Cement stocks rule firm on price hike hopes
Mumbai: Rumours of a further strengthening of cement prices pre-Diwali, saw frontline cement stocks gather momentum on the bourses on Thursday. As per market talk, a hike of up to Rs 10 per bag is on the cards. Brokers said that market perception that prospects seem good for cement in terms of offtake as well prices buoyed interest in the cement scrips. The stock of Grasim, which hit a 52-week high of Rs 764.90 intra-day on the BSE, ended at Rs 756.50, up 4.28 per cent with around 2.22 lakh shares traded. On the NSE the stock closed at Rs 758.40, up 4.53 per cent with around 4.94 lakh shares traded. ACC ended the day at Rs 211.50 on the BSE, up 3.32 per cent with around 21.8 lakh shares traded. On the NSE, the stock closed at Rs 211.95, up 3.62 with around 48.01 lakh shares traded. L&T ended the day at Rs 384.70 and GACL at Rs 236.35 on the BSE.
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Rival strength for Tata Steel
Mumbai: Speculator rivalry appears to have been the driving force of a few stocks over the past several days. One such stock that appeared to have been the target on Thursday was Tata Steel.
The market grapevine says a Mumbai-based speculator's short position in Tata Steel has been compromised. Ever since the position was exposed, his rivals, said to be a group of Kolkata brokers, have been taking the contrary position, which has been fuelling the rally in the stock, sources say. They believe the Kolkata clique has taken long positions in Tata Steel, Tata Motors, M&M, and Oriental Bank of Commerce. The Tata Steel stock touched its year-high of Rs 361.85 per share on Thursday, before settling back to Rs 360.20 at close on the NSE. Yet, the close was 5 per cent higher than Wednesday's closing price. While over 1.71 crore shares were traded on the NSE, about 85 lakh shares changed hands on the BSE.
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Swiss parent plans to delist Ciba Specialty from BSE
Kolkata: CIBA of Switzerland is considering delisting of Ciba Specialty Chemicals (India) Ltd (CSCIL), which is listed on the Bombay Stock Exchange. Ciba is understood to be considering a fresh open offer, and to ensure that the response to the offer this time is total, they want to price the offer "aggressively" enough, according to sources close to the development. Ciba is also understood to be "informally" negotiating with the Lalbhai group-promoted Atul Ltd for their participation in the open offer as it alone holds 9.43 per cent stake in CSCIL. Along with associates, the Lalbhai group reportedly holds more than 10 per cent in CSCIL. Hence, if they do not participate in the open offer, the proposed delisting plan would fail. In 2002, Atul had not responded to the open offer at Rs 110 per share. Informed market sources said that the negotiation is primarily hovering around the offer price, understandably upward of Rs 200 per share. The stock today closed at Rs 119.85 (Rs 120). In 2002, Ciba Specialty Chemicals Holding Inc and Ciba India Pvt Ltd, then joint holders of 51 per cent stake in CSCIL, made an open offer to acquire the remaining 49 per cent equity in the company. After the offer closed in June 2002, their holding went up to 69.27 per cent. Owing to the partial response, the balance could not be mopped up and the company could not be delisted. As on September 30, 2003, the total shareholding of the promoters was 69.28 per cent, institutional investors 5.18 per cent (including 4.76 per cent held by LIC and Oriental Insurance), private corporate bodies 10.58 per cent and public holding was at 14.87 per cent. Incidentally, in August this year, CSCIL acquired 49 per cent stake in Diamond Dye-chem (DDL), Asia's largest manufacturer of cellulosic optical brighteners, to make it a wholly owned subsidiary. After this acquisition, the 2002-03 earning per share of CSCIL has gone up from Rs 14.40 to Rs 22.16 now. The consolidated book value also surged to Rs 147.95 from Rs 119.13. The pricing of the likely open offer will have to be factored in for the value enhancement after the acquisition of DDL, according to market sources. It may be mentioned the relationship between Ciba and Atul dates back to 1960, when Atul promoted Citabul, a chemical company, in collaboration with Ciba-Geigy. CSCIL was formed by hiving off the chemicals division of Hindustan Ciba-Geigy.
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ICICI Bank Eurobonds oversubscribed 5 times
Mumbai: The $300-million Eurobond issue of ICICI Bank has been oversubscribed by five times in the international markets. The issue received bids of over $1.5 billion on the opening day itself (on Wednesday). According to a press note from ICICI Bank on Thursday, ``the bonds, in the nature of unsecured fixed rate senior notes, were priced through the book-building process at a pricing equivalent to 106 basis points over LIBOR.'' The bonds which hit the European and Asian markets have a bullet repayment at the end of five years and are listed on the Singapore Stock Exchange.
The investors are mostly known to be banks, mutual/pension funds and insurance companies. eutsche Bank and Merrill Lynch were the book runners/ lead managers and arrangers to the issue. Moody's rated the bond as "Baa3" and Standard & Poor rated it as "BB", in line with ICICI Bank's existing long-term foreign currency debt ratings.
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Rupee stronger by 38 paise; bonds rally
Mumbai: The rupee rode high on the dollar wave on Thursday, soaring by a massive 38 paise to ascend to a strong position of 45.32/33 at close, as compared to its previous close at 45.69/70 on Wednesday.
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