Bausch & Lomb Gets Higher Bid of $4.23 B

Elena
06 Jul, 2007
New York City

U.S. stocks traded mixed on Friday morning, as bond yields rose after data showed a stronger-than-expected jobs growth in June, including upwards revisions of previous months. The benchmark 10-year Treasury bond was down 13/32 at 94-21/32, lifting its yield to just below 5.2%.

[R]10:00AM New York – Revised U.S. payroll data suggest tight labor market, fueling speculation of inflation.[/R]

Monthly payroll data left investors worried that challenging labor market and rising wages may stoke inflation in the coming months. For the month of June 132,000 workers were added to payroll by U.S. companies and wages edged 0.3% higher. The May month payroll growth was revised to 190,000 from 157,000, higher than forecasted by most economists and April growth was revised to 122,000 from 80,000. Average hourly worker wage increased to $17.38, 3.9% increase from a year ago or 0.3% gain from April. The recent payroll growth has been driven by hiring in the healthcare and service sectors and government jobs.


[R]8:00AM New York, 5:30PM Mumbai – Sensex in India closes at record high, weekly inflation rebounds, and rupee eases in international trading.[/R]

Sensex gained 102.23 or 0.7% to close at 14,964.12 after reaching 15,007 in intra-day trading. The index jumped in seventeen months to 15,000 from 10,000 and gained the last 1,000 points in seven months. Trading turnover on BSE was 5,850 rupees, a decline from 6,515 rupees from previous session. Of the less than 3,000 shares changing hands 1,490 gained, 1,176 declined, and 86 remained unchanged. Of the 30-stocks Sensex, 25 gained and the rest declined.

Software exporters and cement companies rebounded but bank stocks fell. The rupee traded slightly below 40.50 rupees for one dollar on speculation of intervention from Reserve Bank.

Economy News

Weekly wholesale inflation index, at the end of the June 23rd week, rose to 4.13% from 4.03%. The inflation rose on the rising food and energy costs but remained at 13-month low level. The low inflation prompted the debate the further rate revision from Reserve Bank of India may be halted for two months.

IPO News

Recently priced Vishal Retail surged 9.5% to 758 rupees on heavy volume and DLF gained 0.2% to 571 rupees. ICICI Bank plans to raise nearly 6,000 crore rupees debt to fund its expansion. The recently priced offering of 20,000 crore rupees from the bank began trading today.

Gainers of the Day

Ahead of fiscal first quarter earnings from the software exporters, investors are worried of the impact of rising wages, strengthening rupee, and higher cost of travel and work visa on company earnings.

Tech Mahindra jumped nearly 6% to 1,475 rupees leading the rally in software exports. Satyam Computer jumped 4.6% to 485.60 rupees on 13 lakh (1.3 million) stock trading volume, Infosys advanced 3% to 1,974 rupees, TCS jumped 4.2% to 1,157 rupees, and Wipro increased 3% to 519 rupees. Infosys is expected to release earnings on July 11.

Cement stocks rebounded for the second day in a row. Birla Corporation jumped 3.5% followed by 3% gain in India Cements, and 2.2% rise in ACC, and 1.9% advance in Ambuja Cements.

Larsen & Toubro jumped 1.7% to 2,371 and traded intra-day record high of 2,385 rupees.

Reliance Communications gained 1.2% to 551 rupees and Bharti Airtel jumped 1.4% to 865 rupees.

Bajaj Auto jumped 1% to 2,110 rupees on the company restructuring announcement. The five division business structure is planned to improve company decision making and new products design.

Mahindra & Mahindra increased 3% on the news that the company is to replace Hero Honda in BSE Sensex on July 9th. Hero Honda gained 1.5%.

Decliners of the Day

ICICI bank fell nearly 2.7% to 978.25 rupees on trading volume of 32.47 lakh (3.2 million) shares. The recently priced secondary offering of 5.81 crore shares, raising nearly $5 billion, was priced at 940 rupees. The stock was offered to retail investor at 50 rupees discount.

Other banks traded lower. Indian Overseas Bank and Vijaya Bank fell 1.7%, HDFC Bank dropped 1.7%, and Punjab National Bank declined 0.9%.