Gold retreats from 4-week high as dollar steadies

 Gold retreated from four-week highs on Wednesday as a slight recovery in the dollar prompted some investors to cash in gains, with a rally sparked by weaker-than-expected US non-farm payrolls data running out of steam.

The metal rose nearly 2 per cent on Tuesday while the dollar index hit eight-month lows and stock markets rallied, after weak US jobs data cemented expectations for the Federal Reserve to keep its stimulus measures in place until next year.

However, those moves went into reverse on Wednesday. The dollar recovered to edge up 0.1 per cent, putting some pressure on gold, while European shares broke their nine-day winning streak to fall 0.6 per cent.

Spot gold was down 0.6 per cent at $1,331.80 an ounce at 0854 GMT, while US gold futures for December delivery were down $10.80 an ounce at $1,331.80. Spot prices hit their highest since September 20 on Tuesday at $1,344.46 an ounce.

"As we've seen in the past, some investors are looking for entry points at which to go short, and above 1,330 may be one such level. So we may see some short-positioning coming in, and we might also see some profit-taking based on the moves of the last few days," Mitsubishi analyst Jonathan Butler said.

"This 1,330 level is an important technical point, and so far gold has managed to hold onto it," he said. "A lot of investors are just waiting to see what the next move will be."

Technical analysts -- who study past price patterns to determine the next likely direction of trade -- at Commerzbank say gold's rally on Tuesday had neutralised its bearish view on the metal, although it remains vulnerable to further losses.

"We are technically clearly at a key juncture for the development of the next medium-term trend, which is why we have once again neutralised our forecast," they said in a report.

"As long as the 1,330.17/1,349.31 resistance area -- July, late September and early October highs and the 55-day moving average -- caps on a daily chart closing basis, we will continue to favour the downside."

Gold ETF reports inflow 

The world's largest gold-backed exchange-traded fund, New York's SPDR Gold Shares, reported an inflow of more than 6 tonnes on Tuesday, its biggest one-day inflow in two months. On Monday it reported an outflow of more than 10 tonnes.

Gold premiums in India hit $120 an ounce to London prices on Tuesday as the domestic market failed to get enough supply to meet strong festive demand.

In China, Shanghai spot prices were trading at a premium of $7 an ounce.

Gold demand in China could grow as higher home prices stoked inflation fears, Helen Lau, an analyst at UOB Kay Hian Securities in Hong Kong, said.

Among other precious metals, silver was down 0.2 per cent at $22.58 an ounce, having also touched a one-month high on Tuesday at $22.80 an ounce.

The gold/silver ratio, which measures the number of silver ounces needed to buy an ounce of gold, fell to its lowest since mid-September on Wednesday at 59.01 as silver outperformed.

Spot platinum was down 0.9 per cent at $1,430.99 an ounce, while spot palladium was down 1.1 per cent at $742.47 an ounce.

Sensex plunges 181 points; Realty, power stocks trip

Shares of IT and realty firms pulled down the benchmark share indices on a day when investors chose to book profits. Market sentiments were further impacted following the lacklustre US jobs report which points to an ongoing slump.

At 2.26 p.m., the Sensex was trading at 20,864.97, down 0.87 per cent or 181.51 points from yesterday's close. The Nifty index was down by 0.92 per cent at 6,145.50.

All sectoral indices were in the red on the BSE. Top losers were Realty (2.44 per cent), Power (1.82 per cent), Auto (1.65 per cent) and IT (1.2 per cent).

IT shares felt the pinch as the rupee appreciated to the US dollar today. Around 3 p.m., the rupee was up by 8 paise to 61.55 against the dollar.

GAIL, Cipla, SBI, Cipla, L&T and HUL were the top five Sensex gainers, while the top five losers were Wipro, NTPC, Bajaj Auto, Sun Pharma and BHEL.

As per data released by US labour department, the world’s largest economy added 148,000 jobs in September, less than what was being anticipated by economists.

A Religare Institutional Research report on India’s macroeconomics said that “growth conditions have been worsening, with rising inflationary pressures as the RBI keeps interest rates high. We believe the central bank will maintain a pause on the repo in its October 29th policy meet, but do not rule out the possibility of a rate hike in the December credit meeting. Separately, last week’s MSP hikes for rabi crops are lower for FY'15. Wheat, a major rabi crop, has seen only a 3.7 per cent rise, much lower than its six-year average of about 11 per cent, as inflation remains stubbornly high.”

European stocks fell from a five-year high as investors remained cautious ahead of euro zone consumer confidence data to be released later today.

Stoxx 50 fell 23.42 points or 0.77 per cent to 3,022.35, FTSE 100 shed 28.94 points or 0.43 per cent to 6,666.72 and DAX was down 40.36 points or 0.45 per cent at 8,907.10.

Asian stocks were down as Chinese money market rates surged, while the Australian dollar reversed gains and commodities dropped.

Japan's Nikkei plunged 287.20 points or 1.95 per cent to 14,426, Hong Kong's Hang Seng shed 129.33 points or 0.55 per cent to 23,186.70 and Australia's S&P/ASX 200 was down 17.05 points or 0.32 per cent at 5,356.10.

Karnataka to launch integrated m-governance platform on Oct 30

Any transaction which we can do through phone, shall be done through phone, says IT secy

After launching some pilot projects for mobile-governance (m-governance), Karnataka government is all set to launch an integrated (m-governance) platform on October 30, 2013, Srivatsa Krishna, secretary in the department of information technology (IT), biotechnology and science & technology, Karnataka today said.

“We look forward to our mobile governance project, which is going to be launched pretty soon. We have a pilot, we are the global leaders in this space, and this hopefully will be the next big thing in e-governance and mobile governance space, where any transaction which we can do through phone, shall be done through phone,” Krishna said during a session at Karnataka government’s flagship IT event, ITE.Biz.

Even as Krishna refused to share any further details on the same, he said, the mobile-governance application will be rolled out “with the largest private partner in mobile services globally”. The mobile-governance application will include Unstructured Supplementary Service Data (USSD), Wireless Application Protocol (WAP), and Interactive Voice Response (IVR).

In January 2013, the Karnataka government had announced some pilot projects in m-governance that allowed citizens to access various government services on their mobile phones. These included information services as well as services involving actual transactions. The pilot project included services like Sakala services; utility services such as electricity, water, and BSNL landline and mobile bill payments; traffic services like bus routes and timing information, and traffic alerts service and pending traffic fine payments.

At the time of this launch, the state government had said it would look to launch an integrated mobile-enabled services delivery system through this initiative.

“It (the application which will be launched this month) will bring all the services you get from the government on mobile. It may happen slowly and not on the day one,” Krishna said.

The state government has been working towards this endeavor for the past two years and this may be a flagship initiative in m-governance as it will be a one-stop-shop for all government services, D S Ravindran, CEO, e-Goverance, department of IT, Karnataka told Business Standard on the sidelines of the event.

“What is being envisioned is a complete thing. It’s a platform service to all the government departments. There are many services which are currently listed, and they will go live. All kinds of services—transactional and informational—you name it and it will be there,” Ravindran said.

Ramco Cements July-Sept net profit down 86% at Rs 18 cr

Chennai-based Ramco Cements today reported a little over 86 per cent dip in net profit for the July-September quarter at Rs 18.27 crore on lower sales.

The company, which has 13 million tonnes per annum (mtpa) cement-making capacity at its five plants in South India, had clocked Rs 132.89 crore net profit in the same quarter last fiscal, it said in a BSE filing.

Total income of the company also fell to Rs 920.71 crore during the reporting quarter compared to Rs 994.73 crore a year ago.

Total expenses have gone up to Rs 863.70 crore for the period from Rs 749.49 crore a year ago. This is mainly because of higher power and transportation costs.

Power and fuel costs of the company rose to Rs 216.14 crore during the period from Rs 193.40 crore last year.

Transportation costs went up to Rs 197.66 crore from Rs 171.91 crore a year ago.

Shares of the company were trading at Rs 177 apiece in the afternoon trade on BSE.

FIIs hike stake in SKS Microfinance to 37%

Foreign Institutional Investors have hiked their stake in SKS Microfinance to an all-time high of 36.9 per cent during July-September quarter amid a sharp rally in the company’s share price.

FIIs, which held 35.83 per cent holding in SKS Microfinance during July-September quarter last fiscal, has raised its stake to 36.90 at the end of September 30, 2013, as per latest information available with the stock exchanges.

FIIs have been raising their exposure in the Hyderabad-based firm during the past few quarters, after hitting a record low level of 8.33 per cent during April-June 2012-13.

The increase in FII shareholding coincided with a surge of 17 per cent in the share price of SKS between July and September this year, while the BSE benchmark’s Sensex grew one per cent during the period under review.

The stock has taken a major beating since its listing in August 2010 at a price of over Rs 1,000 per share and is currently trading at Rs 160 level per share at the stock exchanges. The company had debuted on the bourses after IPO share sale at Rs 985 a piece.

Analysts believes that various steps taken by SKS, including appointment of marketing strategist Jack Trout for its re-branding and repositioning work, has helped FIIs to rush towards it.

Besides, the microfinance firm has been successfully able to transfer its debt to securitisation and that has improved its cash flows and credit ratings.

Meanwhile, the number of FIIs in SKS Microfinance stood at 48 during July-September this fiscal, up from 42 at the end of the preceding three months.

Besides, domestic institutional investors’ stake in SKS climbed to 5.13 per cent for the quarter ended September 30, 2013, from 5.08 per cent in the preceding three months.

On the other hand, the total promoters’ holding fell to 28.62 per cent during the quarter under review from 27.09 per cent in July-September last fiscal.

Sensex plunges 250 points on heavy FII selling; Realty, power stocks trip

The Sensex and Nifty were trading down by about 1.2 per cent due to heavy FII selling owing to negative global cues.

At 1.23 p.m., the 30-share BSE index Sensex was down 249.62 points (1.2 per cent) at 20,615.35 and the 50-share NSE index Nifty was down 76.4 points (0.87 per cent) at 6,126.40.

All BSE sectoral indices were trading in the red. Among them, realty and power indices fell the most by 2.34 per cent and 1.72 per cent, respectively, followed by auto 1.59 per cent and oil & gas 1.35 per cent.

GAIL, Cipla, SBI, Cipla, ICICI Bank and SSLT were the top five Sensex gainers, while the top five losers were Wipro, NTPC, Tata Motors, Bajaj Auto and Sun Pharma.

A Religare Institutional Research report on India’s macroeconomics said that “growth conditions have been worsening, with rising inflationary pressures as the RBI keeps interest rates high. We believe the central bank will maintain a pause on the repo in its October 29th policy meet, but do not rule out the possibility of a rate hike in the December credit meeting. Separately, last week’s MSP hikes for rabi crops are lower for FY'15. Wheat, a major rabi crop, has seen only a 3.7 per cent rise, much lower than its six-year average of about 11 per cent, as inflation remains stubbornly high.”

European stocks fell from a five-year high as investors remained cautious ahead of euro zone consumer confidence data to be released later today.

Stoxx 50 was down 25.84 points or 0.85 per cent at 3,019.93, FTSE 100 shed 28.56 points or 0.43 per cent to 6,667.10 and DAX fell 36.72 points or 0.41 per cent to 8,910.74.

Asian stocks were down as Chinese money market rates surged, while the Australian dollar reversed gains and commodities dropped.

Japan's Nikkei plunged 287.20 points or 1.95 per cent to 14,426, Hong Kong's Hang Seng shed 129.33 points or 0.55 per cent to 23,186.70 and Australia's S&P/ASX 200 was down 17.05 points or 0.32 per cent at 5,356.10.

Canara Bank gains on unveiling housing loan scheme for farmers

Canara Bank, a leading nationalized bank, has reportedly unveiled housing loan scheme for farmers and for those who engaged in allied agricultural activities such as diary, poultry, planters and horticulturists having gross annual income of Rs 5 lakh and above. For this new housing loan scheme, the bank offers flexibility in repayment and security. The borrower can repay their loan in maximum of 30 years or up to the age of 65 years, while interest payment can be base upon an individual’s harvest patterns and pay quarterly, half-yearly or annually.

On standalone basis, the bank has posted a rise of 2.17% in its net profit at Rs 792.07 crore for the quarter ended June 30, 2013 as compared to Rs 775.24 crore for the same quarter in the previous year. Total income has increased by 14.65% at Rs 10507.88 crore for quarter under review as compared to Rs 9165.47 crore for the quarter ended June 30, 2012.

Oil extends losses in Asian trade

Dealers focused on rising stockpiles that indicate weak demand

US oil prices extended their losses in Asian trade today as dealers focused on rising stockpiles that indicate weak demand in the world's biggest economy, analysts said.

New York's main contract, West Texas Intermediate (WTI) for delivery in December, slipped 16 cents to $98.14 a barrel. The November contract expired on Tuesday after declining $1.42 to settle at USD 97.80.

Brent North Sea crude for December delivery eased three cents to $109.94.

WTI prices tumbled since Monday, when a US Department of Energy (DoE) report showed inventories rose 4.0 million barrels in the week ended October 11, well above the 1.7 million barrel increase forecast by analysts. The report had been delayed owing to the two-week government shutdown.

The DoE is set to release the petroleum report for the week ended October 18 later today.

"WTI remains under pressure because of expectations that the report later today will show a further increase in US stockpiles," Kenny Kan, market analyst at CMC Markets in Singapore, told AFP.

Despite easing in Asian trading hours, Kan said Brent, the European benchmark, remained supported by concerns over a disruption to Middle East supplies.

According to reports, an official from Libya's National Oil Corp on Tuesday said output had stabilised to around 600,000 barrels even as authorities struggle to end armed protests that cut shipments for months.

Libyan oil exports had plunged by more than 70% after protesters, including policemen and border guards, forced the terminals to shut over demands for back pay.

Just Dial hits new high on strong FII buying

FIIs hiked their stake in the company to 21.85% in September quarter from 14.85% as on June 5, 2013.

Shares of Just Dial have rallied over 11% to Rs 1,068 on NSE, also new high since its listing, on back of strong buying by the foreign institutional investors (FIIs).

The stock opened at Rs 962 and has seen a combined around 800,000 shares changing hands on the counter till 1135 hours on NSE and BSE.

FIIs have extended their buying streak to a second consecutive quarter with a total overseas investors holding in the company increased substainally since its listing on Jun 5, 2013.

FIIs hiked their stake in the company by over 3 percentage points to 21.85% in September quarter from 25.34% at the end of June quarter. FIIs held 14.85% stake at time its listing on June 5, 2013.

Meanwhile, the board of directors of the company is schedule to meet on Friday, October 25 to discuss the new business opportunities available to the company along with the unaudited financial results for the quarter ended September 30, 2013, Just Dial said in a regulatory filing.

The board will also discuss an order received from Government of Karnataka permitting the company to establish an IT/ITES - BPO and Software Development Centre at IT/ ITES Park in Bangalore.

NHPC's tax-free bonds oversubscribed over two times

State-run hydropower generator NHPC's tax-free bonds were oversubscribed by more than two times on the first day of issuance, according to a senior company executive. On Friday, the AAA-rated issue mopped up Rs 1,615 crore, surpassing the company's target of raising Rs 1,000 crore to fund expansion plans. The issue closes on November 11.

BSE to move 33 stocks, NSE to shift 15 scrips to 'T' Group from October 25

Premiere stock exchanges NSE and BSE will transfer stocks of various companies to the restricted trading segment on their platforms with effect from October 25 as part of a surveillance review.

BSE would shift 33 securities to the trade-for-trade segment or the 'T' Group while NSE would transfer 15 scrips to this category, the two stock exchanges said in separate notices.

Some of the stocks which would be moved to the 'T' Group segment on both the bourses are Indiabulls Wholesale ServicesBSE 1.49 %, Glodyne TechnoserveBSE 4.98 %, Asian ElectronicsBSE -4.60 %, Shyam TelecomBSE -4.91 %, IndosolarBSE -4.94 % and ATN InternationalBSE 5.26 %.

In the trade-for-trade segment, no speculative trading is allowed and delivery of shares and payment of consideration amount are mandatory.

The measure is part of the surveillance review and "to ensure market safety and safeguard the interest of investors," the stock exchanges said.

Further, NSE and BSE have asked their trading members to take "adequate precaution" while dealing in these securities.

However, they added that the transfer of these securities to the 'T' Group segment "is purely on account of market surveillance and it should not be construed as an adverse action against the concerned company".

These stocks would attract a circuit filter of up to 5 per cent which would be the maximum permissible limit within which the share price can move.

Meanwhile, NSE also said that as many as 158 stocks would continue in the trade-for-trade segment on its platform.

A few of these securities include Aditya Birla ChemicalsBSE 1.39 %, Birla CotsynBSE 10.00 %, Aditya Birla MoneyBSE -2.84 %, Birla Power SolutionsBSE 4.35 %, Essar ShippingBSE 1.74 %, Hinduja FoundriesBSE 4.62 %, Reliance Broadcast NetworkBSE -1.63 % and Tata MetaliksBSE -1.55 %.

Besides, NSE said stock of Peacock IndustriesBSE 0.00 % would be transferred back to normal segment with effect from October 24.

DQ Entertainment concludes new contracts in Q2

The gross value of these co-production and licensing deals between the partners is approximately $37m

DQ Entertainment, the global entertainment production and distribution group, announces that it has concluded a number of TV Co-production and Licensing deals during its second fiscal quarter to 30 September 2013 and at MIPCOM 2013, Cannes - the world’s annual entertainment and content market conference - held earlier this month.

The gross value of these co-production and licensing deals between the partners is approximately $37m (Rs 2220m), of which approximately $12m (Rs 720m) is attributable to DQE and expected to be accrued as revenue over the next fiscal year ending 31 March 2015. Of this, only around $6m had been previously anticipated by management and therefore demonstrates the success DQE had in the quarter and at MIPCOM. Details of the co-production and licensing deals are set out below.
Production Deals
The following new production contracts are expected to enter production shortly, for delivery in 2015.

YONAGUNI:
The children-targeted entertainment brand of SeaWorld Parks & Entertainment has joined with DQ Entertainment and Rollman Entertainment, Burbank, USA to present a new CGI children's animated comedy adventure series called YONAGUNI, at this year's MIPCOM. The series will consist of 52 x 11' episodes and production is expected to commence shortly.

Dwarfs and Me:
DQE and Method Animation, France will co-produce their first hybrid animation show (combination of CGI and Live Action images) called “7 Dwarfs and Me”. A leading French broadcaster has agreed to co-produce the show while AB Group, France will also co-produce the show.

The New Adventures of Peter Pan 2:
DQE and Method Animation are also co-producing the second season of “The New Adventures of Peter Pan” after an immensely successful first season of the Peter Pan TV Series, which was distributed in over 100 countries and one of the highest rated TV Series in France, Germany and Italy. The anchor European broadcasters, including France Television, are co-producing as lead broadcast partners for the second season of this highly successful 26 x 22 3D animated TV series. Season 1 of The new adventures of Peter Pan also aired on other leading networks globally such as DeAgostini Kids-Italy, TeleQuebec-Canada, Noga-Israel, ABC-Australia, Turner-Asia, RAI TV –Italy, ATV-Turkey, EBS-Korea, JCCTV-Arabic Nations, Work Point – Thailand, TIGA-Thailand and SKY TV – Italia..

Children and It:
DQE and Method Animation, France are co-producing this CGI animated series based on the original book of “5 Children and IT” written by Edith Nesbit consisting of 52 episodes of 11 minutes each.

Slowdown in auto sector drags Mahindra Forgings sales down 19%

The slowdown witnessed by the automobile industry, particularly Utility Vehicle (UV) segment, has led to a 19 per cent decline in Indian sales for Mahindra Forgings Ltd (MFL).

The company is into the production of engine and chassis forged components for commercial and passenger vehicles and other non-automotive products.

The company, earlier a subsidiary of Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd, ceased to be so and has instead become a subsidiary of Participaciones Internacionales Autometal Dos, S.L. (PIA 2), which on October 4 had acquired shares from M&M aggregating to 50.81 per cent of the diluted equity capital.

CIE Automotive, which has its headquarters in Bilbao-Spain, is a global supplier of components and sub-components for the automotive industry.

Net profit, revenue

In its filings with the stock exchanges, Mahindra Forgings said that its earnings during the second quarter of 2013-14 on a standalone basis were Rs 95 crore, a decline of 19 per cent compared with Rs 117 crore during the second quarter of last year, essentially because of the slowdown in automobile industry.

The net profit was Rs 4 crore (Rs 10 crore). European revenue was €68 million against €67 million in Q2 last year.

On a consolidated basis, revenues stood at Rs 645 crore (Rs 565 crore) and PAT at Rs 16 crore (loss of Rs 19 crore).

Share purchase agreement

The company said that following the share purchase agreement signed in June 2013, Participaciones Internacionales Autometal Dos, S.L. (PIA 2), had acquired equity stake aggregating to 50.81 per cent of fully paid diluted equity share capital, making it a promoter of the company along with the existing promoter (M&M).

Consequently, MFL ceased to be a subsidiary of M&M and has become a subsidiary of PIA 2 with effect from October 4. After receiving requisite approvals, the company's name would be changed as Mahindra CIE Automotive Ltd (MCAL).

Utility vehicles production

Giving an overview of the automobile industry in the country, the company said that in the second quarter of this year, UVs production declined 6 per cent compared to the same quarter in 2012-13.

In the first half of this year, the fall in UVs production was up to 1 per cent compared to the same period last year. While the production of passenger vehicles (cars and UVs) had come down by 10 per cent in Q1FY14, it increased by 8 per cent in the second quarter of this year compared to the respective corresponding quarters of last year.

Overall, manufacture of passenger vehicles had fallen marginally by up to 1.5 per cent in the first half of this year compared to the same period last fiscal.

‘Customer’s platform mix’

Mahindra Forgins said that because of its “existing customer’s platform mix’’, it had witnessed a “larger drop in sales’’ during Q2 with the customer programmes of M&M, Tata Motors Ltd and Maruti Suzuki Ltd contributing to the drop.

The company expected the UV market to continue to experience flat growth, while the car market is slowly recovering and taken together the “overall passenger vehicle market will remain flat in the next quarter’’.

MFL, which targeted the heavy truck segment in Europe, said data on heavy truck (>6T) registrations in Germany for FY14 indicated a fall of 4 per cent over the corresponding period last year and expected the market conditions to be flat in the next quarter.

Shares of Mahindra Forgins declined by Rs 1.65 to Rs 38.10 on the NSE with a trading volume of 3.47 lakh shares.

Tata Power mulls sale of investments

Tata Power Executive Director S. Ramakrishnan reportedly said that the company was "mentally and financially" prepared to sustain Mundra's losses.

Tata Power is planning to sell some investments and raise equity to help reduce debt, accoridng to reports.

Tata Power Executive Director S. Ramakrishnan reportedly said that the company was "mentally and financially" prepared to sustain Mundra's losses.

Last Month, Standard & Poor's lowered Tata Power's long-term credit rating on weak cash flows.
The debt was Rs382.1 bn as of the end of June, company said.

Rupee up 55 paise at 61.08/dollar

The rupee strengthened by 55 paise to 61.08 per dollar in the opening trade against the previous close of 61.63 on the back of weakening of the American currency due to lower than anticipated US jobs data.

However, at 9.52 a.m., the domestic unit was trading at 61.32 per dollar.

On Tuesday, the dollar buying by a private chemical firm and state-run banks for meeting the Centre’s Defence payments, weighed on the domestic unit.

Non-farm payrolls data

In a report released on Tuesday, the US Department of Labour had said that non-farm payrolls rose by a seasonally adjusted 148,000 in September, below the expectations of an increase of 180,000.

Tapering of Fed stimulus

S. Srinivasaraghavan, Head of Treasury at Dhanlaxmi Bank, said the rupee is likely to strengthen during the week on the back of lower-than-expected US payrolls data, which is likely to delay the easing of the Federal Reserve’s bond-buying programme.

According to Abhishek Goenka, Founder and Chief Executive Officer of India Forex Advisors, "Indian rupee is seen gaining after concerns ease over US tapering plans which made the rupee to tumble by 24 per cent. The slight improvement in local fundamentals and continuous flows from FCNR and FIIs flow could further support the rupee."

Call rates, G-Secs

The inter-bank call money rate, the rate at which banks borrow from each other to meet their short-term fund requirements, opened higher at 9.05 per cent from the previous close of 9 per cent.

The 7.16 per cent government security, which matures in 2023, opened higher at Rs 91.05 from the previous close of Rs 90.68. The yields softened to 8.54 per cent from the previous close of 8.60 per cent.

Tata Power surges as its arm commissions 10 MW solar power plant in Karnataka

Tata Power Solar (TPS), a 100% subsidiary of Tata Power has successfully commissioned a 10 MW solar power plant for Jindal Aluminium (JAL) in Chitradurga, Karnataka, in June 2013. Executed in a record timeframe of four months from the day the land was made available, the solar power plant is Karnataka’s largest till date. The plant will produce over 18 million KWH annually (over 1.80 crore units) of solar power, covering the annual energy needs of over 70,000 Indian households.

JAL, India’s leading manufacturer of aluminium extruded profiles, foils and sheets with a turnover of Rs 1,300 crore, advocates the use of clean energy. It has a strong presence in renewable energy through its 12.04MW wind power project in Chitradurga. JAL adopted solar energy since it has emerged as the most important source of renewable energy. Due to Tata Power Solar’s market leadership, 24 years of strong technical expertise and excellent work ethics, JAL awarded this 10MW project to the company.

Tata Power is India's largest integrated power company with a significant international presence. The Company has an installed generation capacity of 8521 MW in India and a presence in all the segments of the power sector viz. Generation (thermal, hydro, solar and wind), Transmission, Distribution and Trading.

Crude oil extends losses in Asian trade

Crude oil prices extended their losses in Asian trade today as dealers focused on rising stockpiles that indicate weak demand in the world’s biggest economy, analysts said.

New York’s main contract, West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude for delivery in December, slipped 16 cents to $98.14 a barrel. November contract expired on Tuesday after declining $1.42 to settle at $97.80. Brent North Sea crude for December delivery eased three cents to $109.94.

WTI prices tumbled since Monday, when a US Department of Energy (DoE) report showed rise in inventories by 4.0 million barrels in the week ended October 11, well above the 1.7 million barrel increase forecast by analysts. The report had been delayed owing to the two-week government shutdown.

DoE is set to release the petroleum report for the week ended October 18 later today.

“WTI remains under pressure because of expectations that the report later today will show a further increase in US stockpiles,” Kenny Kan, market analyst at CMC Markets in Singapore, said.

Despite easing in Asian trading hours, Kan said Brent, the European benchmark, remained supported by concerns over a disruption to West Asian supplies.

According to reports, an official from Libya’s National Oil Corp had on Tuesday said that the output had stabilised to around 600,000 barrels even as authorities struggle to end the armed protests that cut shipments for months.

Libyan oil exports had plunged by more than 70 per cent after protesters, including policemen and border guards, forced the terminals to shut over demands for back pay.

Sensex opens on a flat note

The Sensex and Nifty opened the session marginally in the green on buying by funds and retail investors in select stocks amid positive global cues.

At 9.15 a.m., the 30-share BSE index Sensex was up 35.71 points (0.17 per cent) at 20,900.68 and the 50-share NSE index Nifty was up 9.95 points (0.16 per cent) at 6,212.75.

Asia’s benchmark stock index headed for the highest close in five years and emerging market currencies rose on speculation that the US Federal Reserve could put off its $85 billion-a-month tapering programme till March as US employers added few workers than projected.

The US jobs data released on Tuesday night showed signs of slackening growth, though 1,48,000 non-farm jobs were added last month.

Jignesh Shah lives to fight another day

Board accepts his request to hang on, waits for FMC to decide on his 'fit and proper status'

Financial Technologies India Ltd (FTIL) promoter Jignesh Shah, whose ‘fit-and-proper’ status to run an exchange has been under regulatory scrutiny following the Rs 5,600-crore payment fraud at NSEL, on Tuesday decided to continue as a director of group firm Multi Commodity Exchange (MCX).

The request of Shah, who represents anchor investor FTIL on the MCX board, to continue on the board was accepted, pending the decision of the Forward Markets Commission (FMC) on his ‘fit-and-proper’ status.

According to observers, Shah, true to his reputation, might not be ready to give in easily. A fortnight ago, Shah and MD Joseph Massey had been forced to opt out from the board of MCX-SX, the stock exchange arm of FTIL. However, at Tuesday’s MCX board meeting, things went on smoothly so far as Shah’s continuation on the board was concerned. It is learnt that the board asked several questions on other issues.

With the latest reconstitution, the MCX board has become more powerful in terms of corporate governance.

The resignation of MCX MD Shreekant Javalgekar, made last week, was accepted by the board with immediate effect and Deputy MD Praveen Kumar Singhal was asked to oversee day-to-day operations of the exchange till a new MD was appointed.

Apart from the FTIL nominees, three new shareholder directors — Union Bank of India’s K N Raghunathan, Corporation Bank’s P Paramasivam and Bank of Baroda’s Sanjay Agarwal — were also inducted on the MCX board. Besides, two new independent directors — G Anantharaman, who had earlier worked with Sebi, and Pravir Vora, chief technology officer of ICICI — were also included.

On the board meeting, a senior FMC official said: “There were two main developments. One, the board approved the proposal to amend the articles of  association to get rid of the provision for permanent directors. An approval of shareholders would be sought through postal ballot, in line with law. Two, G Anantharaman was appointed the audit committee chief. He will lead the clean-up job.” He added Shah’s ‘fit-and-proper’ status would be decided in due course.

The question on Shah continuing had arisen after FMC’s recent directive that no shareholder director on the commodity exchange’s board could continue to occupy a seat as a permanent director. Shah had been a permanent director on the MCX board since 2006. Also, the directive had mentioned that the article of the association of the exchange be amended to ensure no shareholder director was made a permanent director.

The earlier FMC norms required restructuring of the board so that half the board members were independent directors. Also, anchor investors of an exchange should get board seats in sync with the equity held by them. Since FTIL holds 26 per cent equity in MCX, it can have only one seat on a 14-member board. But with today’s inductions, the strength of the board is now 12, without an MD. FTIL can have two representatives only if the board strength is increased to 18.

Paras Ajmera, another FTIL representative on the MCX board, did not attend the meeting on Tuesday. However, it is learnt he is withdrawing his nomination as a board member so that the regulations can be complied with.

The board also appointed a five-member committee of board members, headed by Pravir Vora, to oversee operations of the exchange. FMC had last week asked its board to do so. Two more independent directors, including an FMC nominee, are also expected to be inducted soon.

LIC increases stake in banks in June-Sep quarter

Pares exposure to IT, pharma sectors

LIC, the country’s largest insurer, has increased its shareholding in banks while paring its exposure to the IT and pharma sector.

Of the total 31% stake increase that it has gone for in companies across sectors, more than a third of it has been in the banking sector in names like ICICI Bank, YES Bank and State Bank of India among others. On the other hand, of the 24% stake that it has pared, about a third of it has been in IT and pharma sector heavyweights like Infosys, Tech Mahindra, HCL Technologies and Lupin among others.

Analysts said that this was typical of the insurer to look at stocks whose valuations are beaten down.

“LIC is a long-term investor and looks at valuations from that perspective. The insurer generally takes a contrarian view wherein when FIIs are seen selling in a particular sector, it is seen increasing its exposure to that sector. This is because valuations in such stocks become attractive because of the selling pressure,” said Sonam H Udasi, head of research at IDBI Capital.

Market men said that LIC had been increasing stake in the IT and pharma in the last one-year. As valuations in these sectors have moved up, the insurer was now booking profits.

LIC has increased its shareholding in ICICI Bank and YES Bank by 3%, the highest by the insurer. The third largest rise in bank share-holding has been in State Bank of India where it has increased stake by 2.5%.

Among IT firms, the maximum decline in shareholding has been in case of Tech Mahindra where it has pared its stake by more than 4%, followed by Infosys at 1.7% and HCL Technologies at 1.1%.

Special offers for NRIs from ICICI Bank

Bank giving special offers on housing loans, assistance for searching properties

ICICI Bank, the country’s largest private sector lender, on Tuesday introduced a slew of products and services for its non-resident Indian customers.

The bank is offering a preferential rate on foreign currency conversion, giving special offers on housing loans and providing assistance for searching properties. Also, non-resident customers of the bank can avail of as many as 77 medical tests at a discount; their family members can open no-minimum-balance savings accounts with the private lender.

“This festive season, we have decided to delight our NRI (non-resident Indian) customers with a comprehensive bouquet of services to cater to their various needs, right from healthcare and buying a home to foreign exchange requirements and their family’s banking needs in India,” said Executive Director Rajiv Sabharwal.

The lender would charge a flat processing fee of Rs 5,000 on home loans up to Rs 75 lakh and Rs 10,000 on housing loans exceeding Rs 75 lakh.

The special offer is applicable for NRI home loans sanctioned up to October 31. The bank also has a referral arrangement with its arm ICICI Home Finance Company, which provides property search facilities in India.

ICICI Bank has also partnered Thyrocare Technologies, a clinical diagnostic laboratory, to offer customers special discounts on preventive health check-ups. Non-resident customers can collect coupons from select ICICI Bank branches in India and get medical tests worth Rs 5,000 conducted for Rs 1,500. The offer is open to non-resident customers, as well as their family members.

For a limited period, the bank’s non-resident customers can also avail of a range of preferential rates on foreign currency conversion at select branches in India. The rates would vary, depending on the currency and the amount to be converted.

“These offers have been designed based on customer insights derived from serving 1.5 million NRI customers across about 150 countries and processing over 2,00,000 NRI transactions a month,” Sabharwal said.