March 2008
Monthly Archive
Stock markets in 2008: A review
Kavitt S 30 Mar 2008 | : Expert cues, Retail investors, Stock Markets
Its been a sorry state of affairs for global stock markets in 2008. All major market indices in the world have corrected significantly from their peak levels. The indices in India (Bse and Nse) crashed over 30 percent from their peak levels.
Negative investor sentiments, high interest rates, rising subsidy bill of the government (specially the fuel subsidy and agricultural loan waivers), cautious outlook projected by some large corporates, and elections due at the end of 2008 did not help the Indian markets.
The global markets (esp. US) plagued by negative sentiments and news flows related to the US sub-prime crisis, weak US economic data (job market data, property prices, and consumer purchase data) and the views and predictions of a slowdown in the US economy. Analysts feel this was bound to happen as the trading deficit of the US was on the rise from the past many years and it has reached USD 760 billion in 2006.This means a deficit of two billion dollars every day. This huge trade deficit triggered depreciation of the US dollar against all major world currencies (euro, Japanese yen, Canadian dollar, British pound etc).
Moral of the story: Continue Reading »Inflation rate disturbing: Finance Secretary
Kavitt S 29 Mar 2008 | : Business News - India, General news
Concerned at the ever soaring inflation rate, that touched a 13-month high of 6.68 per cent, the Government has decided to hold a meeting of high-level cabinet committee on Monday to take stock of rising prices, Finance Secretary D Subbarao told reporters. He also added that Friday’s inflation numbers were quite disturbing and attributed them partly to high global commodity price. Continue Reading »
Sensex closes 350 points higher after wobbly start
Kavitt S 28 Mar 2008 | : Stock Markets
Ignoring higher than expected inflation figures and on account of heavy buying and strong European cues, the Sensex closed 350 points higher for the week.
Bombay Stock Exchange’s Sensex closed at 16,371.29, up 2.22 per cent or 355.73 points.
Day’s high: 16,452.08 & Day’s low: 15,884.45.
National Stock Exchange’s Nifty ended 2.31% or 112 points higher at 4,951.55.
Day’s high: 4,970 & Day’s low : 4,796.35.
Top gainers : Tata Steel (up 9.96%), Infosys Technologies (6.54%), Wipro (6.02%), Larsen & Toubro (5.95%) and BHEL (5.25%)
Biggest losers : HDFC Bank (down 2.77%), ONGC (1.31%), HDFC (0.96%), Tata Motors (0.95%) and Reliance Communications (0.92%) .
Rel Energy buys back 650,000 shares for $21 million
Kavitt S 28 Mar 2008 | : Stock Markets
Great news for Reliance Energy shareholders- Reliance Energy has bought back 650,000 equity shares of the company since the start of the offer on Tuesday at nearly Rs 1,279.23 (a share aggregating to Rs 831.5 million ($21 million)) driving the share up by Rs 28.20 to Rs 1,310/share.
The company’s board had approved buy-back of equity shares up to Rs 8 billion ($200 million), amounting to 10 per cent of the company’s equity and free reserves.
The remaining Rs 12 billion was intended for sale in the second phase, subject to necessary approvals by the shareholders.
Sensex seen up 5% or more in three months: Reuters poll
Kavitt S 27 Mar 2008 | : Business News - India, Stock Markets
A majority of India’s stock fund managers see at least a 5 percent rise in the benchmark BSE index in the next three months and may invest mainly in shares in engineering and financial sectors, a Reuters poll showed. Continue Reading »
Tata’s finally acquire Jaguar Land Rover for $2.30 bn
Kavitt S 26 Mar 2008 | : Acquisitons & Mergers, Business News - Global, Business News - India
Turns out, Tata’s the winner
In an extremely low-key announcement, Tatas and Ford have announced the details of the deal for the transfer of the iconic car brand Jaguar and Land Rover. The total amount to be paid in cash by Tata Motors for Jaguar Land Rover upon closing will be approximately US $2.3 billion. Continue Reading »
Sensex resurfaces above 15k level
Kavitt S 25 Mar 2008 | : Business News - India, Stock Markets
Still standing tall..
Sixth Pay Commission
Kavitt S 24 Mar 2008 | : General news
Salient features:
* High performers to get 3.5% increment against normal 2.5%
* Enhanced pay scales for nurses, teachers and constabulary
* Existing rates of most of the allowances to be doubled
* Education allowance reimbursement at Rs 1,000 per child a month against Rs 50 now
* Hostel subsidy to be increased 10 times to Rs 3,000
* Person stagnating at maximum of any pay band for more than a year to be placed in immediate next higher pay band without change in grade
* Performance linked incentive scheme to be introduced
* All fixed allowances to be made inflation proof
* All recommendations to be treated as an ‘organic whole’ as partial implementation will bring in several anomalies and inconsistencies.
Markets to remain volatile this week: Analysts
Kavitt S 24 Mar 2008 | : Business News - India, Stock Markets
Dalal Street will tend to remain wobbly this week owing to the weak global cues. In the three-trading days last week, the BSE Sensex settled at 14,994.83 points on Friday with a gain of over 161 points, while S&P CNX Nifty closed at 4573.95 points, down 0.90 per cent.
Asika Stock Brokers’ Research Head Paras Bodhra commented :
“Markets would be volatile, there will, however, be a bounce back in the indices but the broader trend is down. Some amount of stability could be witnessed but there would not be a run up. Because the under current is quite weak, the repeated rate cut by the Federal Reserve shows that there is a credit crunch and the global growth rate is slowing down”.
For details, please refer to this Financial Express article :
Financial Express website
Double-digit crude price history: experts
Kavitt S 24 Mar 2008 | : Business News - India
Oilonomics has gone haywire. The rise in oil prices has now started to hurt. Crude oil price increased five-fold in five years (from $22 per barrel in 2003); doubling in just fourteen months (from $54 per barrel in January 2007 to $110 per barrel in March 2008).
Factors behind the spectacular price increase are the booming energy demand, shrinking conventional resources and consequent shift in demand-supply axis. To add to the misery, dynamics like a weakening dollar, speculative activities and fear of supply disruptions from unstable resource centres have played a significant role.
OPEC ( Organization of petroleum exporting countries) signals the long-term floor benchmark to be around $90 per barrel. But the charged oil market, with its historical complexities, cannot offer anything except a further flaring in the price. Oil addicted economies will be worst hit and will have to work out suitable solutions to insulate development from the oil price curve. India, one of the fastest growing economies with an ever-growing appetite for all forms of energy, is not an exception.
