7-day Rally in India; Tax Collection Rises

Mayank Mehta, Chandrasekhar Atreya and Sanjay Barot
17 Jun, 2010
New York City

Stocks in Mumbai traded higher for the seventh day in a row. The latest read on wholesale inflation showed a decline. Advanced corporate tax collection for the first quarter increased 18% from a year ago.

[R]5:00 PM Mumbai, 8:30 AM New York – Stocks in Mumbai traded higher for the seventh day in a row. The latest read on wholesale inflation showed a decline. Advanced corporate tax collection for the first quarter increased 18% from a year ago.[/R]

The Sensex index in India increased 153.82 or 0.88% to 17,616.69 and CNX Nifty index rose 33.95 or 0.65% to 5,267.30. Among the Sensex 30 stocks, 20 rose and 10 fell.

On BSE trading, 1,452 stocks advanced, 1,320 declined and 122 were unchanged.

Rupee edged lower 8 paisa to Rs. 46.62 against one dollar.

The wholesale price index in India decreased 0.7% to 299.5 from 301.7 for the previous week. For the year ending in the week, average inflation surged 16.86% compared to 5.91% in the same period a year ago.

India is scheduled to buy back Rs 10,000 crore of government securities through an auction tomorrow to boost liquidity in the financial system.

As part of its plan to buy as much as Rs 20,000 crore of debt in several tranches, the government will buy bonds through a multiple price-based multi-security auction, the Reserve Bank of India said in a statement on Wednesday.

India’s top 100 companies led by ONGC, Reliance Industries Ltd, have paid Rs 12,661.73 crore as advance tax to the government in the fiscal first quarter ending June 30, 18.7% increase from the same quarter a year ago.

State Bank of India is planning to enter the wealth management business in the current fiscal year.

“We plan to introduce wealth management services in a phased manner in the current fiscal,” bank Chairman O.P. Bhatt told shareholders at the bank’s annual general meeting held in Mumbai on Wednesday.

Reliance Capital announced on Wednesday that it has agreed to acquire 18% stake in Bloomberg UTV, a business news channel, for an undisclosed amount. Bloomberg UTV is a partnership between Bloomberg LP and the founders of UTV, one of India’s leading integrated media and entertainment enterprises.

“Upon receipt of necessary approvals, Bloomberg will own 15% and the founders of UTV will own 67% of the balance stake,” Reliance Capital stated in a release here in Mumbai yesterday.

India’s Fortis Healthcare has been given time till July 30, to make a counter offer to Malaysian fund Khazanah’s $835 million bid for majority stake in Singapore hospital chain, a tug of war that has prompted Morgan Stanley to buy 115,00,000 additional shares of Parkway Holdings through one of its subsidiaries.

Singapore regulator, Securities Industry Council, said Parkway Holding’s shareholders should be given sufficient information, advice, and time to enable them to reach an informed decision.

Gainers & Losers

Atul Auto Limited rose 4.9% to Rs 80.20 after the company said its board will meet on June 25 to consider rights offering.

Indraprastha Gas Limited increased 9.3% to Rs 262.65 after the company said it will raise retail prices of compressed natural gas by Rs 5.6 per kilogram from midnight on Wednesday due to an increase in natural gas prices.

MindTree Limited gained 4.2% to Rs 574.00 after the IT Solutions company announced that it has secured the application development and maintenance services contract of the Unique Identification project, renamed as ''Aadhaar''.

Oil and Natural Gas Corporation Limited rose 1.7% to Rs 1,182.60 after the company paid advance tax of Rs 1,093 crore in first quarter June 2010, up 24.2% from Rs 880 crore a year ago.

Punj Lloyd Limited rose 1.3% to Rs 127.45 after the company''s overseas unit won a large order of Rs 1,394 crore.

Ramsarup Industries Limited surged 12.3% to Rs 82.25.

Rallis India Limited rose 2.3% to Rs 1,056.00 after the company entered into a cooperation agreement with Switzerland based Syngenta for marketing fungicide Azoxystrobin in India.

Reliance Industries Limited rose 1.1% to Rs 1,069.05 after the company said it will invest $3 billion to expand its petrochemicals unit in western Gujarat state, the Mint reported.

Simbhaoli Sugars Limited increased 4.9% to Rs 41.65 after the company said it is in talks with a couple of European companies to offload a 45% stake in the special purpose vehicle created to set up a port-based refinery at Kandla, in Gujarat.

Sun Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd rose 0.5% to Rs 1,709.95 after the company secured an approval from the U.S. regulator to market Levetiracetam injection.

Suven Life Sciences Limited rose 2.6% to Rs 30.70.

Vipul Dye Chem Limited gained 4.9% to Rs 18.53 after the company said its board will meet on June 19 to consider expansion plan.