Sensex in Weekly Rise of 4%; SBI In Focus

Chandrasekhar Atreya
17 Sep, 2010
New York City

The Sensex index closed higher and jumped 4% and surged more than 7% in the month. Rupee advanced. Sustained foreign investments and rising consumer confidence has lifted index at the fastest pace in last four months. State Bank of India looks to raise more than $4.5 billion.

[R]5:00 PM Mumbai – The Sensex index closed higher and jumped 4% and surged more than 7% in the month. Rupee advanced. Sustained foreign investments and rising consumer confidence has lifted index at the fastest pace in last four months. State Bank of India looks to raise more than $4.5 billion.[/R]

Stocks in Mumbai traded higher on the sustained foreign investments, improving economic outlook and optimist consumer sentiment.

Stocks in Mumbai traded higher sharply and sustained the gains of the week. The Sensex index increased 0.9% or 177.26 to 19,594.75 and Nifty 50 index declined 56.25 or 0.97% to 5,884.95. For the week the index gained 4% and added 7.7% in the last three weeks.

The rupee edged higher to 45.84 against the dollar and 60.05 to one euro.

Air traffic in the first eight months to August increased 19.3% to 33.9 million passengers. Jet Air and its subsidiary Jetlite led the market with the market share of 27% followed by 20% share of Kingfisher and 18.3% share of Air India.

Unitech Ltd, India’s second-biggest property developer by assets, said Friday will repay all the loans from mutual funds for the first time since 2001, after home sales boosted revenue and liquidity.

Unitech reduced loans from mutual funds to Rs 6,000 crore and we expect to repay this balance this month, Managing Director Sanjay Chandra said in an interview in New Delhi today.

Reliance Capital Ltd, India’s largest mutual fund, is seeking a Chinese partner to tap funds in that country, said Vivek Gugnani, Chief Executive of the company’s international businesses.

“We want to get China investors access to the India growth story,” Gugnani said in an interview in Hong Kong Thursday.

HCL Technologies Ltd, software-services provider, expects sales in Japan to increase by as much as 60% on demand for faster and cheaper products, CEO Vineet Nayar said.

Nayar in Japan to promote a book on management said in an interview in Tokyo Thursday that HCL is focusing on gaining market share instead of profit margins.

S. Kumars Nationwide Ltd said Thursday that the company raised $50 million through private placement. The company received an order book of about 2.5 times the base issue size of $25 million and opted to exercise the over-allotment option of $25 million, a press release issued in Mumbai said Thursday.

HDFC Bank, India’s largest private sector bank, got approval from the Hong Kong Monetary Authority to commence banking operations in that country.

Apart from routine commercial banking, the bank is looking to offer a basket of international investment products to customers across South East Asia, a senior bank official said.

Micro finance company, Spandana, Thursday said it crossed the cumulative disbursement mark of Rs 15,000 crore on August 31, with its cumulative disbursements totaling 15,135 crore.

Small loans are given to economically active low-income households across rural and semi-urban areas which have a large unmet demand for credit.

Monnet Ispat & Energy, a Delhi-based company with interests in steel and power, said Friday it acquired 850 acres of land so far in Jharkhand out of a total of 2,000 acres required to build its proposed 2.5 million ton steel plant.

The company will invest about Rs 14,000 crore for the project and is also building a 280 megawatt power plant near Bokaro.

The organized sector in India is set to create about 320,400 jobs between July and September, reveals the latest results of Ma Foi Randstad Employment Trends Survey. The survey conducted across 13 industry sectors in 8 Indian cities shows optimism across all sectors and the services sectors.

Gainers & Losers

Ashok Leyland Limited gained 1.9% to Rs 76.10 after the commercial vehicles maker received an order for 2,850 buses from the Institute for Road Transport, the agency for procurement of vehicles of the state of Tamil Nadu.

Ambuja Cements Ltd surged 4.6% to Rs 142.45 after the cement maker anticipated higher demand as the monsoon season draws to a close.

Assam Company Limited rose 2.2% to Rs 22.40 after the tea plantation reported a fall in production due to heavy rains and a pest attack has pushed wholesale prices by up to Rs 25 per kilogram.

Bharti Airtel Limited increased 2.9% to Rs 357.80 after the telecom operator is in talks with other mobile operators including Vodafone, Essar and Idea Cellular to form a strategic alliance to offer third generation services on a pan-India level.

Bang Overseas Ltd. soared 12.4% to Rs 62.85 after the textile maker said it has decided to sell its entire stake in an equal joint venture to the foreign joint venture partner.

Compact Disc India Ltd. declined 1.6% to Rs 69.50 after the animation and international film maker turned ex-dividend today of Rs 2 per share for the year ended March.

Delta Corp Limited spurted 19.9% to Rs 69.70 and was halted at the upper end of its limit to 20% after the diversified company board will meet on September 20 to consider rising up to Rs 275 crore.

Elder Pharmaceuticals Ltd. soared 5% to Rs 435.00 after the said it plans to acquire a UK-based firm for about 9.80 million pounds.

Gujarat Mineral Development Corporation Limited fell 0.7% to Rs 132.05 after the stock turned ex-dividend today of Rs 2.50 for the year ended March.

Housing Development Finance Corporation Limited plunged 1% to Rs 684.10 after the stock surged nearly 10% in the last five days.

Ispat Industries Limited surged 17% to Rs 23.75 after the steel, textile maker entered into a co-operation agreement with Stemcor, the world's largest independent steel trader.

Indiabulls Financial Services Limited rose 0.4% to Rs 149.00 after the financial services paid Rs 25 crore as advance tax in second quarter September compared to no tax payment a year ago.

ICICI Bank Limited gained 1.4% to Rs 1,119.60 after the commercial bank paid advance tax of Rs 600 crore in second quarter September compared to Rs 500 crore in the same period a year ago.

Jaihind Projects Limited rose 1.9% to Rs 255.00 after the engineering contractor got orders aggregating Rs 74.55 crore from GAIL India and Rajkot Municipal Corporation.

Mudra Lifestyle Limited increased 10.4% to Rs 50.25 after the integrated textile company receiving proposals from various strategic and financial investors for a stake in the company.

National Aluminium Company Limited gained 1.1% to Rs 411.35 tracking the gains in international prices of aluminum.

Reliance Communications Limited soared 5.2% to Rs 166.45.

State Bank of India fell 0.2% to Rs 3,094.00 as the bank is seeking government approval for raising Rs 20,000 crore through a follow-on public offering or a rights issue.

Shriram EPC Limited increased 2% to Rs 303.15 after the project manager won orders worth Rs 1,000 crore across various business divisions.

Tata Motors Limited gained 1.1% to Rs 1,035.65 after the automobile company American depository receipts rose 2.25% to $23.59 on the New York Stock Exchange on September 16.

Unitech Limited rose 0.6% to Rs 87.80 after the real estate consultancy will repay all the money it owes to mutual funds for the first time since 2001 after boosting revenue from homes sales.