Gold futures trade marginally lower on MCX

Gold futures showed a bearish trend on MCX as speculators offloaded their positions driven by weak trend in domestic market. Besides, a losing trend in overseas markets, as US housing data backed the case for less stimulus amid speculation that the price rally this month may dampen demand, also put pressure on the Gold futures here. However, the prices found some support from weakness in the US dollar, as dollar-priced commodities become less expensive to investors holding other currencies.

The contract for August delivery was trading at Rs 27182.00 /10 GRMS, down by 0.21% or Rs 58.00 from its previous closing of Rs 27240.00 /10 GRMS. The open interest of the contract stood at 12530.00 lots

The contract for October delivery was trading at Rs 27171.00 /10 GRMS, down by 0.26% or Rs 70.00 from its previous closing of Rs 27241.00 /10 GRMS. The open interest of the contract stood at 8514 lots on MCX.

Tata Communications inches up as its arm plan to introduce 200 white ATMs by September end

Tata Communications is currently trading at Rs. 161.70, up by 1.00 points or 0.62% from its previous closing of Rs. 160.70 on the BSE.

The scrip opened at Rs. 160.00 and has touched a high and low of Rs. 162.40 and Rs. 156.60 respectively. So far 10, 48,000 shares were traded on the counter.

The BSE group 'A' stock of face value Rs. 10 has touched a 52 week high of Rs. 266.35 on 26-Jul-2012 and a 52 week low of Rs. 148.30 on 27-Jun-2013.

Last one week high and low of the scrip stood at Rs. 170.60 and Rs. 160.00 respectively. The current market cap of the company is Rs. 4,608 crore.

The promoters holding in the company stood at 74.99% while Institutions and Non-Institutions held 16.64% and 4.44% respectively.

Tata Communications’ wholly owned subsidiary - Tata Communications Payment Solutions is planning to introduce 200 white ATMs under the Indicash label across Maharashtra by September end. These white-label ATM’s are owned and operated by a non-banking entity and can be used for financial transactions by customers of any bank. It has decided to establish up to 15,000 such machines across India in the next three years.

The company has inaugurated the flagship white-label ATM in India at Chandrapada village in the Thane district of Maharashtra on June 27. Maharashtra has 127 ATMs/million people against 172 ATMs/million in Tamil Nadu.

Alstom T&D supports major power infrastructure plans

Alstom T&D India secured a contract valued at 400 MINR, for the delivery of 765 kV circuit breakers for various substations across the whole of India.

Alstom T&D India has secured Five contracts worth over 2558 MINR (€37 million) from Power Grid Corporation of India Limited (PGCIL), for projects across India. These contracts demonstrate the company's expertise in supplying innovative solutions across various product segments to ensure secure, efficient, reliable and environment-friendly energy transmission. The products for all these contracts will be delivered from Alstom T&D's world class factories spread across India.

India is expected to continue to expand its power infrastructure substantially in the coming years to clear the congestion in the existing T&D network, due to the addition of 55,000 MW of generation in the 11th Plan period and to improve the power flow across India's 5 electrical grids, with the additional generation capacity getting added in the 124 Plan period.

In India's Western region, Alstom T&D India won two contracts1 worth 1660 MINR for the supply, erection, testing and commissioning of 400 kV substation extension packages, including shunt reactors. Once commissioned, these substations will help make more power available to meet the growing demand for electricity in the Western region and will significantly improve the reliability and efficiency of the transmission grid.

Alstom T&D India secured a contract valued at 400 MINR, for the delivery of 765 kV circuit breakers for various substations across the whole of India. Alstom is a leader in the field of extra- and ultra-high voltage circuit breakers and is the first global manufacturer to localise production of spring operating high voltage circuit breakers (up to 765 kV) in India. All circuit breakers will be manufactured in its factory located in Padappai (Tamil Nadu).

The other two contracts include the supply of 765 kV reactors for Power Grid's Padghe, Aurangabad, Bhiwani, and Meerut substations for a value of 270 MINR and 400 kV Reactors for Power Grid's Khandwa Purnia, Gajuwaka Baripada & Bhiwani for a value of 228 MINR. These reactors will strengthen power transmission network in Northern and Western regions of India and mitigate the gap between demand and supply of power.

Commenting on the contract wins, Rathin Basu, Managing Director, Alstom T&D India said: "Alstom T&D India is the leader in India in HVand EHV domains, for both AC & DC technology, in building the T&D infrastructure in the country. The selection of Alstom T&D to augment transmission network in the country demonstrates Power Grid's confidence in the strength of our offerings across the entire T&D value chain and also highlights our commitment to deliver world class technology solutions in developing the T&D infrastructure of the country."

HDFC Bank shines on inaugurating three rural branches in West Bengal

HDFC Bank is currently trading at Rs. 663.00, up by 2.85 points or 0.43% from its previous closing of Rs. 660.15 on the BSE.

The scrip opened at Rs. 662.00 and has touched a high and low of Rs. 664.80 and Rs. 656.00 respectively. So far 19,000 shares were traded on the counter.

The BSE group 'A' stock of face value Rs. 2 has touched a 52 week high of Rs. 727.00 on 30-May-2013 and a 52 week low of Rs. 563.00 on 26-Jul-2012.

Last one week high and low of the scrip stood at Rs. 691.45 and Rs. 654.00 respectively. The current market cap of the company is Rs. 1,58,287.00 crore.

The promoters holding in the company stood at 22.74% while Institutions and Non-Institutions held 43.10% and 17.13% respectively.

HDFC Bank has inaugurated three rural branches in West Bengal. Out of these three branches, one is at Kankabati village in Paschim Medinipur district, and two others at Dihibatpur Panchanantala and Gopinagar in Hooghly district.

At present, the bank has 9 branches in Hooghly and 3 branches in Paschim Midnapore district, taking the total to 134 branches in the State. With this initiative, it has 53% of the bank’s branches in semi-urban and rural areas.

Heavy Industries Ministry bats for stimulus to Auto sector

At a time when the RBI’s different measures are making lending tough, worsening the situation of one of the most rate sensitive auto sector,  Heavy Industries Ministry has said that it will soon take up the issue with the Prime Minister and seek stimulus package to revive the sector.

Heavy Industries and Public Enterprises Minister Praful Patel, stressing the need to take immediate steps for arresting the decline in auto sales has said that “I would say that we will look at all the ways and means and talk to the Prime Minister and also the Finance Minister (in this regard)... There is no reason why we cannot see that auto industry gets a stimulus”. Patel further stated that manufacturing activities should be increased in the country,but high interest rates impact the financing of big projects and manufacturing competitiveness.

Earlier, the Automobile sector industry body, Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM) too had sought a stimulus package for the automobile sector from the government after car sales fell for record eight months in a row in June, declining 9 percent. Sales of vehicles across all categories dropped 5.1 percent to 14,07,767 units in June from 14,83,443 units a year earlier. This has forced domestic car manufacturers to cut down production numbers and lay off non-critical employees.

Sadbhav Engineering’s JV emerges as successful bidder for project worth Rs 249.65 crore

Sadbhav Engineering’s joint venture (JV) - Corsan Corviam Construccion S.A. has been declared as the successful bidder (L1) in respect of the bid invited by the Chief General Manager (Tender), Delhi Metro Rail Corporation for contract value of Rs 249.65 crore. The company’s share of interest/participation in the JV shall be 40%.

The scope of project is part design and construction of elevated viaduct from Mundka to Tikri Border, (Chainage 16397.128 to 22703.647), siding at Tikri Border and four elevated stations viz. MIE, Ghevra, Tikri Kalan & Tikri Border including architectural finishing, water supply, sanitary installation, drainage and civil works related to E & M of Mundka-Bahadurgarh Corridor of Phase-Ill of Delhi MRTS (Delhi Portion).

Sadbhav Engineering (SEL) is one of the largest BOT developers in the road sector in India with good project execution skills. SEL operates in the four distinct business areas in the infrastructure sector viz. BOT road projects, cash contract-based road projects, irrigation projects and mining.

SAIL surges on plan to set up coach making facility

Steel Authority of India (SAIL) is currently trading at Rs. 43.05, up by 0.05 points or 0.12% from its previous closing of Rs. 43.00 on the BSE.

The scrip opened at Rs. 42.30 and has touched a high and low of Rs. 43.35 and Rs. 42.30 respectively. So far 105060 shares were traded on the counter.

The BSE group 'A' stock of face value Rs. 10 has touched a 52 week high of Rs. 101.60 on 07-Jan-2013 and a 52 week low of Rs. 42.40 on 24-Jul-2013.

Last one week high and low of the scrip stood at Rs. 46.60 and Rs. 42.40 respectively. The current market cap of the company is Rs. 17843.87 crore.

The promoters holding in the company stood at 80.00% while Institutions and Non-Institutions held 16.54% and 3.45% respectively.

Steel Authority of India (SAIL) is in talks with Indian Railways in order to set up a passenger coach making facility jointly, with an estimated investment of Rs 1,000 crore. It has not decided on the locations and a detailed project report is getting readied.

Steel major is also ready to roll out wagons by the end of next year. Production of coaches will be a win-win for both SAIL and the Railways as it would help the steel major to hedge its risks during industrial downturn and the Indian Railways with the easy-availability of coaches.

Zydus and IDRI sign agreement for the development of IDRI's Vaccine Candidate for Visceral Leishmaniasis (Kala-Azar)

Cadila Healthcare and IDRI (Infectious Disease Research Institute) today, 25 July 2013, announced the collaboration on the production and clinical development of IDRI's visceral leishmaniasis vaccine candidate, designed to prevent the deadly parasitic disease. IDRI is a Seattle based non-profit research and product development organization. Cadila and IDRI will collaborate to conduct clinical development activities in India with the goal of developing, registering and marketing visceral leishmaniasis (VL) vaccine candidate for the prevention of VL, which will achieve the objective of global access -- that is, ensuring the vaccine is affordable to and accessible by all people in need. Conducting trials in India, where there are real-life situations of disease exposure, is critical to determining the effectiveness of IDRI's VL vaccine candidate and ensuring it is approved and available within endemic countries.

Speaking on the development, Mr. Pankaj R. Patel, CMD, Zydus group said, Zydus has always been committed to working with partners and collaborating to bring unmet healthcare needs. By partnering with IDRI on this very important mission, we will be taking an all important step to eradicate visceral leishmaniasis which is a huge healthcare burden.

Cadila Healthcare's consolidated net profit surged 53.6% to Rs 262.46 crore on 16.5% growth in net sales to Rs 1565.76 crore in Q4 March 2013 over Q4 March 2012. The company unveils Q1 June 2013 results on 7 August 2013.

Cadila Healthcare is a global pharmaceutical company that discovers, develops, manufactures and markets a broad range of healthcare products. The company aims to be a leading global healthcare provider with a robust product pipeline. The company aims to achieve sales of over $3 billion by 2015 and be a research-based pharmaceutical company by 2020.

Hindustan Unilever gains on launching Pureit Marvella RO Slim

Hindustan Unilever is currently trading at Rs. 711.75, up by 2.50 points or 0.35% from its previous closing of Rs. 709.25 on the BSE.

The scrip opened at Rs. 711.00 and has touched a high and low of Rs. 714.00 and Rs. 706.40 respectively. So far 15,000 shares were traded on the counter.

The BSE group 'A' stock of face value Rs. 1 has touched a 52 week high of Rs. 725.00 on 24-Jul-2013 and a 52 week low of Rs. 432.25 on 07-Mar-2013.

Last one week high and low of the scrip stood at Rs. 725.00 and Rs. 669.50 respectively. The current market cap of the company is Rs. 1,53,868.00 crore.

The promoters holding in the company stood at 52.48% while Institutions and Non-Institutions held 27.36% and 20.16% respectively.

Hindustan Unilever (HUL) has launched Pureit Marvella RO Slim, a smaller version of its Marvella RO water priced at Rs 10,990 as against Rs 14,990 of the larger version. The company has unveiled it in order to enhance its product offering in the water purifier segment as it looks to strengthen its position in the market.

Pureit products are priced in the range of Rs 990 to Rs 14,990. It is available in three categories -- offline (non-electricity run), ultra violet (UV) and reverse osmosis (RO). HUL exports Pureit products to nine countries, including Brazil and China, from its two plants in Haridwar in Uttarakhand and Daman in Gujarat.

Hindustan Unilever is an Indian consumer goods company based in Mumbai, Maharashtra. It is owned by Anglo-Dutch Company Unilever which owns a 67% controlling share in HUL. HUL’s products include foods, beverages, cleaning agents and personal care products.

Top economy news of the day

The Heavy Industries Ministry has written to the Finance Ministry seeking an additional 5% import duty on power equipment.

The Central Board of Excise and Custom said car models, which are known as sedans, will attract 27% excise duty, as applicable to large cars and not 30%, as announced in the Budget. (BL)

The Heavy Industries Ministry has written to the Finance Ministry seeking an additional 5% import duty on power equipment. At present, there is 21% duty on such equipment. (BL)

The finance ministry is considering issuing sovereign bonds to raise dollars from global investors, rather than restricting the exercise to non- resident Indians. (BS)

Banks to collect EMIs through electronic transfers: RBI

The objective is to reduce the usage of cheques and promote electronic transfer

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) advised banks that no fresh or additional post dated cheques (PDC) or equated monthly instalment (EMI) cheques should be accepted at locations where electronic clearance service (ECS) is available.

“No fresh/Additional post dated cheques (PDC) / equated monthly installment (EMI) cheques (either in old format or new CTS-2010 format) shall be accepted in locations where the facility of ECS / RECS (Debit) is available. The existing PDCs / EMI cheques in such locations may be converted into ECS / RECS (Debit) by obtaining fresh ECS (Debit) mandates, the RBI said in a notification on Wednesday. 

The objective is to reduce the usage of cheques and promote electronic transfer. Thus, auto and home loan borrowers need not pay post dated cheques towards EMIs.
Cheques complying with CTS-2010 standard formats shall alone be obtained in locations, where the facility of ECS/RECS is not available, it added.

The notification also said that ECS also accords the same rights and remedies to the payee against dishonour of electronic funds transfer instructions under insufficiency of funds as are available under Section 138 of the Negotiable Instruments Act, 1881.  

Asian markets remains lower

Japan's Nikkei 225 and Hong Kong's Hang Seng index were half a percent lower each

Dow and S&P 500 slipped slightly on Wednesday, dragged down by Caterpillar, Broadcom and AT&T.
All three delivered results short of Wall Street's forecasts. Caterpillar also lowered its earnings and sales outlook for the year, which sent its stock 2.4% lower. It was the biggest loser in Dow.
Data later today is expected to show Britain's economy expanded at a faster pace in the second quarter.

Asian markets are mostly lower. Japan's Nikkei 225 and Hong Kong's Hang Seng index were half a percent lower each. South Korea's Kospi index is marginally up while China's Shanghai index is flat.