Sensex Drops 1.3%; Spice, Iron Ore Exports Up

Chandrasekhar Atreya
27 Aug, 2010
New York City

The benchmark index in Mumbai dropped 1.3% in a volatile trading with the index declining 2.2% in the week, largest weekly drop this quarter. Coal India begins search for anchor investors. Ranbaxy settles patent issue with Roche Eximbank sanctions loan to Reliance Power for Sasan plant.

[R]5:00 PM Mumbai – The benchmark index in Mumbai dropped 1.3% in a volatile trading with the index declining 2.2% in the week, largest weekly drop this quarter. Coal India begins search for anchor investors. Ranbaxy settles patent issue with Roche Eximbank sanctions loan to Reliance Power for Sasan plant.[/R]

Stocks in Mumbai trading fell and led the benchmark index to its largest weekly drop in nearly three months.

The BSE Sensex dropped 1.25% or 227.94 to close at 17,998 .41 with 26 of the index’s components declining. The CNX Nifty Index on the National Stock Exchange dropped 1.3% to 2,408.7. The Sensex dropped 2.2% this week, the most since the week ended May 21.

The U.S. Eximbank sanctioned $917 million or roughly Rs 4,300 crore in loan guarantee, the largest such support to any Indian industry for purchase of equipment for Anil Ambani Group’s Rs 20,000 crore power project in Madhya Pradesh.

“Reliance Power’s Sasan UMPP has got U.S. Eximbank’s financial approval,” a group spokesperson told PTI Thursday.

The government said Thursday it has no issue with Vedanta Resources acquiring Cairn India if shareholders of both companies approve the deal.

“If shareholders approve, we have nothing to do. If shareholders have a problem, then they can go to the High Court, Company Law Board or us,” Corporate Affairs Minister Salman Kurshid told reporters when asked if the government had an issue with this deal.

JSW Steel Ltd expects to commission the first unit at its new plant in Vijaynagar in Karnataka, in September, a top official said Thursday.

The company expects the 3.2 million tons per annum unit to be functional in February, Director and CEO Vinod Nowal told reporters on the sidelines of a shareholders meeting in Mumbai.

Daiichi Sankyo-owned Ranbaxy Laboratories settled its patent dispute with Swiss based Roche for its drug valganciclovir sold under the brand name Valcyte. The settlement was disclosed in a filing to a U.S.-appeals court in Washington so that it can be dismissed at the lower court. The request was granted on Tuesday according to Bloomberg News.

TTK Prestige Ltd, India’s largest kitchen appliances maker, expects net income to climb 40% this fiscal on increasing demand for pressure cookers, Chairman T.T. Jagannathan said in an interview.

Higher profit will help us fund an Rs 100 crore investment to double the manufacturing capacity of its plant in Tamil Nadu. The company plans to set up a plant in western India to make cookware, Jagannathan said.

The Indian Patent Manual will be ready by September 30, said the Controller General of Patents, Designs and Trademarks, P.H. Kurian on Wednesday.

The Joint Study Group of India and Australia recommended strongly that both the countries should enter into negotiations for comprehensive WTO-consistent bilateral Free Trade Agreement covering all tariff and non-tariff barriers that would include goods, trade in services, investment flows and other areas of cooperation.

Coal India Ltd will kick off its search for anchor investors with road shows in Singapore, Australia, and Hong Kong in the first leg of the program beginning early September.

The anchor investor concept that received nod from SEBI last year, envisages a scenario where a part of the issue which targets this segment of large investors is opened before the issue’s formal launch. The price quoted then becomes a reference price for the issue.

Tata Motors on Thursday said it was planning to raise Rs 4,700 crore to fund its various expansion programs, according to the group CEO Carl-Peter Forster who was talking to journalists at the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers Summit in New Delhi.

India’s iron ore exports in the first four months of the current fiscal year beginning in April was 32.86 million tons as compared with 31.39 million tons a year ago, data released by a trade body on Friday showed.

Export of spices in the same period increased 17% to over Rs 2,084 crore from Rs 1,775 crore, a year earlier, but from volume terms the growth was just over 12%, helped mainly by spurt in garlic and ginger shipments.

Total shipments were 193,875 tons compared to 172,510 tons in the year ago period, according to the Spices Board data.

Commonwealth Bank of Australia Thursday opened its first Indian branch in Mumbai to become the only Australian bank to operate with a full Indian banking license. The Mumbai branch would provide trade finance, remittances and foreign exchange to organizations that trade between Australia and India, the bank said in a statement.

Gainers & Losers

Asahi India Glass fell 0.9% to Rs 82.50 after the integrated glass company’s chief executive Sanjay Labroo told the media that the company plans to spend Rs 130 crore to expand capacity by a third in twelve months'' time.

Cipla Limited decreased 1.4% to Rs 302.70 after the special interim dividend announced by the board of director of the company recently, fell short of market expectations.

Force Motors Limited gained 1.6% to Rs 492.50 after the automobile company chairman Abhay Firodia told reporters that the company will spend between Rs 1,000 and Rs 2,000 crore to develop new products and modernize plants.

Godrej Properties Ltd. rose 0.03% to Rs 745.15 after the a Group chairman Adi Godrej told reporters that the company will raise up to Rs 1,000 crore over the next 18 to 24 months.

Infosys Technologies Limited fell 1.9% to Rs 2,708.85 after the Union Cabinet approved the new Direct Taxes Code bill wherein it has proposed a hike in the rate of minimum alternative tax to 20% from the prevailing 18%

Jammu & Kashmir Bank Limited plunged 6.9% to Rs 789.75 after the chief minister of J&K Omar Abdullah asked Dr Haseeb Drabu, to resign from the chairman and chief executive position.

Jet Airways (India) Limited declined 0.3% to Rs 778.55 after the aviation company expects a qualified institutional placement of $400 million.

Kamat Hotels (India) Limited spurted 4.4% to Rs 118.45 after the company allotted 18.43 lakh equity shares at Rs 135 each to New York-based investment firm Clearwater Capital Partners, on conversion of foreign currency bonds.

Oil and Natural Gas Corporation Limited increased 2.8% to Rs 1,317.65 after the oil exploration company discovered oil in a block on the western onshore basin, which the company had won under the sixth round of the New Exploration Licensing Policy.

Reliance Industries Limited fell 0.7% to Rs 949.75 after the Union Cabinet approved the new Direct Taxes Code bill wherein it proposed a hike in the rate of minimum alternate tax on book profits to 20% from the prevailing 18%.

Tata Power Company Limited declined 2.5% to Rs 1,236.20 after the integrated power utilities reports the company is in talks to buy a stake in US-based power utility InterGen NV for $1 billion to $1.2 billion.

Tata Steel Limited gained 1.6% to Rs 510.15 after the LMEX, a gauge of six metals traded on London Metal Exchange, rose 2.63% to $3,303.10 on August 26.