income of Rs 143.85 crore (Rs 93.76 crore).
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Gillette India up on revamp news
Gillette India stock hit a 52-week high of Rs 555 before closing at Rs 525.45, up by 8.40 per cent. More than 10,408 shares were traded on the BSE.

The stock is rising in recent times due to news of restructuring of operations being carried out by the company.

Gillette India reported a 337 per cent growth in second-quarter net profit at Rs 18.79 crore compared with Rs 4.29 crore in the year-ago quarter.

Total income (net of excise) declined to Rs 98.38 crore (Rs 113.32 crore).
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MTNL up on capital expenditure plan
MTNL stock hit a high of Rs 128.75 on Tuesday before closing at Rs 126.50, up by 3.74 per cent. More than 23.44 lakh shares changed hands on the BSE.

The rise in its stock was bolstered by the company's plans to invest Rs 1,200 crore during 2003-04 for developing its telecom backbone and infrastructure, including a CDMA network.

The investment is for developing its infrastructure in two circles, New Delhi and Mumbai.

During the first quarter ended June 30, 2003, MTNL posted a 0.3 per cent increase in net profit at Rs 250.60 crore (Rs 249.87 crore) on a 0.2 per cent rise in total income at Rs 1,537.91 crore (Rs 1,535.22 crore).
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Sensex up 1,000 points since April 25
Mumbai: In the last 80 trading days after April 25, 2003, when it hit a six-month low the BSE Sensex has gained a record 1,000 points.

The Sensex closed at 3,926.07 today, up 1,002 points over the close of 2,924.12 on April 25, 2003. The Nifty rose 34.9 per cent to close at 1,246.90, up 332.60 points in the last 80 trading days.

The market capitalisation of all traded stocks on the BSE has soared by a whopping 48 per cent (Rs 2,75,572 crore) to Rs 8,49,614 crore, between April 25 and today.

The market capitalisation of Sensex scrips has risen 34.3 per cent (Rs 80,611 crore) to Rs 3,21,506 crore.

Almost 96 per cent of the 1,500 actively traded stocks have gained during the period and of these, the prices of as many as 447 have appreciated by over 100 per cent.

B2 group stock Visistha Trading tops the gainers list, with a mind-boggling 1,172 per cent appreciation in these 80 trading days. The stock moved up from Rs 2.35 on April 25 to Rs 29.90 on August 13.

Among notable B1 group stocks, Mercator Lines gained 522 per cent, Texmaco scrip is up 453 per cent and Kalyani Steel up 412 per cent.

Sensex stock, Tata Steel outperformed the others, gaining 87.6 per cent. The stock moved up from Rs 128.05 on April 25 to Rs 240.25 today.

Zee Telefilms gained 76.1 per cent to Rs 119.60, Grasim gained 69.6 per cent to Rs 594.45 while Tata Engineering rose 64.3 per cent to Rs 248.15.

Scrips from the public sector undertaking (PSU) stable emerged as the largest gainers in absolute value terms. The market capitalisation of PSU stocks increased 69 per cent (Rs 89,831 crore), from Rs 1,30,437 crore on April 25 to Rs 2,20,268 crore on August 13.

In the private sector, steel companies top the gainers' list with integrated steel and steel product manufacturing companies registering over 100 per cent gains.

Composite steel companies gained 193 per cent, sponge iron companies (up 187 per cent), mini steel (up 169 per cent) and steel strips companies gained 141 per cent in this period.
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