Banks Lead Decliners in India; Tata Motor Up

Mayank Mehta
18 Dec, 2009
New York City

Stocks in Mumbai traded lower after banks declined on comments from international regulator based in Basel, Switzerland. Nitesh Estate Ltd plans a $100 million offering to build a Ritz Carlton brand hotel in Bangalore. Tata Motors Group vehicle sales surged 62% in November.

[R]6:00 PM Mumbai, 8:30 AM New York – Stocks in Mumbai traded lower after banks declined on comments from international regulator based in Basel, Switzerland. Nitesh Estate Ltd plans a $100 million offering to build a Ritz Carlton brand hotel in Bangalore. Tata Motors Group vehicle sales surged 62% in November.[/R]

Stocks in Mumbai trading declined on the valuation concern and weak banks in the region after the comments from Basel based international regulatory agency. Tata Motors November sales increased 62% from a year ago.

Nitesh Estate Ltd based in Bangalore is planning an offering of Rs 500 crore that will fund the construction of Ritz Carlton brand hotel in Bangalore.

The Sensex index in India decreased 174.42 or 1.0% to 16,719.83 and CNX Nifty index fell 54.05 or 1.0% to 4,987.70. Among the Sensex 30 stocks, 6 rose and 24 fell.

On BSE trading, 1,172 stocks advanced, 1,658 declined and 85 were unchanged.

Reliance Industries and ICICI Bank the two leading index members declined and consumer goods makers, banks and realty stocks edged lower as well.

Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee said on Friday that containing inflation is high on the government''s agenda and the government is monitoring the price situation.

The two main bourses the Bombay Stock Exchange and the National Stock Exchange have postponed by more than two weeks their move to bring forward the start of trading by 55 minutes, after strong protests from brokers. Extended trading on the two exchanges will now begin on January 4, instead of the earlier schedule today.

Rupee edged lower 5 paisa to 46.93 against one dollar.

Gainers & Losers

Arvind Limited the manufacture of denim fabrics added 1.4% to Rs 38.35.

Bihar Tubes Limited dropped 0.2% to Rs 76.75 after a private company hiked its stake in the firm.

Diamant Investment and Finance Limited the road construction business rose 5% to Rs 107.20.

Escorts Limited rose 1.2% to Rs 116.40 after the tractors maker said one of the promoter group companies revoked a portion of shares which it had pledged earlier.

Ganesh Housing Corporation Limited slipped 1.0% to Rs 126.50.

Gemini Communication Ltd increased 5.0% to Rs 42.00.

Hotel Leela Venture Limited decreased 2.3% to Rs 43.70 after the company said Leela Lace Holdings, one of the promoter group companies, pledged additional 1.76 crore shares representing 4.66% equity capital of the company.

ICICI Bank Limited fell 0.4% to Rs 822.00 on a weak trading in banking stocks.

Indowind Energy Limited surged 10% to Rs 58.15 after the wind power generation company expects 70% revenue growth in fiscal 2010.

Kanoria Chemicals & Industries Limited declined 2% to Rs 33.25 and the stock had surged more than 7% in the two previous days of trading.

KRBL Limited added 2.4% to Rs 200.00 after the rice company board approved a 10-for-1 stock split.

Nitesh Estates Ltd plans to raise Rs 500 crore in a public offering to build Ritz Carlton brand hotel in Bangalore. The company plans to use funds to lower its debt and also build a shopping mall according to a statement from Nitesh Shetty quoted on Bloomberg news. Nitesh Estate has investments from Citigroup, HDFC and $51 million from a U.S. hedge fund Och-Ziff Capital Management.

Sical Logistics Limited climbed 6.1% to Rs 75.50 said that the company has purchased back bonds with face value of $38.25 million at a discount.

Simbhaoli Sugars Limited added 4.8% to Rs 75.00 after the sugar refining capacities announced buy back of $1.5 million (Rs 70.4056 million) foreign currency convertible bonds achieving aggregate buy back of $31.11 million ( Rs 1,460.04 million) bonds out of total $33 million ( Rs 1,548.70 million) issued in March 2006 with a maturity of five years in March 2011.

Sona Koyo Steering Systems Limited increased 4.7% to Rs 16.70 after the company is looking to acquire a local aerospace components supplier.

Suzlon Energy Limited rose 0.6% to Rs 83.40 after the wind power company said Friday it has repaid $780 million acquisition loans from the proceeds of a partial stake sale in Belgian turbine gearbox maker Hansen Transmissions International NV and a new loan from the State Bank of India.

Tata Motors Limited advanced 3.7% to Rs 735.80 after commercial vehicles sales soared 81% to 33,338 units, while passenger vehicle sales surged 40% to 42,437 units. The company sold 18,825 Jaguar and Land Rover vehicles, up 30% from a year ago. Group vehicles sales increased 62% in November from a year ago.