indian stock market

The stock market will remain closed on Thursday (20 March 2008) on account of Id-E-Milad and on Friday (21 March 2008) on account of Good Friday.

The next trigger for the market would come from the figures of advance tax payment by corporates for the fourth installment, which falls due on 15 March 2008. Another major trigger for the market is outcome of the US Federal Reserve meeting on 18 March 2008 to review interest rates . A cut in interest rate, as expected by the street may provide some support to the markets. Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke had signaled a readiness to cut interest rates again to prevent further damage to the weak US economy, even as he took note of rising inflation risks.

Our Bureau Mumbai, March 12 The buyback of Reliance Energy's shares will commence from March 17 and will continue till March 4, 2009, Reliance Energy informed SEBI on Wednesday. The company had announced the buyback in its board meeting held on March 5. Reliance Energy proposes to buyback 50-lakh plus shares at a price not exceeding Rs 1,600 per share, aggregating to Rs 800.06 crore, to raise promoters' stake in the company. The minimum number of shares bought back would be 50,00,375 amounting to 2.11 per cent of the paid-up capital of the company as on March 5, 2008. As on March 4, 2008 promoters hold 35.95 per cent stake in the company, FIIs & foreign mutual funds hold 21.89 per cent, domestic financial institutions including banks and mutual funds own 23.51 per cent, and the public and corporate bodies hold 18.65 per cent. Reliance Energy share closed at Rs 1,328.30 on the BSE, up by 3.19 per cent from its previous close.

What is a Mutual Fund ? A mutual fund, is a corporation (trust) that pools the savings, which are then invested in money market, debt market and capital market instruments such as shares, debentures and other securities. Thus the MF serves as a link between the public and the capital markets so as to mobilise savings from the investors and invest them in the capital markets to generate returns. The following are some of the more popular definitions of a Mutual Fund A Mutual Fund is an investment tool that allows small investors access to a well-diversified portfolio of equities, bonds and other securities. Each shareholder participates in the gain or loss of the fund. Units are issued and can be redeemed as needed. The fund's Net Asset Value (NAV) is determined each day. Mutual Funds are financial intermediaries. They are companies set up to receive your money, and then having received it, make investments with the money Via an AMC. It is an ideal tool for people who want to invest

Rural Electrification Corporation was hovering at Rs 123.30 at 10:15 IST on BSE, a premium of 17.43% over the IPO price of Rs 105. On BSE, 1.76 crore shares were traded in the scrip. It hit a high of Rs 128.40 and a low of Rs 120.05 so far during the day. The stock debuted at Rs 125, a premium of 19.04% over the IPO price. The current price Rs 123.30 discounts the year ended March 2007 EPS of Rs 9 with a PE multiple of 10.57. The company had fixed the issue price at the top end of the Rs 90 to Rs 105 price band. The REC IPO ended on 22 February 2008 with 27.91 times subscription. The IPO received bids for 435.68 crore shares as against 15.61 crore shares on offer. The qualified institutional buyers (QIBs) portion was subscribed 39.30 tomes, the non institutional investors portion was subscribed 27.11 times and the retail investors portion was subscribed 7.67 times. REC, a term lending institution and a government enterprise, is engaged in the business of lending to p

Bank of India CMP: Rs 269.3 Target price: Rs 466 Macquarie has retained its positive view and outperform rating on BOI and the bank remains its pick among state-owned banks. The broking house says that the scare on its forex derivatives portfolio is clearly overdone and the sharp sell-off in the stock is an opportunity. "It's FY3/09E PBV of 1.3x, with a PER of 5.2x, is very attractive, given its ROE of 26–28% over the next two years," the report said. The brokerage also added that the derating is far more severe than the bad news warrants. It also said that the farm loan waiver may affect future NPL slippage in the agriculture lending sector, but opined that it will not be large enough to warrant significant earnings revisions at this stage. Suzlon Energy CMP: Rs 269.9 Target price: Rs 450 Broking house Morgan Stanley is overweight on Suzlon Energy. However, it has lowered its price target to Rs 450 from Rs 498.6 earlier. "We would be buyers on the we

Anil Ambani Group firm Reliance Energy said on Monday it will change its name to Reliance Infrastructure , which will reflect the company's businesses more adequately. " The new name reflects the branding philosophy followed by the ADA Group, where name signifies the space in which business operates and create a sharper brand presence among the stakeholders. The name change will not affect any of the rights of the company or the shareholders of the company," a senior company official said. The new name 'Reliance Infrastructure Ltd' will adequately reflect the current nature of businesses in the company fold and will be in line with the company's vision to tap and play a vital role in the emerging potential in the country for infrastructure development, the official added. The board of directors has decided to change the name of the company, subject to the shareholders approval and compliance with related formalities, a company statement said.

Celebrity Fashions surged 7.84% to Rs 41.25 at 11:03 IST on BSE on reports the company may sell an export unit to a Bangalore-based firm for Rs 42.5 crore. On BSE, 2,600 shares were traded in the counter. The scrip had an average daily volume of 32,356 shares in the past one quarter. The stock hit a high of Rs 42.05 and a low of Rs 40 so far during the day. The stock had a 52-week high of Rs 91.70 on 23 July 2007 and a 52-week low of Rs 36.65 on 10 March 2008. The small-cap scrip had underperformed the market over the past one month till 10 March 2008, declining 22.88% compared to the Sensex's fall of 8.82%. It had also underperformed the market in the past one quarter, declining 50% compared to Sensex's decline of 21.52%. The company's current equity is Rs 17.83 crore. Face value per share is Rs 10. The current price of Rs 41.25 discounts Q3 December 2007 annualized EPS of Rs 22.45 by a PE multiple of 6.59. Celebrity Fashions reported a net loss of Rs

Investors looking at commodities market as profitable avenue Safer option: A file photo of gold bars. Tania Kishore Jaleel Mumbai, March 10 After suffering huge losses on the bourses investors are looking for safer options such as gold ETFs to invest their money. Not surprising then, the gold ETFs listed on the NSE have outperformed the equity markets. While the benchmark index, the Sensex has fallen 20 per cent in the last three months, gold ETFs have given returns of more than 25 per cent. Since December 10, 2007, the Benchmark Gold ETF has surged 28 per cent, UTI Gold ETF has risen 21 per cent, both Kotak and Reliance Gold ETFs have recorded a 27 per cent rise. Quantum Gold ETF has increased five per cent since its debut on the bourses on February 28. "Investors are looking for more profitable avenues like the commodities market. The equity markets are rather choppy now; the real estate sector is not giving much return either. Also the

Morgan Stanley is bullish on the prospects of Glaxo Smithkline Pharma after the meeting with the management. GSK management team guided to early-single-digit sales growth in 2008 and 2009 (Morgan expcts 14-15% EPS growth) and re-iterated its business plan to launch new "exclusive" drugs in 2008. These launches have multi-year visibility, with Cervarix, in-licensed critical-care drug, allermist and Infanrix Hexa planned for 2009, and eltrombopag and synflorix planned for 2010. Simultaneously, the company has planned new initiatives to grow its matured portfolio - focus on hospitals and rural penetration, re-organization of field force and contract field force for non-promoted drugs. In addition, the company is planning to launch other "non-exclusive" products (such as Welbutrin XR, Seretide) from parent’s portfolio. It has Rs14.7 billion in cash (Dec '07, 16% of market cap), which gives it significant leeway to fortify portfolio by brand acquisitio

Out of 2428 shares traded on BSE, 25.57% or 621 stocks hit lower circuit filter today. The BSE Sensex was down 557.20 points or 3.49% to 15,418.39 after surprisingly weak US employment data heightened fears of a US recession and knocked Asian markets lower. Out of 621 stocks that were locked in lower circuit filter, 92.75% or 576 were from BSE 'B' and BSE 'S' group. Lower circuit is the day's minimum possible level to which stock can fall with no buyers available at that point. The market breadth, indicating overall health of market was quite weak.

Larsen & Toubro fell 11.15% to Rs 2,655 at 12:11 IST on BSE on concerns of losses from commodity hedging for the fiscal year ending March 2008. On BSE, 5.4 lakh shares were traded in the counter. The scrip had an average daily volume of 1.85 lakh shares in the past one quarter. The stock hit a high of Rs 2,980 and a low of Rs 2,615.05 so far during the day. The stock had a 52-week high of Rs 4,670 on 1 November 2007 and a 52-week low of Rs 1,414.10 on 16 March 2007. The large-cap scrip had underperformed the market over the past one month till 7 March 2008, declining 17.69% compared to the Sensex's fall of 8.85%. It had also underperformed the market in the past one quarter, declining 29.88% compared to Sensex's decline of 19.99%. The company's current equity is Rs 58.43 crore. Face value per share is Rs 2. The current price of Rs 2,655 discounts Q3 December 2007 annualized EPS of Rs 66.03, by a PE multiple of 40.20. Reports suggest that L&T coul

  We are providing the BSE SENSEX Constitutents and Weightage. ACC - 0.62 % Ambuja Cements -0.81 % Bajaj Auto - 0.85 % Bharti Airtel - 6.38 % BHEL - 4.43 % Cipla - 0.70 % DLF - 5.01 % Grasim - 1.14 % HDFC - 1.14 % HDFC Bank - 3.33 % Hindalco - 1.08 % Hind Unilever - 2.23 % ICICI Bank - 4.44 % Infosys - 3.66 % ITC - 3.21 % Larsen & Toubro - 3.90 % Mahindra & Mahindra - 0.73 % Maruti - 1.21 % NTPC - 6.81 % ONGC - 9.14 % Ranbaxy - 0.73% Reliance Industries - 14.62 % Reliance Communications - 5.02 % Reliance Energy - 1.34 % Satyam - 1.27 % SBI - 5.20 % Tata Motors - 1.16 % Tata Steel - 2.52 % TCS - 3.71 % Wipro - 2.71%

Deepak Korgaonkar / Mumbai March 9, 2008 Promoters of 54 small- and mid-size firms buy 8.3mn shares between Jan 10 - Feb 27.   Promoters of mid- and small-cap companies are grabbing the opportunity provided by a falling market to raise their holdings in their respective companies.   In most cases, the shares of their companies are trading at over 30 per cent discount to the all-time high market prices.  SELF PROMOTION Promoters Company Shares* % stake Nikhil Nanda JHS Svendgaard Lab 2.69 2.16 A N Singh Celestial Labs 2.15 1.92 Sameer Gehlaut Indiabulls Finan Serv 34.30 1.36 R   Mansukhani

The improved product mix in favour of high value, high margin radial and OTR tyres will benefit the company in terms of greater realisations and healthier margins. Parvatha Vardhini C Investors can consider buying the JK Tyres stock with a two-three year perspective. The company is the third largest manufacturer of tyres in India with a market share of 17 per cent. While the commercial vehicles segment brings in 75 per cent of the revenues, passenger vehicles chip in with the rest. As is the case with most companies, bulk of these earnings (over 60 per cent) comes from the replacement market; exports contribute 14 per cent to the revenues. Volume growth resulting from capacity expansion, increased demand from OEMs and an improved product mix in favour of radial and OTR (off-the-road) tyres suggest good earnings prospects. At the current market price of Rs 130, the stock trades at around a 5 times trailing 12-month (TTM) earnings. This valuation is at a disc