Banks in India Surge, Essar $3 B Offering

Mayank Mehta
08 Mar, 2010
New York City

Banks in India surged after finance minister Mukherjee sought Parliament approval to permit banks to sell more shares. Rupee edged higher. Essar Group agreed to acquire Trinity Coal Corp for $600 million and is said to prepare securities offering in London for as much as $3 billion.

[R]6:00 PM Mumbai, 8:30 AM New York – Banks in India surged after finance minister Mukherjee sought Parliament approval to permit banks to sell more shares. Rupee edged higher. Essar Group agreed to acquire Trinity Coal Corp for $600 million and is said to prepare securities offering in London for as much as $3 billion.[/R]

The Sensex index in India increased 108.11 or 0.64% to 17,102.60 and CNX Nifty index rose 35.30 or 0.69% to 5,124. Among the Sensex 30 stocks, 20 rose and 10 fell.

On BSE trading, 1,731 stocks advanced, 1,100 declined and 86 were unchanged. Shares from banking, auto and healthcare sectors led gains.

Shares of State Bank of India and its associate banks surged after the Finance Minister introduced a bill in the Lok Sabha on Monday to allow the bank to raise more capital from the market.

The NMDC secondary offering is scheduled to open for subscription on March 10. The pricing for the disinvestment of 8.3% stake in NMDC will be decided on March 8 by a group of ministers headed by Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee.

Rupee edged higher 14 paisa to 45.46 against one dollar.

Gainers & Losers

The Bank of Rajasthan Ltd fell 1.7% to Rs 67.10 after the Reserve Bank of India ordered a special audit of the accounts after the central bank found lapses in corporate governance and disclosure norms.

Essar Oil Limited gained 6.6% to Rs 149.35 and the group is preparing to raise about $2.5 to $3 billion by listing its energy and power unit on the London Stock Exchange in late April.

Last week the industrial group agreed to acquire Trinity Coal Corp for $600 million with mines located in Kentucky and West Virginia in the United States.

The mines will be an addition to a portfolio of iron ore mine in Minnesota and steel plant in Canada.

The mined thermal coals of 7 million tons will be split to meet the energy demands of its steel plant in Canada and sell the remainder to U.S. based utilities.

Geodesic Limited rose 0.5% to Rs 128.75 after the company said its board will consider buyback of shares in its next meeting.

HT Media Limited rose 2.1% to Rs 149.40 after the Hindustan Media Ventures submitted preliminary regulatory filings with the market regulator for an initial public offer of as much as Rs 300 crore.

ICICI Bank Limited advanced 2.0% to Rs 920.15.

Khandwala Securities Limited rose 2.3% to Rs 24.00 after one of the promoter group companies hiked stake in the firm.

Mangalam Cement Ltd rose 2.4% to Rs 169.50 after the company finalized order for installation of 6 wind mills of 1.25 mw, at Jaisalmer. The cement company placed an order of Rs 39 crore with Suzlon Energy.

Man Industries (India) Limited increased 7.3% to Rs 64.20 after the pipe maker received an order worth Rs 950 crore from Kuwait for supply of 1,70,000 tons of large diameter pipes.

Mercator Lines Limited rose 4.1% to Rs 61.00 and the shipping company is looking to acquire coal mines abroad.

Monnet Ispat & Energy Limited fell 0.05% to Rs 380.75 and the company is looking to sell 12% stake in its Orissa power plant to Blackstone Group.

Nagarjuna Construction Company Limited rose 2.3% to Rs 163.20 after the company secured new orders of Rs 1,221 crore.

Pidilite Industries Limited rose 1.5% to Rs 219.00 after the company fixed March 17 as the record date for a bonus issue of one share for each held.

Sulzer India Limited fell 3.1% to Rs 1,205.00 after it surged 40% on the talks of delisting and the Swiss parent acquiring stocks held by minority investors.

Tata Motors Limited added 1.4% to Rs 800.10 after the company entered into an agreement with Hafil Transport of Saudi Arabia to supply 1,000 air-conditioned school buses. The delivery of the buses will begin in April.

Zee Entertainment Enterprises Limited rose 1.5% to Rs 274.75 after the broadcaster is set to acquire 9X, the Hindi general entertainment channel from the loss-making INX Media.