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Sun TV Network posted consolidated net profit at Rs 326.69 crore for the year ended March 31, 2008 an increase of 32.8 per cent from Rs 246 crore registered for FY07. The total income of the company at Rs 925.54 crore increased by 28.7 per cent from Rs 719 crore for the year ended On standalone basis Sun TV Network net profit of Rs 366.98 crore for the year ended March 31, 2008 grew by 36 per cent as compared to Rs 268.8 crore for FY07. Total income has increased from Rs 726.4 crore for the FY07 to Rs 926 crore for the year ended March 31, 2008. The company announced a dividend at the rate of 50 per cent on the face value of equity shares of Rs 5 each, i.e. Rs 2.50 per share for the financial year ended March 31, 2008.

Idea Cellular along with Persons Acting in Concert (PACs), including Telekom Malaysia International (TMI), TMI Mauritius, TM International Berhad and Green Acre Agro Services have made the open offer for a further 20 per cent stake in Spice Communication s. Idea Cellular along with the PACs have made the open offer for acquiring up to 137,985,050 equity shares representing 20 per cent of the paid-up equity share capital of Spice Communications at Rs 77.30 each. The open offer would start on August 22, and would close on September 11, the company said in a filing to the Bombay Stock Exchange. Earlier on June 25, Idea Cellular, said it would acquire 40.8 per cent stake in B K Modi-owned Spice group for Rs 2,716 crore. The Birla group company had said it would merge Spice with itself through a share swap, where Spice shareholders would get 49 Idea shares for every 100 Spice shares held. In the morning trade, Idea shares were trading at Rs 97.10, down 0.36 per cent, while Spice Communicati

Asian stocks dropped and government bonds rose on Friday after shares plunged on Wall Street and oil prices shot above $140 a barrel, aggravating investors' fears of high inflation and slowing economic growth. All but 15 of the 225 stocks on Japan's Nikkei share average were declining, with the overall index down 2.2 percent At 1 p.m., the Sensex, which had gained 325 points in last two trading session, was quoted at 14,046.63, down 375.19 points led by blue chips such as Reliance Industries and Infosys. Earlier, the Sensex lost 612 points or 4.25 per cent to dip below the 14k level touching a low of 13,784.37 on heavy selling by funds tracking weak global cues.

Inflation shot up to over 13-year high at 11.42 per cent for the week ended June 14, 2008, up from 11.05 per cent recorded in the previous week. The rise has been mainly on account of higher prices of food items like tea, milk and cereals

The Sensex opened with a huge downward gap of 250 points at 13,856, and soon touched a low of 13,731. Another rise in repo rate and Cash Reserve Ratio by the RBI sparked off heavy sell-off in opening trades. However, fresh buying at lower levels helped the index recover all its losses by mid noon trades. A fresh round of buying in late trades saw the index surge to a high of 14,249 - up 518 points from the days low. The Sensex finally settled with a gain of 113 points at 14,220. The NSE Nifty ended with a gain of 60 points at 4,251. The market breadth was marginally positive- out of 2707 stocks traded, 1,370 advanced, 1,264 declined and 73 were unchanged today. Reliance Communications (RCom) zoomed 7.2% at Rs 509. Tata Steel surged 4.5% at Rs 743. DLF and Reliance Infra gained 4.2% each at Rs 458 and Rs 945, respectively. TCS and Bharti Airtel advanced 4% each at Rs 877 and Rs 780, respectively. Ranbaxy was up 3.8% at Rs 545. BHEL gained 3.7% at Rs 1,442. Reliance advanced 3.4% to Rs 2

Idea Cellular has signed a deal to acquire Spice Comm. Idea will pay Rs 2,716 crore for 40.8 per cent stake in cash and stock

Corporates and individual consumers, who are already bearing the brunt of high prices and input costs, could soon be paying more for their loans. Interest rates are set to go up further with the Reserve Bank of India on Tuesday hiking both repo rates and Cash Reserve Ratio by 50 basis points each. While the repo rate has been hiked with immediate effect to 8.50 per cent, the CRR will be hiked in two tranches, to 8.5 per cent on July 5, and to 8.75 on July 19. The double-stroke anti-inflationary measures are expected to tighten the liquidity in the system, as the CRR hike would suck out around Rs 19,000 crore. CRR is the proportion of deposits mobilised by banks and parked with the RBI for statutory requirement. Banks do not earn any interest on the cash reserves. Repo rate is the rate at which RBI lends money to banks. Clear signal Most bankers said they would have to take the cue from the RBI signal, which is very clear and on expected lines. The last time RBI hiked repo rate was on J

New York Times reports that US Congress is poised to approve a huge package of housing legislation, including a refinancing program aimed at rescuing hundreds of thousands of homeowners in danger of foreclosure and the most sweeping government overhaul of mortgage financing since the New Deal. The centerpiece of the Senate package is a rescue-refinancing plan aimed at stemming the tide of more than 8,000 new foreclosures a day that lenders are filing across the country. The plan would allow distressed borrowers and their lenders to stem losses by allowing qualified owners to refinance into more affordable, 30-year fixed-rate loans with a federal guarantee. The legislation would also provide benefits for first-time buyers, who would receive a refundable tax credit of up to $8,000, or 10 percent of the value of a home, on purchases of unoccupied housing.

The Sensex opened marginally (20 points) higher at 14,313. Selective buying in morning trades saw the index move up to a high of 14,433. A fresh round of selling in noon trades saw the index slip into the negative zone. The index, thereafter, staged a sharp pull-back only to tumble deeper into red at the closing bell. The index touched a low of 13,991 - down 443 points from the day's high. The Sensex finally ended with a loss of 187 points at 14,106. In the process, the index has now shed over 10% (1,591 points) in the last five trading sessions. The NSE Nifty ended with a loss of 75 points at 4,191. Hindustan Unilever slumped 5.3% to Rs 215. Tata Steel plunged 4.6% to Rs 711. NTPC tumbled 4% to Rs 156. ONGC, Larsen & Toubro and Ambuja Cements dropped over 3.5% each to Rs 855, Rs 2,311 and Rs 81, respectively. HDFC Bank shed 3.3% at Rs 1,060. Grasim and Infosys slipped 3% each to Rs 2,083 and Rs 1,793, respectively. Reliance Communications and Hindalco declined over 2.5% each t

With India allowing FDI up to 100 per cent in many sectors, power, petroleum and natural gas, services, construction and real estate have emerged as the preferred destinations for foreign investors, who have pumped in $20.8 billion in these areas in the last four years. Between 2004-05 and 2007-08, FDI in services leapfrogged to $6.61 billion from $444 million, an official statement said here today. The real estate sector which was thrown open in 2004-05 saw the FDI picking up slowly in the initial two years, but grew substantially in 2007-08 to $2.17 billion. While inflows registered an over 18-fold rise in the power sector, the inflows are yet to touch $1 billion and were at $967 million in 2007-08. It was one of the sectors which was late in attracting attention of foreign investors, thanks to the lack of clarity in policy both at the Central and state levels. "FDI is a means to supplement domestic investment for achieving higher level of economic development

India's exports grew by 22.9 per cent in FY'08, marginally higher than a 22.6 per cent growth registered in the previous fiscal, the RBI said. Exports stood at $155.4 billion in 2007-08, against $126.4 billion in the previous fiscal, mainly driv en by a huge jump in engineering goods, gems and jewellery and petroleum products, RBI said in its June bulletin. The central bank said the growth in exports, during FY'08, was close to the average export growth of 23.5 per cent recorded during the previous five years, indicating a strong upward momentum, the apex bank said. Of the total exports, agriculture and allied products, engineering goods, gems and jewellery and petroleum products alone contributed 68 per cent of the export growth during April-January FY'08. However, the growth in exports of petroleum products sharply decelerated to 36.7 per cent as compared with 66.7 per cent in the year-ago period. Manufactured goods exhibited moderation in export growth in April-Janua

In spite of the sharp increase in oil and coal prices globally in the financial year 2007-08, Tata Power Company Ltd has posted 25 per cent increase in net profit at Rs 869 crore up from Rs 696 crore posted in the previous year. The net sales have also increased by 25 per cent for the fiscal at Rs 5,915 crore (Rs 4,715 crore). The company reported 3.72 per cent growth in its annual sales at 14,959 million units (MUs) in FY08 against 14,422 MUs. Trombay thermal power station recorded the generation of 10,002 MUs with a plant load factor of 85.61 per cent for FY08. Jojobera thermal power station generated 2,862 MU in FY08. The fuel expenditure has climbed to Rs 3,714 crore from Rs 2,708 crore in the last fiscal. The company has recommended a dividend of Rs 10.50 per share. Talking to mediapersons after announcing the results, Mr Prasad Menon, Managing Director, said that the company plans add about 13,000 MW of generation capacity in the next five years through its various projects, whic

(The Hindu Busienss Line 24th June 2008)The equity markets which fell by more than 270 points saw a short recovery in intra-day trade on Monday, on cues that no monetary tightening measurers are expected, at least for the day. Markets were rife with talk, earlier in the day, that the Reserve Bank of India may announce some measures following the Governor, Dr Y. V. Reddy’s meeting with the Prime Minister and the Finance Minister, on Saturday. While speaking to reporters in Pune on Monday, Dr Reddy said, “The RBI will continue to take determined and calibrated measures, as and when warranted, with a focus on managing expectations and on enabling adjustments in the economy in response to the oil shock.” There was some short covering at lower levels, which led to the recovery. But it was short-lived as the markets closed weak. The benchmark index Sensex closed at 14,293.32, down 1.91 per cent since its previous close. Dr Reddy said that India was safe in regard to the financial and externa

The Sensex opened with a negative gap of 148 points at 14,423. Minor pull-back in opening trades saw the index touch a high of 14,511. The index, however, soon slipped deeper into red and touched a low of 14,163 - down 408 points from its previous close. Selective buying at lower levels helped the index recover some of its losses. The Sensex finally ended with a loss of 278 points at 14,293. The market breadth was extremely negative - out of 2,697 stocks traded, 2,222 declined, 425 advanced and 50 were unchanged today. The NSE Nifty shed 81 points and ended at 4,266. Jaiprakash Associates and Hindalco slumped 8% each to Rs 153 and Rs 148, respectively. Larsen & Toubro tumbled 6.5% to Rs 2,396. Maruti and Ranbaxy plunged 5.5% each to Rs 688 and Rs 513, respectively. Reliance Infrastructure and Mahindra & Mahindra shed over 4.5% each at Rs 917 and Rs 549, respectively. Tata Steel slipped over 4% to Rs 746. Reliance and SBI dropped 3.5% each to Rs 2,022 and Rs 1,205, respectively.

(The Hindu Business Line 23 rd June 2008) Major benchmarks sank 4 per cent on Friday over apprehension of a severe aftershock of unexpected rise in official inflation. The market in its stretched imagination expected that the last hike in petroleum product prices would not take inflation beyond 10 per cent. The WPI-based inflation for week ending June 7 reached 11.05 per cent setting an alarm that monetary policy tightening measures and harsh fiscal steps are in the offing. It also triggered the chances a political game that might cause an uncertainty over the future of the Government at the Centre. Growth concern Suddenly the realisation dawned on Dalal Street that possible negatives, which have not been factored in, have silently stacked up against the equity market. Not only the 9 per cent GDP growth estimates appeared distant, but also corporate earnings prospects in the next few quarters seemed to have dimmed quite a bit in a high inflationary situation. In the short-to-medium ter

(The Hindu Business Line 23 June 2008)As the markets open for trading this week, the cup of woes for Indian stock investors is surely brimming over: Double-digit inflation, the possibility of further interest rate hikes, a fiscal situation which is being bent out of shape by oil prices, the possibility of a political fracture over the nuclear deal. To top it all, weak global cues — with the Dow shedding over 200 points at the close last week! The tentative recovery forged by the Sensex in mid-May, when it ventured past the 17,000 mark, has been decisively nipped in the bud in recent weeks. No surprise The market’s failure to break away from its recent losing streak isn’t surprising, given the deluge of negative news flow on the economy and thus, corporate earnings, in recent weeks. Spiralling commodity prices represent a potent threat to earnings growth for India Inc in the coming quarters. Companies in sectors ranging from capital goods to automobiles are already feeling the heat on t

The Sensex opened with a positive gap of 80 points at 15,168, and soon spurted to a high of 15,202. The index, however, could not hold gains and soon slipped into the negaitve zone. Unabated selling in heavyweights - Reliance, Reliance Communications and Tata Steel saw the index extend its losses as the day progressed. Higher than expected inflation numbers further dampened the sentiment. The index tumbled to its lowest level in this calendar year to 14,519 - down 683 points from the day's high. The Sensex finally ended with a loss of 517 points at 14,571.The NSE Nifty was down 157 points at 4,348. The market breadth was extremely negative - out of 2,740 stocks traded, 2,243 declined, 453 advanced and 44 were unchanged today. Reliance and Reliance Communications plunged over 6.5% each to Rs 2,097 and Rs 491, respectively. Hindalco, too, tumbled nearly 6.5% to Rs 161. Jaiprakash Associates shed 6% at Rs 167. Reliance Infrastructure dropped 5% to Rs 963. Bharti Airtel, Ambuja Cements

Board of Directors of the Hindalco Industries has approved the issue of Equity Shares for an amount not exceeding Rs50bn to the existing Shareholders on rights basis ("Rights Issue") to part finance the take out of the existing bridge loan for acquisition of Novelis Inc. The Share Ratio for the Rights issue will be 1:3, i.e. one right of Re 1 each for every three equity shares of Re 1 each held by the shareholder as on the Record Date to be announced later. The price per share for the Rights Issue would be decided by the Board and announced at a later date in accordance with the relevant statutory requirements.

Larsen and Toubro (L&T) has bagged orders totalling Rs 1,000 crore for supply of high tech equipment and systems in first two months of this fiscal and plans to expand its capacity to meet the growing demand. Stating that the demand for such critical hi tech equipment in the country as well as abroad is on the rise, Larsen and Toubro Member of the board and Senior Executive Vice President M V Kotwal said, "we are expanding our manufacturing facilities at Hazi ra in Gujarat and setting up a new facility at Oman, to cater to the rising demand.'' The company has bagged two major orders, including one from Tata Power subsidiary company Coastal Gujarat Power for power plant equipment and the other was from HPCL Mittal Energy for critical reactors. The major export orders that the company received were from Kuwait National Petroleum Company, Brazil-based Petroleo Brasileiro, Germany-based UHDE, Thailand-based PTT Asahi Chem Co Ltd. L&T has supplied several critical react

Fuelled by the sharp increase in fuel and cooking gas prices, the inflation shot to a thirteen-year high of over 11 per cent. Coupled with increase in petrol product prices, the food prices put the pressure on inflation that touched 11.05 per cent for the week ending June 7, a development that could cause a major worry for the government. Capturing the Central Government's decision to hike petrol prices by Rs 5 a litre, diesel by Rs 3 a litre and domestic cooking gas by Rs 50 a cylinder led to the spurt in inflation, management of which is proving a major challenge for both the Finance Mi nistry and the RBI. Inflation was 8.75 per cent for the week ended May 31 mainly on account of rising food, vegetable and fruit prices. After the release of the government data on price movement in the country, the Bombay Stock Exchange benchmark Sensex dipped by over 300 p oints, reflecting the concern of the investing community.

The Sensex opened with a negative gap of 172 points at 15,250 owing to weakness in global markets. The index was in a red for a whole day due to selling pressure on realty, banking, capital goods and power stocks. The index moved in a range of 207 points between 15,052 (low) and 15,259 (high). The Sensex finally ended with a loss of 334 points at 15,088. The markets breadth was negative - out of 2,717 stocks traded, 1,804 declined, 842 advanced and 71 were unchanged today. The NSE Nifty ended with a loss of 78 points at 4,504. Ranbaxy tumbled 7.7% to Rs 552. Reliance Infrastructure plunged 5.7% to Rs 1,012. BHEL declined over 5% to Rs 1,423. Larsen & Toubro slipped 4.8% at Rs 2,617. ICICI Bank dropped 4.1% to Rs 753. HDFC Bank lost nearly 4% at Rs 1,121. SBI was down 3.7% at Rs 1,301. HDFC shed 3.3% at Rs 2,238. ONGC declined 3.1% to Rs 853. DLF was down 2.9% at Rs 478. Tata Motors slipped 2.7% to Rs 503. Jaiprakash Associates lost 2.6% to Rs 177. Maruti fell 2.4% to Rs 746. Relian

Power Grid Corporation on Thursday posted profit after tax of Rs 1,448.47 crore for the year ended March 31, 2008, a 17.82 per cent increase over its corresponding period a year ago. The company had reported a net profit of Rs 1,229.37 crore for the year ended March 31, 2007. The total income also increased to Rs 5,081.53 crore for the year ended March 31, 2008 from Rs 4,097.15 crore in the previous year.

(The Hindu Business Line 19th June 2008) The growth rate of the six core infrastructure industries witnessed a major slide in April this year compared to the same month last year. The combined growth registered by the six core sector industries dipped to 3.6 per cent in April as against 5.9 per cent in April 2007.Steel, cement improve A more than 10 per cent growth in coal production along with improved performance by the steel and cement sector prevented the infrastructure index from dipping further under pressure from poor growth in electricity generation, crude oil production and petroleum refinery output. Coal production went up by 10.3 per cent in April (0.6 per cent in the same month last year), cement output gained by 6.9 per cent (5.8 per cent) while crude steel production improved by four per cent (2.7 per cent).Downtrend The three industries that created the downward pressure on the index are crude oil (from 1.4 per cent in April 2007 went down to 0.9 per cent in April 2008),

Aurobindo Pharma recorded a 2.59 per cent fall in its net profit to Rs 76.08 crore for the quarter ended March 31, 2008 compared to Rs 78.1 crore during the same period last year. Its income for the quarter under consideration increased by 21.91 per cent to Rs 641.27 crore compared to Rs 525.99 crore last year. Its expenditure increased by 16.74 per cent to Rs 550.87 crore compared to Rs 471.86 crore in the corresponding quarter previous year. The earnings per share for the quarter stood at Rs 14.15 this year from Rs 14.64 last year. According to Aurobindo corporate finance advisor A K Kamath, the profit of the fourth quarter of 2007-08 is not comparable with the corresponding quarter of last year. In the fourth quarter of 2006-07, there was no provision for taxation as a deferred tax of Rs 23.35 crore had been reversed and adjusted in the books. On the other hand, an amount of Rs 9.94 crore was provided towards taxation in the last quarter of 2007-08. He said that the exchange fluc

The Sensex opened 47 points higher at 15,744 despite the negative close in the US markets and touched a day's high of 15,790. Unabated selling in realty, banking and IT stocks pushed the index into a negative zone. The index drifted to a low of 15,390 - down 400 points from day's high. The Sensex finally ended with a loss of 274 points at 15,422. The markets breadth was marginally negative - out of 2,731 stocks traded, 1,402 declined, 1,254 advanced and 75 were unchanged today. The NSE Nifty ended with a loss of 71 points at 4,582. ICICI Bank tumbled 4.2% to Rs 785. HDFC Bank plunged 3.4% to Rs 1,166. Tata Steel declined 3.2% to Rs 823. Larsen & Toubro slipped 3.1% to Rs 2,750. Jaiprakash Associates dropped 2.9% to Rs 182. Reliance Infrastructure lost 2.8% at Rs 1,073. DLF and Bharti Airtel declined 2.7% each to Rs 492 and Rs 811, respectively. BHEL and SBI shed 2.6% each at Rs 1,499 and Rs 1,351, respectively. Infosys was trading at Rs 1,866 - down 2.5%. Satyam lost 2.4% t

The Sensex opened seven points lower at 15,388 and soon touched a day's low of 15,358. Fresh buying in banking and realty stocks helped the index to touch a day's high of 15,733 - up 375 from day's low. The index finally ended with a gain of 301 points at 15,697. The market breadth was positive - out of 2,764 stocks traded, 1,802 advanced, 882 declined and 80 were unchanged today. The NSE Nifty ended with a gain of 80 points at 4,653. HDFC surged 6% at Rs 2,298. Maruti soared 5.2% to Rs 756. HDFC Bank gained 4.9% to Rs 1,207. ONGC moved up 4.8% to Rs 884. SBI gained 4.6% to Rs 1,387, while Jaiprakash Associates advanced 4.5% to Rs 188. Reliance Infrastructure was trading at Rs 1,105 - up 4.1%. Larsen & Toubro inched 3.7% to Rs 2,839. DLF was up 3% at Rs 506. ICICI Bank gained 2.7% to Rs 820. Ranbaxy advanced 2.4% to Rs 581. Hindustan Unilever and Reliance were up around 2% each at Rs 236 and Rs 2,329, respectively. Ambuja Cements, Wipro and NTPC were the other major gai

The Sensex opened with a positive gap of 143 points at 15,333 due to strong global cues and slide in crude oil prices. The index moved in a range of 220 points between 15,333 (low) and 15,553 (high) before finally settling with a gain of 206 points at 15,396. The market breadth was positive - out of 2,724 stocks traded, 1,776 advanced, 872 declined and 76 were unchanged today. The NSE Nifty ended with a gain of 55 points at 4,572. ICICI Bank surged 4.4% to Rs 799. Reliance Infrastructure gained nearly 4% at Rs 1,061. Bharti Airtel and NTPC advanced 3.1% each to Rs 840 and Rs 166, respectively. Cipla gained 2.6% at Rs 217, while HDFC Bank moved up 2.5% to Rs 1,151. DLF surged 2.4% to Rs 491. Infosys and Hindustan Unilever inched 2.3% each to Rs 1,907 and Rs 232, respectively. ITC was up around 2% at Rs 201. Wipro added 1.8% to Rs 486. HDFC and Satyam were up 1.6% each at Rs 2,168 and Rs 488, respectivel. Larsen & Toubro, Tata Steel and Reliance were the other major gainers. Hindalco

(The Economic Times 16th June 2008) After a dream bull run over the last 3-4 years, the domestic stock markets are on a downward trend from the beginning of this year. They have dropped so much of late that they are now among the worst-performing in the league of emerging markets. With a flurry of bad news coming in, it looks like nothing is going right for the markets. These are some of the factors that led to the markets crashing recently: High inflation rate Inflation is ruling high across the world. Here, the inflation rate has touched a 45 months' high and is ruling over eight percent. Analysts and market men are predicting that inflation will not cool down in the near future due to the recent price hike in oil. Higher petrol and diesel prices will have a cascading effect on commodity prices which will also be visible in the inflation numbers over the next few weeks. Last month, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) raised the cash reserve ratio (CRR) by 75 basis points. This week,

(Hindu Business Line 15th June 2008) Investors with a three-year perspective can consider investing in the stock of BGR Energy Systems. The recent results posted by the company and the strong growth in order book belie fears of a slow down in the engineering services space. BGR’s well entrenched position as an EPC player in the power segment and a multi-equipment supplier in the oil and gas segment makes it a good proxy for the energy sector. The current market price, at a sharp discount to its offer price of Rs 480, provides an attractive entry point. The stock currently trades at about 13 times its expected per share earnings for FY 2010. BGR has an order backlog of Rs 3,212 crore and secured 46 per cent more orders than the previous year. This order growth inspires confidence at a time when some companies in the engineering sector have reported slowdown in the growth of order intake. Order inflows are key indicators of any slowdown in the sectors serviced by engineering companies. B

The Sensex opened 77 points higher at 15,327 due to positive close in the US markets, and soon Intra-day profit booking in realty, metal and FMCG stocks pushed the index into a negative zone to touch a day's low of 15,136. The Sensex finally ended with a loss of 60 points at 15,190. The market breadth was marginally positive - out of 2,678 stocks traded, 1,445 advanced, 1,156 declined and 77 were unchanged today. The NSE Nifty ended with a loss of 22 points at 4,517. Jaipakash Associates plunged over 4% to Rs 179. DLF tumbled 3.6% to Rs 480. HDFC Bank declined 3.4% at Rs 1,123. Cipla slipped 2.6% to Rs 211. Hindustan Unilever and Reliance Infrastructure dropped 2.5% each to Rs 225 and Rs 1,020, repsectively. Maruti lost around 2% at Rs 722. Tata Steel and HDFC dipped 1.9% each to Rs 841 and Rs 2,133, respectively. Grasim, Hindalco and Mahindra & Mahindra declined 1.3% each to Rs 2,182, Rs 175 and Rs 570, respectively. ITC and NTPC shed 1.2% each at Rs 197 and Rs 161, respective

Prices continued to rise unabated pushing the inflation to 8.75 per cent for the week ending May 31, 2008 leading to fears that it would shoot pass 9 per cent after the impact of rise in fuel prices earlier this month is taken into account. The costlier food and vegetables mainly accounted for 0.51 per cent increase in inflation from 8.24 per cent in the preceding week. Prices of foods and vegetables, cereals, milk, spices and some manufactured products went up. Among the manufactured products, mustard oil and groundnut oil looked up. Despite, several government measures to contain cement rates, prices marginally increased. The government as also the Reserve Bank have taken several measures to reverse the infl ation. RBI on Wednesday increased its short-term lending rates to banks by 25 basis points.

In USA the Consumer Price Index, which measures prices of a batch of common household products, rose 0.6 percent last month, with much of the increase coming from high fuel costs. Food prices rose again in May as Americans paid 5 percent more for foods and beverages than a year ago. The high cost of oil pushed up prices for several other products. Many businesses, squeezed by higher shipping and production costs, sought to pass those costs onto their customers in May. Minus the cost of food and gasoline, inflation was 0.2 percent for the month. The growing consensus is that Federal Reserve could raise interest rates by the end of the year. Signals from the head of the central banker are also in same line, that focus is shifting from supporting grwoth to fighting inflation

Slowdown in the manufacturing sector pulled down the overall industrial growth rate to 7 per cent in April, the first month of the current financial year. The industrial production during April 2008 declined from 11.3 per cent recorded in the corresponding month of the previous financial year, says the Index of Industrial Production (IIP) figures released on Thursday. The decline has been mainly on account of poor showing by manufacturing and electricity sectors. While the manufacturing sector growth rate slipped from 12.4 per cent to 7.5 per cent during the month, power generation recorded a sharper decline from 8.7 per cent to 1.4 per cent. The mining sector, however, registered a robust growth in April, moving up to 8.6 per cent from 2.6 per cent in the corresponding period last year. According to the official figures, the industrial growth rate for 2007-08 worked out to be 8.3 per cent, down from 11.6 per cent in the previous year. As per the use-based classification, consumer good

Reliance Communications (RCom) has added 1.63 million new subscribers on both its CDMA and GSM networks in May 2008. The addition has increased the company's total of subscribers to 49 million. This, however, is lower than the net additions of 1.7 million the company recorded during the comparable period of April.

The Sensex opened with a huge negative gap of 228 points at 14,957 owing to weakness in the global markets. The index touched a day's low of 14,748 - down 437 points from its previous close. The index recovered smartly in late noon deals and touched a day's high of 15,271 - swung 523 points intraday. Consumer durables and oil & gas stocks gained 1.7% and 1.4%, respectively, while IT stocks lost 0.3%. The Sensex finally ended with a gain of 65 points at 15,250. The market breadth was marginally positive - out of 2,674 stocks traded, 1,481 advanced, 1,109 declined, and 84 were unchanged. The NSE Nifty moved up 16 points at 4,539. BHEL gained 2.5% to Rs 1,519, while Reliance Infrastructure has moved up 2.4% to Rs 1,046. Tata Steel and SBI advanced 2.% each to Rs 857 and Rs 1,340, respectively. Wipro added 2.1% to Rs 483. Larsen & Toubro was up 1.9% at Rs 2,703. Jaiprakash Associates and Bharti Airtel inched around 1.6% each at Rs 186 and Rs 820, respectively. Reliance gain

The Sensex opened with a positive gap of 129 points higher at 15,019. The index moved in a range of 217 points between 15,226 (high) and 15009 (low). The index finally ended with a gain of 296 points at 15,185. The market breadth was positive - out of 2,716 stocks traded, 1,830 advanced, 809 declined, and 77 were unchanged. The NSE Nifty moved up 74 points at 4,524. BHEL zoomed 8.6% to Rs 1,382. Ambuja Cements surged 7.7% to Rs 82. DLF advanced 7.5% to Rs 480. HDFC gained 5% at Rs 2,101. Bharti Airtel and HDFC Bank added 4.5% each to Rs 778 and Rs 1131, respectively. ACC was up 3.8% to Rs 617. Jaiprakash Associates and Cipla advanced 3.4% each to Rs 177 and Rs 211, respectively. Reliance gained 3% to Rs 2,199. L&T and Tata Steel were up 2.7% each to Rs 2,589 and Rs 820, respectively. Infosys, SBI , NTPC, Reliance Infrastructure, Mahindra & Mahindra, ICICI Bank and Satyam were the other gainers. Tata Motors and Reliance Communications declined 1.4% each at Rs 513 and Rs 551, res

Banking stocks were badly battered yet again on Tuesday, with the BSE Bankex shedding 171 points or 2.43 per cent from its previous day’s close. Over the last week, the index has shed 7.23 per cent and over the last month, 19.38 per cent. Three banking stocks in theSensex basket were amongst the worst performing stocks of the day. HDFC Bank dropped 4.46 per cent, ICICI shed 2.47 per cent and SBI fell 1.06 per cent. The other banking stocks that declined today were Andhra Bank, Bank of Baroda, Canara Bank, Federal Bank and Indian Overseas Bank. The BSE Bankex has been underperforming the benchmark index, the Sensex, for more than a month now. So it is no surprise that most of the banking stocks today touched their 52-week lows. Among the stocks that recorded their new lows were ICICI Bank, SBI, Oriental Bank, Karnataka Bank, Axis Bank, Canara Bank, Allahabad Bank, Central Bank, IDBI Bank and Syndicate Bank. Investors are uncertain as to what steps the RBI would take to rein in inflation

The downward trend continued in the stock markets on Tuesday with the benchmark Sensex closing below 15,000 points level by losing nearly 177 points as selling pressure in heavyweight stocks mainly in banking, realty and metal sectors showed no s igns of lessening. The 30-share Sensex, which had lost over 500 points in the previous day's trading, dropped further by 176.85 at 14,889.25, its lowest level in three months. The key index moved touched the day's high of 15,088.03 and low 14,645.31 points. The BSE barometer had lost over 875 points in the past three trading sessions as funds remained net sellers, particularly in banking and financial companies. The 50-scrip National Stock Exchange index Nifty also fell by 51.15 points to close at 4,449.80. It breached the crucial 4,400-level at 4369.80 during intra-day and touched a high of 4,522.55 points. Banking sector lost the most as its index lost 170.99 points at 6,862.33, followed by metal index by 123.69 points at 15,265.92.

(The Hindu Business Line 10th June 2008) Monday’s fall has dragged the CNX Nifty back to its mid-March levels (4533 points). But is the value of your portfolio also back to its March levels? That would depend entirely on the sectors and stocks you favoured over these three months. There has been a huge divergence in the way different sectors have handled this roller-coaster market. If you picked IT, pharma or FMCG stocks in mid-March, you could be sitting on respectable gains of anywhere between 20 and 50 per cent over these three months. On the other hand, if real estate, banking, cement or media were your choices, a sizeable chunk of anywhere between 20-50 per cent could have been shaved off your portfolio value! While the CNX Nifty is flat on a point-to-point basis, the CNX IT index is up 26 per cent from its March 18 level. While software biggies such as Infosys (up 27 per cent from mid-March) and Wipro (up 36 per cent) have posted solid gains, mid-sized IT firms such as Patni Comp

With the market condition turning worse, as many as 179 of the 1,252 stocks traded on NSE recorded new52-week lows on Monday. The selling pressure did not spare even large-cap stocks. Of the Nifty-50 stocks, ABB, ACC, BPCL, DLF, HPCL, Reliance Power, SBI, and Siemens saw their stock price plummeting to year’s lows. Stocks belonging to sectors such as realty, IT and capital goods were the worst affected. On the BSE, 325 stocks have hit the lower circuit while 78 stocks hit the upper circuit. The advance/decline ratio also stood in favour of decliners with 80.58 per cent of the traded shares declining and17.6 per cent advancing. “We maintain our negative view and expect the Sensex to decline further to 13,000, as the market is not fully pricing the lower earnings growth going forward. Rise in oil prices is complicating everything for us,” Mr Nilesh Jasani, Head of Research - Asia Pacific, Credit Suisse, said. According to other market participants, India, along with a few other emerging

Realty stocks on the bourses took a battering on Monday with many trading far below their issue price. The realty index touched a 52-week low, corrected 7.38 per cent at 5,752.22. On January 8, the index was 13,848.09 and a month back, on May 9, it was 7,891.10. The Delhi-based DLF Ltd stock closed at Rs 481.55, 7.39 per cent lower than its previous close of Rs 519.95. The DLF issue was priced at Rs 525. Sobha Developers stock suffered a 6.8 per cent drop, closing at Rs 409.85. The issue price was Rs 640. Puravankara Projects traded at Rs 210 at close, down 5.43 per cent. The IPO price was Rs 400. At close Omaxe stock traded at Rs 174.05, down 3.68 per cent, far below its issue price of Rs 310. Among the major losers of the day was Unitech Ltd, which was down 9.3 per cent over the previous close at Rs 184.80. Housing Development and Infrastructure Ltd was at Rs 573.65, 8.81 per cent lower than its previous close. Phoenix Mills slid 8.27 per cent to Rs 276.85. On Friday, the stock close

(The Hindu Business Line 10th June 2008) Stocks plummetted on Monday, but few were caught unawares. The unprecedented spike in crude oil prices by $10 in a single day last Friday had already sent the signals and nearly everyone tuned into the market was prepared for the fall, said analysts. The Sensex and the Nifty closed lower by 3.25 per cent and 2.74 per cent respectively, as high oil prices typically aggravate fears of a slowdown. The crude oil price for July delivery had shot up to $139 per barrel on June 6 in New York trade. This had a big negative impact on the US markets on Friday. The contagion was picked by the Asian markets on Monday morning. Taking its cue from the US and Asian markets, the Sensex opened 456 points lower at 15,115.97. It fell below the 15,000-mark to an intra-day low of 14,846, which was 726 points lower than the previous close. The benchmark index finally closed with a loss of 506 points, at 15,066. The Nifty too dropped sharply by 215 points intra-day, to

After crashing over 700 points in intra-day trades, the market ended slightly below 15,100 levels and shed 3.25% on across-the-board selling. Stocks across-the-board witnessed another round of heavy correction, as sentiment remained bearish for the second session on crude oil worries (over $138 a barrel in the USA market), liquidity squeeze in the domestic market and sharp downfall in other Asian indices. The market had dropped around 200 points in last sessions. Major Asian indices like the Nikkei, the Kospi, the Jakarta and the Straits Times shed over 1-2% each, thereby adding pressure on the domestic indices. The Sensex finally ended with a loss of 506 points at 15,066. The market breadth was extremely negative - out of 2,693 stocks traded, 2,170 declined and 474 advanced and 49 were unchanged. The NSE Nifty ended with a loss of 127 points at 4,501. Jaiprakash Associates tumbled 8.6% to Rs 184. DLF plunged 7.4% at Rs 481. ONGC slipped over 7% to Rs 873. HDFC declined 6% at Rs 2,2

Suzlon on Friday said it has acquired an additional 30 per cent stake in REpower Systems from its French rival Areva, consolidating its holding to 66 per cent in the German wind turbine firm. The announcement spurred the shares of Suzlon, which touched an intra-day high of Rs 282.50 by surging 6.08 per cent from yesterday's close of Rs 268.60. The scrip was trading at Rs 283.05, up 5.38 per cent on the BSE in the afternoon trade. "The company has signed a share purchase agreement with Areva for acquisition for its total stake of about 30 per cent in REpower Systems AG," Suzlon said in a filing to the Bombay Stock Exchange. With this acquisition and through voting pooling agreement with Martifer, who owns about 31 per cent in REpower, the domestic company enjoys voting rights of approximately 89 per cent in the German firm, the filing added. In May 2007, Suzlon Energy had entered into an agreement with Areva according to which the French firm had the option of selling its

Punj Lloyd has secured Rs 649-crore contract from Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) for construction works at the oil major's Barauni Refinery in Bihar. Punj Lloyd will upgrade the refinery to improve quality of motor spirit (gasoline) to meet Euro-III emission norms for reducing vehicular pollution. The project is scheduled to be commissioned within 23 months, a statement by the company said. This is the fifth engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contract from Indian Oil to Punj Lloyd and the second motor spirit quality up-gradation project given by the state-run oil marketing company to Punj Lloyd. The EPC firm yesterday informed the stock exchanges that it had signed an agreement with Singapore Technologies Kinetics (ST Kinetics) for the manufacture of defence equipment for India. Earlier, Punj Lloyd had been issued a license by the government for manufacturing guns, rockets and missile artillery systems and other defence related equipment.

Inflation surged to 8.24 per cent for the week ended May 24 from 8.1 per cent in the previous week, despite fall in prices of some essential commodities like fruits, vegetables, spices. Wholesale prices-based inflation stood at 5.15 per cent a year ago. The rate of price rise is expected to advance further after two weeks, when the June 5 increase in prices of petrol, diesel and cooking gas would be taken into account. During the week ending May 24, non-food articles, raw rubber, raw cotton and groundnut seeds became expensive by 1-2 per cent. Cereal prices went up by 0.5 per cent, while fruit and vegetable prices declined by about one per cent. Despite fiscal measures taken by the government, prices of imported edible oil surged by 6 per cent.

Despite positive global cues, the Indian market saw a weak closing today. There was a major sell off in the FMCG, real estate and metal space. Sensex shut shop at 15572, down 197 points from the previous close. Nifty closed at 4627, down 49 points. CNX Midcap index was down 0.35% and BSE Smallcap index was up 0.51%. Market breadth closed negative with 460 advances against 763 declines on the NSE. Top Nifty gainers included Cairn India, Suzlon and Sterlite while losers included Wipro, ITC and DLF.

US markets advanced on Thursday as jobs report and retail sales data were positive. The Dow Jones went up 214 points to 12,604 and the Nasdaq gained 47 points to 2550. Indian ADRs gained big. Tata Communications was up 9.8%, MTNL gained nearly 6%. Most tech ADRs were up over 5%. ICICI Bank advanced 5.5% and HDFC Bank gained 5%. Nikkei has gained 1.65% to 14,578 points while the Hang Seng advanced nearly 1% to 24,485. Shanghai is down 0.15% and Korea is down 0.1%. Taiwan, Singapore are up over 0.6%.

The Sensex opened 35 points lower at 15,480. The index touched a day's low of 15,314 in afternoon trades owing to weakness in realty and consumer durables stocks.Fresh buying in IT and technology stocks helped the index rebound into the positive zone, and touched day's high of 15,815 - up 501 points from day's low. The Sensex finally ended with a gain of 255 points at 15,770. The market breadth was marginally negative - out of 2,714 stocks traded, 1,397 declined, 1,240 advanced and 77 were unchanged today. The NSE Nifty ended with a gain of 91 points at 4,677. ONGC zoomed 7.5% at Rs 953. Wipro soared 6.2% to Rs 528. Infosys surged 5.9% at Rs 1,980. Reliance Infrastructure gained 5.7% at Rs 1,131, while NTPC moved up 5.6% to Rs 167. Satyam surged 5.5% to Rs 512. Jaiprakash Associates was trading at Rs 206 - up 3.7%. Hindustan Unilever and Grasim advanced 3.2% each to Rs 238 and Rs 2,246, respectively. Tata Steel and ICICI Bank inched 3.1% each at Rs 841 and Rs 781, respectiv

Live mint.com 5th June 2008 The latest results of some retail-focused banks in India show a rise in customers of unsecured loans not repaying, and yet, some banks may not have comprehensive credit scoring and monitoring tools, rating agency Moody’s Investors Service said in a report. “This could leave them in a difficult position if delinquency rates were to rise substantially, a scenario we have observed in other retail-booming emerging markets in Asia in the past,” the report on the country’s banking system said. The boom in retail loans, the main driver for banks in recent years, has yet to be fully tested in a negative credit cycle, and banks should be better prepared with credit scoring and monitoring tools for closely screening risky loans, it said. Non-performing loans of banks often exceed 10% of their shareholders’ equity and, thus, constitute a moderate-to-limited risk to solvency, said Nondas Nicolaides and Mardig Haladjian, the authors of the report. The rising interest rat

(The Hindu Business Line 5th June 2008) DLF appears to have adroitly managed the realty slowdown in 2007-08 through a combination of higher sales in the mid-market segment and a better product mix. On a consolidated basis for the year ended March 2008, sales jumped over five-fold to Rs 14,229 crore. Net profits multiplied four-fold. The proportion of revenue arising from sale to associate company - DLF Assets has seen a reduction. Increase in volume as well as superior pricing power in certain segments improved DLF’s operating profit margins from 56 per cent last year to 68 per cent now. Further, total operating costs as a percentage of sales dropped from 43 per cent last year to 31 per cent for FY 2008. However, change in product mix rather than cost savings may have prompted the decline. In 2007-08, DLF had more sales booked under the home segment, than retailing or office space. The cost per square feet is often lower in the residential segment. Similarly, the mid-income segment, wh

The rout in the Indian stock market this week has not only shaved off about 1000 points from the Sensex, it has also made the Indian benchmark the second worst-performing index over the last one month. No points for guessing that crude oil is the miscreant in the story. With international crude oil prices hovering close to $130, countries across the world are beginning to feel the heat on the inflation front, despite the heavy subsidies that many of the countries are forking out to temper the impact of rising fuel bills on the population. The slide in the Indian stock market on Wednesday was triggered by the hike in petrol, diesel and liquefied petroleum gas price by the Government. The political unrest caused by the move and the impact of the fuel price hike on inflation that has already crossed 8 per cent was the theme playing in the stock markets during the sell-off. Other markets that experienced a sharp slide over the past month are also grappling with the same issues as India. Th

The Sensex opened 30 points higher at 15,993, and soon slipped into a negative zone in early trades after the government announced the hike in fuel prices. The index touched a day's low of 15,442 - down 520 points from its previous close due to heavy selling in realty, metal, power and oil & gas stocks. All the sectoral indices were in red today. The Sensex finally ended with a loss of 448 points at 15,515. The market breadth was negative - out of 2,719 stocks traded, 1,967 declined, 676 advanced and 76 were unchanged today. The NSE Nifty ended with a loss 130 points at 4,586. Ambuja Cements plunged 5.5% to Rs 87, while Tata Steel tumbled 5.4% to Rs 816. HDFC Bank slipped 5.2% to Rs 1,216. Maruti and BHEL dipped 5% each at Rs 746 and Rs 1,471, respectively. Reliance Infrastructure and Tata Motors declined 4.9% each to Rs 1,070 and Rs 542, respectively. DLF was down 4.7% at Rs 555, and Reliance dropped 4.1% to Rs 2,307. Jaiprakash Associates, Mahindra & Mahindra and SBI were

The government on Wednesday hiked petrol and diesel prices by Rs 5 and 3 a litre and that of LPG by Rs 50 a cylinder. The price hike would help oil companies to earn Rs 21,123 crore more. As part of measures, the government decided to take a burden of Rs 94,601 crore for which it will issue oil bonds to state-run BPCL, HPCL and IOC which were reporting a daily loss of o ver Rs 720 crore. In addition, the oil producing PSUs like ONGC would shell out Rs 60,000 crore through discounts to state-owned oil refiners and marketing companies. Despite all the measures, there would still be a gap of Rs 29,000 crore, the Revenue Secretary, Mr P V Bhide told reporters briefing about the decisions taken at the Cabinet.

DLF Ltd has posted a net profit of Rs 2,574.59 crore for the year ended March 31, 2008 as compared with Rs 406.91 crore reported during last fiscal. Total income for the year 2008 has increased to 6,058.45 crore from Rs 1,429.48 crore in 2007. The Group has posted a net profit of Rs 7,812.03 crore for the year ended March 31, 2008 as compared with Rs 1,933.64 crore in 2007. Total income for the year 2008 has increased to Rs 14,683.91 crore from Rs 4,053.30 crore during last year. The Board of Directors at its meeting has recommended a final dividend of 100% making the aggregate dividend of Rs 4 per share (200%) of a par value of Rs 2/- each for fiscal year 2007-08.

Metals and mining stocks continued to weaken for two consecutive days on profit booking largely by institutional investors. The BSE Metal Index declined by 0.39 per cent, but its loss on weekly basis was lower at 0.24 per cent. However, steel stocks at Tuesday’s close managed to pare down the losses compared with that on Monday. Aluminium and zinc stocks closed lower. Iron ore miner, Sesa Goa, which led the fall on Monday, shed much of its weakness as an apprehension of ban on exports dissipated on Tuesday. It nevertheless finished in the red declining 0.8 per cent. It lost around 10 per cent on Monday. According to Mr Pawan Burde, metals and mining stock analyst at Angel Broking, this short-term weakness has come after a rally last week in metal stock and could be deceptive.Export tax hopes Agreeing that LME inventory levels have recently gone up in base metals and had put pressure on the local aluminium and zinc stocks somewhat, he said the steel stocks could strengthen further this

Power stocks such as NTPC, Tata Power, Reliance Infrastructure (formerly Reliance Energy), Reliance Power, CESC, Torrent Power and PowerGrid Corporation have been facing the brunt of selling pressure in recent times. Other power equipment companies’ stocks have not been spared either as ABB, Areva, Crompton Greaves, BHEL and Siemens have also witnessed sharp declines. According to market participants, the power sector has fallen out of favour among institutional investors, particularly FIIs (including hedge funds) who are now offloading these stocks since the chances of the India-US nuclear deal getting through now appear rather remote, following the Congress debacle in Karnataka election. According to market participants, many institutions, which had picked up stake in these companies a couple of years ago betting that the nuclear deal could trigger new business opportunities for them, are now offloading these stocks. Rising coal prices, a key raw material for the thermal-based power

(The Hindu Business Line 4th June 2008)The pressure on rupee eased, spurred by various measures undertaken by RBI to support the currency, including the move to conduct open market operations in oil bonds. Easing crude prices also helped in stemming the decline. The reprieve on the crude front is, however, likely to be temporary since the commodity stays in a strong uptrend though it can move between $125 and $135 for a few more sessions. The strength in dollar over the last few sessions is also acting against the Indian currency. The US dollar index on FINEX has rebounded from 71.91 on May 27, implying that the dollar strength can extend for a couple of weeks more. Sharp sell-off in stock prices is the other factor that is contributing to the decline over the last two sessions. The rupee has been appreciating from the trough at 43.2 against the dollar recorded last week. It is now certain that the sharp depreciation phase that commenced in the last week of April is now complete. We st

Punj Lloyd has acquired a 74 per cent stake in UK firm Technodyne International Ltd for an undisclosed amount. Technodyne is a specialist engineering, design and consultancy company specialising in large scale cryogenic and high pressure tanks. With projects executed across the world, Technodyne carries out the basic design and detailed engineering for complete steel and steel plus concrete tanks, including associated piping, instrumentation and electrical systems. Technodyne also has track record in designing of test rigs, a Punj Lloyd release said. The acquired capabilities will enable the group to provide end-to-end solutions for complete delivery of complex cryogenic, high pressure LNG, LPG, ethylene, ammonia and other similar storage tanks, a significant growth area in oil and gas sector, the release said. The capabilities will also be leveraged for design of refinery and petrochemical projects. “This acquisition is a strategic fit and further strengthens Punj Lloyd’s existing tan

The Sensex opened with a negative gap of 211 points at 15,852 owing to weakness in global markets. The index touched a day's low of 15,709 in morning trades, it recovered partially and touched a day's high of 15,985 due to buying in oil & gas sector. The index finally ended with a loss of 100 points at 15,962. The market breadth was negative - out of 2,722 stocks traded, 1,817 declined, 847 advanced and 58 were unchanged today. The NSE Nifty settled with a loss of 24 points at 4,716. Bharti Airtel tumbled 4.1% to Rs 841. Reliance Infrastructure plunged 3.9% to Rs 1,125. Satyam declined 3.6% to Rs 500. BHEL and HDFC slipped around 3% each to Rs 1,548 and Rs 2,459, respectively. Jaiprakash Associates dipped 2.6% to Rs 206. Larsen & Toubro lost 2.3% to Rs 2,849. HDFC Bank dropped 1.8% to Rs 1,282. Infosys was down 1.4% at Rs 1,922. NTPC, Tata Steel and Grasim were the other major losers, down 0.7% each at Rs 160, Rs 862 and Rs 2,194, respectively. ACC gained 3.7% to Rs 649

There was aggressive shorting in the power sector yesterday aside of some delivery base selling, which might have happened if you just look at the pile up in open interest. I think people have gone terribly short on some of these sectors. My sense is from a trading perspective. Reliance Power might have spoiled the mood because it is unexpected for a lot of the traders at least that Reliance Power has fallen off to Rs 228 kind of levels after going ex-bonus. That has injected a lot of fear into valuations for power stocks. Other than that there is no ostensible reason why power sold off yesterday but clearly there was a heavy amount of shorting. I think Reliance Power probably has quite a bit to do with the sentiment for how power stocks sold off. Now you go back and look at valuations, this is a sector which has got punished quite a bit in this fall from January to March and was one of the first sectors to top out after ridiculous valuations at the end of 2007. Right now if you just l

ABB announced on Tuesday that it has bagged orders worth Rs 295 crore to provide power solutions for JSW Energy for its upcoming 4 X 300 MW thermal power plant in Ratnagiri in Maharashtra. The orders are for a range of power solutions including electrical balance of plant, 400kV gas insulated switchgear substation and generator transformers. ABB's solutions for the project comprise several leading power technologies for improved system efficiency.

Fears of inflation and high crude prices continued to haunt the Indian stock markets which fell by more than 2 per cent on Monday. This was despite the markets opening on a positive note, possibly following the sunny sentiment in the Asian bourses, said analysts. However, the enthusiasm slipped on news of political differences at the Centre over raising domestic retail fuel prices, combined with the European markets opening weak because of credit crunch fears. The Sensex fell to 16,063.18, down by 2.15 per cent. The Nifty’s fall was steeper, at 2.68 per cent. Interesting, said analysts, pointing to the market being close to the 16,000 level of last year, which marked its phenomenal rise. FII trail Although FIIs were net buyers by Rs 254.6 crore on Friday, there was no fresh buying on their part. This is a big negative, said Mr Jignesh Desai, Head of Institutional Sales, SBICAP Securities. FIIs were net sellers to the tune of about Rs 5,000 crore in May when the Sensex fell 8.73 per cen