India Stocks Recover; India Holds 11% of World Gold

Chandrasekhar Atreya
20 Dec, 2010
New York City

Mumbai stocks gained in the evening aided by gains in automobile and technology stocks. Tata Chemicals agreed to acquire British Salt for ₤90 million. Indians now holds about 18,000 tons of gold, world

[R]5:00 PM Mumbai, 8:30 AM New York – Mumbai stocks gained in the evening aided by gains in automobile and technology stocks. Tata Chemicals agreed to acquire British Salt for ₤90 million. Indians now holds about 18,000 tons of gold, world’s 11% stocks according to World Gold Council.[/R]

Benchmarks in India recovered from their intra-day lows aided by gains in automobile and technology sector stocks. Pharmaceuticals, banks and public sector units declined.

The BSE Sensex closed 0.12% higher or 24.03 to 19,888.88. The CNX Nifty on the National Stock Exchange lost 5.80 to close at 5,942.95.

The rupee closed nearly unchanged at Rs 45.67 to a U.S. dollar.

Tata Chemicals said today that its unit signed a binding agreement to acquire 100% stake in British Salt Ltd for ₤93 million.

British Salt, which owns brine wells in U.K with a residual life of 50 years, makes pure and dried vacuum salt and has a market share of 50% in the United Kingdom, the company said in its statement.

Drug maker Claris Lifesciences made a subdued debut today on the Bombay Stock Exchange at a discount of 1.57% from the issue price of Rs 228 per share.

Moser Baer said today it plans to invest up to $600 million in three to four years for expanding its production capacity of crystalline cells and silicon modules in India, according to a senior company official.

“In the initial phase we plan to double the capacity of our silicon modules. Later we plan to expand the capacity of our thin film module to around 150 megawatt by 2012-13. The thin film modules are best suited to meet the solar power demand of the Indian market,” said the company’s CFO of India unit.

After a short period of a weak trend in 2009 due to the global credit crisis, India’s consumption of gold bounced back sharply in 2010, according to the World Gold Council.

Cumulatively, India now holds over 18,000 tons of aboveground gold stocks worth approximately $800 billion at the current price of gold, 11% of the world’s stock and nearly 50% of the country’s GDP, according to WGC.

Drug maker Ranbaxy Laboratories said today its joint venture in South Africa Sonke Pharmaceuticals won an order worth 913.5 million rand (about Rs 605 crore) from the government for supply of drug for treatment and prevention of AIDS.

The order is part of a 4.28 billion rand national anti-retroviral tender floated by the South African government, Ranbaxy said in a statement.

India received less foreign direct investment in the first ten months of 2010 than the previous year, courtesy a modest recovery in the global economy which reduced risk and expansion appetite of corporate entities across the world.

FDI inflows into India for the period January to October 2010 was $17.37 billion, compared to a $23.8 billion in the corresponding period of 2009, down 27%.