SEBI fails to implement UIN comprehensively
Mumbai: The Securities and Exchange Board of India's (SEBI) exercise to fingerprint, photograph and identify market participants and issue unique identification numbers (UIN) ended its first phase with 43,000 numbers as against a target of 70,000. The identification exercise undertaken to create the Market Participant and Investor Database (MAPIN), was launched in November 2003 with a lot of hype, but subsequently ran into implementation difficulties leading to only 60 per cent of the targeted intermediaries signing up.

SEBI is undecided about what the course of action on non-compliance would be and says it has written to all exchanges, National Securities Depository Ltd (NSDL), Association of Mutual Funds in India, etc, asking for this data and says it hopes to get the data within a week after which it will decide the next course of action. The original guideline specified that March 31, 2004 and was the last date for obtaining the UIN. The response though was so poor that SEBI extended the deadline to June 30. Only 2,774 corporates and 17,740 individuals registered ahead of the March 31 deadline. As per the guideline issued by SEBI brokers along with their spouses, parents and children are required to provide biometric impressions of their left thumb, left index finger, right thumb and right index finger to NSDL. The market intermediaries challenged this in court and on March 19, a Delhi High Court exempted their kin with no dealings in the capital market from obtaining the UIN.
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Trading volume downs on budget fears
Mumbai: The average monthly traded volume on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) and the National Stock Exchange (NSE) fell significantly in June indicating that investors are keeping away away from the equity markets because of uncertainties over the forthcoming Budget.

The volumes began declining from the day of election results and from a daily average traded volume of 127 million shares on the BSE in April, the volume dipped to 122.5 million shares in May, and further to 86 million shares in June. Similarly, on the NSE, the average daily traded volume declined from 268.3 million shares in April, to 260.2 million shares in May, and further to 190.6 million shares in June.

Traded volume actually dipped more in June than in May, implying that investors who may have taken positions before the May elections, have firmly chosen to stay out in June.
The lack of activity on the bourses is attributed to the uncertain times after the elections, followed by pre-Budget blues.
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Government's rural thrust helps ITC scrip
Kolkata: ITC stock has benefited by the governments tilt towards the rural sector. The scrip topped the Rs 900 mark after staying low for a considerable time. LIC and PSU banks have reportedly picked up the stock. It is being conjectured that the present government's emphasis on the rural sector, floating the idea of rural commercial hubs (akin to ITC's fast growing e-choupal model) and an expectation of a policy initiative towards re-hauling rural development schemes, credit delivery system and some reforms in the marketing of agri-produce would eventually benefit ITC. The ITC stock rose steadily in the past couple of weeks gaining around 6 per cent since June 21. The recent trading volume also suggested sustaining interest in the counter at a moderate level.
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HLL lower after being downgraded
Mumbai: HLL stock has fallen after leading US broking firm downgraded its stocks on the declaration of the company's second quarter results. The firm has advised its clients to sell HLL shares.
The firm says though the macro environment is improving, higher competitive activity has clouded HLL's growth prospects and profitability and it estimates a 14 per cent decline in net profit at Rs390 crore for the second quarter for the company.

The firm feels that the ongoing market share game between Procter & Gamble and HLL is likely to continue and could even extend to other categories (mainly personal care products), putting further pressure on HLL's profitability. Based on this, several FIIs are understood to have started offloading the shares of the company in the last couple of days. On Friday, the stock of HLL declined by 0.35 per cent at Rs126.95 on the BSE with volumes of 3.60 lakh shares; on the NSE, it closed at Rs127, down 0.31 per cent, with volumes of 13.24 lakh shares.
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IFCI gains on merger possibility with PNB
Mumbai: Trading volumes of shares of IFCI increased substantially on Friday along with a rise in its stock price on expectation of early merger with Punjab National Bank (PNB). Trading volumes jumped from 1.76 lakh shares on Thursday to 25.37 lakh shares on Friday on the BSE. Volumes on the NSE also increased by 7.6 lakh shares to 45.81 lakh shares. The stock price increased marginally by 4.76 per cent to Rs8.36 on the BSE.

The delivery ratio on the BSE was 35.2 per cent (8.93 lakh shares) and on the NSE it was 38.9 per cent (17.82 lakh shares).
In January, the board of IFCI had agreed to merge with PNB.
Another rumour floating in the market was possibility of merger of IFCI with IDBI.
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Sebi plans paperless office
Mumbai: The Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) is becoming tech savvy and has drawn up ambitious IT upgradation plans to have a "paperless office" in the next one year. Under the plan, Sebi will accept fees electronically and will route all the mandatory requirements of seeking permissions, filing complaints and disseminating all related information in soft copies. The plan is expected to speed up the execution process, to be fulfilled by market intermediaries, investors and corporates.

The upgraded IT infrastructure will enable an investor to lodge his / her complaint electronically. The system implemented by Sebi will facilitate to keep a track record of the progress of complaint via a specific complaint number generated by the Sebi system, which in turn may be used for future follow ups. The plan will also allow Sebi regulated entities to keep in touch with the regulator electronically since every intermediary will be allowed to access the Sebi network through secured channels.
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Markets end flat
Mumbai: Markets ended on a flat note after volatile trading on Friday. The benchmark indices ended lower by 3.47 points or 0.07 per cent to settle at 4,870.58 points. For the entire week however the market gained 114.19 points. Meanwhile, the broader 50-share S&P CNX Nifty ended 0.30 points higher at 1,537.50.

Of the total 1,746 stocks traded on the BSE, 865 stocks ended in a positive zone, while 785 stocks ended in a negative territory. 96 stocks remained unchanged on Friday. The Sensex opened lower by 61 points on the back of weak Asian markets and overnight fall in Nasdaq and Dow Jones. The Sensex recovered by mid-morning to touch an intra-day high of 4,895.48, after the announcement of the inflation rate at 5.87 per cent, marginally lower than previous week's 5.89 per cent.

In the one-hour of trading bulk selling by institutions pulled down the index and it ended the day at 4,870.58. The Sensex touched an intra-day high of 4,895.48 and an intra-day low of 4,813.16.
The total turnover recorded on the BSE was Rs 1,836.11 crore (Rs1,768.04 crore the previous day) on the traded volumes of 10.04 crore shares (9.16 crore shares). While on the NSE, the total turnover reported was Rs4,367.48 crore (Rs4,114.80 crore) on the traded volumes of 22.90 crore shares (21.06 crore shares).
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