- Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), the country`s largest software exporter signed an eight year end-to-end IT application services contract with Scottish Water, worth an estimated 60 million pound nearly Rs 4,770.74 million on Monday.
- Anil Ambani led Reliance Energy reported on Monday a substantial increase in consolidated net profit for the year ended March 2008. During the year, the profit of the company surged 41.19% to Rs 11782.10 million from Rs 8344.80 million in the last year. The consolidated total income during the year climbed 22.54% to Rs 97,600.10 million, when compared with the prior year.The board of directors has recommended a dividend of Rs 6.30 a share (63%) on fully paid up equity shares of Rs 10 each for the year 2007-08. The dividend will be paid on the equity share capital of Rs 2,356.2 million.
- Indian Overseas Bank has disclosed a marginal rise in net profits for the quarter ended in March 2008. During the quarter, the company experienced a 5.58% rise in profits to Rs 3,059.54 million from Rs 2,897.63 million in the quarter ended March 2007.
- Domestic long distance mobile call tariffs dipped to a new low today, with cellular services market leader Bharti Airtel reducing STD rates to Rs 1.50 a minute from Rs 2.65. Bharti Airtel, 30 per cent owned by Singapore's SingTel, also announced a drastic cut in roaming rates under which incoming roaming calls will be charged at Re 1 a minute compared with the existing Rs 1.75.While roaming, the customer can make an outgoing local call at Re 1 a minute and an STD call at Rs 1.50 a minute, Bharti Airtel President Manoj Kohli told reporters here.
- Reliance Energy today reported 41.2% increase in consolidated net profit for the full year ended March 31, 2008, at Rs 1,178.21 crore when compared with Rs 834.48 crore posted in the fiscal year ended March 31, 2007. According to a release issued by Reliance Energy to the BSE today, FY08 total income was up 25.5% at Rs 9,760.01 crore from Rs 7,774.53 crore in FY07.
- Triveni Engineering has announced its Q2FY08 results. The net sales are at Rs 378.53 crore vs Rs 364.5 crore. Its OPM is at 22.5% versus 7%. It’s PAT is at Rs 34.3 crore versus Rs 5.4 crore.
- Lanco Industries Ltd has informed the Exchange that the Board of Directors of the Company at its meeting held on April 28, 2008 has recommended a dividend of 10% Re. 1/- per equity share for the year ended March 31, 2008. Further the Company has informed that the Register of Members and Share Transfer Books of the Company will remain closed from August 21, 2008 to August 27, 2008 .
- Ahead of RBI Policy meeting tomorrow, an NDTV Profit poll of economists states that 55% expect the RBI to hike repo rate, 45% feel there may be no change and 10% feel there may be a reverse repo rate hike. Repo rate may be increased by 25 bps feel Goldman Sachs, HSBC and IDBI Gifts, states NDTV Profit. The market has factored in a 25 bps repo rate hike.
- LIC Housing has come out with fourth quarter numbers. It has reported Q4 net profit at Rs 118 crore as against Rs 89.1 crore in same quarter of last year. Other income stood at Rs 39.6 crore versus Rs 12.7 crore. The company disbursed Rs 2598 crores during fouth quarter, registering a growth of 48% and likely to disburse Rs 8500 crore. For the year, the company sanctioned Rs 8618 crores, and disbursed Rs 7071 crores, a growth of 41% and 38% respectively. The Company's total income for the year was Rs 2164.92 crores versus Rs.1575.56 crores.
- Hexaware Technologies has announced its fourth quarter results. The company's Q4 PAT was at Rs 20.8 crore versus loss of Rs 81.15 crore, QoQ. Its revenues were at Rs 267 crore versus Rs 259.17 crore, QoQ.Its MTM losses at Rs 5.6 crore.
- Essar Oil has declared its results for quarter ended March 2008. The companys net sales were at Rs 47.46 crore versus Rs 265.27 crore. In the same quarter the company incurred a net loss of Rs 8.48 crore versus profit of Rs 0.99 crore.
- Siemens tumbles 10% on disappointing results:The company has announced its second quarter results. The company's Q2 standalone net profit was at Rs 1.7 crore versus Rs 108.1 crore, YoY.
- US Patent and Trademark Office, or PTO, has rejected Pfizer's application for re-issue of the Lipitor patent, reports CNBC-TV18. The US PTO's decision is in favour of Ranbaxy. The Indian pharma major plans to launch a Lipitor generic version In US from March 2010.
- Nelcast Limited has informed the Exchange regarding a press release dated April 28, 2008 titled "Nelcast records sales revenue of Rs 403.65 Cr; Capacity Expansion at a cost of Rs 60 Cr; Production capacity to reach 150,000 MT per annum by Oct'08; Exports set to increase by 100% in 2008-09".
- Among the Indian ADRs trading on the US bourses, Rediff was the major gainer by 9.42%, followed by ICICI Bank up by 5.24%. HDFC Bank & MTNL were up by 4%, while Wipro registered at gain of around 2% and Dr Reddy, Infosys and VSNL ended in Positive Territory. However, Patni Computer, Tata Motors and Satyam slipped into the red.
- ICICI Bank makes additional provisions of US$45mn for mark to market losses on its credit derivative obligations and credit-linked note portfolio in February and March 2008.
- : Amid global uncertainties, the US Inc is bullish on India as an investment destination compared to other emerging economies, but wants the country to improve its intellectual property rights regime and infrastructure, a survey said.
- ICICI Bank has applied for a license to set up a non-banking finance company.
Monday, April 28, 2008
Announcements
India launches 10 satellites in a day
India's space agency launched 10 satellites on Monday mainly belonging to Germany and Canada, the Indian Space Research Organisation said, boosting its space research capabilities..
The satellites were carried into space by India's Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle which blasted off from a space centre off the country's eastern coast near Chennai.
"The launches were smooth and we saw to it that it went according to plan," a senior ISRO official said by telephone.
The Indian-made Cartosat-2A remote sensing satellite, which is fitted with a high resolution camera for recording clear images from space was the main satellite launched, an ISRO spokesman said from Bangalore.
High resolution images and data from the satellite will be used to manage infrastructure and natural resources in the country, officials said.
The other launches included a mini satellite to provide technological data, which India plans to share with other countries, and eight other smaller research satellites belonging to Germany and Canada under a commercial agreement.
"These launches were very important to boost our space research capabilities," the ISRO official said.
The satellites were carried into space by India's Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle which blasted off from a space centre off the country's eastern coast near Chennai.
"The launches were smooth and we saw to it that it went according to plan," a senior ISRO official said by telephone.
The Indian-made Cartosat-2A remote sensing satellite, which is fitted with a high resolution camera for recording clear images from space was the main satellite launched, an ISRO spokesman said from Bangalore.
High resolution images and data from the satellite will be used to manage infrastructure and natural resources in the country, officials said.
The other launches included a mini satellite to provide technological data, which India plans to share with other countries, and eight other smaller research satellites belonging to Germany and Canada under a commercial agreement.
"These launches were very important to boost our space research capabilities," the ISRO official said.
Fed likely to cut U.S. rates, could signal pause
The U.S. Federal Reserve is expected to put an exclamation point on its string of interest- rate cuts with a small reduction this week and may signal that its rate-cutting cycle is done for now.
Rising global inflation and the Fed's hope that a blend of monetary and fiscal stimulus will shore up the anemic U.S. economy suggest the central bank is ready to pause in the sharp easing cycle it kicked off in mid-September.
Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke and his colleagues have lowered benchmark overnight lending rates 3 full percentage points to 2.25 percent over that span.
Policy-makers meeting on Tuesday and Wednesday look set to lower them by a slim quarter point and then step aside to see whether their handiwork has the desired effect in spurring an economy socked by a housing slump and credit market disarray.
While officials still worry about downside risks for the economy, which they think may be facing recession, they also are concerned forecasts for an ebbing in inflation may prove off track. Soaring prices for oil and food have fed a global inflationary surge, sparking food riots in some countries.
"The Fed's intention to pause its easing cycle may be part of an international effort to stabilize the falling value of the dollar, in light of the deteriorating state of world food prices," said Ashraf Laidi, chief foreign exchange strategist at CMC Markets US in New York.
A Reuters survey on Friday of the 20 big bond firms that deal directly with the Fed in the markets found that all of them expect a quarter-point rate cut this week.
Interest-rate futures markets are less certain. Late on Friday, rate futures showed a 76 percent chance of a cut, but an almost one-in-four chance the Fed would hold steady. They also suggest rates will end the year back at 2.25 percent.
The policy-setting Federal Open Market Committee will announce its decision at around 2:15 p.m. EDT on Wednesday.
THE FISHER FACTOR
The FOMC slashed rates by three-quarters of a point in March, but drew two dissents by officials concerned lower rates could exacerbate price pressures. Wednesday's announcement will be pored over for hints the Fed now intends to pause.
The statement should have "somewhat stronger language justifying concerns over inflationary pressures, inflationary expectations, and soaring food and energy prices," said Dan North, chief economist at Euler Hermes in Owings Mills, Maryland.
Several Fed officials across the dove-hawk spectrum have already sharpened their rhetoric on inflation, while expressing guarded confidence the economy will have turned for the better by the second half of the year.
"Monetary policy decisions depend critically on the outlook for the economy over the medium term," Philadelphia Federal Reserve Bank President Charles Plosser said on April 18.
Plosser and Dallas Fed President Richard Fisher voted against the Fed's big rate cut on March 18, preferring less aggressive action. Fisher has emerged as the FOMC's anti-inflation ringleader, with two dissents this year.
He has urged the Fed to lean less on rate cuts and more on measures to provide liquidity to clogged financial markets as a way of easing the credit crisis without stoking inflation.
"It's really a question of, are we getting the bang for the buck (from interest rate cuts). And clearly we're not," Fisher said on Tuesday.
Indeed, some economists argue low rates have encouraged investors to bid up prices for oil and other commodities. Crude oil prices are up about 24 percent so far this year and the Reuters-Jefferies CRB index of commodity prices .CRB is up about 17 percent.
The past few weeks have brought food riots in Africa, record prices and export restrictions for rice, and even the imposition of buying limits on staples such as rice and flour at some U.S. warehouse stores -- events that should have penetrated the Fed's psyche.
"In a more normal economic downturn, another large Fed rate cut would be a given. But the huge upswing in global commodity prices complicates matters," said Rory Robertson, interest rate strategist at Macquarie Bank in Sydney.
U.S. economic data has been generally weak since the Fed's March 18 policy meeting, with reports showing a third straight monthly drop in employment, plunging consumer confidence and soft retail spending.
The government's initial estimate of U.S. first quarter gross domestic product is due on Wednesday. Analysts forecast growth at a median 0.2 percent annual pace, with estimates ranging from minus 0.8 percent to plus 1.5 percent.
Rising global inflation and the Fed's hope that a blend of monetary and fiscal stimulus will shore up the anemic U.S. economy suggest the central bank is ready to pause in the sharp easing cycle it kicked off in mid-September.
Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke and his colleagues have lowered benchmark overnight lending rates 3 full percentage points to 2.25 percent over that span.
Policy-makers meeting on Tuesday and Wednesday look set to lower them by a slim quarter point and then step aside to see whether their handiwork has the desired effect in spurring an economy socked by a housing slump and credit market disarray.
While officials still worry about downside risks for the economy, which they think may be facing recession, they also are concerned forecasts for an ebbing in inflation may prove off track. Soaring prices for oil and food have fed a global inflationary surge, sparking food riots in some countries.
"The Fed's intention to pause its easing cycle may be part of an international effort to stabilize the falling value of the dollar, in light of the deteriorating state of world food prices," said Ashraf Laidi, chief foreign exchange strategist at CMC Markets US in New York.
A Reuters survey on Friday of the 20 big bond firms that deal directly with the Fed in the markets found that all of them expect a quarter-point rate cut this week.
Interest-rate futures markets are less certain. Late on Friday, rate futures showed a 76 percent chance of a cut, but an almost one-in-four chance the Fed would hold steady. They also suggest rates will end the year back at 2.25 percent.
The policy-setting Federal Open Market Committee will announce its decision at around 2:15 p.m. EDT on Wednesday.
THE FISHER FACTOR
The FOMC slashed rates by three-quarters of a point in March, but drew two dissents by officials concerned lower rates could exacerbate price pressures. Wednesday's announcement will be pored over for hints the Fed now intends to pause.
The statement should have "somewhat stronger language justifying concerns over inflationary pressures, inflationary expectations, and soaring food and energy prices," said Dan North, chief economist at Euler Hermes in Owings Mills, Maryland.
Several Fed officials across the dove-hawk spectrum have already sharpened their rhetoric on inflation, while expressing guarded confidence the economy will have turned for the better by the second half of the year.
"Monetary policy decisions depend critically on the outlook for the economy over the medium term," Philadelphia Federal Reserve Bank President Charles Plosser said on April 18.
Plosser and Dallas Fed President Richard Fisher voted against the Fed's big rate cut on March 18, preferring less aggressive action. Fisher has emerged as the FOMC's anti-inflation ringleader, with two dissents this year.
He has urged the Fed to lean less on rate cuts and more on measures to provide liquidity to clogged financial markets as a way of easing the credit crisis without stoking inflation.
"It's really a question of, are we getting the bang for the buck (from interest rate cuts). And clearly we're not," Fisher said on Tuesday.
Indeed, some economists argue low rates have encouraged investors to bid up prices for oil and other commodities. Crude oil prices are up about 24 percent so far this year and the Reuters-Jefferies CRB index of commodity prices .CRB is up about 17 percent.
The past few weeks have brought food riots in Africa, record prices and export restrictions for rice, and even the imposition of buying limits on staples such as rice and flour at some U.S. warehouse stores -- events that should have penetrated the Fed's psyche.
"In a more normal economic downturn, another large Fed rate cut would be a given. But the huge upswing in global commodity prices complicates matters," said Rory Robertson, interest rate strategist at Macquarie Bank in Sydney.
U.S. economic data has been generally weak since the Fed's March 18 policy meeting, with reports showing a third straight monthly drop in employment, plunging consumer confidence and soft retail spending.
The government's initial estimate of U.S. first quarter gross domestic product is due on Wednesday. Analysts forecast growth at a median 0.2 percent annual pace, with estimates ranging from minus 0.8 percent to plus 1.5 percent.
Oil Rises to Record on U.K. Pipeline Shutdown, Nigeria Attack
Crude oil rose to a record near $120 a barrel after BP Plc shut a North Sea pipeline and gunmen attacked police guarding Nigeria's largest oil and gas terminal.
BP closed the Forties Pipeline System, carrying 40 percent of the U.K.'s oil production, after a strike at the Grangemouth refinery cut power supplies. Five police were killed in yesterday's attack in the Niger Delta where output has dropped by 50 percent since April 25, adding to concerns about supplies ahead of the Northern Hemisphere summer driving season.
``The bulls are still in control so it's no surprise to be near $120 on these supply concerns,'' said Victor Shum, senior principal at Purvin & Gertz Inc. in Singapore. ``Nigeria is back on top of traders' minds. The disruptions are real and this is high-quality crude needed by the U.S. refineries for gasoline production in the summer.''
Crude oil for June delivery rose as much as $1.41, or 1.2 percent, to $119.93 a barrel in after-hours electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange, the highest since the futures began trading in 1983. It was at $119.34 at 1:02 p.m. in Singapore. Prices have surged 82 percent in the past year.
The contract jumped 2.1 percent to $118.52 a barrel April 25 when the refinery strike and pipeline closure were announced.
``The production affected at the moment is pretty substantial,'' said David Moore, the commodity strategist at Commonwealth Bank of Australia Ltd. in Sydney. ``It all counts nowadays. The price would suggest the market is very tight.''
June Premium
Oil for delivery in June is selling at a premium of $1.04 a barrel to July supplies. The price difference becomes more pronounced for later month contracts as June's premium to the December future has jumped to $4.80 a barrel.
Brent crude for June settlement rose as much as $1, or 0.9 percent, to $117.34 a barrel London's ICE Futures Europe exchange and was trading at $117.06 a barrel at 12:53 p.m. in Singapore. It reached a record $117.56 on April 25.
Refinery production at Grangemouth will resume on April 29 at 7 a.m. local time. Units crucial to restart flows on the Forties pipeline will have priority, Richard Longden, spokesman for operator Ineos Group Holdings Plc, said yesterday.
Oil grades from the North Sea and Nigeria, Africa's biggest producer, are low in sulfur and favored by refiners. Nigeria is losing about 50 percent of its output after staff at Exxon Mobil Corp.'s operations went on strike April 24 and militants attacked a Royal Dutch Shell Plc pipeline later the same day.
``Nigerian crude is quite good quality and the U.S. probably imports about 10 percent to 15 percent from them,'' said Tetsu Emori, fund manager at Astmax Ltd. in Tokyo. ``It's affecting the supply and the quality'' for the refiners.
Exxon Strike
Nigeria pumped 1.96 million barrels a day in March, according to Bloomberg estimates. Recent attacks on Shell-run pipelines, including the latest one, are cutting oil flows by about 140,000 barrels a day, the country's oil minister H. Odein Ajumogobia said April 25. The Exxon Mobil strike is halting about 765,000 barrels a day, according to union estimates.
The loss of production in the North Sea and Nigeria follows reports of output declines in Russia and Mexico, two of the biggest suppliers that are not members of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries.
``On top of everything in the U.K. and everything in Nigeria, it seems like everyday we're having new supply problems,'' said Jonathan Kornafel, a director for Asia at Hudson Capital Energy in Singapore in an interview with Bloomberg Television. ``It's political, it's supply. Everyday there's something pushing prices higher.''
New York oil futures are 79 percent higher than a year ago, with almost a quarter of that gain booked this month as the falling dollar and declining U.S. gasoline stockpiles spurred fund managers to invest in fuel and crude oil.
Net-Longs Increase
Hedge fund managers and other large speculators increased bets on rising oil prices a third time in the week ended April 22, according to U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission data.
Speculative long positions, or bets prices will rise, outnumbered short positions by 70,562 contracts, a 6 percent gain, the Washington-based commission said in its Commitments of Traders report. This is the highest since the week ended March 21.
Oil prices are likely to fall to ``more realistic levels'' once the Forties pipeline has re-opened, said Ben Barber, a broker at Bell Commodities Ltd. in Melbourne. U.S. stockpiles and the dollar are rising and there is a risk prices will fall this week if the Federal Reserve signals an end to recent interest rate cuts.
``Oil is quite susceptible,'' he said.
The Federal Reserve will probably cut its target lending rate by a quarter-point to 2 percent on April 30, according to futures traded on the Chicago Board of Trade, the smallest reduction in four months.
BP closed the Forties Pipeline System, carrying 40 percent of the U.K.'s oil production, after a strike at the Grangemouth refinery cut power supplies. Five police were killed in yesterday's attack in the Niger Delta where output has dropped by 50 percent since April 25, adding to concerns about supplies ahead of the Northern Hemisphere summer driving season.
``The bulls are still in control so it's no surprise to be near $120 on these supply concerns,'' said Victor Shum, senior principal at Purvin & Gertz Inc. in Singapore. ``Nigeria is back on top of traders' minds. The disruptions are real and this is high-quality crude needed by the U.S. refineries for gasoline production in the summer.''
Crude oil for June delivery rose as much as $1.41, or 1.2 percent, to $119.93 a barrel in after-hours electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange, the highest since the futures began trading in 1983. It was at $119.34 at 1:02 p.m. in Singapore. Prices have surged 82 percent in the past year.
The contract jumped 2.1 percent to $118.52 a barrel April 25 when the refinery strike and pipeline closure were announced.
``The production affected at the moment is pretty substantial,'' said David Moore, the commodity strategist at Commonwealth Bank of Australia Ltd. in Sydney. ``It all counts nowadays. The price would suggest the market is very tight.''
June Premium
Oil for delivery in June is selling at a premium of $1.04 a barrel to July supplies. The price difference becomes more pronounced for later month contracts as June's premium to the December future has jumped to $4.80 a barrel.
Brent crude for June settlement rose as much as $1, or 0.9 percent, to $117.34 a barrel London's ICE Futures Europe exchange and was trading at $117.06 a barrel at 12:53 p.m. in Singapore. It reached a record $117.56 on April 25.
Refinery production at Grangemouth will resume on April 29 at 7 a.m. local time. Units crucial to restart flows on the Forties pipeline will have priority, Richard Longden, spokesman for operator Ineos Group Holdings Plc, said yesterday.
Oil grades from the North Sea and Nigeria, Africa's biggest producer, are low in sulfur and favored by refiners. Nigeria is losing about 50 percent of its output after staff at Exxon Mobil Corp.'s operations went on strike April 24 and militants attacked a Royal Dutch Shell Plc pipeline later the same day.
``Nigerian crude is quite good quality and the U.S. probably imports about 10 percent to 15 percent from them,'' said Tetsu Emori, fund manager at Astmax Ltd. in Tokyo. ``It's affecting the supply and the quality'' for the refiners.
Exxon Strike
Nigeria pumped 1.96 million barrels a day in March, according to Bloomberg estimates. Recent attacks on Shell-run pipelines, including the latest one, are cutting oil flows by about 140,000 barrels a day, the country's oil minister H. Odein Ajumogobia said April 25. The Exxon Mobil strike is halting about 765,000 barrels a day, according to union estimates.
The loss of production in the North Sea and Nigeria follows reports of output declines in Russia and Mexico, two of the biggest suppliers that are not members of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries.
``On top of everything in the U.K. and everything in Nigeria, it seems like everyday we're having new supply problems,'' said Jonathan Kornafel, a director for Asia at Hudson Capital Energy in Singapore in an interview with Bloomberg Television. ``It's political, it's supply. Everyday there's something pushing prices higher.''
New York oil futures are 79 percent higher than a year ago, with almost a quarter of that gain booked this month as the falling dollar and declining U.S. gasoline stockpiles spurred fund managers to invest in fuel and crude oil.
Net-Longs Increase
Hedge fund managers and other large speculators increased bets on rising oil prices a third time in the week ended April 22, according to U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission data.
Speculative long positions, or bets prices will rise, outnumbered short positions by 70,562 contracts, a 6 percent gain, the Washington-based commission said in its Commitments of Traders report. This is the highest since the week ended March 21.
Oil prices are likely to fall to ``more realistic levels'' once the Forties pipeline has re-opened, said Ben Barber, a broker at Bell Commodities Ltd. in Melbourne. U.S. stockpiles and the dollar are rising and there is a risk prices will fall this week if the Federal Reserve signals an end to recent interest rate cuts.
``Oil is quite susceptible,'' he said.
The Federal Reserve will probably cut its target lending rate by a quarter-point to 2 percent on April 30, according to futures traded on the Chicago Board of Trade, the smallest reduction in four months.
MARKET PREDICTION
GLOBAL MARKET ARE POSITIVE TODAY.
INDIA WILL FOLLOW THE SAME TREND.
LEVEL OF NIFTY IS 5060-5100-5210.
AFTER NEW SERIES STARTED MARKET HAS GIVEN STRONG BUYING.
TOTAL MARKET ROLL OVER WAS 48 K CR INTO MAY SERIES..
BUT ON FRIDAY TRADE OI ADDED 5000 K CR.
BANKING,FINANCIAL SERVICE,METAL,TELECOM WITNESSING HUGE BUYING .
AFTER BHARTI GREAT RESULT IT SHOOT UP 10%.
PUT CALL RATIO IS 1.37% IN MARKET.
IF MARKET SUSTAIN ABOVE 5100 GO LONG IN BANKING AND FINANCIAL SERVICE,TELECOM,AND METAL.
HAVE A NICE TRADING DAY..
-MR SAM
INDIA WILL FOLLOW THE SAME TREND.
LEVEL OF NIFTY IS 5060-5100-5210.
AFTER NEW SERIES STARTED MARKET HAS GIVEN STRONG BUYING.
TOTAL MARKET ROLL OVER WAS 48 K CR INTO MAY SERIES..
BUT ON FRIDAY TRADE OI ADDED 5000 K CR.
BANKING,FINANCIAL SERVICE,METAL,TELECOM WITNESSING HUGE BUYING .
AFTER BHARTI GREAT RESULT IT SHOOT UP 10%.
PUT CALL RATIO IS 1.37% IN MARKET.
IF MARKET SUSTAIN ABOVE 5100 GO LONG IN BANKING AND FINANCIAL SERVICE,TELECOM,AND METAL.
HAVE A NICE TRADING DAY..
-MR SAM
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