Indian Stock Picks - Share Ideas , News, Fundamentals

(The Hindu Business Line 1st April 2008) Stocks in the banking sector took a severe hit on Monday, leading the market fall. The BSE Bankex was down a 5.89 per cent, sliding more than the Sensex which declined by over 4 per cent. In the bear run in the recent weeks, the BSE-Bankex index has been the hardest hit; it has shed close to 2400 points in the last one month. Inflation figures are a big cause for worry for the banking sector as a whole, said analysts. Inflation has shot up to 6.68 per cent, its highest in more than a year. “With such high inflation figures, the chances of a reduction in the interest rates have become even less. The buzz in the market is that this might lead the RBI to hike the CRR rate to curb inflation,” said Ms Anita Gandhi, Head Institutional Business, Arihant Capital Markets. Another reason, marketmen said, is that the cues for growth in the fourth quarter for banks seem weak. “In the third quarter, the banks declared good profits, but we will see a reversal

Equity fund managers appear to have used the steep market correction to accumulate frontline stocks in February. Trends in the top 50 stocks held across equity funds show that funds added to their exposure in as many as 26 stocks during the month, even as they reduced exposure in 18. Funds seem to have rejigged their holdings within sectors such as banking and capital goods. Stocks such as Infosys, Satyam Computer, L&T and BHEL were among those added by a number of schemes. Banking stocks within the top 50 have undergone a minor rejig. More than 10 funds reduced holdings in Punjab National Bank and Kotak Mahindra Bank, ICICI Bank was shed by two funds; though 248 schemes, in all held on to the stock. HDFC Bank, State Bank of India, Axis Bank and Bank of Baroda were accumulated by funds and each of these remained the top fifty. Frontline IT stocks hovering close to 52 week lows saw accumulation by funds with 22 funds adding Infosys Technologies to their top holdings. In all, 175 fun

(The Hindu Business Line 1st April 2008) The Hindu Business Line recommends buy in Suzlon Energy from a short-term perspective. From the charts of Suzlon Energy we note that the stock had been on a medium-term downtrend between early January and late March from Rs 460 to Rs 221. However, it found support at around Rs 221 level recently and bounced off penetrating the medium-term down trendline on March 28 decisively. The long-term up trendline of the stock that coincides around the support level Rs 221 is still in place. A positive divergence in the daily momentum indicator had supported the current up move. We also see that there is an increase in volume over the past four trading sessions. The daily and weekly momentum indicators are featuring the neutral region. Our short-term forecast for the stock is bullish. We expect the stock to rally further to our target level of Rs 300 in the short-term. Investors with a short-term perspective can buy the stock with stop-loss at Rs 247.

The Sensex opened with a negative gap of 144 points at 16,227 on negative cues from the global markets.Unabated selling in capital goods, financial and technology stocks saw the index drop to a low of 15,616 - down 755 points from the previous close.The Sensex finally ended with a loss of 727 points at 15,644.The index thus ended the month with a loss of 11% (1,934 points), and finished fiscal year 2007-08 with a gain of 19.7% (2,572 points). The market breadth was marginally positive - out of 2,699 stocks traded, 1,364 advanced, 1,291 declined and 44 were unchanged today.The NSE Nifty dropped 207 points to close at 4,735. HDFC tumbled nearly 9% to Rs 2,384. ICICI Bank slumped nearly 8% to Rs 770, and HDFC Bank shed nearly 6% at Rs 1,320. SBI slipped nearly 5% to Rs 1,599. TCS dropped nearly 7% to Rs 811. Wipro and Infosys plunged over 6% each to Rs 425 and Rs 1,430, respectively. Satyam declined 3.5% to Rs 395. DLF tumbled 7% to Rs 647. ONGC dropped 6.7% to Rs 981. Reliance Energy an

Yearly inflation in the 15 nations that use the euro hit a new record high of 3.5 percent in March, the EU statistical agency Eurostat said Monday. The rate of inflation in countries that use the Euro has hit a record high. Inflation was 3.3 percent in February, running far above the European Central Bank's guideline of just under 2 percent as worries over banks' reluctance to lend has held it back from the usual move of cooling inflation by hiking borrowing costs. The rate represents the fastest pace of price increases since Eurostat started keeping records 12 years ago for the countries that launched the common currency in 1999. Eurostat's figure is a first estimate, which it will confirm on April 16.

Cairn India has announced its CY07 numbers. It has posted consolidated net loss of Rs 24.5 crore and net sales of Rs 1,012.2 crore. Cairn India has written off Rs 251.2 crore in the year CY07. Forex fluctuation stood at Rs 212 crore.

The Institute of Chartered Accountants of India or the ICAI has urged companies to reveal their mark to market (MTM) losses of all outstanding derivative contracts, in their balance sheets this quarter. The ICAI has said that the companies should reveal their mark-to-market losses of all outstanding derivative contracts under AS 30 norms (Accounting Standard) norms. If these are not revealed under AS 30 norms, they should reveal the losses under the Principle of Prudence. Currently companies do not need to reveal MTM losses on account of derivatives. The ICAI wants the companies to provide for the losses. The auditors should ask companies to disclose losses, the ICAI has said. Explaining the implications of this ruling, Viren Mehta, Director, Ernst & Young India said this announcement has encouraged companies to adopt AS30 early. “What the ICAI has essentially done is to throw some more light on the financial instrument that companies are carrying and encouraging them, either to do

Top midcaps: Adlabs, Parsvnath, Kotak Bank, Geojit Source : CNBC-TV18 The midcap index is up and the breath is quite strong. Some interesting buys from outside the index as picked by Rajesh Jain of Pranav Securities and Sajiv Dhawan of JV Capital Services include Adlabs and Parsvnath Developers and Kotak Bank and Geojit respectively. Jain like Adlabs, which he calls a heavyweight momentum play given its connection to the ADA Group. He added that not only has it been able to ramp up the business models, straddling practically everything except broadcast and telecast, it has also scaled up practically in every business, like processing. He likes Parsvnath Developers because it has a host of good developments across segments and also has a stake in the telecom licenses. Dhawan likes Kotak Bank’s growth story which he calls excellent, especially because the branches are expanding and their presences all over India is also increasing substantially. Meanwhile, he like Geojit as it is reasona

(The Hindu Business Line, 30th March 2008) Sundaram BNP Paribas Select Focus: Invest thru SIP Recent market declines may offer a good opportunity for investors to acquire exposures to frontline stocks in the listed space. Those looking to do so can consider investing in the Sundaram BNP Paribas Select Focus Fund. Despite a sharp reversal in this fund’s NAV during the recent market correction (down 28 per cent from the January peak), the fund remains among the top performers in its peer group of large-cap funds, based on one year returns. It also sports a good 3 and 5-year return record. However, investing through the systematic route may be a better course to follow with this fund, as this may help the investor take full advantage of volatility in the market as well as in the fund’s NAV. Suitability: With the bulk of its holdings in stocks with a market capitalisation of over Rs 10,000 crore, Sundaram Select Focus may carry lower volatility of returns than funds with a flexicap approa

(The Hindu Business Line 30th March2008) Tech Mahindra: Buy The steep correction in the price of Tech Mahindra’s shares over the last several months can be traced more to adverse sentiment towards mid-sized IT companies, than to any material change in fundamentals. This offers an opportunity for investors to consider investments in the stock with a two-year perspective. At Rs 723, the stock trades at 12 times its current earnings and 10 times its FY-09 earnings. This puts valuations on a par with Tier-2 IT players, though the company’s much larger revenue base and net profit margin (20 per cent) is comparable to Tier-1 IT players. Strong business prospects driven by an established relationship with British Telecom offer scope for capital appreciation. Tech Mahindra broadly caters to three sets of clientele — telecom service providers, telecom equipment manufacturers and independent software vendors. The company is also working with clients on latest Internet technologies to cover new

Larsen & Toubro: (The Hindu Business Line 30th March 2008) With a diversified order book, proven execution skills and a strong balance sheet, Larsen & Toubro (L&T), India’s largest engineering conglomerate, is better-positioned to weather risks such as firm commodity prices and a possible slowdown in industrial production. The recent announcement of a one-off loss in commodity hedging is unlikely to have any lasting impact on the company’s long-term growth prospects. Investors can consider taking advantage of recent market volatility to add the stock to their portfolio. At the current market price, the stock trades at 27 times estimated consolidated earnings for FY09. Invest with at least a five-year perspective to allow the company’s entry into high-potential segments such as shipyards and power equipment to flow through to earnings. L&T’s order book of about Rs 50,000 crore spans sectors such as hydrocarbons, urban infrastructure and power. Presence in similar segment

MUMBAI: Snapping the losing streak of the past two days, the Bombay Stock Exchange benchmark Sensex gained over 355 points today on revival of buying support in fundamentally strong stocks. After losing nearly 202 points in the last two days, the 30-share Sensex recovered the lost ground today and added 355.73 points at 16,371.29. Market men said a brisk fag end buying pushed the index up sharply up. The Sensex touched the day's high of 16, 452.08 and a low of 15,884.45 points. In similar fashion, wide-based National Stock Exchange index Nifty spurted by 111.75 points at 4,942.00, after touching a high of 4,970.80 and a low of 4,796.35 points. Trading sentiment turned firm following reports of a rising trend in Asian stock markets, discounting a reversal trend in the US Dow Jones and Nasdaq. A major push to the market came in from metal, capital goods, realty, oil and gas and IT stocks. Metal index surged the most by 800.21 points at 14,654.19, followed by capital goods index by 74

The wholesale price index based annual rate of inflation is at a yearly high at 6.68 per cent for the week wended March 15 over 5.92 per cent in the previous week. It stood at 6.56 per cent for the week ended March 17, 2007.The increase was driven by an across the board appreciation of primary article prices, fuels and manufacturing products. Among food products, which rose 0.5 per cent over the previous week, rapeseed, mustard oil, maida, atta, gur and khansari rose over the previous week.The highest increase was contributed by the index for basic metals. Alloys and metal products group which rose a significant 4.4 per cent due to higher prices of items like joist and rolls, bright bars, angles, channels and sections. The government also revised the inflation rate for the week ended January 19, 2008 to 4.45 per cent as compared with 3.03 per cent reported earlier.

Nandan Chakraborty, Head of Research, Enam Securities, said there are two major schools of investing. “One is value investing and growth investing.” So, what is the relevance of the balance sheet while looking for stocks using the two methods? According to Chakraborty, in value investing you are not attempting to forecast the company’s earnings. “In terms of margin safety, you see how much can that stock fall and what coverage does it have. The use of balance sheets in value investing is trying, matching, and removing all the hidden bombs to make the balance sheet more representative of the company’s current situation.” While in growth investing, the balance sheet is the starting point of a whole host of analysis, he said. “You pick up something from the balance sheet and say that my overall intention is to find out what is the scalability and sustainability of the entire business model.” Excerpts from CNBC-TV18’s exclusive interview with Nandan Chakraborty: Q: What is the relevance of

(The Economic Times, 28th March 2008)Wall Street stocks fell on Thursday amid concerns that sluggish Oracle revenue suggests slower business spending, but the dollar gained on hopes that results of a Federal Reserve asset swap indicate a stronger-than-expected banking sector. The Fed swapped $75 billion of U.S. Treasury securities for mortgage-backed assets that have sparked a debilitating credit crisis in an auction aimed at bolstering bank balance sheets. European shares had gained earlier on renewed central bank efforts to buoy investor sentiment and ease the credit crunch. Oil rose sharply after a bomb attack on a major Iraqi crude pipeline slashed exports from the country's southern oil port for the first time in years. U.S. Treasuries prices fell, driven by a perception credit strains might lessen and dull the lure of safe-haven government debt. Treasuries extended losses after tepid demand for the Fed's auction, called a Term Securities Lending Facility. "That the a

Telecom operators may lower The Hindu Business Line, 28th March 2008 The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India has decided to phase out Access Deficit Charge (ADC) from April 1 onwards. While private telecom operators stand to collectively save around Rs 750 crore next fiscal as a result of the move, the impact at the consumer end is projected to be just a marginal lowering of tariffs. ADC is a levy imposed by the regulator on the operators to support roll out of telephones in rural areas. Since Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd owns 99 per cent of the rural phones, most of the fund collected is passed on to the State-owned company. The ADC as it exists today has two parts. One, the domestic service providers pay 0.75 per cent of their annual revenue to BSNL and second, international long distance service providers pay Re 1 per minute on international incoming calls to BSNL. Reduced rates TRAI has now decided to phase out the burden on domestic operators from April 1. It has also decided that

(The Hindu Business Line 28th March 2008) Jaiprakash Associates has managed to garner the much-needed funding for the ambitious projects undertaken by its subsidiary Jaypee Infratech. The project had earlier failed to strike a deal with ICICI Ventures. ICICI Bank has now entered into an agreement to infuse Rs 1,150 crore into the subsidiary. The bank has proposed to take a 1 per cent equity stake for Rs 250 crore in the subsidiary and provide loans of Rs 900 crore.Negative toll JP Associates’ rising focus on its subsidiaries appears to indicate that the company is likely to increasingly derive higher value from the latter. The one per cent stake acquired by ICICI Bank places the subsidiary’s value at Rs 25,000 crore — as much as the parent’s company’s market capitalisation. However, a reading of the nature of projects of the company’s subsidiaries indicates that the projects are not only long term in nature but also writ with uncertainties such as allocation of land by the Government.

The Sensex opened with a negative gap of 137 points at 15,950 on the back of weak cues from the global markets. Weakness in the first half of the day saw the index slip to a low of 15,869.The index, however, recovered and rebouned into the positive zone in mid-noon trades and touched a high of 16,111 - up 242 points from the day's low. The Sensex, however, could not hold gains and slipped back into red to finish with a loss of 71 points at 16,016.The market breadth was marginally positive - out of 2,774 stocks traded, 1,490 advanced, 1,223 declined and 61 were unchanged today.The NSE Nifty ended almost unchanged at 4,830 - up a point. Tata Motors dropped 3.5% to close at Rs 655 as analysts raised fears of a possible slowdown in earnings following the company's buy of Jaguar Land Rover brands from Ford for $2.3 billion.Satyam plunged 4.4% to Rs 395. SBI and Infosys tumbled 3.7% each to Rs 1,650 and Rs 1,441, respectively. TCS shed 3% at Rs 853. Ranbaxy and Larsen & Toubro sl

Mohindar Rahul Mohindar of Viratechindia is of the view that one can buy Gujarat NRE Coke at Rs 140-145. Mohindar told CNBC-TV18, "Gujarat NRE Coke is likely to be an outperformer on a medium to long-term basis with a minimum time horizon of about six-months. I would look at a price target of Rs 200+ on this. One could clearly buy the stock in the Rs 140-145 zone. Strong long-term support and stoploss is seen at about Rs 126 and clearly if one were a shorter-term trader as well, one would see an outperformance even on the short-term. So one could look at the stock from all the different timeframes. One is fairly bullish on this counter.”

Analysts see little reason to share the joy (The Economic Times, 27th March 2008)Tata Motors’ acquisition of the two iconic brands — Jaguar and Land Rover — without doubt ranks among the high-profile global deals clinched by Indian firms so far. But if auto analysts are to be believed, this may not be the best time to buy Tata Motors shares. At the time of going to press, Tata Motors’ ADRs were trading 2.30% lower on the NYSE Euronext at $16.96. It had hit a low of $14.71 on March 17, 2008. Meanwhile, Ford Motors was trading at $2.35, down 2.08%. The overwhelming consensus is that the acquisition will strain the company’s bottom line near term, thus putting pressure on the stock price. According to Enam Securities’ auto analyst Sahil Kedia, “There is a likelihood that there will be pressure on the profit after tax in the short term” as it is still “slightly unclear how Tata will fund the acquisition”. He feels that the Indian company might also use a “certain amount of loan receivable

The Sensex opened with a positive gap of 53 points at 16,270. After the initial volatility the index advanced to a high of 16,310 in early morning trades.The index, however, could not hold gains and slipped into the negative zone. Selective profit taking saw the index touch a low of 16,010 - down 300 points from the day's high. The Sensex finally ended with a loss of 131 points at 16,087.The market breadth was fairly positive - out of 2,760 stocks traded, 1,722 advanced, 990 declined and 48 were unchanged today. The NSE Nifty slipped 49 points to end at 4,829. Hindustan Unilever and ICICI Bank plunged over 4% each to Rs 234 and Rs 843, respectively. Bharti Airtel shed 3.7% at Rs 803. DLF, Jaiprakash Associates and BHEL dropped around 3% each to Rs 658, Rs 226 and Rs 1,955, respectively. Reliance Communications, Cipla and Ambuja Cements shed around 2% each to Rs 526, Rs 206 and Rs 122, respectively. SBI and NTPC slipped around 1.5% each to Rs 1,714 and Rs 197, respectively. Wipro de

Reinforcing India’s growing stature as a destination for building ships, the country’s biggest engineering firm Larsen and Toubro Ltd (L&T) has won a contract valued at about $240 million (Rs962.4 crore) to build four specialized ships for Dutch company RollDock BV. Indian companies are currently building about 245 ships worth more than Rs20,000 crore. Of this, about 70% are for overseas clients, who are placing orders at Indian yards as shipbuilding facilities in maritime strongholds such as Japan, South Korea and Norway are fully booked till 2011. “The contract involves a firm order for building two ships, each with a capacity to carry up to 10,000 tonnes of modules for the offshore oil industry, and options for two more,” a person familiar with the deal said. He did not want to be identified because the deal has not been made public yet. Each ship will cost about $60 million to build. These will be built at L&T’s shipyard at Hazira in Gujarat and would take the firm’s order

A sharp upswing in the stock market in the past four trading sessions, following a two-month-long downward spiral must have confounded many retail investors. The investors have suddenly realised the importance of consistency over flamboyance. These are times when investors can look at stocks, which are market leaders and have track record of consistent revenue and profit growth. To see if there is something like ‘consistency’ in a topsy-turvy market, we constructed a ‘Blue-Chip Index’ comprising forty-five market leaders across sectors beginning January 1993. This index constitutes companies like Reliance Industries, Tata Steel, HDFC, Hindustan Unilever and Colgate-Palmolive from FMCG, Ambuja Cements and ACC from cement sector, auto majors like Mahindra & Mahindra and Tata Motors, engineering giants like ABB, L&T and Siemens, besides leading stocks from pharma, financial services, hospitality and information technology industries. This has been done to ensure that all sectors i

HSBC Financial Services Middle East has picked up a 4.99 per cent stake in Yes Bank in the secondary market. The global investment arm of HSBC has been investing in the bank since January. “Like Rabo Bank investments, HSBC Financial Services Middle East’s investment in Yes Bank should be viewed as a financial investment. There is no arrangement for any cooperation with HSBC at this stage,’’ said Yes Bank managing director (MD) and chief executive officer (CEO) Rana Kapoor. Rabo Bank holds around 18 per cent in Yes Bank. During a recent interaction with Business Standard, HSBC group general manager and India head Naina Lal Kidwai had said, “HSBC has global investment arms which keep evaluating investment options. They invest in good portfolios.” While HSBC refused comment on Tuesday, the strategic investment in Yes Bank has set the market abuzz with rumours. This is the second strategic investment made by the HSBC group in a bank after its investment in Axis Bank (earlier called UTI Ban

KS Oils has acquired 20,000 hectares (50,000 acres) of Palm plantation in Indonesia.With an investment of Rs 230 crore spread over the next three-years, the plantation will yield 80,000 mt annually. This will substantially bring down the raw material costs for KS Oils that is currently importing palm oil to refine and sell along with its main product of mustard oil in Northern and Eastern India.The investment has been routed through the company's wholly owned subsidiary in Singapore. The plantation yield of 80,000 mt. represents 2.5% of India's current palm oil imports, which today stands at 3.6 mt annually.According to a release issued by the company to the BSE today, this acquisition would also help the company secure raw material supplies and avoid global price volatility."Indonesian palm plantations are among the most efficient and productive plantations across the world and hence our decision to invest, with spiraling commodity and raw material prices, owning raw mate

Simplex Infrastructures today said it has bagged orders worth Rs 653 crore, including one from Bangalore-based Ritz Carlton Hotel for construction related works."Simplex Infrastructures has bagged Rs 653 crore new orders from different sectors which includes an order from Ritz Carlton Hotel, for construction of a cement plant, sewerage system and thermal power plant," the company said in a filing to the Bombay Stock Exchange.Earlier in February 21, the infrastructure solutions provider company had bagged a Rs 302 crore order for construction of six flyovers in Muscat in Sultanate of Oman.

Sales of existing homes increased unexpectedly in February as bargain hunters took advantage of a bloated supply and the biggest drop in single-family-house prices in at least 40 years. After declining for six consecutive months, home sales in February were up 2.9 percent over January but still down 23.8 percent from a year ago, according to a report released yesterday by the National Association of Realtors. Industry experts said that the increase was good news but warned that it was far too soon to declare a turnaround in a struggling sector that has weighed heavily on the nation's economy.

The Bombay Stock Exchange benchmark Sensex spurted by 928 points on Tuesday on aggressive buying by funds amid squaring up of pending positions by brokers ahead of March derivative expiry. The Sensex, which gained nearly 295 points in previous day's trading, spurted further to record a handsome gain of 928.09 points at 16,217.49. Similarly the wide-based National Stock Exchange index, Nifty, shot up by 267.75 points at 4,877.50 as heavy-weight stocks such as Reliance Industries, Infosys Technologies, Tata Steel and State Bank of India recorded substantial gains. The surge in sto cks was partly supported by reports of a firming trend in global stock markets, marketmen said. Jaiprakash Associates zoomed over 16% to Rs 233. DLF and Reliance Energy soared around 13% each to Rs 679 and Rs 1,300, respectively. Infosys surged 9.7% to Rs 1,493. ICICI Bank rallied 9.3% to Rs 880, and Wipro added 9% to Rs 435. HDFC gained 8.6% at Rs 2,590. BHEL and ONGC moved up around 7.5% each to Rs 2,013

Jyoti Structures on Tuesday said it has bagged two orders worth Rs 253 crore from Uganda Electricity Transmission Company Ltd and Eskom Enterprises (Pty) Ltd for construction of transmission lines. The company has bagged Rs 160-crore order from Uganda Electricity Transmission Company Ltd for construction of transmission lines and sub-stations. Besides, the company's joint venture company Jyoti Structures Africa (Pty) Ltd has bagged a contract for Eskom Enterprises (Pty) Ltd, the electricity utility of South Africa for construction of transmission line. The scope of the order from Uganda Electricity Transmission Company includes supply and erection of Bujagali Interconnection Project, the manufacturer of transmission line towers informed the Bombay Stock Exchange. The contract valued at around $39.64 million (Rs 160 crore) is to be executed in 24 months, the company said, adding the company would construct 220 kV and 132 kV transmission lines and substations.

(The Hindu Business Line 25th March 2008)The recent order bagged by Welspun Gujarat for supply of spiral pipes worth Rs 1,075 crore in Northern Africa reiterates confidence in the company’s growth prospects. This order, which was bagged against competition from players in Europe, will take Welspun’s order book position to over Rs 5,900 crore. Strengthening presence in exports Welspun has always enjoyed a higher contribution from the export market, owing to its long-standing relationship with some of the global oil and gas majors. Notably, Welspun derives more than 90 per cent of its revenues from exports. The order also brings to focus Welspun’s expanding presence in the global markets. While markets such as the US and West Asia have so far been Welspun’s forte, this move towards a relatively newer market in Algeria holds promise. Greater geographic diversification may also help Welspun weather the impact of any likely slowdown in the US more effectively. Welspun may also benefit by wa

The Sensex opened with a positive gap of 99 points at 15,094. The index touched a high of 15,349, and a low of 15,056. Fresh buying towards the close helped the index end on a firm note at 15,289 - up 294 points.The BSE Mid-cap index shed 2.7% (158 points) at 5,806, and the Small-cap index dropped 3.8% (272 points) to 6,950.The BSE Bankex rallied 3.3% (249 points) to 7,744.The NSE Nifty gained 36 points to finish at 4,610.The market breadth was extremely negative - out of 2,717 stocks traded, 2,149 declined, 535 advanced and 33 were unchanged today. HDFC zoomed 7.7% (Rs 171) to Rs 2,384. Wipro soared nearly 6% to Rs 399.HDFC Bank rallied 5.3% to Rs 1,337, and ICICI Bank surged 5% to Rs 805.Hindustan Unilever advanced 4.3% to Rs 235. ACC gained 3.8% at Rs 805, and Larsen & Toubro has added 3.5% to Rs 2,937.Bharti Airtel gained 3% at Rs 801. SBI moved up 2.7% to Rs 1,646.Reliance and ITC were up nearly 2% each at Rs 2,201 and Rs 191, respectively.Tata Motors, Ambuja Cements and TCS w

Idea Cellular: Buy (The Hindu Business Line 23th March 2008)A sharp reversal in its stock price from Rs 161 to Rs 91 makes Idea Cellular a good investment for those looking to add a large-cap stock to their portfolio. Investments with a 18-24 months’ horizon can be considered in the stock. At Rs 91, the stock trades at 24 times its current earnings and 19 times its estimated FY-09 earnings. With earnings and subscriber growth rates comparable to its top-tier listed peers, the stock may deliver reasonable capital appreciation. Robust subscriber additions and improving performance in its three new circles, benefits accruing from the Indus Towers stake and the recent allocation of spectrum, which will enable an entry into the high ARPU (average revenue per user) Mumbai circle, make Idea strongly positioned in the telecom services landscape. Additions and network enhancement: Subscriber additions in Idea’s eight established circles continue to be strong. In many of these circles, I

Reliance Vision: Invest (The Hindu Business Line 23th Mar 2008 ) Investors wishing to take advantage of recent market declines to build an equity portfolio can buy units of Reliance Vision Fund, considering its good long-term track record. The fund’s large-cap focus may make it better placed to tide over current market volatility. But being a diversified fund which has exposures to contrarian sectors, further investments may be considered through the SIP (systematic investment plan). This may help you gain from any appreciation in the event of upside or alternatively, average your cost during downside. The fund has, in its 12 years of existence, been able to deliver market-plus returns on a regular basis, especially over the last five years. Performance and Suitability: Reliance Vision may be held as a part of the core portfolio on the basis of its long-term returns record. The fund is suitable for investors requiring a large-cap focus and a diversified portfolio. The fund has deliver

The Hindu Business Line (23th March 2008) Investments with a two-three year perspective can be considered in the initial public offering of Titagarh Wagons (TWL). Our optimism stems from the opening up of business opportunities in the rail sector by way of setting up of dedicated freight corridors, participation of private players in rail logistics and the introduction of the wagon leasing scheme. Titagarh Wagons appears well placed to ride this growing demand for wagons, given its established relationship with the Indian Railways (IR). At the price band of Rs 540-610, the stock is valued at about 15-17 times its likely FY-09 per share earnings on a diluted equity base. This is at a marginal discount to Texmaco, which trades at about 17 times its likely FY-09 per share earnings. This discount is justified as Texmaco commands a higher share in wagon supplies and has a more diversified business mix. Growth prospects notwithstanding, we would be more comfortable if the offer were priced a

Oil, gold and other major commodities fell sharply on Thursday, capping their steepest weekly drop in a half-century, as investors fled what many had believed to be the last safe haven in turbulent markets.Oil tumbled 6.9 percent in two days of trading, and most other commodities fell by 7 percent or more in that period — including a precipitous 15 percent drop for wheat. For the four-day week ending Thursday, an index created by the Commodity Research Bureau in Chicago fell 8.3 percent, the sharpest one-week decline since the index began in 1956.This fall is good news, at least for the consumers, as this would lead to low inflation.But what is the cause of this downfall?In the previous weeks, we have seen that whenever dollar falls, investors switch over to commodities and as a result commodity prices go up with fall in dollar price.Some analysts think last interest cut of .75% is less than the market expectation, that took dollar higher, which finally resulted in fall in commodity pr

Inflation for the week ended March 8 stood at 5.92% as against 5.11% for the week ended March 1, reports CNBC-TV18. The market estimated it at 5.11%.

The cheer doesn't last for long on wall street due to a sharp drop in crude prices and lingering credit concerns. A broad-based sell-off in the commodities especailly gold triggered concerns about margin calls. Energy shares fell the most losing 5.4 percent as a group, after crude dropped almost 5 dollars a barrel. Chevron slid the most in five years as lower fuel demand increased concern that the federal reserve has failed to prevent a recession. And regulators allowed fannie mae & freddie mac to buy more home loans. The move is expected to provide up to 200 billion dollars which will help the liquidity situation of the companies The Dow plunged 293 points, or 2.36%, to 12,099.66. The Standard & Poor's 500 index declined 32.32 points, or 2.43%, to 1,298.42, and the Nasdaq composite index was down 58.30 points, or 2.57%, to 2,209.96.

Stock, forex, bond markets closed for holidays Bond, currency and stock markets are closed on Thursday and Friday for local holidays. Trading resumes on Monday.

Infrastructure industries’ growth slumps to 4.2% in Jan (The Hindu Business Line 20th March 2008)On the heels of the deceleration in industrial production in January 2008, the six core infrastructure industries grew by 4.2 per cent in that month, almost half the 8.3 per cent growth seen in such industries in the same month last year. The cumulative growth rate in these sectors during April-January 2008 declined to 5.5 per cent as against 8.9 per cent in the same period last fiscal, official data released today showed. Crude oil production recorded a negative growth of 0.2 per cent in January 2008 as compared to 4.7 per cent growth in same month last year. Growth in coal production also declined to 4.8 per cent as against 9.9 per cent in January 2007. Electricity sector witnessed 3.3 per cent growth in January 2008 as against 8.3 per cent growth in same month last year. The growth in output of the cement sector stood at 5.2 per cent as compared to 7.2 per cent. The six core infrastruct

Robust advance tax payments may allay slowdown fears (The Hindu Business Line 20th March 2008)Robust advance tax payments of large industrial and banking companies in the March 15 instalment may allay economic slowdown worries. The advance tax payments by many large corporate houses have increased by over 40 per cent in this instalment on a year-on-year basis. This is in line with the overall direct tax collections growth rate of over 40 per cent witnessed this fiscal, official sources said. The March 15 instalment is the fourth and final part of advance tax in a financial year. The over 40 per cent increase in advance tax payments by corporate biggies has kindled hope that the earnings and bottomline of India Inc would remain unaffected in the last quarter despite the industrial output slowdown in January this year. Reliance Industries paid advance tax of Rs 443 crore (Rs 118 crore) and SBI Rs 1,418 crore (Rs 690 crore). ICICI Bank has doubled the payout to Rs 250 crore (Rs 125 crore