ITC revises prices of three cigarette brands

ITC Ltd, the Kolkata-based company, has increased prices of select brands by around 10 per cent to offset rising cost of tobacco, paper and other inputs. ITC revised prices on three brands including Classic, Gold Flake and Silk Cut. The price of a 20-stick pack of the premium brand Classic has been increased by 10 per cent to Rs 88 from Rs 80 earlier, while a pack of the mid-market Gold Flake brand will cost 5 per cent more at Rs 40 against Rs 38 earlier. The price of economy brand Silk Cut has been revised slightly from Rs 20 now. The current price revision is apart from the increase the company effected after Finance Minister P Chidambaram increase excise duty on cigarettes in the Union Budget. The three brands are the company''s major cigarette brands and only the Wills brand, priced at Rs 34, has been kept out of the purview of this exercise.

Piramal Life Sciences debuts on bourses

Piramal Life Sciences, the newly hived off research and development business of Piramal Group has begun a new innings on May 29 by listing on bourses. On the opening day the stock lost 16 per cent even as Piramal promised big growth to his stakeholders. The company plans to invest Rs 400-500 crore over two years aiming for revenue of over Rs 1,200 - Rs 1,500 crore by 2010. The company''s research pipeline comprises 14 molecules of which 6 are in clinical trials targeting its first drug launch by 2010.

Piramal is already in talks with potential investors including MNC pharma & financial investors for a strategic stake sale in his new R&D arm. Clearly, Piramal knows research is long haul business with high risks but it is his expectations on irresistible returns that has kept him on track.

FM urges excise dept to step up drive against evasion

The Government is now looking to plug excise revenue leakages via a more rigorous set of deterrent steps and by obtaining third-party information that could be matched against the information on indirect taxes submitted by assessees. The third-party information collection system is proposed to be modelled on the annual information return (AIR) system that has become successful on the direct tax side. The Finance Minister, Mr P. Chidambaram, on May 29 advised the Central Board of Excise and Customs (CBEC) to revisit the existing deterrent measures, stating that they were not deterrent enough. As many as 49 cases have been subject to deterrent measures. The idea is if you take action against one person, found guilty of excise evasion, the deterrent action taken against that assessee must have salutary effect on the assesses of the same product group.

IOL Netcom receives letter of intent from Power Grid Corporation

IOL Netcom has received a letter of intent from Power Grid Corporation - a Govt. of India undertaking, to provide last mile connectivity to over 600 members of the National Stock Exchange of India (NSE) in the cities of Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkata, Chennai and Ahmedabad. The last mile connectivity to the members of NSE will be provided by IOL on its own and alliance partners'' Metro Ethernet Networks.

The above named contract will add approximately Rs 50 crore annually to IOLs top line in addition to significant collection and FMS revenues from large broking houses across the country. The company also announced plans to create a pan India, ultra modern secure NGN networks for mission critical applications enabling it to execute similar projects for other organizations. The company made this announcement during the trading hours today, 29 May 2008.

Foreign Market Reports May-30-2008

Thursday, the US stock market continue to close higher for the third consecutive day for the week backed by the upward revision to the first quarter economic growth rate and a sharp drop in crude prices. The retailer stocks posted a solid gain on the back of mixed batch of earnings reports from Costco and Big Lots both posted better-than-expected quarterly earnings results. However, Sears Holdings unexpectedly lost $0.53 per share in its latest quarter, excluding items, compared to a profit of $1.15 per share in the prior year.
On the economic front, the first quarter GDP was revised higher to 0.9% from 0.6% matching the consensus estimate. The reading remains below the 3% normal growth rate.
Further, the number of weekly jobless claims reading held mostly steady at 372,000, which was roughly in-line with expectations.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) advanced by 52.19 points to close at 12,646.22. The S&P 500 (SPX) index increased by 7.42 points to close at 1,398.26 and the NASDAQ Composite (RIXF) grew 21.62 points to close at 2,508.32.

Among the Dow’s 30 components, 24 components ended in green mainly led by the stocks like Johnson & Johnson and Citigroup up nby 2.4% and 2% respectively.

A total of 0.8bn shares were traded on the NASDAQ, with advancing stocks outpaced the declining stocks by 8 to 5. On NYSE around 1.2bn shares traded for the day, with advancing stocks outpaced the declining stocks by 2 to 1.

Crude oil futures for the month of June delivery closed lower by $4.40 at $126.62 per barrel on New York Mercantile Exchange. The crude prices fell after the dollar strengthened against its rival currencies and also after the inventory report announced by the Energy Department showed a large weekly drop in crude inventory levels since 2004. As per the weekly inventory report by the Energy Department, crude supplies dropped by 8.8 million barrels to 311.6 million for the week ended 23 May.

The gold prices for the month of June delivery fell by $23.30 to settle at $881.70 an ounce on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The gold prices ended lower for the third consecutive days after the dollar strengthened against its rival currencies.

IFCI - Outcome of Board Meeting

IFCI Ltd has informed that the Board of Directors of the Company at its meeting held on May 29, 2008, has discussed the advice received from Merchant Bankers, relating to issues of induction of Strategic Investor and Optionally Convertible Debentures held by Government of India and it was decided that Board would meet on June 12, 2008 to take a further view.

Mid Session indian stock market commentary May-29-2008

The market is trading with marginal gain. The significant buying witnessed in the Metal, Realty and Pharma stocks. However, the Auto, Bank and FMCG stocks are still trading in pressure. The BSE Sensex is hovering around the 16500 mark and the NSE Nifty is trading around the 4900 mark. The broader market has outperformed the benchmark index today as sustained buying is seen in the Mid Cap and Small Cap stocks.

The overall market breadth is positive, as 1455 stocks are advancing while 958 stocks are declining and the 76 stocks remained unchanged on BSE.

The BSE Mid cap is higher by 49.01 points at 6,802.54 and the BSE small Cap advanced by 47.13 points to trade at 8,284.22.

At 12.30 pm, BSE Sensex was at 16,518.32 down by 6.95 points and Nifty was at 4,927.15 up by 8.80 points.

BSE Metal index surged by 347.58 points to trade at 16,997.23. The major gainers are Sterlite Industries (2.92%), NALCO (1.98%), Tata Steel (1.18%) and SAIL (0.69%).
Tata Steel has received mineral concession approvals from the ministry of Mines for two large mines-one for an iron ore mine in Jharkhand and other for a chrome ore mine in Manipur.

BSE Oil & Gas index was trading 49.58 points higher at 10,827.49 as BPCL (2.80%), Cairn India (2.28%), ONGC (0.82%) and RPL (0.55%) are trading in green.

BSE Capital goods index improved by 30.16 points to 12,602.07. The main gainers are BEML (2.93%), Crompton Greaves (1.89%), L&T (0.63%) and Punj Lloyd (0.28%).

BSE IT index inclined by 1.93 points to trade at 4,568.35 as I-flex (2.32%), Satyam Computer (2.58%), Wipro (1.74%) and Tech Mahindra (1.50%) are trading in green.
Satyam Computers and Siemens PLM Software has entered into an alliance to provide software and services to help customers enhance efficiency and enable them to benefit from the duos expertise. Also, it has entered into a comprehensive agreement GE Healthcare to support customers deploying healthcare IT solutions based on GE centricity enterprise software. The companies will join the forces to plan, design and implement infrastructures for global healthcare providers.

BSE Bankex index is trading lower by 65.39 points at 7,868.11. Losers are Allahabad Bank (3.30%), Bank of India (2.37%), ICICI Bank (1.55%) and SBI (1.60%).

BSE Realty increased by 50.83 points to 7,281.25. Leading to its gain are Indiabull Real (2.82%), Unitech (0.53%), Sobha Developers (0.36%) and HDIL (0.28%).

BSE Power index decreased by 6.96 points to trade at 3,097.33 as Suzln Energy (4.23%), Tata Power (0.83%) and NTPC (0.37%) are trading in negative.
Tata Power is investing Rs.500 crore for the expansion of wind power. The company would be adding 115 MW of wind power capacity in the current fiscal.

BSE Auto slipped by 78.46 points to 4,483.57. Leading to its fall are Tata Motors (6.66%), Mahindra & Mahindra (2.18%) and Maruti Suzuki (1.65%).

Indian stock Market Commentary: Market is still weak.

The market is not showing a mood for recovery. All the key benchmark indices are trading in red. The Bank, Realty, Capital Goods and Auto are out of favor today. The BSE Mid Cap and Small Cap stocks are also trading lower. The BSE Sensex is still below the 17, 000 mark and the NSE Nifty is hovering around the 5000 mark.

The overall market breadth is negative, as 1097 stocks are advancing whereas 1549 stocks that are declining.

TCS reported the top gainer from the BSE Sensex pack. It is trading higher by (0.68%) at Rs.970.50 while Tata Motors the top loser down by (4.01%) at Rs.661.25.

At 2.31PM BSE Sensex is at 16,914.44 down by 328.72 points and Nifty is at 5,028.90 down by 88.75 points.

The BSE Mid Cap is lower by 76.13 points to 7,071.92 and the Small Cap dropped by 78.70 points to 8,710.28.

The BSE Bank is the top loser trading with a loss of 226.24 points at 8,413.66. The main losers are PNB down by (3.44%) at Rs.539, ICICI Bank decreased by (3.27%) at Rs.881.70 followed by SBI and HDFC Bank declined by (2.05%) and (1.89%) to Rs.1627.95 and Rs.1383.40.

The most active shares on NSE are Reliance trading at Rs.2634.95 with a total traded quantity of 1739730 shares followed by Reliance Capital trading at Rs.1417.10 with a total traded quantity of 3001204 shares.

Indian stock market: Market is trading with heavy losses

The market is trading lower following the unfavourable global cues and heavy selling across all indices mainly capital goods, metal, banking and oil & gas counters led the Sensex to fall below 17,000 mark while Nifty is still holding 5000. The market is hovering in the negative territory since the initial bell as oil surged to a new high of $135 a barrel and weak Asian Markets. Among the Sensex pack, 1 stock is trading in green while 29 stocks are trading in red.

At 1.37PM, the BSE Sensex is trading lower by 329.82 points at 16,993.34 and NSE Nifty is also down by 85.1 points at 5,032.55.

The BSE Mid Cap and Small Cap are trading down by 85.03 points and 85.98 points at 7,063.02 and 8,703.00 respectively.

Losers from the BSE are Tata Motors trading lower by (4.15%) at Rs660.25 followed by Reliance Infraby (4.12%) at Rs1,321.0, Reliance Communication by (3.60%) at Rs582.00, ICICI Bank by (3.54%) at Rs879.0, Jaiprakash Associates by (2.85%) at Rs245.60 and Reliance by (2.62%) at Rs2,598.0.

The Metal index is trading lower by 345.33 points at 17,044.95. Pushing it are JSW SL trading lower (5.93%) at Rs1,067.50 along with Hindustan Zinc by (3.98%) at Rs722.10, Steel Authority by (3.48%) at Rs176.20, Jindal Stain by (2.60%) at Rs146.0, Jindal Saw by (1.80%) at Rs603.8, Bhushan Steel by (1.70%) at Rs806.25, and Sterlite Industries by (1.68%) at Rs929.20.

The Capital Goods index is trading down by 322.16 points at 13,347.92 as Suzlon Energy is trading down by (4.58%) at Rs294.8 followed by Kirloskar Br by (4.30%) at Rs271.50, Punj Lloyd by (3.10%) at Rs340.80, ABB Ltd by (2.85%) at Rs1000.50 and Kalpat Pow T by (2.49%) at Rs1020.0.

From the telecommunication sector, Reliance Communications is trading down by (3.1%) at Rs584.95 along with Tata Communications by (1.82%) at Rs507.65, Idea Cellular up by (2.59%) at Rs108.9 and Bharti Airtel by (0.81%) at Rs815.75.

From the Cement sector L&T Ltd is trading lower by (2.23%) at Rs2926, followed by Ambuja Cements Ltd by (1.54%) at Rs105.6 and ACC Ltd by (1.23%) at Rs681.85.

Tata Motors is trading lower by (4.15%) at Rs660.25. It has entered into an agreement to buy British brands Jaguar Land Rover from Ford Motor Co for $2.3 billion and indicated there will be some changes to the numerous models and makes available when they acquire Ferrari and Skoda. The company is planning to raise long term funds to partly finance requirements of some plans. As a key concern for the company, increase in the steel prices is affecting cost of the cars and it may be difficult to meet the deadline of Tata Nano project and keep the prices under control as steel constitutes 60% of the manufacturing cost of a car.

Mcleod Russel fixes Record Date for Scheme of Amalgamation

Mcleod Russel India Ltd has informed that the Directors of the Company have decided to fix June 12, 2008 as the Record Date to determine the eligibility of the Members of The Moran Tea Company (India) Ltd (MTCL) for allotment of Shares of McLeod Russel India Ltd (MRIL) in the ratio of 4 new Equity Shares of Rs 5/- each of MRIL for every Equity Share of Rs 10/- held in MTCL in terms of the Scheme of Amalgamation of MTCL with MRIL duly sanctioned by the Honble High Court at Calcutta vide its Order dated April 16, 2008.

Indian stock Market Commentary: Mid Session Market May-22-2008

The market has recovered a bit from the morning lows but is still reeling under heavy pressure as strong selling in scrips continued across the board. The Bank, Capital Goods. Realty and Power stocks are feeling the most selling pressure. The BSE Sensex is hovering around the 17,000 mark and the NSE Nifty is trading above the 5,000 mark. The broader market is also recovered but is till in red.

The overall market breadth is negative, as 1033 stocks are advancing while 1457 stocks are declining and the 77 stocks remained unchanged on BSE.

The BSE Mid cap is lower by 65.46 points at 7,082.59 while the BSE small Cap slipped by 54.52 points to trade at 8,734.46.

At 12.30 pm, BSE Sensex was at 16,492.69 up by 17.46 points and Nifty was at 5,027.80 down by 89.85 points.

BSE IT index inclined marginally by 2.97 points to trade at 4,456.32 as I-Flex (2.76%), Patni Computer (1.90%), TCS (0.71%) and Satyam (0.10%) are trading in green.
Satyam Computers and GE Healthcare has entered into a comprehensive agreement to support customers deploying healthcare IT solutions based on GE Centricity Enterprise software. Under this agreement, both the companies will plan, design and implement infrastructures for global healthcare providers.

BSE Oil & Gas index was trading 137.94 points lower at 11,294.86 as BPCL (4.09%), RPL (1.92%), ONGC (1.92%) and Gail India (1.02%) are trading in red.

BSE Metal index dropped by 165.12 points to trade at 17,225.16. The major losers are SAIL (2.55%), NALCO (2.38%), Hindalco Industries (1.55%) and Tata Steel (0.67%).
SAIL has signed a memorandum of understanding with Rajasthan State Mines and Minerals Limited (RSMML) for a long-term supply of low silica limestone, a critical input for steel making.

BSE Capital goods index declined by 208.96 points to 13,461.12. The main losers are L&T (1.99%), ABB (1.90%), Siemens (1.51%) and BHEL (1.50%).

BSE Bankex index is trading lower by 167.63 points at 8,472.27. Losers are ICICI Bank (2.89%), PNB (2.88%), HDFC Bank (1.96%) and SBI (1.56%).

BSE Realty slipped by 115.04 points to 7,789.84. Leading to its fall are Indiabull Real (3.34%), Purvankara (2.22%), Ansal Infrastructure (2.18%) and DLF (1.66%).

BSE Power index decreased by 48.61 points to trade at 3,254.31 as Suzlon Energy (3.61%), Reliance Energy (3.07%), NTPC (1.54%) and Power Grid (1.40%) are trading in negative.

BSE Auto index down by 80.57 points to trade at 4,702.33 as Tata Motors (3.91%), Mahindra & Mahindra (2.08%), Maruti Suzuki (1.60%) and TVS Motor (1.50%) are trading in negative.

Indian stock market: Market is trading weak

The market is trading on the back foot tracking the weak cues from the global markets like the surging crude oil prices to $135 a barrel led to the negative sentiments in the market. Also, the US Federal Reserve’s steps to cut US economic growth forecasts and signaling of any rate cut further is unlikely add to the sentiments. The market breadth is weak as 1270 stocks are trading in red while 995 stocks are trading in green.

At 11.33AM, BSE Sensex is trading lower by 247.96 points at 16,995.19 and NSE Nifty is trading down by 70.75 points at 5,046.90. The BSE Mid Cap is trading lower by 22.87 points at 7,125.18 while Small Cap is trading flat at 8,789.36.

Scrips that fell to attract investors confidence are HPCL trading down by (3.90%) at Rs233 in line with Suzlon Energy by (3.54%) at Rs298, JSW Steel by (3.41%) at Rs1096, BPCL by (3.40%) at Rs343.95, Tata Motors by (3.32%) at Rs666, Lanco Infra by (3.24%) at Rs565, PNB by (3.13%) at Rs540.80 and Indian Bank by (3.09%) at s136.40.

The Capital Goods index is trading lower by 253.14 points at 13,416.94. Pulling it are Suzlon Energy trading lower by (3.48%) at Rs298.20 along with Punj Lloyd by (2.59%) at Rs342.60, Kirloskar BR by (2.36%) at Rs277, L&T by (2.17%) at Rs2928.95, ABB by (1.78%) at Rs1011.50, Bhel by (1.68%) at Rs1742, AIA Engineer by (1.67%) at Rs1595, Jyoti Structures by (1.21%) at Rs146.95 and Areva by (1.05%) at Rs1616.40.

The Metal index is trading down by 205.70 points at 17,184.58 as JSW Steel trading lower by (3.41%) at Rs1096 followed by Hind Zinc by (2.98%) at Rs729.60, Hindalco Inds by (2.21%) at Rs192.90, Jindal Stainless by (1.97%) at Rs146.95, Jindal Steel by (0.69%) at Rs2448, Welspun Guj by (1.05%) at Rs377.80, Sterlite inds by (1.04%) at Rs935.25 and Bhushan Steel by (0.63%) at Rs815.

Satyam Computers is trading higher by (0.19%) at Rs494.85 as he company and GE Healthcare has entered into a comprehensive agreement to support customers deploying healthcare IT solutions based on GE Centricity Enterprise software. Under this agreement, both the companies will plan, design and implement infrastructures for global healthcare providers.

Buy Petronet LNG, target of Rs 90: Angel

Angel Broking has upgraded its rating on Petronet LNG to buy rating with a target price of Rs 90 in its May 9, 2008 research report. "Dahej expansion to 12.5 mmtpa (current 6.5 mmtpa) is slated to come on stream July onwards in a phased manner. Expanded capacity will help Petronet process more Spot volumes till the 2.5mmtpa contracted supplies from Qatar commence October 2009 onwards. For the next 2-3 years, growth will primarily be driven by Spot LNG and the expanded capacity will benefit from the situation."

"The company is now also diversifying into different segments like power, port development, etc., which is expected to generate value over a period of time. We have valued Petronet on DCF methodology with a Cost of Equity of 15.2% (high as it is a high beta stock), Cost of Debt - 10% and WACC - 9.2%. The stock is currently available at 9.8x FY2010E EPS of Rs7.7. Based on our DCF valuation model, we upgrade the stock to a Buy, with a target price of Rs 90," says Angel's research report.

US mkts recover from day’s low; Asia opens mixed

U.S. markets recover from day’s low on back of positive retail sales data & M&A news. Dow Jones end down 44 pts at 12832.2; recovers nearly 50 pts from day’s low. Nasdaq ends up 6.6 pts at 2495; recovers nearly 23 pts from day’s low. Financial index down nearly 1.5% on Oppenheimer downgrades and Moody’s concern over MBIA & Ambac. Asian markets open mixed; Shanghai up 1.5%, Taiwan up 0.5%, Straits Times up 0.2%, Nikkei, Kospi marginally in the red, Hang Seng down 0.75%. EMs; Brazil up 0.12%, Russia up 0.80%. CBOE VIX up 1% at 17.98.

Commodities/ Currencies
Crude oil hits new all-time high at $126.98/bbl in yesterday’s trade during the day. Gold loses nearly 2% or $20 at $867/ounce in yesterday’s trade. Dollar rebounds against major currencies; Yen depreciates by 1% at 104.6.

Global Stocks
HP stock down 5.5%; traders fears that HP is overpaying for EDS. EDS stock up 1% at 24.4 (was up 28% day before yesterday); HP offer price at $25. Wal-Mart stock down 2.4%; earnings top expectations, but outlook is somewhat cautious. Yahoo! Stock up 5%; reports that investor Carl Icahn mulling a Yahoo proxy fight. Oppenheimer cut its earnings estimates on Goldman Sachs, Merrill Lynch, Lehman Brothers & Morgan Stanley. Moody's concerned over the capitalization ratios of MBIA & Ambac; portfolio losses are higher than expected.

Global News
US April retail sales ex-autos rose 0.5%, which is better than expectations of 0.2%. Japan’s current account lessens 12.3% on account of slow export growth & higher oil costs. China’s retail sales rose 22% in April; fastest pace since 1999.

Wadias file suit against GL Raheja Group in Bombay HC over breach of land agreement; to claim damages upto Rs 1370 Cr

Wadias file suit against GL Raheja Group over breach of land agreement in Bombay HC. Wadia alleges that GL Raheja Group sold properties developed on Dinshaw Estate land owned by Wadia to sister companies. Wadias will claim damages to the tune of Rs 1370 crore.

Earlier, Wadias had signed agreement with GL Raheja to develop 470 acres in Malad, Mumbai in 1995 and GL Raheja was to give Wadias 12% of revenue form sale/ lease of developed properties.

Stock tips: UTV Software

UTV Software Communications Ltd has informed that pursuant to the authority granted by the Board of Directors to the Shareholders Investor / Grievance Committee, the committee at their meeting held on May 09, 2008 allotted 93,52,500 equity shares of Rs 10/- each at a issue price of Rs 860.79 per equity share aggregating to around Rs 8050 million to The Walt Disney Company (Southeast Asia) Pte Ltd on the terms contained in the resolution approved by the members at their Extra Ordinary General meeting held on March 17, 2008.

Panasonic Home Board recommends dividend

Panasonic Home Appliances India Company Ltd has informed that the Board of Directors of the Company at its meeting held on May 09, 2008, inter alia, has recommended a dividend of 10% per equity share for the financial year 2007-2008 to the members for their approval at the ensuing Annual General Meeting.

Indian stocks in news: IEC Softwares

IEC Softwares Ltd has informed that a meeting of the Board of Directors of the Company will be held on May 12, 2008, inter alia, to consider and approve the following:
1. Tie up with Vocational Education Trust to run and manage a School and College at Alwar.
2. Change in Registered office of the Company from M-92, Connaught Place to 5, Sant Nagar, East of Kailash, New Delhi.