No change in pricing for UTI Bank share
New Delhi: HSBC has said that its open offer to UTI Bank shareholders will start from Thursday. Despite the upward swing in UTI Bank's share price during the day on the news of the stake sale, HSBC said that it had no plans to alter the offer price of Rs 90 per share in the open offer. UTI Bank shares rose 19.98 per cent on the BSE to touch Rs 114.10 while it ended 20.04 per cent higher on NSE at Rs 115.

The open offer is expected to remain a mere formality, with HSBC itself convinced that not many shareholders will be willing to surrender their shares at the offer price. "The public float in UTI Bank is barely 16 per cent. The likelihood of picking up a large block of shares is fairly small. There are no plans to change the offer price at this particular time," Niall S K Booker, chief executive officer, HSBC India, said. HSBC, however, maintained that the transaction with CDC was a "pure financial investment" and that it did not plan to exercise management control in UTI Bank.
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Boston-based fund acquires stake in KEC
Mumbai: GMO Emerging Markets Fund, a Boston-based FII, has picked up a 5.01-per cent stake in power transmission company KEC International Ltd. KEC informed the bourses on Wednesday that GMO Emerging Markets Fund had acquired 17.97 lakh shares in KEC International through secondary market purchases. Company officials said the stake was picked up in tranches. KEC International was informed on November 28 that GMO's share has crossed the 5-per cent levels.

GMO Emerging is believed to hold interests in various Indian companies, amounting to $500 million, say reports. KEC International Ltd's Indian promoters include Ceat Ventures, RPG Group and Harrisons Malayalam Financial Services. While banks and Indian financial institutions held a 15.56 per cent stake in the company, FIIs had a share of only 0.21 per cent in the company till the end of the first quarter.
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IL&FS MF launches monthly income plan
Mumbai: IL&FS Mutual Fund has announced the launch of IL&FS Monthly Income Plan, an open-ended scheme with no assured returns that seeks to generate regular income for investors. The initial public offer for the scheme, which opened on 1 December, will remain open until 16 December while regular sales and redemptions will start from 1 January.

The corpus of the scheme will largely be invested in quality debt instruments. According to N K Sharma, CEO, IL&FS AMC, the prevailing low interest rate makes plain income funds unattractive to investors and the meaningful mix of debt and equity in the Monthly Income Plan will help investors gain better value for their investment.
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FII investments crosses Rs 30,000-crore tag
Mumbai: The total net purchases by foreign institutional investors (FIIs) in the current calendar year crossed the figure of Rs 30,000 crore yesterday. The total net FII investments for 2003 to date is at Rs 30,301 crore. In dollar terms, this amounts to $6.523 billion, according to a data released by the Securities and Exchange Board of India.

FIIs have pumped in a record Rs 755.3 crore in the first trading day of December alone. Of this, Rs 563.4 crore has gone into the equity markets while Rs 191.9 crore went into the debt markets. They were net buyers at Rs 286 crore in the equities market on 2 December too. As matters stand today, FIIs have put in more than one-third of their total investments since they were allowed to bring in investments in 1992. Their total investments in all these years stands at Rs 89,250 crore of which Rs 30,301 crore have came in the current calendar year itself.
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Three sectoral indices shine on BSE
Mumbai: Three sectoral indices (capital good, healthcare and banks) compiled by the Bombay Stock Exchange hit an all-time high yesterday. Healthcare index gain 78.55 points to touched an all time high of 2313.92, up 95 per cent since 31 March 2003, capital goods index gain 81.70 to 2097.98, up 127 per cent and bankex surge 92.30 points to 2561.60, up 86 per cent. On the contrary, the BSE Sensex hit to a 44-month high of 5221.9, up 71 per cent since 31 March.

The healthcare sector index soared to a new lifetime high on the back of all most all mid-cap pharmaceuticals stocks hitting to the roof today. The stocks such as JB Chemicals, Cadila Healthcare, Ranbaxy Laboratories, Matrix Laboratories, Divi's Laboratories, AstraZeneca Pharma and Shasun Chemicals rose to a new all time high on the BSE.
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