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Reliance Communications Ltd (RCom) on Thursday posted a first quarter profit of Rs 1,512 crore, up 23.9 per cent from the same period last fiscal. The company's revenue rose 23.7 per cent to Rs 5,322 crore

Inflation rose to 11.98 per cent for the week ended July 19 as some food and manufactured products turned dearer, justifying the harsh monetary stance of the Reserve Bank announced a couple of days back. The moderation in inflation a week earlier to 11.89 per cent turned out to be an aberration as the rate of price rise is now a just a tad below the crucial 12 per cent. It has been rising unabatedly after petrol prices were increased by the Government on June 5. Prices of pulses, fruits and spices went up as did the rates some manufactured products items. Inflation stood at 4.65 per cent in the corresponding week a year ago. This is the first official data on inflation after the Reserve Bank increased the short-term lending (repo) rate by 50 basis points to 9 per cent and also raised the mandatory deposi ts (CRR) that banks have to park with it by 25 basis points to cool down the rate of price rise.

Volatility in foreign exchange rates, inflationary pressures and a steep increase in input costs pulled down automobile major Tata Motors’ net profit for the quarter ended June 30, 2008 by 30.13 per cent as compared to the same period last fiscal. The company reported a net profit of Rs 326.11 crore during the quarter, compared to Rs 466.76 crore in the year-ago quarter. The company had a notional foreign exchange loss of Rs 199.88 crore, compared to a gain of Rs 205 crore in the corresponding quarter of last year, reflecting the volatility in forex rates impacting its long-term funds raised through issue of foreign currency convertible instruments. Its consumption of raw materials and components increased sharply to Rs 5,025 crore from Rs 3,994 crore in the year-ago period, applying a further squeeze on its margins. Its net revenues however rose 14.4 per cent to touch Rs 6,928.44 crore (Rs 6,056.82 crore). While its sales volume for passenger cars and utility vehicles was flat at abou

Sensex opened with a positive gap of 215 points at 14,007 on the back of positive cues from the global markets. The US markets ended on a firm note yesterday, with the Dow Industrial Average gaining 266 points, and the Nasdaq advancing 55 points. Closer home, the Nikkei rallied 208 points, and the Hang Seng surged 433 points. The Taiwan Weighted index moved up 56 points, and the Straits Times index added 39 points. The Shanghai Composite index, however, slipped 14 points today. Indian markets shrugged-off yesterday's RBI rate hike move and rallied to higher levels led by fresh buying in financial, metal and realty stocks. The Sensex rallied to a high of 14,323, and finally settled with a gain of 496 points at 14,287. The market breadth was fairly positive - out of 2,724 stocks traded, 1,782 advanced, 858 declined and the rest were unchanged today. The NSE Nifty moved up 124 points to settle at 4,314. HDFC and Tata Steel soared 8% each to Rs 2,274 and Rs 630, respectively. Tata Powe

ONGC has managed to register a 44 per cent increase in net profit at Rs 6,636 crore during the first quarter of financial year 2009 (Rs 4,611 crore). Turnover rose 47 per cent to Rs 20,123 crore (Rs 13,728 crore). This increase was mainly due to high price realisation on crude oil and cost management, Mr R.S. Sharma, Chairman and Managing Director of ONGC, said. The subsidy burden has increased to Rs 9,811 crore (Rs 3,649 crore) in the quarter under review. “This is the highest ever so far,” Mr Sharma said. ONGC has to shoulder the subsidy burden to partially offset the under-recoveries suffered by the public sector oil marketing companies due to selling petroleum products below the cost price. He said that “we would rather prefer a windfall profit tax than ad-hoc subsidy sharing mechanism to maintain company’s robust performance in the quarters to come.” However, the high crude oil prices have helped the company register a better performance. The gross realisation on crude oil was $12

While several public sector banks reported flat growth in profit and some even losses, Mumbai-based Bank of India’s net profit surged by 78 per cent to Rs 562 crore in the quarter ended June 30, 2008, against Rs 315 crore in the corresponding period last year. The bank achieved this by focusing on core banking operations, prudent NPA management and keeping the investment portfolio to the minimum. Net interest income grew 25 per cent, deposits grew 30 per cent and advances rose 39 per cent. However, Bank of India, like its peers, also saw a depreciation of Rs 129 crore on its Government securities portfolio, in view of the rising interest rates and bond yields. But the bank was able to show profits by shifting Rs 2,200-crore worth Government securities to the Held to Maturity (HTM) portfolio from Allowed for Sale (AFS), at the beginning of year in April, said Mr T.S. Narayanasami, Chairman and Managing Director. “Close to 88 per cent of our investment portfolio is in HTM. Therefore, the

Larsen & Toubro has posted a 33 per cent rise in net profit for the first quarter of the fiscal as revenues rose and margins from its key engineering and construction (E&C) business looked up. Gross sales rose by 53 per cent. The E&C segment, which accounts for more than two-thirds of the company’s revenues, reported an operating profit margin of 10.5 per cent from 9.6 per cent a year ago, almost a whole percentage point higher. Margins were fortified through better contract management and continuous cost optimisation in executing large turnkey projects, a company statement said. Operationally the quarterly results are better than the net profit increase suggests: The company had made foreign exchange gains during the year-ago quarter, which, if excluded, would have meant a net profit increase of 70 per cent, the statement said. Margins were higher across all business segments, barring the Electrical and Electronics segment, which was affected by both input cost increases a

Repo Rate increased by 50 basis points from 8.5% to 9.00%. Cash Reserve Ratio (CRR) to be increased by 25 basis points to 9.0% with effect from the fortnight beginning August 30, 2008. GDP growth projection for 2008-09 revised from the range of 8.0-8.5% to around 8.0%, barring domestic or external shocks. While the policy actions would aim to bring down the current intolerable level of inflation to a tolerable level of below 5% as soon as possible and around 3% over the medium-term, at this juncture a realistic policy endeavour would be to bring down inflation from the current level of about 11-12% to a level close to 7% by March 31, 2009.

Following UPA government's win in the Parliament yesterday, the Sensex opened with a huge positive gap of 482 points at 14,586. Unabated buying in financial and capital goods stocks saw the index rally to higher levels as the day progressed.The Sensex touched a high of 14,980, and finally settled with a gain of 838 points at 14,942. In the process the index has gained a whopping 18.8% (2,366 points) in the last five trading days. The BSE Bankex soared 10% to 7,292.The market breadth was extremely positive - out of 2,758 stocks traded, 2,257 advanced and 442 declined today.The NSE Nifty gained 237 points at 4,477. Reliance Communications zoomed over 12% to Rs 525. ICICI Bank soared 11.6% to Rs 738.BHEL and HDFC surged 11% each to Rs 1,772 and Rs 2,380, respectively.SBI ad Reliance Infrastructure rallied 10.5% each to Rs 1,544 and Rs 1,015, respectively. HDFC Bank gained 9.5% at Rs 1,206.DLF soared over 9% to Rs 496. Jaiprakash Associates moved up 8.4% to Rs 173.Larsen & Toubro a

Higher sales volume, increase in special (value added) steel production, better operational efficiencies and higher interest earnings enabled the Steel Authority of India Limited (SAIL) to achieve a profit (after tax) of Rs.1835 crores during A pril-June, 2008, showing 20.3 per cent growth over the corresponding period last year. The financial performance has improved despite a burden of Rs 1,434 crores on account of substantially higher cost of inputs such as coal, freight, ferro-alloys, fuel and higher wage revision, a RSP release said here today. The company has registered sales turnover of Rs 12,183 crores with growth of 37 per cent during the period, it said. With thrust maintained on production of value added and special steels, the SAIL plants produced about one million tonnes of items during first quarter, showing a growth of 41 per cent over last year's same period. During the first quarter, a number of capital projects were completed at Rourkela Steel Plant (RSP), Durgapu

The Sensex opened with a positive gap of 334 points at 12,910 on the back of bullish cues from the global markets. The index retreated a bit to a low of 12,844, but soon bounced back to higher levels on the back of renewed buying interest in beaten down stocks. The index rallied to a high of 13,150, and finally ended with a gain of 536 points at 13,112. The market breadth was fairly positive - out of 2,689 stocks traded, 1,529 advanced, 1,088 declined and 72 were unchanged today. The NSE Nifty surged 130 points to settle at 3,947. HDFC zoomed 9.8% to Rs 1,889. Maruti soared 9.5% to Rs 600. Jaiprakash Associates surged over 9% to Rs 149. DLF gained 8.5% at Rs 427. SBI rallied 7.8% to Rs 1,227, and Larsen & Toubro moved up 7.5% to Rs 2,440. TCS surged over 7% to Rs 779. ICICI Bank and HDFC Bank rallied 6% each to Rs 551 and Rs 958, respectively. Reliance Infrastructure moved up 5.4% to Rs 807. BHEL and Satyam added 5% each to Rs 1,453 and Rs 414, respectively. ACC and Reliance Commun

Housing Development Finance Corporation (HDFC) has posted a 25.56 per cent rise in its net profit at Rs 468.11 crore for first quarter ended June 2008 as against Rs 372.81 crore in the same period of 2007-08. The total income for the reporting quarter rose to Rs 2,318.62 crore from Rs 1,830.3 crore in April-June 2007, HDFC informed the Bombay Stock Exchange today. The mortgage lender disbursed loans worth Rs 7,204 crore in April-June 2008 as against Rs 5,645 crore a year ago. Its sanctions rose by 30 per cent to Rs 9,996 crore from Rs 7,713 crore.

The Sensex opened 65 points higher at 12,741. Fresh buying in early trades saw the index move up to a high of 12,935. The index, however, could not hold gains and slipped into the negative zone in mid-noon trades. The index dropped to a fresh yearly low of 12,514 - down 421 points from the day's high. The Sensex finally ended with a loss of 100 at 12,576. In the process, the index has now shed nearly 10% (1,388 points) the last five trading days. The market breadth was negative - out of 2,692 stocks traded, 1,801 declined, 812 advanced and 79 were unchanged today. The NSE Nifty slipped 44 points to end at 3,817. Ranbaxy zoomed 15% to Rs 471. Bharti Airtel surged nearly 3% to Rs 730. ONGC gained 2.5% at Rs 866. Hindustan Unilever moved up 1.8% to Rs 215. Ambuja Cements and ITC added 1.3% each to Rs 81 and Rs 162, respectively. DLF plunged 7.7% to Rs 394. Jaiprakash Associates slumped 6% to Rs 137. Mahindra & Mahindra tumbled 5.5% to Rs 494. HDFC shed 4.5% at Rs 1,721. SBI and Ta

The stock markets plunged sharply on Monday on all-round sellilng by domestic funds, FIIs and retail investors, triggered by meltdown in global markets. The Sensex lost 654.32 points at 12,676.19. The S&P CNX Nifty also was down 178.60 points at 3,861.10. The Bombay Stock Exchange benchmark Sensex dipped below 13,000 points in opening trade itself on Tuesday, triggered by meltdown in global markets. Marketmen said trading sentiment remained weak following an ongoing meltdown in global stock markets and political crisis at home. They said Nikkei, Hong Kong markets turned weak following Wall Street's overnight tumble. All the Sensex stocks were in the negative zone with steep losses.

Yesterday Banking stocks in USA suffered some of their worst losses in a generation as investors' confidence in the U.S. financial system continued to erode despite the dramatic initiative by the federal government Sunday evening to bolster mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. The concerted effort to calm the public came as shares of Washington Mutual, the country's largest savings and loan, tumbled 35 percent, its biggest decline ever. Trading in National City, a large, Ohio-based bank, was briefly suspended during a panicked sell-off, its shares sinking to a 24-year low even as it issued an urgent statement that it was experiencing no unusual activity by depositors or creditors. Concerns about the health of the country's financial firms spiked Friday after federal regulators seized IndyMac, which had relied on brokered deposit accounts -- high interest rate paying accounts, normally certificates of deposit, that are offered by a bank to brokers who represent large

The Sensex opened with a negative gap of 110 points at 13,360 on the back of continued weakness in technology stocks. Fresh buying in energy and metal stocks helped the index rebound into the positive zone and touch a high of 13,559. The index, however, could not hold gains as a fresh round of selling in technology stocks pulled down the index to a low of 13,270 - down 289 points from the day's high. The Sensex finally ended with a loss of 139 points at 13,331. The BSE IT index plunged 6% to 3,676. The market breadth was negative - out of 2,649 stocks traded, 1,579 declined, 1,007 advanced and 63 were unchanged today. The NSE Nifty ended with a marginal loss of nine points at 4040. Ranbaxy slumped 10.5% (Rs 56) to Rs 476. Satyam plunged 8% to Rs 409, and Infosys tumbled over 7% to Rs 1,556. TCS shed 3.8% at Rs 769. Wipro dropped 2% to Rs 404. HDFC, BHEL, ITC and HDFC Bank slipped 3.3% each to Rs 1,933, Rs 1,470, Rs 169 and Rs 1,033, respectively. Hindalco declined 3% to Rs 151. ICI

Fear that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac may default and the government will be forced to take over the beleaguered mortgage finance companies has brought down the USA market. Despite Henry M. Paulson, the Treasury secretaries comment that government bailout was not an immediate possibility, the sell-off for these two companies continued.

The Sensex opened with a positive gap of 106 points at 14,032, and touched a high of 14,0666. But, the index, soon slipped into the negative zone on account of weakness in technology stocks. Just when the markets were recovering came another jolt. Poor IIP numbers for the month of May, triggered a fresh round of selling, especially the capital goods stocks began to slide... Unabted selling, thereafter, saw the index tumble to a low of 13,351 - down 715 points from the day's high. The Sensex finally ended with a significant loss of 456 points at 13,470. The market breadth was negative - out of 2,711 stocks traded, 1,651 declined, 997 advanced and the rest were unchanged today. The BSE IT index tumbled 6.7% to 3,908. The Capital Goods index plunged 5% to 10,774. The NSE Nifty dropped 113 points to settle at 4,049. Technology stocks bore the brunt of the selling. TCS has plunged 8% to Rs 799. Satyam and Infosys tumbled around 7% each to Rs 444 and Rs 1,676, respectively. Wipro decline

Industrial growth plunged to 3.8 per cent in May, as compared with 10.6 per cent a year-ago, due to poor showing of manufacturing and electricity sector. Industrial output, as measured by Index of Industrial Production (IIP), grew by just 5 per cent in the first two months of this fiscal, against 10.9 per cent during the same period last year. Rising interest cost led to drastic deceleration in manufacturing growth to 3.9 per cent in May, compared with 11.3 per cent in a year-ago period. Manufacturing has a weight of over 79 per cent in IIP. However, the positive point is consumer durables gr owth rose to 4.4 per cent, against negative 0.7 per cent. Electricity generation also grew by two per cent from 9.4 per cent in May last year. Only mining output grew by 5.2 per cent, against 3.8 per cent. The deceleration in industrial output does not augur well for overall economic growth in the first two months.

Inflation rises to 11.89 per cent for the week ended June 28 as against 11.63 per cent in the previous week.

Infosys Technologies has reported a net profit of Rs13.02bn in the quarter ended June 30, 2008 as against Rs12.49bn in the previous quarter. This translates into a sequential growth of 4.2%. This is better than expectations of a slight dip Quarter on Quarter (QoQ). The company's net sales have increased to Rs48.54bn from Rs45.42bn in the January-March quarter. This represents a sequential growth of 6.8%. This is more or less in line with analysts' estimates. This is also better than the company's guidance of Rs45.7-45.8bn. The Earnings Per Share ( EPS) for the quarter is Rs22.71 versus Rs21.79 in the last quarter. The company had forecast EPS before exceptional items of Rs20.73.

Suzlon Energy Ltd, one of the top five wind power equipment makers in the world, is planning to set aside Rs 590 crore for paying damages to its clients who are facing output losses due to defective blades installed by the company. Suzlon will compensate customers John Deere Wind Energy and Edison Mission Energy for output losses because of cracked turbine blades, news agency Bloomberg said today, quoting Chief Financial Officer Kirti Vagadia at the Nomura Asia Equity Forum in Singapore. "We have made a cummulative provision of Rs 5.9 billion in the balance sheet as of March 31, 2008. We are giving availability compensation to John Deere and Edison under the contractual terms,'' the agency quoted the official. Suzlon is yet to make any official announcement on the issue. Recently reports said Suzlon's turbines installed at wind farms of Deere and Co were not producing enough power due to technical issues such as inability to adapt to the US power grid. Suzlon has suppl

Bajaj Auto Ltd has recorded a 9 per cent increase in turnover and a 4 per cent drop in net profit for the first quarter of 2008-09 when compared with the same period last year. The company’s vehicles sales went up by 8 per cent this quarter over the corresponding period last year, with motorcycles sales increasing by 13 per cent and exports going up by 33 per cent. According to the company, rising interest rates and lack of finance options continue to restrain industry growth. In the 125-cc plus category, Bajaj Auto witnessed a 21 per cent growth in sales. Exports now constitute 31 per cent of motorcycle sales, with exports of motorcycles registering a 49 per cent growth in the quarter under review. The company launched the new Bajaj Discover DTS-i this month, which will be followed by four new launches in the 125-cc plus category during the year.Market conditions Bajaj Auto, which makes two- and three-wheelers, said lacklustre market conditions were reflected in the company’s commerci

With the change in the political equation in the Centre, public sector stocks seem to have found more buyers in the past few days. While the benchmark index Sensex dipped by 0.27 per cent on Thursday, BSE-PSU was up by 1.79 per cent. “PSU stocks are doing well partly because now with the Left withdrawing support, there is a possibility that in future disinvestments may happen,” said Ms Anita Gandhi, Head of Institutional Business, Arihant Capital Markets Ltd. Many analysts were in agreement with this. There was little scope for disinvestments when the Left was supporting the Government. But now expectations are on the rise and PSU stocks are on the upside, said analysts. The country is running a huge fiscal deficit and one of the ways to get rid of this would be to sell of the assets it holds in form of PSUs, said one of them. There has been a sharp rise in fiscal deficit in April-May, according to the figures released by the Comptroller General of Accounts on June 30. The fiscal defic

The Sensex opened with a negative gap of 102 points at 13,862, but soon rebounded into the positive zone and touched a high of 14,047. However, selling pressure at higher levels forced the index slip into the negative zone. The index dropped to a low of 13,764 - down 283 points from the day's high. The Sensex recovered some ground and finally settled with a marginaly loss of 38 points at 13,926. The market breadth was posititve - out of 2,696 stocks traded, 1,445 advanced, 1,181 declined and 70 were unchanged today. The NSE Nifty ended nearly flat at 4,162 - up five points. Hindalco soared 5.5% to Rs 154. Tata Steel surged over 3% to Rs 699. ACC rallied over 3% to Rs 553, and Ambuja Cements gained 2.5% at Rs 79. Reliance Infrastructure moved up 2.3% to Rs 855. DLF advanced 1.8% to Rs 458. HDFC, Hindustan Unilever and Reliance Communications were up around 1% each at Rs 2,117, Rs 218 and Rs 445, respectively. Maruti shed 3.5% at Rs 568. ITC plunged 2.3% to Rs 179. Reliance slipped 1

Real estate developer DLF on Thursday announced buy back of shares worth up to Rs 1,100 crore at a price not exceeding Rs 600 per share. The Board of Directors at its meeting held approved the proposal for buy-back of up to 2.2 crore equity shares, the company said in a filing to National Stock Exchange. Shares of the company were trading at Rs 464, up 3.04 per cent on the NSE in the noon trade.

Sales of passenger cars in the domestic market grew by just 6.1% in June as against a healthy expansion of 14.3% in May Growth in India's passenger car sales fell sharply in June, as higher fuel prices coupled with hardening of interest rates hurt sales, data released by the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM) showed on Thursday. Sales of passenger cars in the domestic market grew by just 6.1% in June, as against a healthy expansion of 14.3% in May, the SIAM data revealed. Domestic car sales had grown by an impressive 17.2% in April on the back of lower excise duty. Domestic car sales in June increased to 99,738 units from 94,002 units in the same month a year earlier, according to SIAM. Commercial vehicle (CV) sales climbed 13.5% to 40,324 units in June. This was much better than the 6.1% growth registered in May. Two-wheeler sales were up 6.5% to 601,941 units in June. Overall automobile sales rose by 6.6% in June to 801,605 units with exports surging by 24.3% to 12

The Sensex opened with a positive gap of 231 points at 13,581 on the back of positive cues from the global marekts. Unabated buying through the day helped the index extend gains as the day progressed. The Sensex rallied to a high of 13,998, and finally ended with a smart gain of 615 points (4.6%) at 13,964. The BSE Realty index soared 6% to 4,901, and the Bankex surged almost 5% to 6,183. Advances beat declines in 4:1 ratio - out of 2,725 stocks traded, 2,129 advanced, 527 declined and 69 were unchanged today. The NSE Nifty moved up 169 points to settle at 4,157. Reliance Infrastructure zoomed 10.7% to Rs 835, and Jaiprakash Associates soared 10% to Rs 173. Tata Motors rallied 7.5% to Rs 405. ITC surged 6.8% to Rs 184. Reliance Communications and TCS advanced around 6% each to Rs 441 and Rs 876, respectively. HDFC Bank added 5.7% to Rs 1,059. BHEL, Reliance, Bharti and Infosys gained 5% each at Rs 1,575, Rs 2,080, Rs 747 and Rs 1,821, respectively. Grasim, DLF, ICICI Bank and Larsen &a

Aditya Birla Group firm Idea Cellular on Wednesday said it has acquired about 41 per cent stake in Spice Communications through open market and block trade transactions. Idea Cellular has acquired 20 lakh equity shares, representing 0.29 per cent in Spice Communications at an average market price of Rs 74.81 each through open market transactions, the company said in a filing to the Bombay Stock Exchange. Further, Idea Cellular through a block trade has acquired over 28.14 crore equity shares, representing 40.80 per cent, at a price of Rs 77.30 per piece, it added. However, acquisition of these shares has not been completed and is held in separate escrow accounts. The acquirers of these shares would get the shares after fulfilling all its obligations under the SEBI Regulations, the filing added. Earlier on June 25, Idea Cellular, the fifth-largest mobile operator in terms of subscribers, had said it would acquire 40.8 per cent stake in B K Modi-owned Spice group for Rs 2,716 crore. The

The Hindu Business Line We recommends a buy in Areva T&D India from a short-term perspective. From the charts of Areva T&D, we see that it had been on a downtrend from its 52-week high of Rs 3,280 (recorded in November 2007) till June low of Rs 1,199. However, the stock found support at around Rs 1,300 (a long-term support level) and reversed direction. On July 4, the stock conclusively broke out of the down trendline by jumping up by 9 per cent with good volumes. The stock’s reversal has been supported by the positive divergence in the daily relative strength index. The stock also crossed over the 21-day moving average. The daily relative strength index (RSI) is rising in the neutral region towards the bullish zone and the weekly RSI has entered in to the neutral region form the bearish zone. Our short-term forecast for the stock is bullish and we expect it to move up until it hits our price target of Rs 1,564 in the forthcoming trading sessions. Traders with short-term perspe

Larsen & Toubro will split its Engineering Construction and Contract (ECC) division into four separate companies soon, according to Mr J. Ganguly, Executive Vice-President, L&T Ltd. The four functional areas within ECC – Buildings & Factories, Infrastructure, Power Transmission & Distribution and Mineral Metal & Water – have already started operating as independent divisions with effect from July 1, he said, adding that the formal split would take a couple of years to be completed.Listing plans There are also plans to list them on the stock exchanges, once they acquire “a critical mass” for getting registered as separate entities, Mr Ganguly said. “We are in the process of a major restructuring of ECC. The break-up was inevitable because we had grown substantially over the last two years,” Mr Ganguly said. Mr Ganguly said the four new divisions would operate as subsidiaries or associate companies, ECC being the holding company for all the four initially. However, on