This thread will be used to discuss the news about all the stock markets in India. Though to be fair it will mostly be a discussion on Mumbai stock exchanges and the Indian rupee

Sensex may touch 50,000 by 2015-end!


In case you think this is the figment of an overactive imagination, think again. Alok Aggarwal, co-founder and chairman of Evalueserve, a leading provider of knowledge services, believes that the Bombay Stock Exchange's 30-share benchmark index, the Sensex, could touch the 50,000-mark by the December 2015.

Here is the explanation for how he reached this conclusion.

January 8, 2008 is considered a golden day in the history of the Indian stock markets as the Sensex touched a record 21,077.53 in intra-day trading. It closed the day at 20,873. Analysts expected the Sensex to touch 25,000 by the end of 2008; some even saw it touching 27,000. But Aggarwal had warned then that "because of a sudden crisis of confidence, there would be a flight of foreign institutional investor (FII) money out of the country".

He pointed out that if $12 billion of FII money was to leave within a quarter, the stock market would drop by approximately 30 per cent to the level of 14,000. By July 8, 2008, Aggarwal's predictions came true. And then the world economy was sucked into the vortex of one of the worst recessions in recent times.

On October 24, the Sensex plunged by 1,070.63 points (10.96 per cent) to close at 8,701.07, and sank further to a low of 8,160 on March 9, 2009. Since then it has climbed gradually to hover very close to the 18,000-mark in April 2010.

Many analysts believe that an inflow of approximately $18.1 billion of FII money into India (during April-October 2009), most of which has went into the Indian stock market, was the primary reason why the Sensex slowly started to move northward.

http://business.rediff.com/slide-show/2010/apr/06/slide-show-1-sensex-is-likely-to-touch-50000-by-december-2015.htm

BS

this guy probably doesn't have a PR and therefore needs publicity

well its rediff

so well what did you guys expect. lol

as discussed in mumbai economy thread i think 30,000 seems right

NSE to hit publicity trail on board Rajdhani

MUMBAI: To connect with the masses in selected big cities and also some other places with substantially large population, the National Stock Exchange (NSE), the country's largest bourse by turnover, is boarding the Rajdhani Express.

Beginning April 28, for a full year, NSE will run a branding-cum-investor awareness campaign on 70 coaches of Rajdhani Express trains and also advertise about NSE, Nifty and the bourse's other products. It also plans to advertise on Rajdhani trains on two more routes, which are yet to be decided. ‘‘We are targeting long-distance trains... which travel through a number of regions to help us in building awareness throughout the country,'' Chitra Ramkrishna, joint MD, NSE, told TOI. The campaign is mainly focussed on investor awareness and will also try to educate investors about NSE, the Nifty index and also other NSE products, Ramkrishna said.

A Rajdhani Express gives you a decently long route with a strong mix of audience in big and small cities, another NSE official explained. The trains slotted for the campaign could be Delhi-Chennai, Delhi-Bangalore or even Delhi-Thiruvananthapuram. NSE's plan is to splash the exteriors of all the 70 coaches of Rajdhani trains with advertisements of NSE, with the catchline, ‘‘The engine that fuels a billion dreams''. The windows of the coaches will be done alternately in English and Hindi, with the red, yellow and green lights of the railway signal matched with the slogans ‘‘Soch kar, Samajh kar, Invest kar''.

The NSE products that will be advertised on the bogies include index futures and options, stocks, derivatives on stocks, mutual funds, currency futures and also gold exchange traded funds (ETFs).

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/biz/india-business/NSE-to-hit-publicity-trail-on-board-Rajdhani/articleshow/5789981.cms

surprisingly its not the Durunto this time

Indian stock market is one of the most volatile stock markets in the world. It would be hard to predict how it would behave in the next two years let alone 5 years like the rediff reporter is saying.

Nifty, Sensex a long way from truly representing the economy

Nifty, the benchmark index of the National Stock Exchange (NSE), replaced Grasim with Kotak Mahindra Bank last week. With this, the percent weight of the banking and financial services (including housing finance) sector in the index increased from 22.97 to 23.86. In 2005, it was 19.78.

The sector has the highest weight in Nifty as well as Sensex, the benchmark index of the Bombay Stock Exchange, followed by oil & gas. However, going by the weights of various sectors in these indices, they no more look like barometers of the economy, as various heavyweights in the economy are almost not represented.

For instance, in the country’s gross domestic product, agriculture contributes 20.14 per cent and the trade sector 23.57 per cent. But, both are almost absent from these benchmark indices. Vikash Khemani, co-head, institutions sales, Edelweiss Capital, said: “These fairly represent the economy. However, one should look at indices as representing the market. Within the listed companies, they should be fairly representative, and that is there.”

Said Chetan Majithia, head of equities, Crisil, “Our study has shown that among BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India and China) nations, Indian markets are more diversified, and that is reflected in the indices.”

For example, the Russian market’s composite index, MICEX, gives 50.01 per cent weight to oil and gas and 19.56 per cent to the basic raw material sector. Over two-thirds weight is of commodity-related sectors.

Brazil’s Bovespa index is heavy on basic raw materials (33.93) and oil and gas (15.47). China’s Shanghai Stock Exchange’s index gives 32.35 per cent weight to the financial sector but oil and gas, basic raw materials and industrials account for nearly 48 per cent. Compared with these, Nifty and Sensex are widely distributed and diversified.

Chetan says, “If you feel crude oil prices are going up, you go long on Russia, and long on Brazil if commodity prices are moving up. If you want to diversify risk, India is a better bet among BRIC nations.”

In terms of weights globally, most developed markets’ indices differ. Nikkei 225 gives 28.08 weight to industrials, 20.16 per cent to consumer goods and only 6.15 per cent to the financial sector. FTSE gives the highest (21 per cent) weight to financials, while the Hang Seng is overweight on the financial sector (58.15 per).


http://www.business-standard.com/india/news/nifty-sensexlong-waytruly-representingeconomy/391828/

Sensex tanks 180 pts on rate hike fears; RIL, ICICI lead fall

Stock market extended losses for the third day on Thursday with the benchmark Sensex plunging over 180 points, led by decline in Reliance Industries and ICICI Bank, as rising inflation raised concerns of an imminent interest rate hike by the Reserve Bank.
The Bombay Stock Exchange's 30-share index dropped 182.70 points or 1.03 per cent to settle at 17,639.26 points. During the day the index had extended its losses to 1.13 per cent as decline in global markets further weakened domestic sentiment.
Monthly inflation figures rose marginally to 9.9 per cent in March from 9.89 per cent in the previous month. The figure is much above the March-end estimates of 8.5 per cent as projected by the RBI.
Analysts said the concerns of rising inflation fuelled rate hike fears among investors who are booking profit after a continued rally for the ninth consecutive week.
Higher interest rates could temper demand for loans and could lead to reduced consumer spending that could in turn hit earnings of companies.
The 50-share Nifty Index of the National Stock Exchange declined by 0.93 per cent to 5,273.60 points.
"Investors booked profit after recent strong gains. The rise in the monthly inflation figure is hinting at a possible rate hike by the central bank RBI which will meet on April 20, Tuesday," CNI Research CMD Kishor Ostwal said.
Reliance Industries, which carries maximum weight on the index, declined 2.72 per cent and accounted for a third of the fall today. The scrip dragged the BSE oil&gas index, which was the biggest loser among the sectoral indices.
"RIL declined today as there were reports that the company could sell Treasury shares again," Ostwal said.
Financial sector led the decline in the market with ICICI Bank tanking 2.55 per cent and SBI (1.84 per cent).

http://www.hindustantimes.com/Sensex-tanks-180-pts-on-rate-hike-fears-RIL-ICICI-lead-fall/H1-Article1-531597.aspx

'ETFs will emerge as most traded stocks on NSE'

The recent trend of investments in the exchange traded funds (ETFs) has shown the hidden potential in the sector – not so known to the masses till now. However, the latest investment instrument has been not only convenient for the investors, but also has proved to be better yielding compare to other instruments. World over, ETFs have become the latest trend in the investments with large volumes being generated in different varieties of ETFs linked with precious metals like gold, silver, palladium and industrial metals like copper and aluminium.

A few years back India saw its first gold ETF. However, the response to the new instrument was sluggish at the beginning, but considering the peak of the banking crisis, uncertainty attached to the equities markets and risk in keeping physical gold, the ETFs became popular in the Indian investor community as well. Vishal Jain, Chief Investment Officer (CIO) of Benchmark Asset Management Company Pvt Ltd – the pioneer in gold ETFs in India shared his thoughts with Rutam Vora of Commodity Online about how Indian markets have responded to the ETFs so far and what will be the road ahead for this instrument in coming years.
Excerpts:

Commodity Online: How has been the response to the gold ETF in India so far? How have you (Benchmark AMC) performed in the field?

Vishal Jain: Response to Gold BeES (Gold Benchmark Exchange Traded Scheme) has been very good so far. We are adding a large number of new investors to Gold BeES every month. If you look at the volumes on the NSE, during the calendar year 2009 Gold BeES average volumes were about 25,000 units per day while in the first 3 months of 2010 it is over 35,000 units per day. At present we have crossed Rs.800 crores of assets in Gold BeES and this accounts for over 50% market share in Gold ETFs.

CO: What is the strength of Indian market as far as gold investments are concerned? How much is being diverted to ETFs currently and how much should it be?

JAIN: Total consumption of Gold in India is about 800 tonnes per year. Roughly about 25% is the investment demand. As we go ahead we would like to capture a large portion of this into Gold BeES. At present the total held by all Gold ETFs would be only about 10 tonnes, so we still have a long way to go.

CO: What is the current growth of gold ETF sector in India? Do you foresee any sea-change coming in near future, especially when several alternative gold investment products are available?

JAIN: If you look at what has happened globally, the entire mining production of Gold is being absorbed by Gold ETFs. We believe that the inherent advantages of Gold ETF would attract investors towards Gold BeES going ahead.

CO: Are there sufficient number of retail investors for ETFs or it is more a product for financial institutions and large investors?

JAIN: As ETFs can be bought /sold on a real-time basis, ETFs can be used by any segment of the market whether big or small, retail or institutional. At present, most of Gold BeES is held by retail investors.

CO: What are the challenges attached with gold ETF sector? How to overcome them?

JAIN: Well, Indians have a love towards physical Gold and a major part of the buying happens during festivals and occasions such as marriages. We believe that this is the biggest psychological barrier to overcome going ahead where we need to highlight to people the benefits of buying something like Gold BeES.

CO: What are the global factors that affect returns in gold ETF? What is the average return from Gold ETFs?

JAIN: Currency movements have an inverse relationship with Gold price. So, any weakening of the US dollar results in strengthening of Gold prices. Also, geo-political issues and central bank activity has an impact on the price of Gold.
In the last 1 year or so it has given about 7.50% return and about 19% in the last 3 years.

CO: Can gold ETFs become a popular investment mode, at par with gold, among the common masses?

JAIN: Yes, we are constantly educating investors through seminars and meetings and the results have been quite visible. We believe the popularity of Gold BeES will keep increasing as we go ahead as it is easy to buy / sell as compared to physical gold, no storage or security issues, no wealth tax and long-term capital gains triggers in after 1 year as compared to 3 years for physical Gold.

CO: Your vision about the ETF industry in India over next few years.

JAIN: Well, we hope that in the coming years ETFs will be among the top 10 most traded stocks on the NSE like in developed countries.

CO: Are you considering other ETF products like Palladium ETF, Silver ETF etc.? If yes, what is the current status?

JAIN: Yes, we have already submitted an offer document with the market regulator for Silver ETF.

http://www.commodityonline.com/news/ETFs-will-emerge-as-most-traded-stocks-on-NSE-27588-3-1.html

NSE comes under RTI ambit, says Delhi HC


The Delhi High Court (HC) on Thursday said the National Stock Exchange (NSE) was a public authority and was bound to reveal information under the Right to Information (RTI) Act.

Justice Sanjiv Khanna dismissed NSE’s plea that it could not be forced to disclose information under the transparency law since it was an autonomous body and not controlled by the government.

The court upheld the decision of the Central Information Commission (CIC), which had declared stock exchanges a public authority. The CIC, in 2007, had held that stock exchanges were “quasi” governmental bodies that are bound to disclose information to the public under the RTI Act.
“A stock exchange, being a quasi-governmental body working under the statute and exercising statutory powers, has to be held to be a public authority under the Act,” the Commission had said, while directing the NSE to put in place a mechanism for the purpose.

http://www.business-standard.com/india/news/nse-comes-under-rti-ambit-says-delhi-hc/392067/

Europe crisis have no impact on Sensex: Taimur Baig

ET Now talks to Taimur Baig, Chief Economist, India, Duetsche Bank AG

I wanted to ask you beyond the contagion thought process which is a contagion spreads do you really think either Greece or Spain or Portugal have any correlation or actually even have a negative correlation to economies like India?

When we talk about economies the answer is no. India is a fairly resilient economy and if you look at historical correlations between India’s growth and industrial countries' growth, its not a very high correlation. But that the other side of the angle which is the financial markets. The Indian financial markets are as integrated as just about any other financial markets with the rest of the world development these days. So what happens in industrial Europe does have very little bearing on the Indian economies, the growth outlook or inflation outlook for that matter, but as far as the Sensex is concerned one has to be quite surprise if they were no impact on a day to day immediate basis. If you look at equity market correlations across Asia including that of India it shows that in this globalise world financial market spill over are real and immediate and so clearly what happens with these rating downgrades and what happens with generalised investor risk aversion will have a bearing on Indian financial markets and there is this link between financial markets and the real economy that we need to think about which is that they are not apart from each other. If the equity markets are impacted, if spreads go up it does have a impact on fundraising not just for equity market related operation but also bread and butter, bricks and mortar businesses in India with respect to external commercial borrowing. So although there is this diversions between the real economies linkage and the financial economies linkage there is also a subtle spill over between those two as well.

Do you think the Euro will collapse because that does have impact on specific Indian companies like pharmaceuticals and IT who do a lot of business out of Europe, do you think there is a significant risk that the Euro may fall or depreciate faster that we expect basically a crisis of confidence in the currency itself?

Frankly speaking there could be a crisis of confidence about many things in Europe but in terms of the Euro as a currency we are talking about a second largest economic block in the world. Its not that conceivable for to me that there would be a crisis of any nature that would drive the Euro to such levels that undermines Indian corporates financial viability with respect to their exposure to Euro mind you we are talking about some of the biggest tresses this currency has seen in recent memory and all we are talking about (44:40) 130 to the US dollar to 132 not exactly a size mix shift if you will and that to with all these negative surprises. So even going forward there would be negative surprises, there were some positive surprise but all in all we are talking about the second largest economic block in the world with economic power houses like Germany and France in their one should not worry too much about the exchange rate.

Just to sum it up all the stock and all the noise that has been made around right now you think perhaps it will only be the tail end of the crisis that we come out of and not really a tipping point as most people are fearing it to be?

Well there are two things here, there is a core Euro countries rather than Northern and Central European industrial countries that have very strong fundamentals and they are actually mounting rather sharp cyclical recovery, if you look at numbers coming out of Germany for example. Then you have the Southern European countries somewhat (45:35) economies with large structural deficits and significant problems with respect to that sustainability. So you could have a barrage view of those countries but not necessarily wary view about the Euro zone so hence one can take (45:50) realistic and rather alarm his views of what is happening in Southern Europe but that should not immediately translate into having very bearish views about the euro or the viability of the Euro zone in general.

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/Views/Recommendations/articleshow/5871309.cms

FII inflows highest ever, but Greece casts shadow

The money that FIIs have pumped in beats the previous record of $4.21 billion that came in during January-April in 2004

Mumbai: Foreign institutional investors (FIIs), one of the largest categories of investors in the local equity markets, have bought Indian stocks worth $6.64 billion (Rs29,481 crore) in the year-to-date, the highest in the first four months of a year since they were allowed entry into the country in 1992.

Fund managers are divided over prospects for foreign fund inflows to India and other emerging markets in the rest of the year as the Greek debt crisis shakes investor confidence amid concerns that contagion could spread to other economies.

The money that FIIs have pumped in beats the previous record of $4.21 billion that came in during January-April in 2004, when the markets were in the middle of a bull rally, according to data released by the markets regulator, the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi). This doesn’t include the numbers for 30 April, which will come out on Monday.

“Risk appetite, right or wrong, has made the assumption that emerging markets are safe,”said V. Anantha Nageswaran, chief investment officer of wealth management firm Julius Baer Group in Singapore. He said flows to India were unlikely to be affected as “long as we are not seen losing control of our (growth) story”.

India’s industrial production grew at 15.1% in February over a year ago, and is seen at around the same level in March. With company earnings growing at double-digit pace, the economy is forecast to grow at 8.8% in 2010, according to the International Monetary Fund.

http://www.livemint.com/images/C8462391-CE2E-40FD-9BF6-D38FE8F8E838ArtVPF.gif

“Within Asia, the recent positive price-trend correlation in stocks and bonds, along with currencies, suggests strong underlying structural demand for Asian assets,” wrote Henry Hon, Michael Kurtz and Daniel McCormack of Australia’s Macquarie Bank in a 29 April research note.
However, others are not so optimistic and said that risk appetite might wane because of the problems surrounding Greece and some other European economies such as Spain and Portugal.

Late Sunday, European ministers meet in Brussels to endorse a bailout package for the debt-laden Greek economy, not only to save it from defaulting, but also to prevent a contagion spreading to other economies, in return for tough austerity measures including salary and pension cuts and raising taxes.

Greece is burdened with debt to the tune of 115% of its gross domestic product (GDP), and running a deficit of close to 13% of GDP.

“The confidence (among investors) has been shaken. We have to watch this space (Eurozone) closely,” said Ullal Ravindra Bhat, managing director, Dalton Strategic Partnership Llp, a foreign institutional investor registered in India. “One can’t assume that risk appetite will go up because of the bailout package.”

To be sure, a slowing of foreign inflows may help alleviate the concerns of policymakers worried about inflation that’s close to double-digit levels, and the rupee’s appreciation, which makes Indian exports less competitive. The rupee has gained around 5% against the dollar since the start of the year.

Equity markets around the world took a tumble last week, after credit rating agency Standard and Poor’s cut the debt rating of Greece to junk status on Tuesday and downgraded Spain and Portugal. While the US’ Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 1.75% in the week till 30 April, the UK’s FTSE index shed 3.49%. Emerging markets were hit too, with the local benchmark, the Sensex, losing 1% over the week.

The increase in FII inflows, however, hasn’t boosted the local markets much. The Sensex has gained only 0.54% this year and the broader BSE 500 index 2.93%. Part of this is explained by the fact that local mutual funds have sold shares worth Rs7,529 crore in the same period. The Sebi data also includes fund flows to the primary market. So far, this year, 28 firms have raised money worth Rs10,000 crore from new share sales.

The European downgrades have increased risk aversion among investors, wrote Clive McDonnell and Ryan Tsai of BNP Paribas SA in a 30 April report, according to Bloomberg.

They have recommended that investors should also sell shares in India among emerging markets because historically it has been among the most vulnerable to short-term foreign fund flows. Indeed, at least one-third of foreign flows to India are from so-called ETFs, or exchange traded funds, essentially short-term funds which easily change direction, say brokers and analysts.

Dalton’s Bhat refers to this as “footloose money”.

BNP has forecast that around $6 billion may be withdrawn from funds investing in Asian shares next month, Bloomberg reported. According to global fund tracker EPFR, emerging market equity funds have attracted around $15 billion net inflows, year to date.

http://www.livemint.com/2010/05/02230410/FII-inflows-highest-ever-but.html?h=A1

I predict Indian stock market will fall big time tomorrow (Friday).

Economist Blows Up Indian Stocks Theory

Indian stocks are not expensive and have not been for two decades, says a top American economist.

For years, money managers have described Indian stocks as expensive because of their high price-to-earnings ratio, which compares the price of a stock with the company's net profit per share. For instance, the Bombay Stock Exchange's Sensitive Index or Sensex recently closed at a price-to-earnings ratio of 19, much higher than the price-to-earnings ratio of the MSCI Emerging Markets Index at 14

India has always had a higher ratio.

But research from one of America's pre-eminent financial economists shows that these ratios don't tell the whole story, and can underestimate the worth of Indian stocks.

Instead, Rajnish Mehra , a professor of finance at the University of California in Santa Barbara, focuses on India's economic growth to value Indian stocks. When compared to India's gross domestic product (excluding agriculture), Prof. Mehra finds that stocks were cheap or fairly priced between 1991 and 2008.

Prof. Mehra, 60 years old, is renowned for his ground-breaking research on the large difference between returns from stocks and bonds. In a paper published in 1985, titled "The Equity Premium: A Puzzle," Prof. Mehra and co-author Edward Prescott for the first time revealed that between 1889 and 1978 stocks in the U.S. produced a far greater return than risk-free government bonds than was suggested by conventional economic theory at the time.

The seminal paper has spurred dozens of economists over the past two decades to try to solve this puzzle.

In his most recent paper, available on the website of the National Bureau of Economic Research, Mr. Mehra attempts to find a fair value for Indian stocks. M. Mehra grew up in India but has lived in the U.S. for more than three decades.

He looks at three main factors to derive the fundamental or intrinsic value of Indian stocks—corporate capital stock, i.e., total assets of companies, after-tax cash flows of companies, and net corporate debt.

The cash flows help Mr. Mehra estimate "intangible capital," which he says has contributed vastly to increasing the value of Indian companies over the past two decades.

Intangible capital is essentially everything that contributes to the company's bottom line but typically can't be seen or touched. This includes things like a company's brand, research and development, and scientific knowledge.

For instance, consider soft drink-maker Coca-Cola Co. Its product is basically just water and sugar plus that special formula, but the value and profits of the company are derived from the Coca Cola brand. This brand value is Coca Cola's intangible capital.

Accounting for intangible capital in valuing stocks is an "innovation of the study," says Prof. Mehra.

Some money managers agree.

"What price-to-earnings [ratios] can't take into account is any structural change," says Surjit Bhalla, managing director of Oxus Investments Pvt. Ltd., a Delhi-based economic research and asset-management firm. As the Indian economy changes rapidly, industries are expanding, workers' skills are broadening, and infrastructure is improving. All these changes impact the productivity and ultimately profitability of a company significantly without ever showing up in its profit and loss statement.

In such a scenario, "this static tool of price-to-earnings is not that applicable," says Mr. Bhalla. He says it might be more useful for developed countries, where there's very little structural change.

Mr. Mehra uses three different methods to determine the intangible capital for Indian companies, including one in which he adds up direct investments in research, technical knowledge and royalties. In cases where specific data were not available, he made estimates based on U.S. data.

He found that between 1991 and 2004, Indian stocks were cheap compared to economic growth. After 2005, investments "went up exponentially," making stocks fairly priced between then and 2008, says Mr. Mehra. At one point in 2008, Indian markets became expensive as stock market values outpaced economic growth, but it came back down again. Mr. Mehra cautions that the study doesn't account for foreign institutional investment in India, though ultimately, he says it shouldn't matter whether the investments are made by domestic or foreign players.

While Mr. Mehra's study concludes in 2008, he estimates that Indian stocks are about fairly valued now.

What does all this mean for investors?

Mr. Mehra expects Indian companies' intangible capital and the economy to keep growing rapidly for many years. That, in turn, will help Indian stocks to rise, making them a good investment especially for young people saving for retirement. "Buying stocks is buying the productive capacity of the world," says Mr. Mehra.

Mr. Mehra cautions that his research doesn't account for short-term movements in the stock market, so he can't predict where stocks will be over the next year or two.

Personally, Mr. Mehra doesn't typically buy individual stocks because that's a risky strategy. Instead, he buys a large number of stocks, through exchange-traded funds or index funds, which aim to provide the return equivalent to a specific index like the Sensex.

Mr. Mehra also emphasizes the need for diversification. This means that individuals should buy not only a number of different stocks but also stocks in different parts of the world, as well as other types of investments like bonds, real estate and commodities.

"You diversify across assets and political jurisdictions," he says.


http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703999304575398620941656334.html

^
this is a ground breaking analysis.

interesting to say the least

India must free its exchanges



India has created a reputation for innovation and technological excellence over the past decade.

Nowhere has this been clearer than in the fast moving stock exchange environment. The National Stock Exchange (NSE) of India was launched in 1994 deploying new IT approaches to challenge the then sclerotic Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE).

Please respect FT.com's ts&cs and copyright policy which allow you to: share links; copy content for personal use; & redistribute limited extracts. Email ftsales.support@ft.com to buy additional rights or use this link to reference the article - http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/35f7439e-1324-11e0-a367-00144feabdc0.html#ixzz19b5hp6T4

Then, the BSE had changed little since the last days of the British Raj and was an anachronism in a nation on the cusp of an explosion of growth. NSE was at the forefront of a capital markets revolution that energised markets in the internet age. It took the upstart exchange only a few months to achieve a dominance of Indian stock trading, which it has held ever since.

NSE is not alone in its ability to deploy new technology to create exchanges in India. The Multi-Commodity Exchange (MCX) and National Commodities Derivatives Exchanges (NCDX) have been in the forefront of developing commodity markets that have helped bring price transparency. Moreover, Indian technology has been in strong demand elsewhere for exchanges in Africa, Europe, the Middle East and south-east Asia, amongst other jurisdictions.

The revolution in the Indian stock exchange has been a great success for the Indian capital markets, easing the ability to raise capital for developing companies and significantly enhancing liquidity in trading. Plans to make Mumbai a global financial centre look a little more plausible.

This process requires further development. The banking industry has undergone much change but at the same time the road map to the full convertibility of the rupee must be achieved before the Indian market place can be truly declared open. At the same time, regulators need to provide a pragmatic framework that can help markets develop and indeed allow exchanges to operate in an open, transparent environment where they are free to pursue global best practices.

A recent committee report to the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) has put forward proposals that fall short of a road map for the Indian exchanges to achieve domestic ambitions, much less compete on the world stage.

The conclusions the Bimal Jalan Committee submitted to the regulator are perplexing and, at worst, deeply worrying. They are too prescriptive to encourage further development of the Indian economy.

The Jalan committee is lukewarm about an Indian self-regulatory organisation (SRO) for exchanges. I would contend that this is suitable for India as the markets are sufficiently mature to cope with the set-up. But the most worrying prescriptions from the report are those seeking to regulate the ability of exchanges to operate as genuine businesses.

The clear evidence of the past decade is that exchanges function much better as for-profit, publicly listed companies. The concept of restricting dividend payments or profits is not a sensible framework to promote innovation in IT products and incentivise the provision of lower cost market infrastructure.

The listing of stock exchanges has helped them become more efficient than ever before and the pace of that innovation has accelerated since their widespread demutualisation. Competition and public listing of exchanges has spawned greater volume and lower costs for all users.

Staff bonus payments are subject to a great deal of discussion throughout the regulatory sphere. The clear requirement for an exchange management is that they must be allowed to pay a market salary package that permits exchanges to be managed by people of the same calibre to those operating in buy and sell side institutions.

The concept of restricting the ability for exchanges to list is not in line with global best practice and indeed raises the question of how much faith a company can have in listing if the exchange itself is forbidden from being a public company.

Forbidding the listing of exchanges is out of tune with an era where exchange trading in all instruments increasingly takes place on publicly quoted bourses. Moreover, the message being sent to current investors in India’s exchanges may have significant future repercussions for Indian foreign direct investment. Existing exchange investors from all over the world will suffer a significant “haircut” on their investment if exchanges are faced with profit caps with restricted dividend payments.

With Indian exchanges under threat of considerable constraints on their business models, overseas platforms such as the London Stock Exchange, which has already developed a successful track record in listing Indian equities, must be highly excited at what would be tantamount to the regulatory sabotage of India’s innovative exchanges.

With Indian exchange providers operating worldwide, it would be strange to overseas investors that domestic regulation could become the most restrictive among the BRIC economies. It will raise questions as to why overseas Indian exchanges are allowed freedom to operate as for-profit businesses and majority shareholders of exchanges when they can’t do the same in their home market.

Exchanges have proven that they can flourish as publicly traded for-profit entities.

Allowing free and open operation and ownership of exchanges and clearing houses is a key aspect of the road map towards India being an open, international economy. Restricting the market infrastructure is neither a sensible way for India to develop its own economy nor is it a way to demonstrate that India is increasingly open to foreign investment.

The global best practice is clear for exchanges. India ought to follow the path towards publicly owned, for-profit financial infrastructure.

Patrick Young is chairman of Derivatives Vision, a securities exchange advisory company

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/35f7439e-1324-11e0-a367-00144feabdc0.html#axzz19b485HZh

India’s exchange regulator causes alarm

Recommendations by a state-appointed panel over the regulation of stock exchanges in India are causing widespread alarm among investors and local bourses.

An 85-page report by a committee headed by Bimal Jalan, a former Reserve Bank of India governor, has proposed tough new rules restricting profits, ownership and executive payment and barring their public listing.



Please respect FT.com's ts&cs and copyright policy which allow you to: share links; copy content for personal use; & redistribute limited extracts. Email ftsales.support@ft.com to buy additional rights or use this link to reference the article - http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/c0b83ea4-1408-11e0-a21b-00144feabdc0.html#ixzz19b6T6q80

The report was commissioned by the Securities and Exchange Board of India, the stock market regulator, and has been put out for a public consultation that ends at the end of December.

Since the report’s release last month, some regional stock exchanges, hopeful of eventual public listings, have considerably dropped in investor appeal. Twenty one exchanges had opted for demutualisation, a decision that now may lead to uncertain outcomes if new regulation is introduced by the finance ministry.

Some critics warn that the proposals will set back the development of India’s capital markets at a time of fast paced economic growth.

JR Verma, a professor of finance at the Indian Institute of Management, called the recommendations a “backdoor nationalisation” of India’s booming equity markets.

“If these recommendations are accepted, we will extinguish the essential spark of dynamism that has given India a world class equity market,” he said.

“They would ensure that Indian exchanges never become pan-Asian institutions. Worse, Indian exchanges could even become completely unviable, if the business moves to exchanges outside India that may offer better service at more competitive prices.”

Writing in the Financial Times, Patrick Young, chairman of UK-based Derivatives Vision, a securities exchange advisory company, said the proposals were “deeply worrying” and would lead to Indian exchanges losing out to international competitors.

He said they would serve as “regulatory sabotage” that risked reversing the gains made by prominent Indian exchanges like the National Stock Exchange, the Bombay Stock Exchange and a number of smaller exchanges over the past decade.

“Allowing free and open operation and ownership of exchanges and clearing houses is a key aspect of the road map towards India being an open, international economy,” Mr Young said.

“Restricting the market infrastructure is neither a sensible way for India to develop its own economy nor is it a way to demonstrate that India is increasingly open to foreign investment.”

The growth in India’s capital markets has attracted foreign investment. Goldman Sachs, Softbank Asian Infrastructure Fund and Temasek, the Singaporean sovereign wealth fund, have invested in the NSE. Dubai Holdings, Deutsche Börse, Singapore Exchange and Argonaut, a private equity firm, have bought into the BSE.

Likewise, innovative Indian exchange technology has been in demand for other trading platforms in Africa, the Middle East and Asia.

An editorial earlier this month in the Economic Times, an Indian daily newspaper, warned that Mr Jalan threatened to take one of the most vibrant areas of the Indian economy back to a socialist era where it took years to get a telephone line and the choice of cars was restricted to outmoded Ambassadors and Fiats.

Mr Jalan, a highly respected former central banker, has argued that a cautious approach needs to be taken to Indian stock exchanges to protect the credibility of the capital markets in the fastest growing large economy after China. Market infrastructure institutions, he believes, should be considered as public utilities rather than companies seeking to maximise profits.

The finance ministry is expected to continue consultations in January before coming to a decision about whether to adopt the committee’s proposals.

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/c0b83ea4-1408-11e0-a21b-00144feabdc0.html?ftcamp=rss#axzz19b68HjmV

I looked at DLF, its PE ratio is too high for my liking.This has a good PE ratio

real estate will be hit in the time to come.


I think you should of load DLF for now.


and lets continue this in the stock exchange thread in economy section.

ichi bhai i can wait till 7-8 months and i have a decent target in mind 300..

also if the real estate bounces then unitech and dlf will clearly outperform the market and i am of the view that the demand will start to pick up after april may 2011 because of food inflation and other types of inflation(manufactured goods etc.) will ease off and the crude will become cheaper due to removal of duties most probably by budget and also its debt is decreasing....the other major plus point for DLF is that it is a bit oversold and can have ready cash if needed because of its large land bank in gurgaon(it did the same when it came up with plotted development in dec after 14 yrs in gurgaon which provided it with immediate cash of Rss 600 cr)

:cheers:

hmm depends on what your outlook is.

I am investing in db on the basis of a 10 year return.

You want short gains then thats a different matter. DLf is bound to fall with a pe ratio of 57. that is speculation territory.


Before buying any stock do view the pe ratio. It should tell you as a rough indicator if the price is overvaled or not.


Db reality before the CBI investigation had a PE ratio of nearly 40. Which is high for a small cap.

hmm..

according to this (http://www.moneycontrol.com/india/stockpricequote/constructioncontractingrealestate/dlf/D04) P/E ratio is 44.22 so which means from march 2010 it has fallen from 57 to 44 is that good enough? or can fall further?

and even if 44 is for the last quarter then the stock has fallen 35% in last 90 days so now it must be around 30-33

hmm..

according to this (http://www.moneycontrol.com/india/stockpricequote/constructioncontractingrealestate/dlf/D04) P/E ratio is 44.22 so which means from march 2010 it has fallen from 57 to 44 is that good enough? or can fall further?

and even if 44 is for the last quarter then the stock has fallen 35% in last 90 days so now it must be around 30-33

http://money.rediff.com/companies/dlf-ltd./13520062

showing me 57 as of 14th jan

:lol:

this (http://www.business-standard.com/stockpage/stock_details.php?bs_code=11328) is showing 24.65

:nuts:

hmm i think there is a difference in which way these firms calculate profits.

that is expected.

My people tell me its around the 50 mark.



In any case it seems over weight at this moment.


Even in the money control link the average indutsry price given is 30

what is a good PE ratio?.. i mean what is considered as normal or attractive?

what is a good PE ratio?.. i mean what is considered as normal or attractive?

depends what your investment strategy/situation is.

Long term short extremely short day trading.


there are other factors as well.

Some companies give extremely good dividends. Sometimes the prices rise or gain of these companies dont matter too much.


If the dividend you get is 5% of the total amount you invested per year then you have made a secure bet considering the earning of the company are strong.

At $14 trillion, US govt debt surges to all-time high

Already, both sides are blaming each other for an approaching economic mess as Washington wrestles over how to keep the government in business and avoid default on global financial obligations

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/international-business/at-14-trillion-us-govt-debt-surges-to-all-time-high/articleshow/7296859.cms

The recent heavy drop in Index could have been based on this nervous news. Indian stock market is in the hands of FIIs and is dangerously placed very high.

At $14 trillion, US govt debt surges to all-time high



http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/international-business/at-14-trillion-us-govt-debt-surges-to-all-time-high/articleshow/7296859.cms

The recent heavy drop in Index could have been based on this nervous news. Indian stock market is in the hands of FIIs and is dangerously placed very high.

hmm i think they have factored this in.

:ohno: not again

External debt is not a big concern for India, many countries have about 400% debt but still kicking pretty well- this is what happens when people pay themselves more than they deserve and produce.

Check this out (http://www.usdebtclock.org/world-debt-clock.html)

India is an even bigger worry, with yawning twin deficits, and overheating visible on all fronts. The nation's central bank warned this week of "surging inflation".
"India's current account deficit is running at a record pace of 4.1pc of GDP and it is 100pc funded by short-term portfolio flows, which cannot be relied on indefinitely," said Mr Moe, describing Mumbai's bourse as "crowded".

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/economics/8265175/Goldman-Sachs-shuns-the-BRICs-for-Wall-Street.html

Goldman have advised a pull out!!!


I think the market will fall to 16,000-17,000 by may and then 20,000-21,000 by the end of the year

^^ after the earnings season markets will stabilise and inflation will come down.... these angrez morons are so darpok :lol:

^^ after the earnings season markets will stabilise and inflation will come down.... these angrez morons are so darpok :lol:

dude FII's will profit book.

16-17 k is not that big a fall.

PE ratio will fall from a pricy 16 to a realistic 12 by the end of 2011. In which case the Indian market will be in the right zone and not a speculative bubble.

^^ if you asked everyone 20 days back they would have said 25,000 by 2011 end... so if by budget(or say march end) inflation falls to 6.5-7%,fiscal deficit comes down to 4.5% and GDP and IIP growth remains strong then you and everyone will say(including these gora chamri) that India will outperform other EM's and developed world and 25k will be easily achievable...

so basically i mean these macro factors are very short term

^^ if you asked everyone 20 days back they would have said 25,000 by 2011 end... so if by budget(or say march end) inflation falls to 6.5-7%,fiscal deficit comes down to 4.5% and GDP and IIP growth remains strong then you and everyone will say(including these gora chamri) that India will outperform other EM's and developed world and 25k will be easily achievable...

so basically i mean these macro factors are very short term

too optimistic i feel your being

^^ and too pessimist you have been if you would have said sensex 17k. 20 days back

^^ and too pessimist you have been if you would have said sensex 17k. 20 days back

lets see what happens.

the interest rates will rise soon enough.

fell by 113 today

i think profit booking from yesterdays gain.




Sagar bhai do what extent do you think the WB elections will impact everything

^^ WB elections can have a big impact in terms of some key factors

see ichi bhai there are 3 possibilities

1) TMC gets a majority without congress in WB elections= then since they have openly protested against congress for rising prices so they could withdraw their support from the govt. and can form a govt in WB alone.. this will lead to a major political fallout and can even result in mid term elections(or the UPA will have to prove majority as they did during nuclear bill time) so if the UPA proves majority without TMC then this could lead to nifty(assuming at that time 5700) fall to 5350-5450 and the again bouncing after UPA proves majority to 5800-5900... and if UPA fails to prove majority then there could be a major fall may be sub 5000 levels.

2) TMC gets to form govt. with congress as a partner in WB elections= This would be very good since first of all markets do not like communists at all so their less influence on govt. will be a positive,secondly Mamata will become CM and there can be a good change in cabinet to fill railway ministry(+TMC could get an additional ministry).. this will be neutral/or slightly positive for markets since this will be a good sign that congress after so much bad publicity is enjoying confidence of coalition politics=political stability

3) CPI comes to power again= This will be a big negative because mamata could leave congress and this would show that communist are still alive and GREAT political instability so markets could test 52 week low or nifty can reach 4700-4800.

SO the WB elections are very important for our country's political stability and stock markets :cheers:

^^ WB elections can have a big impact in terms of some key factors

SO the WB elections are very important for our country's political stability and stock markets :cheers:

There is no reason for WB elections to have any major impact on the stock market. But stock market ways are strange. If the stocks go down, analysts can lay the blame on some big thunderstorm in the Pacific Ocean. If stocks go up, they can claim with equal charm that the sun was shining brighter on the Atlantic shores in North America.

3) If the Left Front wins in West Bengal and Kerala, it doesn't mean that they are coming to power in the national level. So they cannot influence any national policies unlike when they were in UPA1 and Prakash Karat was literally blackmailing the government. Plus other states like TN and UP are also going to elections this year.

Also the Left has been in power in WB and Kerala and so it is nothing earth shattering if they come back to power. Unlike the leftist Dinos in Delhi, the Left at the state level is more practical (although some of the constituents like RSP and Forward Bloc are pretty stubborn and pathetic and probably need to be booted out). In WB most business houses have a pretty good relationship with the CPM which is the major constituent of the Left Front.

2) The TMC - Congress coalition has a good chance of winning the elections in WB. The Congress has no hope of going it alone. It needs TMC more than ever to keep its existence. So they are at the mercy of TMC. But what about the unknown factor of the disgruntled left wingers and the various Maoist factions and sympathizers who are now with TMC? How will India Inc deal with the Maoists who want to drive away the steel plants from West Bengal? Many of the intellectuals in the TMC camp are diehard anti development types. These people will surely demand their pound of flesh. How Miss Mamataa handles this baggage of left wingers remains to be seen.

1) There is very little chance of the TMC deserting Congress at the Centre. It is in TMC's benefit to have a role in the Central government. The only negative factor in TMC is that there is practically only one leader who has stiched up the party - Miss Mamataa. She definitely needs to groom some good leaders from the lower ranks.

0) How the UPA performs overall in the upcoming elections across several states is what will probably influence the ups and downs of stock market. The fortunes of Left Front at the elections really doesn't matter nationally at the moment.

Sensex may test 16000 levels: Marc Faber

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/opinion/interviews/sensex-may-test-16000-levels-at-least-marc-faber-editor-the-gloom-boom--doom/articleshow/7325759.cms

There is no reason for WB elections to have any major impact on the stock market. But stock market ways are strange. If the stocks go down, analysts can lay the blame on some big thunderstorm in the Pacific Ocean. If stocks go up, they can claim with equal charm that the sun was shining brighter on the Atlantic shores in North America.

3) If the Left Front wins in West Bengal and Kerala, it doesn't mean that they are coming to power in the national level. So they cannot influence any national policies unlike when they were in UPA1 and Prakash Karat was literally blackmailing the government. Plus other states like TN and UP are also going to elections this year.

Also the Left has been in power in WB and Kerala and so it is nothing earth shattering if they come back to power. Unlike the leftist Dinos in Delhi, the Left at the state level is more practical (although some of the constituents like RSP and Forward Bloc are pretty stubborn and pathetic and probably need to be booted out). In WB most business houses have a pretty good relationship with the CPM which is the major constituent of the Left Front.

2) The TMC - Congress coalition has a good chance of winning the elections in WB. The Congress has no hope of going it alone. It needs TMC more than ever to keep its existence. So they are at the mercy of TMC. But what about the unknown factor of the disgruntled left wingers and the various Maoist factions and sympathizers who are now with TMC? How will India Inc deal with the Maoists who want to drive away the steel plants from West Bengal? Many of the intellectuals in the TMC camp are diehard anti development types. These people will surely demand their pound of flesh. How Miss Mamataa handles this baggage of left wingers remains to be seen.

1) There is very little chance of the TMC deserting Congress at the Centre. It is in TMC's benefit to have a role in the Central government. The only negative factor in TMC is that there is practically only one leader who has stiched up the party - Miss Mamataa. She definitely needs to groom some good leaders from the lower ranks.

0) How the UPA performs overall in the upcoming elections across several states is what will probably influence the ups and downs of stock market. The fortunes of Left Front at the elections really doesn't matter nationally at the moment.

3) if CPI comes in both WB and Kerala that will mean that by 2014 the left could easily be a major party(after congress and BJP) because it will be a type of revival for them.

2) I know that congress will not go alone BUT if TMC has a big big majority then they could throw congress out... take the example of orissa at best.. also the way mamata is openly protesting against the congress(fuel hike and inflation) shows that she could anytime leave them if they easily get majority without congress.

1) That is what worrying that if the TMC gets majority.. then why do they need any cabinet minister at the centre already didi has launched and announced innumerous railway projects in WB.

If they(congress) loose this elections then that will mean that they are completely out of the east india scene-WB,Bihar,Orissa,Jharkhand,Chhattisgarh and madhya pradesh.

so their only hope left then will be UP.

There is no reason for WB elections to have any major impact on the stock market. But stock market ways are strange. If the stocks go down, analysts can lay the blame on some big thunderstorm in the Pacific Ocean. If stocks go up, they can claim with equal charm that the sun was shining brighter on the Atlantic shores in North America.

3) If the Left Front wins in West Bengal and Kerala, it doesn't mean that they are coming to power in the national level. So they cannot influence any national policies unlike when they were in UPA1 and Prakash Karat was literally blackmailing the government. Plus other states like TN and UP are also going to elections this year.

Also the Left has been in power in WB and Kerala and so it is nothing earth shattering if they come back to power. Unlike the leftist Dinos in Delhi, the Left at the state level is more practical (although some of the constituents like RSP and Forward Bloc are pretty stubborn and pathetic and probably need to be booted out). In WB most business houses have a pretty good relationship with the CPM which is the major constituent of the Left Front.

2) The TMC - Congress coalition has a good chance of winning the elections in WB. The Congress has no hope of going it alone. It needs TMC more than ever to keep its existence. So they are at the mercy of TMC. But what about the unknown factor of the disgruntled left wingers and the various Maoist factions and sympathizers who are now with TMC? How will India Inc deal with the Maoists who want to drive away the steel plants from West Bengal? Many of the intellectuals in the TMC camp are diehard anti development types. These people will surely demand their pound of flesh. How Miss Mamataa handles this baggage of left wingers remains to be seen.

1) There is very little chance of the TMC deserting Congress at the Centre. It is in TMC's benefit to have a role in the Central government. The only negative factor in TMC is that there is practically only one leader who has stiched up the party - Miss Mamataa. She definitely needs to groom some good leaders from the lower ranks.

0) How the UPA performs overall in the upcoming elections across several states is what will probably influence the ups and downs of stock market. The fortunes of Left Front at the elections really doesn't matter nationally at the moment.

sun as a rule of thumb. Industries dont like commies.

Foreign investors dont really understand the intricate equations. They hear a name like communist part of India and they start fretting.


No doubt I cant see the stock market falling because of it as they are not influenced nationally.


But with commies are defeated no doubt there will be a surge in the stock market for a few days. Its not going to last though. Like say being on steroids.

Sensex may test 16000 levels: Marc Faber

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/opinion/interviews/sensex-may-test-16000-levels-at-least-marc-faber-editor-the-gloom-boom--doom/articleshow/7325759.cms



broadly i believe in the same thing what this man is saying

sun as a rule of thumb. Industries dont like commies.

Foreign investors dont really understand the intricate equations. They hear a name like communist part of India and they start fretting.




They seem to have no such issues when it comes to India's northern neighbor.

The problem is not about commies or democracy or human rights. Investors only care about their money and returns even if that means half the world's population dies hungry and sick generating that money for them.

The problem is what the commies do in their area of power. In India the commies are generally seen as cry babies and an anti development force opposing everything and indulging in all sorts of socialist appeasement policies and votebank politics (which they accuse others of). Kind of funny that Miss Mamata and her party are till now doing the same thing and are on their way to a potential sweep. That's what is frightening for West Bengal. The Left Front in WB had changed quite a bit from a party of NO to a party of Maybe Yes. Now the mantle may pass on to the TMC which is the party of NA. Hopefully they too will turn into a party of Maybe Yes after coming to power.

Also as I have said before, the WB elections may hold up the peculiar situation of Maoists getting power through the back door. And unfortunately this is being aided by the UPA Government which is turning a blind eye to the threat to the nation's integrity for short term electoral gains. While the current generation may not have seen it, many oldtimers will tell stories about the terrible times in the seventies when the Naxalites (maoists), marxists and Congress went on rampage killing people like there is no tomorrow and almost destroyed West Bengal.

3) if CPI comes in both WB and Kerala that will mean that by 2014 the left could easily be a major party(after congress and BJP) because it will be a type of revival for them.

2) I know that congress will not go alone BUT if TMC has a big big majority then they could throw congress out... take the example of orissa at best.. also the way mamata is openly protesting against the congress(fuel hike and inflation) shows that she could anytime leave them if they easily get majority without congress.

1) That is what worrying that if the TMC gets majority.. then why do they need any cabinet minister at the centre already didi has launched and announced innumerous railway projects in WB.

If they(congress) loose this elections then that will mean that they are completely out of the east india scene-WB,Bihar,Orissa,Jharkhand,Chhattisgarh and madhya pradesh.

so their only hope left then will be UP.

2014 may see the return of NDA. So no hope for the Left in Delhi anytime soon.

They seem to have no such issues when it comes to India's northern neighbor.

The problem is not about commies or democracy or human rights. Investors only care about their money and returns even if that means half the world's population dies hungry and sick generating that money for them.

The problem is what the commies do in their area of power. In India the commies are generally seen as cry babies and an anti development force opposing everything and indulging in all sorts of socialist appeasement policies and votebank politics (which they accuse others of). Kind of funny that Miss Mamata and her party are till now doing the same thing and are on their way to a potential sweep. That's what is frightening for West Bengal. The Left Front in WB had changed quite a bit from a party of NO to a party of Maybe Yes. Now the mantle may pass on to the TMC which is the party of NA. Hopefully they too will turn into a party of Maybe Yes after coming to power.

Also as I have said before, the WB elections may hold up the peculiar situation of Maoists getting power through the back door. And unfortunately this is being aided by the UPA Government which is turning a blind eye to the threat to the nation's integrity for short term electoral gains. While the current generation may not have seen it, many oldtimers will tell stories about the terrible times in the seventies when the Naxalites (maoists), marxists and Congress went on rampage killing people like there is no tomorrow and almost destroyed West Bengal.
.

big difference is china has been there and done that for a long longer than India has.They have proved themselves. Even china faced issues in the early 90s with regards to this. The world maybe still does not know what the commies in WB stand for. Till you dont clear the investors apprehensions you can argue till the cows come home. It wont make a difference cause the investors make that call.

Technically Pakistan it is easier to do business and even set up call centers in Pakistan than India. But nobody goes there cause of obvious reasons.

You can simply gauge the general perception on the skyscraper section of SSC. Lot of pessimism about Mumbai's projects while China none what so ever.China as things stand has earnt respect. Fair play to them

Secondly your missing a much bigger point. The chinese economy does not rely to the same extent on hot flows of liquid money.they have long term FDI. So the nature and flow of money matters as well.A lot of our domestic companies need IPOs to raise money to increase investment to boost the economy.

It does not matter what me or you know. It all depends on the perception of the foreign investor.


Now you can argue our stock market is maybe a little too dependent on FII's. you would be right as well.


A win would Didi would send out a message most of the investors would like to hear. They dont know that CPI are party of "maybe /yes" as of today.

I looked at the state wise FDI, the WB for a state of its size in pop is performing poorly, till the commies change that perception that they are pro FDI i dont think investors will change their mind.

A win would Didi would send out a message most of the investors would like to hear. They dont know that CPI are party of "maybe /yes" as of today.


have you looked at my post on last page?

have you looked at my post on last page?

which one?

I dont agree that Didi would break up with the congress if they sweep WB by themselves.

As sun says she has too much to gain from being a force in the centre. Being an important cog in the coalition can make many demands in terms of projects from the centre and seal her position in WB.For example setting up locomotive factories in WB. (just an example)

^^ locomotive factories as i said have been announced so they will continue even if she now resigns(as lalu did)...but i think that the open protest is a clear indication she wants to break up...

^^ locomotive factories as i said have been announced so they will continue even if she now resigns(as lalu did)...but i think that the open protest is a clear indication she wants to break up...

she is just protecting her ass for now.

after the election she will not care too much in the short term cause she will have 5 years to make an impact.

big difference is china has been there and done that for a long longer than India has.They have proved themselves. Even china faced issues in the early 90s with regards to this. The world maybe still does not know what the commies in WB stand for. Till you dont clear the investors apprehensions you can argue till the cows come home. It wont make a difference cause the investors make that call.

Well I think you and I are agreeing on this in different ways. They like commies up north because they are assured of returns with no questions asked. In the commies down south, there is simply too much cacophony some of which is phoney desh bhakti as well.

A win would Didi would send out a message most of the investors would like to hear. They dont know that CPI are party of "maybe /yes" as of today.

How? Isn't Didi the one who sent the Tatas packing from WB?. Her strongman from Midnapore wants to send off the proposed nuclear plant packing. The Maoists also want to send the steel plants packing. You want to tell me that Indian and foreign analysts don't do their homework?

I looked at the state wise FDI, the WB for a state of its size in pop is performing poorly, till the commies change that perception that they are pro FDI i dont think investors will change their mind.

The commies or lefties in general are not pro FDI. They fundamentalists and old school in them paint it as the root of all evil and by opposing FDI they want to prove that they are big Desh bhakts. What they forget is that they are an insignificant force in India and can hardly influence global policies.

:lol:

Because of it's confusing (maybe yes) stance to FDI, WB managed a paltry 1% of national share (ranked 7) between 2000-2010.

^^ locomotive factories as i said have been announced so they will continue even if she now resigns(as lalu did)...but i think that the open protest is a clear indication she wants to break up...

It's politics and drama. They want the people to believe that the TMC wasn't consulted. But Murli Deora (http://www.hindustantimes.com/Mamata-raises-petrol-price-issue-at-Cabinet-meet/Article1-652695.aspx)has said that the TMC was aware of it several days ago.

Also the issue of seat sharing is coming up. So we will see more such expressions of feigned anger.

India (I’ll Never Do It Again)

http://www.telegraphindia.com/1110121/jsp/frontpage/story_13473736.jsp

India (I’ll Never Do It Again)

http://www.telegraphindia.com/1110121/jsp/frontpage/story_13473736.jsp

^^Is it an excuse by Australia not to sell uranium to India?

^^Is it an excuse by Australia not to sell uranium to India?

:hilarious

Further rate hike fears allow bears control of Indian equities

MUMBAI: Bears had the Indian equities markets in their firm grasp as stocks got battered in the wake of rising inflation and the Reserve Bank of India raising key interest rates and hinting at more such tightening in the short-term.

In a truncated trading week, the 30-scrip sensitive index (Sensex) of the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), ended the week at 18,395.97 points, down 3.22 percent or 611.56 points from the previous week close of 19,007.53 points.

The 50-scrip S&P CNX Nifty of the National Stock Exchange closed 184.35 points or 3.23 percent lower at 5,696.5 points Friday.

Broader markets also saw huge losses with the BSE midcap index closing 4.08 percent down and the BSE smallcap index ending 4.47 percent lower.

There were only five gainers on the Sensex on a weekly basis: SBI, up 3.5 percent at Rs.2,618.55; NTPC, up 1.2 percent at Rs.191.80; Reliance Infra, up 0.9 percent at Rs.724.20; Tata Steel , up 0.7 percent at Rs.635.90 and ONGC, up 0.1 percent at Rs.1,135.60.

Major losers on the 30-scrip benchmark included DLF, down 12.2 percent at Rs.223.10; Hindustan Unilever, down 9.5 percent at Rs.272.45; M&M, down 8 percent at Rs.696.85 and Hero Honda, down 7.1 percent at Rs.1,657.45.

According to data available with the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI), foreign institutional investors sold stocks worth $161.6 million during the week.

Other Asian stock markets closed mixed although traders were concerned with news of rating agency Standard and Poor's downgrading the Japanese economy rating.

On a weekly basis, the Japanese Nikkei closed 0.84 percent higher at 10,360.34 points, while the Chinese Shanghai Composite index rose 1.38 percent to close at 2,752.75 oints.

However, Hong Kong's Hang Seng shed 1.09 percent to end at 23,617.02 points.

Key indices of European stock markets ended the week on a sombre note as well. Britain's FTSE 100 closed 0.25 percent down at 5,881.37 points, while the French CAC 40 moved 0.38 percent down at 4,002.32 points.

The German DAX settled 0.57 percent up at 7,102.8 points.

The US markets ended lower as investors grew nervous over continuing protests in Egypt as fears grew that the Suez canal could be closed as a result of the disturbance, sending oil prices higher.

The Dow Jones Industrial index closed 0.41 percent down for the week at 11,823.7 points and S&P 500 shut shop 0.55 percent lower at 1,276.34 points.

The Nasdaq index closed on a flat note at 2,686.89 points, down 0.1 percent.

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/markets/stocks/market-news/further-rate-hike-fears-allow-bears-control-of-indian-equities/articleshow/7384478.cms

Fickle investors ditch emerging markets for developed


LONDON: A month into 2011, one of the biggest swings in asset flows has been the outperformance of previously lagging developed market equities against once red-hot emerging ones.

The chances are that this rotation by investors, encouraged by shifting valuations, inflation concerns and growth spurts in some developed economies, will remain in place for a while -- perhaps six months -- but it is not likely to become a permanent fixture.

Nothing has happened to dilute the overarching view that emerging markets are a long-term, strategic growth story, albeit with somewhat heightened political risk -- as is now being seen in Egypt and Ivory Coast.

Standard & Poor's cutting of Japan's sovereign debt rating on Thursday, meanwhile, was a stark reminder that, in contrast to emerging economies, many developed markets continue suffer from government bank balance problems.

But for the time being, the tale of the tape is clear -- the flows are into developed markets and away from emerging.

So far this year, MSCI's developed market stock index has risen a healthy 3.2 percent -- healthy in the sense that in the highly unlikely event this rate continues, developed market stocks would have the best compounded gain in at least 40 years.

The benchmark emerging market index, however, is in negative territory, having fallen more than three quarters of a percent.

Individual country indexes show the same pattern. The U.S. S&P 500 is up more than 3 percent for the year while the Sensex has lost around 10 percent.

The outperformance goes further. On a day-by-day basis last year, developed markets outperformed emerging markets on just 47 percent of occasions. So far this year, they have done so around 63 percent of the time.

And in terms of beta, a gauge of how a security reacts to moves in the market, emerging markets are moving closer to being in lockstep with developed markets -- meaning that at the moment there is little to be gained for the extra risk they may carry.


http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/markets/global-markets/fickle-investors-ditch-emerging-markets-for-developed/articleshow/7380328.cms

dude FII's will profit book.

16-17 k is not that big a fall.

PE ratio will fall from a pricy 16 to a realistic 12 by the end of 2011. In which case the Indian market will be in the right zone and not a speculative bubble.

fell to 18k today

seems my (and by that i mean many analysist's) prediction of 16000-17000


FII's are pulling out and parking their money in mature markets.

^^ only for H1 2011

lets see.

as i said i see the market dropping to 16000-17000 by May and rising again to 21000 by december

A tale of two indices: Sensex and Nifty

Heated exchanges are not uncommon in dealing rooms and at times the argument revolves around which of the two benchmarks should be followed, Sensex or Nifty. Loyalists of the two camps are equally divided and on most occasions these discussions end inconclusively.

The Sensex or the Bombay Stock Exchange Sensitive Index has the first mover advantage. It was launched in 1986 when neither the National Stock Exchange nor the Nifty were present. It also has the distinction of belonging to a venerable 100 year old institution (BSE). So at a time when global investors were making tentative inroads in to Indian stock market in early 1990s, they had only the Sensex to benchmark against.

Since old habits die hard, most global investors continue to use the 30-share Sensex to track the movement in the Indian stock market. The BSE is, therefore, not far off the mark when it states that the Sensex is the index that the world tracks. The ‘Sensex' brand is one of the most valuable assets that BSE possesses.

If we consider brand recall within India, again the Sensex will win hands down. Many would remember the day this index crossed the 5,000 mark. Five thousand balloons were set loose from the top of Jeejobhoy Towers to mark the occasion. All of us remember the festoons and party hats that TV anchors wore as the Sensex rose beyond the 10,000 or other milestones. The Nifty crossing a 1,000-point milestone does not however evoke similar reaction.

However what the Nifty has lost in brand recall, it has made up by being the index that is most widely traded. It is common knowledge that the derivative segment on the NSE is the active one with traders milling to this exchange drawn by greater liquidity and better price discovery. Volumes on Nifty futures and options account for more than 60 per cent of the total derivative volume on the NSE

Again since the Nifty is more broad-based and has greater sector-representation, many global funds that invest in India, benchmark themselves to the Nifty.

So which index should technical analysts track? Many traders prefer to use the top-down approach in which they form an opinion regarding the market as a whole. Then depending on the trend in the market, they would decide whether to initiate a short trade or a long trade.

For instance if the trend in the benchmark index is down and it has closed below a major support level, it would be best to initiate short positions in stocks that are also trending lower. Trading in a stock helps generate higher returns (than trading the benchmark) since many stocks register larger moves due to higher impact costs.

Such traders would find it easier to draw a conclusion regarding the trend in the market with the help of Sensex rather than the Nifty. For instance if the Sensex was approaching the 20,000 level, that is a major psychological resistance, it is highly likely that a downward reversal could be in the offing. Traders can therefore anticipate a reversal and initiate fresh shorts.

Similarly if Sensex was close to marking a new life-time high or was on the verge of closing above its 200 day moving average, all the stocks in the market would experience selling pressure. The Nifty does not have this kind of influence on the broader market as yet though it could be getting there.

A thumb-rule that can be used while selecting indicators to work with in technical analysis is to select those indicators that have the larger following. Larger following results in reversals occurring at the expected juncture. Since Sensex is watched by a larger number of market participants, this becomes a more reliable indicator for suggesting market reversals.

So the Sensex is the index the world tracks and Nifty is the traders' favourite. But technical analysts would do well to stick to the Sensex for anticipating market turning points

http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/features/investment-world/market-strategy/article1159361.ece

DB Realty Ltd, whose former managing director was arrested earlier this year as part of a broad telecom corruption investigation, tumbled as much as 10.6% to a record low of Rs96.5.

http://www.livemint.com/2011/03/23235052/Sensex-rises-12-DB-Realty-t.html


Banks are withholding loans and customers pulling out of their projects


DB is going to be hard pressed

^^ yup the promoters have pledged their 30% more stake

Does anyone here trade binary options?

Does anyone here trade binary options?

i dont trade in it

but know the mechanism.


pretty risky i would say

^^ Yea it's pure gambling. Is there any trade platforms in India offering BO trade?

hmm doing some calculations

indian stock market grew 51% compound interest for 5 years from 2003- early 2008

then it fell to 9000 in the rest of 2008 and first of 2009

it now seems to be range bound from second half of 2009 to 2011 first half.



Dare i say the sensex will at the most double its value till 2020? It seems we have had a big growth spurt when the value of the exchange grew 7 fold. (2003-2008)

Now it will be a natural adjustment? till 2020? at a more slower pace to let the earnings catch up?


Similar to the Dow Jones and FTSE100?


Oddly Shanghai and Hong Kong have had modesty growth spurts (relatively).

i will wait for some clarity on Europe and US economic recovery with more clarity on oil and other commodities. Oil alone can ruin indian markets if it continues to rise.

hmm its a sort of chicken and egg scenario

Low growth usa and europe will lead to prices of oil falling

but also indian exports falling

whereas rise of china and india can increase the prices of oil... even after tightening chinese oil demand is rising like hell... it is a very complex situation.. if USA and EU starts printing more money due to slow economic recovery,oil will continue to rise..

nah i cant see them printing money this time around.

i dont think it will be a deep drop in economies

maybe slight positive or negative growth.


China still exports a lot of goods to the USA and EU. So overall demand will fall atleast 10% if these countries slow down.

what about ECB buying back bonds? Or talk of US going for Qe3?

the days of US doing Qe3 are over

republicans wont stand for it.


it was ok when democrats controlled all three houses.

hmm.. i believe that when huge flush of money from US will stop entering the market then the commodity boom will burst.. let us see whether they stop the huge cash flow or not

3-5% cut tomorrow imminent now, Nifty will break 5000 and Sensex 17,000 :(

Mideast markets tumble after S&P cuts US credit rating (http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/markets/global-markets/mideast-markets-tumble-after-sp-cuts-us-credit-rating/articleshow/9517500.cms)

Oil is trading at $82.52 a barrel (Brent Crude is trading at 105$ a barrel)
Hopefully- this crash will bring it down to the more manageable levels.

Oil Prices Collapse to Year Low (http://www.thestreet.com/story/11213372/1/oil-prices-collapse-to-year-low.html)

hmm India markets are trading towards their bottom levels.

hmm India markets are trading towards their bottom levels.

my target is 4800 for Nifty by friday or max by next friday.

yup

seems fair.


i think after about 2 years of being range bound earnings have caught up with share price.

but ichi at 4800 many stocks will be fairly valued and many more very cheap, even some blue chips will be cheap.

^
i am agreeing with you.

Just stating that the earnings will be in line with the market prices

my target is 4800 for Nifty by friday or max by next friday.

^^ I think 5000 is a critical level for NIFTY which hopefully will not be breached, even though it fell below 5100 today. Delinking US credit downgrading from economic growth in the minds of investors would help in raising or atleast sustaining the levels. Also quite a bit would depend on IT & realty stocks that have nose dived. Anyway fingers crossed.

^^ crashed again, again IT & metals. This time defensives like pharma are also coming down.

they have fallen again

not crash i would say


but they should Settle in 16000-16500 for the sensex

and about 4700-4900 for nifty


some good buys in the IT sector coming up

The Sensex has rebounded on the back of a positive opening in European markets. The index is up 65 points at 17,055. Nifty is up 22 points at 5,140.

The markets switched to a recovery mode after having plunged deep in the opening trades.

Earlier in the day, the BSE benchmark index had touched a low of 16,432 while the Nifty had slipped below the 5000-mark for the first time since June 2010.

The Asian markets, though recovering, are still underperforming compared to our markets. The Hang Seng index is at 19,632, down 4% and the Nikkei is down 2% at 8,885.

Energy major Reliance Industries has received approval from the government for selling stakes in 21 oil and gas blocks to British Petroleum for Rs 32,540 crore. The stock is now down 2% at Rs 767.

Among the Sensex 30 stocks, Mahindra & Mahindra, Bajaj Auto, DLF, ONGC and Maruti Suzuki are the top gainers, up 1-3%, each. On the other hand TCS, Sun Pharma, Wipro, Infosys and Tata Motors, are down 4% each.

More on...
http://www.rediff.com/business/slide-show/slide-show-1-uscrisis-sensex-tanks-in-global-carnage/20110809.htm

they have fallen again

not crash i would say


but they should Settle in 16000-16600 for the sensex

and about 4700-4900 for nifty


some good buys in the IT sector coming up

But I dont think this slowdown is repeat of 2008? is that serious ? what you guys think? ichi, sagar ?

But I dont think this slowdown is repeat of 2008? is that serious ? what you guys think? ichi, sagar ?

its not

its a mild recession

At the most you should see USA contract by -0.5% year on year.

However, if the european debt crisis comes to fruition with Spain and Italy defaulting,you really are going to have the world economy on its knees.

The ECB buying their bonds has meant that has cooled down IMO

Hope that this isnt 2008.

^
it wont

as for inflation

Oil prices plummeted well below $100 a barrel on Tuesday, as ongoing anxiety regarding the global economic recovery sparked demand concerns.

Brent crude dropped by more than $5 in the early hours to $98.74 a barrel, representing a 22% fall from the $127 peak in April. By 09.43am in London, prices edged back over the $100 mark to trade at $101.89.

http://www.sharecast.com/cgi-bin/sharecast/story.cgi?story_id=4423925


oil price at 90-95 will do well for india :cheers:

Brent has again reached $105.(pure speculation)

BTW kuwar just watch Europe. US is not a problem as of now, but if europe worsens then yes it could be worse than 2008.

I dont think it will be an issue with Europe.


the ECB having bought bonds of Spain and Italy have moved them away from 6%


now trading at 5% and should be further pushed down to 4%.There is also talk of a trillion dollar fund in euros for a bail out.

^^ buying bonds is a temporary relief, what if the crisis spreads to other european nations? You can't keep on bailing more and more countries.

^^ buying bonds is a temporary relief, what if the crisis spreads to other european nations? You can't keep on bailing more and more countries.

which european nations are there left to spread?

or more specifically Euro area nations.

^^ France and Britain. Germany is stable.

Britain is not in the euro

Fracne bonds are pretty low and their debt to gdp ratio is below 100 as well. Plus a growing economy

i mean UK, isn't UK not in euro?

UK is not in the euro

they can effectively print their way out of trouble.

To me from an outsiders perspective the Indian stock market reminds me of kids playing football when they are 5yr. old. Everyone just keeps running wherever the ball goes and no one holds their position or make the right move at the right time. In this case the ball being NYSE and the kinds being Nikki, NSE , Hang Seng etc.

Its true

same can be said even of the FTSE. To lesser extent DAX and CAC

America and the Dow Jones set the tune. Barring issues of significance at home the others mimick

UK is not in the euro

they can effectively print their way out of trouble.

UK is http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Member_State_of_the_European_Union

Now you are seeing the jitters that french and german banks are facing, they have large exposure to the "failed" states like Greece etc. and therefore their stock market is down 5% today, bhai EU will be finally broken there will be a whole new europe. EU is not sustainable at all :cheers:

French banks battered as bourses slide (http://www.sharecast.com/cgi-bin/sharecast/story.cgi?story_id=4428892)

European union is different from Euro

they dont share a common currency.


I think Euro will move to a fiscal union. Keep in mind the euro does have a positive balance of trade with the rest of the world.

10 year bonds in europe are doing just fine

Ten-year gilt yields narrowed 23 basis points to 2.48 per cent – a record low – and German 10-year Bunds shed 17bp to yield 2.19 per cent. Swedish bond yields narrowed 16 basis points to 2.03 per cent, while Dutch notes fell 20bp to yield 2.55 per cent.

secondly

it seems speculation is in among us

Societe Generale (GLE) SA, France’s second-largest bank, denied “all market rumors” and asked the nation’s market watchdog for an investigation after speculation France’s creditworthiness was in doubt sent the shares tumbling.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-08-10/societe-generale-leads-fall-in-french-banks-as-credit-default-swaps-climb.html


Granted they are exposed to the Greek contegant and many of the PIIGS, but still me thinks they can survive.

Standard & Poor’s has denied,” said John Raymond, a banking analyst at CreditSights Inc. in London. “I don’t see any reason for what happened,” he said. “It seems to be a fear effect.”

France’s AAA Credit Affirmed by S&P, Moody’s

France’s top credit grade was affirmed by Standard & Poor’s, Moody’s Investors Service and Fitch Ratings as relative yields on the nation’s debt climb on concern that Europe’s sovereign debt crisis is intensifying.
The outlook on France is stable and its AAA ranking is “warranted,” Moritz Kraemer, S&P’s managing director of European sovereign ratings, said today in a Bloomberg television interview. Francesco Meucci, a spokesman for Moody’s, said in a telephone interview the country’s Aaa grade is “stable.” Fitch spokesman Brian Bertsch said France is rated AAA with a stable outlook as per its May 31 statement.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-08-10/french-aaa-credit-affirmed-by-standard-poor-s-moody-s-amid-market-rout.html

^^ even lehmann brothers rating was AAA and all the big three rating agencies confirmed the rating a month before they became bankrupt! ;)

but these agencies are much more vigilante since then

but these agencies are much more vigilante since then

bhai paisa bolta hain, Moody aur fitch ne toh downgrade nahin kari US kee rating lekin S&P ne kari!

look if the USA can be downgraded by S and P they are not going to be deterred by anybody.


France has a lower debt to gdp ratio than the USA and has way less structural problems of its own.


(a) they did not have a property bubble before this crisis began. US banks are still sustaining losses from the falling American property market.

(b) The French debt to GDP ratio is expected to be 86% at the end of 2011 and starting rising to 88% in 2013. Ie its not rising fast. USA on the other had ran budget deficits of nearly 8% of GDP with no sight in that ending taking their debt to GDP ratio to about 120%

(c) France also does not run big trade deficits. Ie their exports and imports tally up. USA on the other hand imports much more than it exports. Ofcourse it makes up for it in FDI etc but still thats much more risky than France.


(d) France has 182 billion USD in forex reserves. that was in 2010, most of Frnech forex is in gold which has since skyrocketed. So my estimate is that they will we having upto about 230-240 billion in forex.



In conclusion to me atleast the French state is as solid as ever. They actually have a more balanced economy than export dependent Germany. If SocGen is in trouble. The Frnech state will bail them out easily.

^^ The problem is not with France but the country's(France) banking sector and banking sector is the strength of any country's economy, so you can't bail all the leading public sector banks!

surprise fall in the market. Growth worries of GDP lower than 7% overshadow strong manufacturing data for June

The Nifty support barrier at 5100 has been broken. Next support level is 4850-4900

markets will be nervous till inflation numbers are out, if it will be below 10% and manufacturing inflation will show de growth MOM then surely markets will cheer as it will reduce possibility of a rate hike in september policy.

http://ibnlive.in.com/news/july-inflation-seen-easing-slightly-to-92-pc/175319-3.html

New Delhi: India's wholesale price index likely rose an annual 9.2 per cent in July, slightly slower than June's 9.44 per cent, as policy tightening by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) was partially offset by surging food prices, a Reuters poll showed.
The forecasts for India's main inflation gauge, from 27 economists, ranged from 8.9 to 10.0 per cent.
"The contribution of food... and fuels to overall inflation has gone up," said Rupa Rege Nitsure, chief economist at Bank of Baroda.

:doh: bhai "likely"... inflation for July will be released by RBI on Tuesday!

I know

just posting a article.


which is why i posted this in the stock thread and not the economy one.

inflation fell to 9.22% from 9.44%

however growth in Germany (or poor growth in Germany) dragged the BSE down.

main thing was to look for manufacturing inflation which has increased MOM, this was the main problem, BTW if anna movement's persists then it will lead to fall in markets as reforms will not be passed in the parliament!

^
i doubt rate rises at this moment have anything to do with reform.


They are not directly related. Indirectly yes and in the long term.

^
i doubt rate rises at this moment have anything to do with reform.



no they are not, i said this in the second line which is totally different from first line.

markets will follow the time tested PE ratio method.

As things stand the indian market is perfectly priced with regards to corporate earning. It will rise by 15% yoy in line with corporate profits.

my target is 4800 for Nifty by friday or max by next friday.

so as expected nifty will close around 4840-4850 today!

http://img441.imageshack.us/img441/3356/divyield.png

interesting pic

http://bse2nse.com/showthread.php?1124-Nifty-Sensex-Dividend-Yield-in-the-last-10-years


hmm poor yields...... to put it bluntly...seems that people invest in the sensex for stock price gains and not for dividends which are abysmal compared to when you can keep the money in the bank and get 6-7%

The fuck is wrong with markets today? :bash:

Free fall. :ohno:

^^ did you trade today?

^^ Unfortunately yes. :bash:

^^ oh! so you went long?

^^ Yes, that's what I had to do. Stuck up quite a few funds in the market today.

End of the day, its just gambling though... need to be prepared for shit while gambling. :ohno:

Markets are affected by one thing

Italy.


their government bonds



Italy is too big to fail. If it defaults then the odds of the Euro surviving are slim to none.



There were also minor factors like trade slump for exports for India. But market was positive today till the European exhcnages opened and the Italian bonds shot northwards.



A key point to remember is that unless local issues dominate the first half of trading is dominated by what actions in Japan Hong Kong and Singapore (to a lesser extent) which were all positive today (and will mostly be negative tomorrow as a result of Dow)


The second half is dominated by European exchanges. France Germany UK. They plunged on the Italian data. Dragging the sensex (which was + 100 at the time) along with them to a -300 swing. (net fall 200)



I make a profit on trading in the first half. Just pulled my money out before Europe opened and sat tight. I have no idea why the market's cheered Berlosconi calling quits. For fcuk sake its like a terminally ill patient being cured of the common cold.

+1 i generally short when europe opens and most of the time i am lucky.

I think bangaluru geek will be ok as a long investment

the fundamentals of the indian market are sound with regards to company earnings and forward PE


I would not call this gambling. Its more of an opinion. In most cases of gambling you lose all your money with little chances of recovering it. Equities you can sit tight and make some profits.

^^ Yes, in the strictest sense you are right, it is not "gambling" since you have a chance of recovery if you sit tight for a while. If you can wait, you can 'average out' your profits and losses over time and exit with a reasonable net profit.

But still, I always find intraday trading to be gambling. I am not an experienced player like you guys, I am fairly new to this. But what I observe is, in the extremely short term that we deal with in intraday trading, it is more or less a gamble. All these CNBC Awaz, Moneycontrol, etc. are crap - the 'experts' there give advise keeping their own benefit in mind. :ohno:

Moneycontrol says, Bharti Airtel is highly bullish, buy. ShareKhan says, Bharti Airtel downtrend, sell. :lol:

I guess diversification and proper exit strategy is the key - no 'expert advise' can help. :nuts:

Just my opinion - corrections/counter opinions welcome. :cheers:

hmm i think the biggest thing to keep in mind is that the indian market BSE and NSE are small exchanges. They are prone to events across the world more than ever even if there is good news at a home front. So even though you invest in the Indian market you need to have an eye on the world's major exchanges. For eg, say the world economy is doing well. That means funds in the USA have a much higher appetite for risk. which means they invest in emerging markets. that means there is an influx of money for the companies listed on the BSE. When times are bad/cloudy they dont care if say XYZ company has beat the forecast for earnings. They pull out to be safe and park the money closer to home in the usa.

I think for long/medium term you can

(a) play the levels , buy at 16,000 and sell at 17000 investing across a broad portfolio

(b) do a sector by sector analysis. Ie for eg a rise in rates by the reserve bank = real estate and bank shares falling.



For day trading you need extremely accurate data broken down with teams of analysts (say for a stock) . So personally i would refrain from day trading (especially in your case)

new lows.....

I think market will drop to 13500 to 14000 at worst

4350 if breaks on nifty then we are going for worst times..

whatz happenning yaar? "bikwaali"

yes by "angrez"

high inflation, low curreny rate leads to bikwaali

Simple question

If everyone is selling then who is buying it? is there always somebody who has to buy back the crap?

yes someone will buy,if the no. of sellers>no. of buyers then we get a lower circuit(stocks where there is no F&O)

lower circuit= 20% or 10% or 5% fall after which trading stops, it can be + and - both

take an example of parsvnath (http://money.rediff.com/companies/parsvnath-developers-ltd/11620056/bse/week).. two days of lower circuit at 20% and now at 10% if again it gets to lower circuit in next 2 sessions then it may be 5%...

Greek 10 year bond yields :29.041 (+.6%).
Stability threshold : 7
Verdict : Greece is screwed. It needs 8 billion $ worth of tranche cleared in the next 20 days else it will default. European leaders want a written guarantee on reforms from ALL greek political parties. One single party (a tiny party called new democracy) leader - somewhat like our Ram Vilas Paswan - won't give it. European leaders want his written affadavit else no money to greece. Can you believe how a tiny party in a tiny country is holding the world hostage?
Result : Expect stock market volatility as long as that policitian wavers and Greece doesn't get the money! Euro vs Dollar will be negative trajectory and consequently Rupee will probably keep falling!

Italy 10 year bond yields : 6.9 (+2.181%)
Stability Threshold : 7
Verdict : If Greece looks bad - then Italy is the Tsunami that will wipe off everything else in its path. Its too big to bail out - and if the Italians dont get their mess in order in the next couple of months - IMF's prediction of the "Lost Decade" is more or less certain. Bye bye growth, hello depression!!
Result : The new government lead by Mario Monti has very little time to get Italy's fiscal mess in order. He's a technocrat and a silver lining in this entire episode. But Ital'y free fall has to be stopped ASAP else France and Germany will start contracting - that pretty much would seal the fate of the Planet!! Expect stock market volatility for the next 2-3 months until Italy delivers.

May the force be with us!!

Anybody bought retail stocks?

sadly not, was thinking to buy pantaloon at Rs 204, but it came back to 175. I thought that the FDI would be delayed therefore not bought, high risk high reward case.

btw similar is the case with KFA(kingfisher) now, if GOI approves FDI in aviation then you can get 20-30% return in 3-4 days, but again if the things go wrong you can be deep in red.

i think for long term, we should buy these shares. domestic aviation and retail related.Did u buy some bank share also after govt deregulated the saving account interest rate?

btw similar is the case with KFA(kingfisher) now, if GOI approves FDI in aviation then you can get 20-30% return in 3-4 days, but again if the things go wrong you can be deep in red.

i was thinking the same thing.

I heard British airways might be interested



Though its a bit odd. UB group stock is still ok cause spirits are bailing them out somewhat protecting KFA.

yup, UB's this quarter results were good, but high promoter pledge and KFA bailout can damage the balance sheet.

i think for long term, we should buy these shares. domestic aviation and retail related.Did u buy some bank share also after govt deregulated the saving account interest rate?

i have yes bank,idbi and bank of baroda since last 8 months. And i will add yes bank more once nifty test 4400, looking for levels of 245-250 for yes bank to add more.

Retail space will be expensive after the bill. DLF will be a good idea

DLF' s retail business is very small, doesn't contribute much to the revenues.

Bhai, they make malls. so if u want more space for retail somebody have to build them

euroji the likes of walmart careefour and tesco are just too big to rely on dlf

they will find their own plots and start building their own complexes.


Tesco for eg has a grand plan to have 5000 outlets in India

but anyway combined effect will be more retail space. Like 100% FDI in single brand. Can't wait for IKEA in India

yup, UB's this quarter results were good, but high promoter pledge and KFA bailout can damage the balance sheet.

they have plenty of cash reserves though

I am surprised KFA has come to the condition of a bailout

but anyway combined effect will be more retail space. Like 100% FDI in single brand. Can't wait for IKEA in India

IKEA's entry into India will take away the "Sutaars" of India ;) and teach the Nawabs who can't even lift a screw driver, to actually buy one.

IKEA is a game changer in social aspects. (More on that comment later)

i am down 35% from last year(when i started work) :ohno:

stocks are racing to become penny stocks, infra is beaten like there is no end. Average blue chip is down 40-50% and midcaps 60-70%.

I pulled out a few days ago

not making money but not losing it either.


Sort of knew this would happen.


Only investing long term and in quality large cap stocks

i am talking about my long term portfolio.

then dont sweat it

Market seems undervalued as of now, so will buy soon.

^^ when you have stocks falling 25% in a single week then it is a matter of concern, they are now at 3-4 P/E.. P/B value of banks that i hold are .5-.6 (BOB,IDBI and YES) and still you have them falling 10% in a week. I mean how much chap they can become?

i got 14000 in mind 4400 nifty

nifty will be harder hit.


on the plus side the rupee halted its slide. With inflation cooling the economy me thinks the RBI will be more aggressive.

rupee slide is temporary, there are billions of $$$s of FCCBs redemptions in 2012. I am assuming rupee to be 49-51 average in 2012 full Calendar Year. Which is fairly valued for rupee, there will be some stop to chinese flooding and HOPEFULLY local manufacturing will flourish. Fingers crossed, hope oil stays below $110.

Forget the foreigner; only we can help our stock market now


A new year’s gift from India to the foreigner: Come, invest in our stock markets.

So far, foreign investors could invest in Indian stock markets only through institutions or via participatory notes. Come 2012, and they can invest directly.

The move, according to the Government, is aimed at widening the class of investors in our equity markets, attracting foreign funds, reducing market volatility and deepening our capital market. Really? Is it going to be that good? Sure, if foreign investors do come (whether they will come is another question altogether, not something for this blog post,) it will widen the class of investors. But I am not so sure about the rest of the positives that the Government paints.

Foreign funds might come alright. But why will this foreign investor behave any different from the Foreign Institutional Investor (FII)? The funds that he invests are not going to be available to India for long term developmental purposes. The foreign investor is going to want his money back anytime, just like the FIIs.

That brings us to the next point: will attracting the foreign individual investor reduce volatility in the stock market? The main reason for large short-term volatilities in our stock market has been the inflow and outflow of FII funds. Recently, ‘risk-aversion’ by FIIs, has brought our market to its knees. Will the foreign individual investor behave differently?

So while this might be the Government’s desperate attempt to arrest the fall of the rupee for now, there really is no long term benefit that the foreign investor is going to bring in.

So who can solve our capital markets’ problems? We, the domestic investors. Because we can invest in our equity markets and we can stay invested for longer periods of time. Right now, we contribute only a negligible portion to the equity markets. Whatever domestic investments are made are by institutions, namely banks, mutual funds and to a slightly larger extent, insurance companies. The rest comes from foreign investors who then end up controlling volatility. Take a look at the table just to get some perspective on the size of investments by FIIs and domestic institutions (DIIs) in India on the NSE and BSE.

What we really need to do to reduce volatility is increase the stake of domestic investments in our capital markets. So even if FIIs take a flight out of our markets, domestic money stays put and holds on to prices.

The Government needs to do things to encourage that: change the way financial products are sold, ensure the consumer’s investment (especially in products like ULIPs) actually ends up in the equity market without being eaten up by commissions and costs, use the National Pension Scheme to channel long term investments into our equity markets.

And we need to do our bit too. Educate ourselves about investing in equities. Consult a professional if needed. Learn to keep money invested for longer periods of time (much beyond 3 or 5 years.) Try not to use the stock market to make a quick buck. Read before signing documents like a ULIP contract, a MF application. Only we can save ourselves.

Till next time, Money Happy Returns!

http://blogs.economictimes.indiatimes.com/moneyhappyreturns/entry/forget-the-foreigner-only-we-can-help-out-stock-market

Investment in Stock market is always secure for long term , you can make more money from stock market if you have invested money for long term, peoples are investing their money in stocks to earn more money. Some of the best stocks in India where you can make more money are:
Tata Motors, ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank, Infosys, TCS, LIC Housing, Patni

Indian shares fall; banks hit by profit-booking, ITC slumps (http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/08/16/market-india-stock-close-idUSL4E8JG2GF20120816)

ITC shares hit on regulatory worries

* IDFC gains on higher earnings

By Manoj Dharra and Abhishek Vishnoi

MUMBAI, Aug 16 (Reuters) - Indian shares fell on Thursday, as investors booked profits on banks after paring back expectations for rate cuts, while ITC dropped after Australia's call for tough regulations on the tobacco industry raised worries of a crackdown at home.

The falls in the broader indexes reverse two sessions of mild gains -- with the BSE index ending on Tuesday at a five-month closing high -- as stock investors re-think prior bets the Reserve Bank of India would cut interest rates at its mid-September policy review.

Those hopes had been sparked by data on Tuesday showing headline inflation unexpectedly fell, but analysts warned the decline was likely temporary, while the rise in core inflation could prevent any monetary easing in the near term.

The falls came even after index compiler MSCI increased India's weighting in its Emerging Market Index to 6.40 percent from 6.33 percent, as per its August index review on Wednesday.

"Inflation data has come down, but core inflation still remains high. So there is still some thought of discomfort as to whether this lower over-all inflation number would percolate in rate cut," Kaushik Dani, a fund manager at Peerless Mutual fund.

India's BSE index fell 0.4 percent to 17,657.21 points after posting its highest close since March 14 on Tuesday.

The 50-share NSE index declined 0.32 percent to 5,380.35 points.

Domestic markets were closed on Wednesday for a public holiday.

ITC shares fell 3.5 percent, posting their biggest fall since May 8, on fears about regulatory action at home after Australia called on the world to match its tough new anti-tobacco marketing laws that will ban logos on cigarette packs.

Banking shares pared their previous sessions gains, with the NSE Bank index down 0.9 percent versus Tuesdays gains of 1.13 percent.

ICICI Bank shares fell 1.4 percent after gaining 2.2 percent on Tuesday.

Shares in Infrastructure Development Finance Co Ltd gained 4.25 percent after the lender for infrastructure projects reported late on Tuesday a 21.02 percent growth in April-June net profit..

Reliance Industries gained 2.1 percent after Goldman Sachs said in a note the energy conglomerate could potentially become a $100 billion stock by fiscal 2017 from its current market capitalisation of around $46.6 billion.

To accomplish that, Goldman said Reliance needs to get government approvals on investments and gas prices, restrict its focus to core businesses, and return some of its surplus cash in the form of dividends or buybacks, among other measures.

Shares impacted by MSCI's quarterly review were also impacted.

Housing Development Finance Corp's rose 1.04 percent after the index compiler raised the weighting of the home loan provider in the MSCI India index by 120 basis points to 7.4 percent.

Meanwhile Infosys fell 0.6 percent, while Tata Consultancy Services fell 0.4 percent, after MSCI slightly reduced their weightings.

Indian stocks to watch-Aug 17 (http://in.reuters.com/article/2012/08/17/markets-india-stocks-pre-open-idINL4E8JH1E220120817)

GLOBAL MARKETS
* The Nifty futures on Singapore Exchange rose 0.01
percent, while the MSCI Asia-Pacific index excluding Japan
rose 0.14 percent.
* The S&P 500 closed at its highest level since early
April on Thursday after comments from German Chancellor Angela
Merkel that appeared to support the European Central Bank's
efforts to fight the region's debt crisis.
* Asian shares firmed on Friday as German Chancellor Angela
Merkel voiced support for the European Central Bank's efforts to
contain the debt crisis in the euro zone.

FACTORS TO WATCH
* The Prime Minister Economic Advisory Council will release
a report on the Indian economy (11.30 IST)
* The Congress Party-led ruling coalition is expected to
bring to parliament a report by the state auditor on the sale of
coal fields to 100 companies.
* RBI to release forex reserves, bank loan data at 1130GMT.

INDIAN STOCKS TO WATCH
FINANCIAL/REGULATORY
* Indian companies will be allowed to achieve the minimum 25
percent public shareholding rule through the allocation of bonus
or rights shares, the chief of market regulator Securities and
Exchange Board of India (SEBI) U.K. Sinha said on Thursday.
The regulator also announced a slew of measures, including
those relating to expense ratios and taxation, to boost the
asset management industry, which has been badly hit by sluggish
markets and recent changes in regulations.
* The government is likely to announce major decisions in
the next three weeks to boost investments and revive economic
growth, Commerce and Industry Minister Anand Sharma said.
(Economic Times)
here
* The finance ministry is considering relaxing investment
norms for pension funds and insurance companies to allow them to
increase their exposure to equities and corporate debt, as it
seeks to channel domestic savings into the stock market and
deepen the corporate bond market. (Economic Times)
link.reuters.com/seb22t
* Union Bank of India will seek around 9.5-10
billion rupees capital from the government, a top bank official
said.
"We are comfortable with the present capital situation of
the bank. Our capital adequacy ratio is at 12 per cent. But to
support growth in business, we will approach the government for
fresh capital infusion to the tune of Rs 950 crore to Rs 1,000
crore," the bank's chairman D Sarkar told reporters. (Press
Trust of India via Economic Times.
here

COMMODITIES/ENERGY
* India's monsoon rains were slightly below average in the
past week, but heavy downpours arrived in a parched western
state, the weather office said on Thursday, easing fears of a
repeat of the widespread drought that gripped the country three
years ago.
* Water levels in India's main reservoirs were at 51 percent
of capacity in the week to Aug. 16, down 12 percentage points
from a year ago, reflecting this year's weak monsoon, government
data showed on Thursday.
* South African state-owned oil firm PetroSA and Cairn India
Group have signed a farm-in deal for crude oil and
natural gas exploration in Block 1 off of South Africa's west
coast, the two companies said in a joint statement on Thursday.

* Oil and Natural Gas Corporation is likely to see
a 26 percent stake in one of its KG blocks in the
Krishna-Godavari basin to Japan's Inpex Corp, according
to executives at the oil company. (Business Standard)
http:/link.reuters.com/teb22t
* Abhijeet Group on Thursday signed a $7-billion deal with
U.S.-based FJS Energy LLC for coal supply to fire its steel and
power units in India. (Business Standard)
link.reuters.com/veb22t
* Larsen and Toubro is planning to acquire the
entire stake of US-based Flowserve Corp in their 50:50
joint venture (JV) Audco India Ltd, according to three company
executives who declined to be named. (Mint)
link.reuters.com/mub22t
* The Maharashtra State Electricity Distribution Company
will raise power tariffs in the western Indian state by 16.48
percent due to high costs and rising fuel prices, the state's
electricity commission said on Thursday.
* India has initiated a probe into alleged dumping of a
chemical, used as brightening agents from China following
complaints by domestic players. (Economic Times)
here

AUTOS
* Maruti Suzuki said on Thursday it would restart
production at its Manesar factory on Aug. 21 after sacking 500
workers over a deadly riot that shut the plant, costing tens of
millions of dollars in lost output.
* Tata Motors' group global sales rose 21 percent
to 101,605 vehicles in July from a year ago period.

* Toyota said it will increase the prices of its
entire range of cars in India by around 1.5 per cent with effect
from September 1 to partly offset losses due to the rupee
depreciation, Deputy Managing Director of Marketing) Sandeep
Singh said. (Press Trust of India via Economic Times)
here

IT
* Tata Consultancy Services Ltd said it agreed to
buy Computational Research Laboratories (CRL), a start-up group
company, for 1.88 billion rupees ($33.7 million).
* The trial in the alleged visa fraud case against software
services major Infosys in the U.S. has been postponed
by almost a month to September 17, according to unidentified
sources. (Economic Times)
here
* Oracle Corp agreed to pay a $2 million fine to
settle U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission charges that an
India subsidiary secretly set aside money used to make
unauthorized payments to phony vendors in that country.


RETAIL/PROPERTY
* Alok Industries plans to shut 45 non-profitable
stores in its domestic retail business H&A, Chief Financial
Officer Sunil Khandewal said. (Business Standard)
* Gitanjali Gems says unit Aston Luxury Group has
acquired 15.3 percent stake in Verite in Japan.

* Orbit Corp wants to sell multiple projects
planned in Mumbai to raise money and reduce debt, officials
said. (Mint)
here
* Wipro Furniture, a part of Wipro Consumer Care and
Lighting Group, may be considering at least two acquisition
targets: a Bangalore-based furniture brand and another overseas
chain, according to two people close to the development. (Mint)

NOTE: Reuters has not verified third-party stories and does not
vouch for their accuracy.

OTHER FACTORS TO WATCH
* Indian debt/FX factors to watch
* Euro holds onto most gains on hopes for ECB action
* Oil at 3-mth peak on stimulus hope, Middle East worry
* Foreign institutional investor flows
* For closing rates of Indian ADRs

India’s Sensex Index Heads For Third Consecutive Weekly Advance (http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-08-17/india-s-sensex-index-heads-for-third-consecutive-weekly-advance.html)

Indian stocks climbed, with the benchmark index set for a third consecutive week of advance, as foreign investors increased the holding of the nation’s shares.
The BSE India Sensitive Index (SENSEX), or Sensex, gained 0.6 percent to 17,754.71 at 9:33 a.m. in Mumbai, extending this week’s rally to 1.1 percent. The market is closed on Aug. 20 for a public holiday.
Tata Motors Ltd. (TTMT) climbed for a third day after Jaguar Land Rover surged 41 percent. Hindustan Unilever Ltd. (HUVR), the nation’s biggest household products maker, rallied to a record. Maruti Suzuki India Ltd. (MSIL), the biggest carmaker by volume, advanced for the first time in three days after saying it will reopen a factory more than a month after a deadly riot forced the company to halt production of its two best-selling models.
The Sensex has risen 15 percent this year, helped by record overseas investor purchases. Foreign funds bought a net $50 million of stocks on Aug. 14, taking their investments in local equities this year to $11.4 billion, data from the market regulator show. That’s an all-time high for the period and the most this year among 10 Asian markets tracked by Bloomberg.

India Shares Higher; ITC, Tata Motors Gain (http://www.foxbusiness.com/news/2012/08/17/india-shares-higher-itc-tata-motors-gain/)

Indian shares were trading higher Friday morning, in line with most Asian markets which rose because of positive cues from the U.S. and on euro-supportive comments from German Chancellor Angela Merkel.
At 0436 GMT, the Bombay Stock Exchange's Sensitive Index was up 0.8% at 17,789.2 points, while the National Stock Exchange's 50-share Nifty was 0.7% higher at 5,397.6.
The rise was led by Tata Motors, which gained 2.5% to 241.25 rupees ($4.33) after reporting a 21% on-year rise in global vehicle sales for July.
Reliance Industries continued to rise on strong fund buying, trading recently up 1.1% at 823.85 rupees. Cigarette major ITC was 1.5% higher at 261.90 rupees as investors looked to defensive local consumer plays ahead of a long weekend. Indian markets are closed Monday for a religious holiday.
Larsen & Toubro was down 0.6% at 1,466.05 rupees.
Elsewhere in the region, a weaker yen helped Japan's Nikkei hit a three-month high. South Korea's Kospi was down 0.6% while Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index gained 0.5%.
The gains in Asian markets followed comments from Chancellor Angela Merkel, who said that Germany is "committed to do everything we can in order to maintain the common currency."
Her comments are also seen as supporting European Central Bank President Mario Draghi's vow to save the euro.
Foreign funds were net buyers of Indian equities in August. They were net buyers of a provisional 950.1 million rupees worth of Indian shares Thursday, while local institutional investors bought a provisional 2.25 billion rupees worth of shares.


Read more: http://www.foxbusiness.com/news/2012/08/17/india-shares-higher-itc-tata-motors-gain/#ixzz23nU2DMWU

FIIs may step up their exposure to Indian stocks as MSCI raises India weightage (http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/markets/stocks/market-news/fiis-may-step-up-their-exposure-to-indian-stocks-as-msci-raises-india-weightage/articleshow/15525542.cms)

MUMBAI: Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) will increase their exposure to Indian stocks with MSCI having increased the country's weightage in its emerging market index to 6.4% from 6.3% and tweaked the MSCI India Index.

The global indices provider's announcement on Thursday coincided with the National Stock Exchange replacing SAIL and Sterlite with Lupin and UltraTech Cement in the benchmark Nifty 50. The MSCI changes will take effect from September 3 while Nifty changes will apply from September 28.

While both moves will have significant impact, MSCI's move is more material as the sheer quantum of funds pumped by overseas investors into Indian markets is much larger than what domestic funds allocate to Nifty stocks.

"Generally for FIIs, MSCI matters a lot... these will be more material than the changes in Nifty," said Gopal Agrawal, CIO, Mirae Asset Global Investments.

Apart from raising India's weight in its Emerging Market Index, MSCI raised mortgage financier HDFC's weight to 7.4% from 6.21% while reducing the weights of Tata Consultancy Services, Reliance Industries and Hindustan Unilever by 10 basis points (a tenth of a percentage point) each. MSCI has removed Bombay Rayon Fashions, Mindtree, Nava Bharat Ventures and Time Technoplast from the MSCI India Index.

This reshuffle will result in estimated foreign funds flow of nearly $126 million into HDFC, according to Morgan Stanley India.

The stocks that would be impacted negatively are Hindustan Unilever, with an outflow of foreign funds to the tune of $10 million, RIL $4 million and Infosys $3.8 million, it added.

Indian equities have attracted more foreign institutional flows than any other Asian market so far in 2012 as portfolio investments resumed in July on renewed hopes of policy action by the government to revive the economic growth. Foreign funds have poured close to $11 billion (Rs 55,000 crore) into Indian equities so far this year. A majority of the flows into India this year have been by exchange-traded and India-dedicated funds, brokers said.

New Rules for India’s Individual Investors (http://blogs.wsj.com/indiarealtime/2012/08/17/new-rules-for-india%E2%80%99s-individual-investors/)

In an effort to bring more individual investors to the Indian stock market, the Securities and Exchange Board of India recently announced a series of measures. Here are five key changes that could affect you:


1. Easier IPO investing: SEBI wants to make it easy for individuals to apply for initial public offerings. Those of us who have Internet access can already apply for IPOs online, through online brokers. For those who don’t have their own Internet connections, SEBI will create a broker network of 1,000 locations throughout the country where investors can make electronic IPO applications.

In addition, SEBI wants to make sure that every applicant to an IPO gets some shares. In the existing system, investors were allotted shares either on a proportionate basis or via lottery, and thus were not sure if they would get any shares or not.

Now, SEBI says all applicants will get a minimum number of shares, which will be determined based on the bids that the IPO receives.

However, the minimum subscription an individual will have to make has been raised. So far, individuals could apply for as little as 5,000 rupees (about $90) worth of shares in an IPO, but now they will have to apply for shares worth 10,000 to 15,000 rupees ($180-$270).

2. Costlier mutual funds: SEBI has given mutual fund companies the go-ahead to raise the expense ratio on their funds, by as much as 0.30 percentage point. For example, a fund that currently has an expense ratio of 2.5% will now be able to charge as much as 2.8%.

The idea is that the fund companies can use the extra earnings to sell their funds to investors in smaller Indian cities. At the moment, 90% of all mutual fund sales come from 15 large Indian cities.

Besides a higher expense ratio, investors will also now have to be prepared to pay service tax on the fund’s expense ratio. So far, the service charge of around 12% was being paid by the fund houses.

3. Regulating investment advisors: From now on, not everyone will be able to give you investment advice – which is a good thing. Investment advisors, whether independent or working for a company, will now have to be registered with SEBI and follow certain rules.

However, some people will be excluded from this requirement. These include people who give advice exclusively on certain financial sectors, such as insurance or pension products, or professionals like chartered accountants and lawyers, who may be providing advice related to their professional services.

4. More bonus, rights issues coming: A previous SEBI rule required that at least 25% of the market cap of every listed Indian company should be held publicly. Companies have to comply with this rule by June 2013, so, many founders of these companies need to reduce their ownership over the next few months or else go off the stock exchange.

Now SEBI is allowing these companies to issue bonus shares to existing investors, or rights shares, which are sold, but again only to existing investors. So we could see a spate of bonus and rights shares issuances. “With these instruments, many of the Indian subsidiaries of multinational companies who were planning delisting may give up their plans of delisting,” SMC Global Securities said in a note.

India Reliance Power shares down on auditor report (http://in.reuters.com/article/2012/08/17/reliancepower-coal-idINL4E8JH28320120817)

Aug 17 (Reuters) - Shares in India's Reliance Power fell more than 6 percent on Friday after the country's federal auditor said the company unduly benefited from a government decision allowing the power producer to use surplus coal from its captive block for another project it was not meant for.

Reliance Power, controlled by billionaire Anil Ambani, gained 290 billion rupees ($5.2 billion) in undue benefit from the government decision, the auditor said.

In another report, the auditor also accused the government of allocating dozens of coal blocks at a fraction of their market price, costing the exchequer potential revenues of around $33.3 billion.

Indian power producers have been scrambling for cheap local fuel, whose shortage has kept at least 15,000 MW of capacity idle and many plants underutilised.

Reliance Power, India's second-largest power producer by market value, is developing a 4000 MW project at Sasan in the central state of Madhya Pradesh and was allotted three captive coal blocks to fuel the project, which was bid for at a fixed rate to supply power.

The company later received government approval to use surplus coal from these blocks for the company's other project - 4000 MW at Chitrangi - which would supply power at a higher tariff than Sasan project.

By using the coal from the same source but charging different tariffs for the power generated at two plants, Reliance gained 290 billion rupees or 118 billion rupees in terms of net present value, the auditor said in a report.

Tata Power, the competing bidder for the Sasan project, had earlier challenged the government's decision and the matter is pending in the country's top court.

"There is no vitiation of bid conditions as the bid documents gave the right to the government to permit use of surplus coal," Reliance said in a statement.

At 0927 GMT, shares in Reliance Power, valued at $4.7 billion, were trading 5.74 percent lower at 87.80 rupees in a Mumbai market that was up 0.21 percent.

CAG reports hit Sensex, Nifty; JSPL, Tata Power, Reliance Power fall (http://profit.ndtv.com/News/Article/cag-report-hits-sensex-nifty-tata-steel-reliance-power-down-309500)

Indian markets closed off the day's high weighed down by a report by the government auditor, which said the country lost Rs 1.85 lakh crore because coal fields were allotted instead of being auctioned. The Sensex closed over 100 points lower from the day high and the Nifty failed to cross the 5,400 mark.

The CAG report on coal, named many companies including aluminium maker Hindalco, India's biggest private steel producer Tata Steel, power utility major Tata Power and private power producer Jindal Steel and Power (JSPL), which have got the blocks in various states. In a separate report, CAG also named Anil Ambani promoted Reliance Power for unduly benefitting from a government decision allowing the power producer to use surplus coal from its captive block for another project it was not meant for.

The BSE Sensex ended 34 points or 0.2 per cent higher at 17,691, while the Nifty edged up 3 points to 5,366. The metal index on the BSE was among the biggest underperformer, falling 1.5 per cent.

On the Nifty index, JSPL was the top loser, falling 4.1 per cent. Tata Power fell 4 per cent, Reliance Infra declined 3.3 per cent, Hindalco shed 2.6 per cent, and Tata Steel closed 0.9 per cent lower. Shares in Reliance Power plunged 5.6 per cent.

Shares in GMR infra ended 3 per cent lower after another CAG report faulted the way the Delhi international airport was privatised in which GMR has 54 per cent stake.

The string of reports hit sentiments. Only 20 of the 50 stocks managed to advance on the Nifty index. Tata Motors was the top Nifty gainer, rising 2 per cent, on the back of strong growth in Jaguar Land Rover sales. FMCG major HUL gained 1.75 per cent to an all-time high today.

Frontline IT stocks - Infosys, TCS and Wipro - also saw buying interest today.

Tobacco major ITC gained 1.5 per cent. The stock was the top Nifty loser yesterday after Australia banned the use of logo on tobacco packs.

Earlier, markets opened higher tracking buoyancy in global stocks. Markets hit the day's high near noon after the Prime Minister's economic advisory council forecast a GDP growth of 6.7 per cent in 2012-13, marginally better than the 6.5 per cent pace at which India grew in 2011-12.

The optimistic outlook came despite several economists recently slashing their economic outlook for the country. Citigroup and CLSA have cut their outlooks for growth to 5.4 per cent and 5.5 per cent respectively in the fiscal year ending March.

Indian shares edge higher; auditor's verdict weighs (http://in.reuters.com/article/2012/08/17/markets-india-stocks-idINL4E8JH31Q20120817)

Indian shares rose a tad on
Friday, hitting earlier a five-month high, as ITC recovered from
the prior day's falls although power utilities dropped after the
country's state auditor found irregularities in the government's
coal allocation and usage.
The auditor accused the government of allocating coal
blocks, power projects and land for New Delhi's flagship airport
at a fraction of market prices. That sent shares of companies it
accused of unduly benefitting, such as Reliance Power,
sharply lower.
However, analysts said the impact would likely be limited
given the report would mark the beginning of a long process,
while the pressure was expected to focus mainly on the
government in the near term.
Instead, investors are more focused on potential measures
from the government, including on fiscal consolidation and on
attracting foreign investment, which are considered critical for
stock indexes that this week posted their third consecutive
weekly gain.
"I expect some move from the government on reform front as
manufacturing is slowing and deficit is growing. There is no
choice: government has to do reforms like FDI and passage of
insurance bills," said G. Chokkalingam, Executive Director and
Chief Investment Officer at Centrum Wealth Management.
India's BSE index ended up 0.19 percent at
17,691.08 points on Friday, after earlier hitting its highest
since March 16.
The index rose 0.8 percent for the week.
The 50-share NSE index rose 0.06 percent to end at
5,366.30 points.
Domestic shares have managed to post mild gains this week,
driven by gains in individual shares and sectors, despite
renewed worries about inflation after Brent crude futures
rallied to three-month highs.

RELIANCE POWER DROPS
Shares in Tata Motors rose 2 percent a day after
the auto maker said its global vehicle sales, including for
luxury unit Jaguar Land Rover, rose 21 percent in July from a
year ago, easing worries about a slowdown in shipments.

ITC rose 1.7 percent, as investors saw Thursday's
falls of 3.5 percent, which had been driven by fears about a
domestic regulatory crackdown on tobacco, as excessive.

Software service exporter Infosys rose 1.5
percent, after a small, unexpected rise in U.S. jobless claims
and a surprise drop in housing starts renewed expectations for a
new round of bond purchases from the Federal Reserve.

However, Reliance Power dropped 5.9 percent after
the country's federal auditor said the company unduly benefited
from a government decision allowing the power producer to use
surplus coal from its captive block for another project it was
not meant for.
Tata Power slumped 4 percent after the utility was
named by one of the auditor reports as having benefitted from a
bigger share of land than stipulated by the norms set by a
government body.
GMR Infrastructure fell 3.1 percent after the
federal auditor also said the government had unduly favoured the
a consortium led by the construction company for a contract
related to the international airport in New Delhi in 2006.
Additions and deletions from the NSE index were also in
focus on Friday.
Lupin rose 2.6 percent while UltraTech Cement
added 0.65 percent after the National Stock Exchange
added them to its 50-share NSE index, or Nifty.
However, Steel Authority of India fell 1.7
percent, while Sterlite Industries lost 0.7 percent
after both were deleted from the index.
The changes will be effective late next month.

Power, infra stocks crash on CAGfire (http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/business/india-business/Power-infra-stocks-crash-on-CAGfire/articleshow/15537978.cms)

MUMBAI: A host of stocks, mainly from the power and infrastructure sectors, closed substantially lower after the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG), which is the government's auditor, said several of these companies benefitted from some of government's wrong policies.

CAG, which placed three reports before Parliament on Friday afternoon, said the total loss to the government because of the faulty policy decisions were about Rs 2.85 lakh crore. The auditor claimed that the government had allocated coal blocks, power projects and land for New Delhi's international airport at a fraction of the then prevailing market prices. It pointed out that 57 coal blocks were allocated to 100 private companies and if these were auctioned, the exchequer could have been richer by about Rs 1.86 lakh crore.

Soon after the reports were placed before the MPs, the stock prices of the companies named in the report, and also some of the companies from power and infrastructure sectors, witnessed heavy selling. Among the major losers, Reliance Power closed 5.6% lower at Rs 88, while Jindal Steel closed 4% off at Rs 402 and Tata Power lost 3.7% at Rs 97.

CAG has accused the government of favouring Tata Power and Reliance Power. The auditor also said that Reliance Power had unduly benefitted because it was allowed to divert coal from a block that was assigned to a particular project to another project. The companies on their part have denied accusations leveled by CAG.

Among the government-run companies, Coal India closed 0.7% lower at Rs 350 while NTPC ended 1% off at Rs 168. Although the stocks of these companies and also others suffered in Friday's market, analysts believe that the immediate impact of the report is likely to be limited because any action by the government based on the report would be a long-drawn process. However, Opposition parties, armed with this report, are expected to take on the government during the current session of Parliament, which in turn may impact the passage of some of the bills pending before the Houses for a long time.

Other than the individual stocks, the CAG report also affected general investor sentiment as the sensex, after rising to a new five-month high, closed just 34 points higher at 17,691. The day's sessions, however, saw a Rs 3,000-crore drop in investors' wealth with the BSE's market capitalization now at Rs 61.9 lakh crore.

India stocks, bonds, rupee, swaps, call at 0435 GMT (http://in.reuters.com/article/2012/08/16/india-snapshot-idINL4E8JG10120120816)

STOCKS
-----------------------
India's main 30-share BSE is down 0.12 percent and the
broader 50-share NSE Index is down 0.09 percent. Traders however
felt the government would also need to show more action on
fiscal consolidation to sustain any gains in the stock
market.

GOVERNMENT BONDS
-------------------------------
India's benchmark 10-year bond yield rises 3
bps to 8.25 percent on concerns that crude oil prices at a three
month high will stoke inflation further dashing hopes of a rate
cut in the near term.

RUPEE
--------------
The Indian rupee fell below 56 to the dollar to its
lowest in nearly two weeks, tracking global gains in the dollar
as upbeat U.S. data cooled expectations of monetary easing.


INTEREST RATE SWAPS
-------------------------------------
India's benchmark 5-year OIS rate at 7.14 percent versus
previous close of 7.09 percent, while the 1-year OIS rate
was at 7.79 versus previous close of 7.78
percent.

Buy India Cements; target of Rs 101: Nirmal Bang (http://www.moneycontrol.com/news/recommendations/buy-india-cements-targetrs-101-nirmal-bang_747005.html)

Nirmal Bang is bullish on India Cements and has recommended buy rating on the stock with a target of Rs 101 in its August 14, 2012 research report.

“India Cements’ (ICL) 1QFY13 results were better than our estimates at the operating level, with EBITDA at Rs2.77bn (25% higher from our estimate and 14% from Bloomberg estimate). However, translational forex losses of Rs250mn and cost related to IPL (one time as per management) of Rs200mn led to a 39.2% decline in net profit to Rs621mn. Adjusted for one-time cost related to IPL, net profit would have been higher than our estimate by 11.5% at Rs821mn. Following the translation forex loss and one time IPL cost, our earnings estimates have been downgraded by 16% in FY13 and 6.4% in FY14. However, we retain our Buy rating on ICL with a target price of Rs101 based on 4xFY14E EV/EBITDA given the improvement in cement demand, reduction in high-cost power consumption and stress-case valuation.”

“ICL posted net sales of Rs12bn (up 13.7% YoY, 9.3% higher from our estimate and 5.0% from Bloomberg estimate) driven by a marginal improvement in sales volume and robust revenue booking by IPL (Indian Premier League) franchise. Net sales for the quarter include income from IPL of Rs1.22bn (up 44% YoY) and freight income of Rs125mn from shipping business. Cement realisation declined 2.3% YoY to Rs4,466/tn, which was compensated by a 2.9% sales volume growth. The company posted EBITDA of Rs2.77bn (including Rs310mn from IPL, shipping and wind mill businesses), up 14.9% YoY, while EBITDA margin improved 20bps to 23.1% YoY (290bps higher than our estimate). Overall total expenses rose 11% to Rs3,884/tn (up by Rs383/tn), primarily due to higher electricity charges and freight costs. Power and fuel costs rose 17.2% to Rs1,210/tn due to the increase in average electricity costs to Rs4.47/unit from Rs3.90/unit. Freight costs increased 20.3% to Rs937/tn due to higher rail tariff and change in market mix. Interest costs rose 63% YoY due to inclusion of translational forex loss of Rs250mn (US$60mn un-hedged debt) and one-time cost related to IPL player auction of Rs200mn, leading to a 39.2% decline in reported net profit to Rs621mn.”

“We retain our Buy rating on ICL with a target price of Rs101. Our TP is based on EV/EBITDA multiple of 4x FY14E earnings, which is close to the lower end of its historical range over the past seven years. This implies EV/tn of US$60, which is at a 60% discount to replacement costs. Given the improvement in demand, reduction in high-cost power consumption and stress case valuation, ICL provides a good investment opportunity on the risk-reward parameter,” says Nirmal Bang research report.

Indian shares edge lower on growth fears; Bharti reels (http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/08/09/market-india-stock-close-idUSL4E8J956F20120809)

MUMBAI, Aug 9 (Reuters) - India shares edged lower on Thursday after an unexpected slump in industrial output exacerbated concerns about economic growth, while mobile carrier Bharti Airtel and drug maker Ranbaxy were routed after poor quarterly earnings.

India's industrial output in June shrank 1.8 percent, missing forecasts for 1 percent growth. The data is likely to add pressure on new Finance Minister Palaniappan Chidambaram to boost growth by announcing fiscal measures and action to attract foreign investments.

Analysts are already cutting their economic forecasts for the year, with Moody's Analytics saying it expected India to grow at 5.5 percent this year, in line with forecasts this week from Citigroup and CLSA..

Corporate profits are also raising concerns. Bharti Airtel slumped to a 27-month low, dropping for a second day after disappointing earnings results on Wednesday, while State Bank of India was hit by worries the lender would post weak earnings on Friday.

"Prolonging wait for government measures, coupled with recent worries on GDP is leading the market to book profits," Deven Choksey, managing director, K R Choksey Securities.

"GDP worries are, however, discounted to an extent, and market would present opportunities to buy on dips if government measures get materialised," he said

The 30-share BSE index fell 0.23 percent to end at 17,560.87 points, retreating from an earlier gain of as much as 0.6 percent.

The 50-share NSE index fell 0.28 percent to end at 5,322.08 points.

Both indexes are still up around 2 percent each for the week after Chidambaram promised forthcoming announcements on fiscal consolidation and appeared to call for lower interest rates.

However, the rally seen earlier in the week is threatening to run out of steam as no measures have been announced yet, while optimism for more global stimulus measures that had sparked a rally in Asian shares is also being kept in check.

ECONOMY, EARNING WORRIES

Shares seen sensitive to growth fell. State Bank of India slumped 4.5 percent to mark its biggest percentage fall since Feb 22, hit as well by worries the country's biggest lender would post disappointing earnings on Friday.

Bharti Airtel dropped 6.42 percent, after earlier falling to its lowest since May 2010, as banks including Goldman Sachs and Standard Chartered cut their ratings on India's top telecoms carrier in the wake of disappointing quarterly earnings.

India's biggest telecom carrier has now dropped 12.61 percent over the past two sessions since posting its results on Wednesday.

Shares of Ranbaxy Laboratories, India's top drug maker by sales, lost 2.7 percent, after reporting a consolidated net loss of 5.86 billion rupees ($106 million) as foreign exchange losses ballooned despite a surge in sales.

Cairn India fell 2 percent a day after the company said its chief executive Rahul Dhir had resigned to pursue his entrepreneurial interests.

Dhir's departure sparked concerns about the leadership of the company after what analysts described as his vital role in negotiating thorny issues with the government, including approval for pipeline costs.

Tata Motors fell 0.9 percent after posting a smaller-than-expected rise in quarterly profit, though it pared losses as traders said operating margins themselves were not as bad as some had feared.

But Mahindra & Mahindra rose 2.82 percent, gaining for a second day a fter the utility vehicle maker posted on Wednesday better-than-expected profits.

FACTORS TO WATCH * Euro drops as optimism about ECB action wanes * Oil up at $112.75 on supply fears, stimulus hopes * Stimulus hopes lift European shares near 5-mth high * Foreign institutional investor flows * For closing rates of Indian ADRs

FIIs buy Indian equities worth $11 bn this yr (http://www.business-standard.com/india/news/fiis-buy-indian-equities-worth-11-bn-this-yr/183381/on)

Overseas investment into Indian stock markets has crossed $11 billion so far this year, with more than $1 billion being pumped in this month alone.

Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) have infused a net amount of $1.02 billion (about Rs 5,692 crore) in August so far, taking the total for this year to $11.4 billion (Rs 57,958 crore) in Indian equities, according to the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi).

Market experts said foreign investors have factored in deficient monsoon, slowing economic growth and high interest rate regime, and are pinning hopes on the government's fresh initiatives on reforms.

"With the government indicating a softer stance on the controversial General Anti-Avoidance Rules (GAAR) and retrospective taxation issues, many FIIs which had stayed away with the Indian equities for some time are once again coming back to India," a stock broker said.

Destimoney Securities MD and CEO Sudip Bandhopadhyay said, "The huge FII inflows were not driven by the country's fundamentals, its mainly because of the global factors such as ECB and the US Federal Reserve. In India, there are some concerns like weak monsoon, slowing economic growth among others."

During August 1-17, FIIs were gross buyers of shares worth Rs 26,363 crore, while they sold equities amounting to Rs 20,670 crore, translating into a net investment of Rs 5,692 crore ($1.02 billion), as per Sebi data.

In addition, FIIs have infused Rs 708 crore in the debt market this month, taking the year-to-date investment to Rs 24,961 crore.

FIIs poured in Rs 10,273 crore in the stock market last month after a pull out of Rs 1,957 crore in the April-June quarter.

The BSE 30-stock index, Sensex, has gained over 14% so far in 2012 and this month alone it has risen 2.63%. It closed at 17,691.08 on Friday.

The number of registered sub-accounts has risen to 6,366 as on August 17 from 6,278 at the end of last year, while the number of registered FIIs has fallen to 1,756 from 1,767 during the same period.

Stock markets to be range-bound this week (http://www.business-standard.com/india/news/stock-markets-to-be-range-bound-this-week/183384/on)

The stock market is likely to be range-bound this week amid apprehensions of a fallout of the CAG reports, retail inflation numbers and the government asking banks to cut interest rates and make EMIs affordable.

Experts said there may be some investor caution on a possible fallout of CAG reports, tabled in Parliament on Friday, estimating financial benefit of over Rs 3.06 lakh crore to private parties in coal blocks allotment without bidding, Delhi airport development and diversion of coal to a power project.

Some analysts said that when the markets open on Tuesday - Monday being a holiday on account of Id - investor sentiment may be guided by the government moves to push reforms and attract investments.

In a bid to revive investments across-the-board, Finance Minister P Chidambaram has asked banks to cut interest rates and keep EMIs at affordable levels to encourage sale of consumer durables to restart the engine of manufacturing.

After a review meeting with the chiefs of public sector banks on Saturday, he also announced rescheduling of farm loans in drought affected states and revision in procedures for easy sanction of education loans to students.

Markets may see some profit-booking this week as the BSE 30-stock index, Sensex, has extended gains for the third consecutive week by surging another 133 points on sustained capital inflows.

"For this week, 5,300 level for the Nifty shall be decisive on the downside and 5,400 level on the upside. The index may be seen consolidating within this range. Profit booking is likely at current levels. Besides, global markets will also be affecting the overall market sentiment," Rakesh Goyal VP Bonanza Portfolio said.

Another analyst, Unicon Financial Solutions CEO Gajendra Nagpal said, "Stock market mood may remain cautious in the initial part of the week as owing to the CAG report."

Besides, investors are looking forward to more reform measures to spur the economy, he said.

That apart, inflation has shown some signs of easing, raising hopes of interest rate cuts by the Reserve Bank at its monetary policy review next week.

July consumer price index to be announced on Tuesday will will be monitored closely.

CNI Research CMD Kishor Ostwal said, "Nifty can correct at the most till 5,300 in the current situation where there is a very strong support. On upside, it seems 5,500 is capped for the settlement. The next eight trading sessions need to be watched carefully."

Oil prices will also be important as Brent crude rose over $100 a barrel last week, raising concerns about domestic inflation.

Stock specific action will be seen in Maruti Suzuki as the month-long lockout at the Manesar plant will be lifted on August 21 and partial production will resume.

4 Commercial Banking Stocks to Sell Now (http://www.investorplace.com/2012/08/4-commercial-banking-stocks-to-sell-now-hdb-bca-cacb/)

The ratings of four Commercial Banking stocks are down this week, according to the Portfolio Grader database. Each of these rates a “D” (“sell”) or “F” overall (“strong sell”).

HDFC Bank‘s (NYSE:HDB) rating falls to a D (“sell”) this week, down from C (“hold”) the week prior. HDFC Bank is a private sector bank and financial services company in India that is involved in retail banking, wholesale banking, and treasury operations. The stock currently has a trailing PE Ratio of 28.4. To get an in-depth look at HDB, get Portfolio Grader’s complete analysis of HDB stock.

CorpBanca (NYSE:BCA) earns a D this week, falling from last week’s grade of C. CorpBanca provides a range of commercial and retail banking services, financial advisory services, mutual fund management, insurance brokerage, and securities brokerage services to its customers. BCA shares are down 5.3% from a month ago. Shares of the stock have been trading at an exceptionally rapid pace, up fourfold from the week prior. For a full analysis of BCA stock, visit Portfolio Grader.

Cascade Bancorp‘s (NASDAQ:CACB) rating falls this week to an F (“strong sell”), down from last week’s D (“sell”) last week. Cascade Bancorp provides a range of commercial and retail banking services. The stock gets F’s in Equity, Cash Flow, and Sales Growth. The stock price has fallen 9.1% over the past month, worse than the 5.3% increase the Nasdaq has seen over the same period of time. Shares of the stock have been changing hands at an unusually rapid pace, four times the rate of the week prior. For more information, get Portfolio Grader’s complete analysis of CACB stock.

This week, Bank of Ireland‘s (NYSE:IRE) rating worsens to an F from the company’s D rating a week ago. Bank of Ireland provides a range of banking and other financial services. The stock also gets an F in Equity. Since last month, the price of IRE went down 0.9%. For a full analysis of IRE stock, visit Portfolio Grader.

Asian stock markets have opened the day on a mixed note with stock markets in Japan (up 2.3%) and Indonesia (up 0.2%) trading firm. However, markets in Hong Kong (down 0.4%) and South Korea (down 1.3%) are facing selling pressure. The Indian equity market indices have opened the day on a firm note. Stocks in the technology and FMCG space have opened on a positive note. However, realty and oil and gas stocks are trading in the red.

The Sensex today is up by around 50 points (0.3%), while the NSE-Nifty has opened on a flat note. However, the mid cap and small cap stocks have opened in the red with the BSE Mid Cap and BSE Small Cap indices down by 0.1% each. The rupee is trading at Rs 53.73 to the US dollar.

Auto stocks have opened the day on a mixed note with Ashok Leyland Ltd and Mahindra & Mahindra trading in the red. However, Tata Motors Ltd and Maruti Suzuki Ltd have opened on a positive note. The commercial vehicle manufacturer Ashok Leyland Ltd has announced its results for the third quarter of financial year 2013 (3QFY13).The company has reported a revenue decline of 18 % on a year on year (YoY) basis during the quarter. The sales volumes for the quarter declined by 2.2% YoY. As per the management, the quarter was an extremely challenging one for the company. This was against the backdrop of a sluggish economy and weak macro-economic indicators. The net income during the quarter was up by 10.4% YoY boosted by an exceptional gain of Rs 1.6 bn. The exceptional gains were on account of partial sales of non current investments. On a normalized basis, the company has posted a loss of Rs 838 m, from ordinary activities after finance costs. This compares to a profit of around Rs 720 m for the same period last year.

Indian Pharma stocks have opened the mainly in the red with Orchid Chemicals Ltd and Biocon Ltd leading the losses. The biotech major Biocon Ltd has announced its results for the third quarter of financial year 2013 (3QFY13). The growth in the topline came at 23% YoY for the quarter.The sales from its biopharmaceuticals business grew 20 % and those from contract research rose 34 % YoY for the quarter.The company has reported a 9% YoY growth in the net profits. The margins were compressed because of higher expenses that offset the growth in the total sales. The biopharmaceutical income includes licensing development fees and licensing income. Going forward the company aims to have higher contribution from Biosimilars, Research Services and Branded Formulations to the overall revenue.

Indian stock market is the biggest place where traders buy and sell shares of stock.