Maruti Suzuki surges on reducing prices across its models after excise duty reduction

Maruti Suzuki India is currently trading at Rs. 1682.00, up by 7.35 points or 0.44 % from its previous closing of Rs. 1674.65 on the BSE.

The scrip opened at Rs. 1671.10 and has touched a high and low of Rs. 1693.90 and Rs. 1646.65 respectively. So far 28864 shares were traded on the counter.

Last one week high and low of the scrip stood at Rs. 1733.90 and Rs. 1638.50 respectively. The current market cap of the company is Rs. 50942.78 crore.

The promoters holding in the company stood at 56.21 % while Institutions and Non-Institutions held 35.45 % and 8.34 % respectively.

The country’s biggest car maker, Maruti Suzuki India has cut prices in range between Rs 8,502 and Rs 30,984 across its models after excise duty on automobiles was reduced in the Interim Budget.

Finance Minister P. Chidambaram, on February 17, cut excise duty to 8 per cent from 12 per cent for small cars, scooters, motorcycles and commercial vehicles; 24 per cent from 30 per cent for SUVs; 20 per cent for mid-sized cars from 24 per cent and 24 per cent for large cars from 27 per cent.

Maruti Suzuki reported 11.06% fall in its production to 109,342 units in January 2014 as compared to 122,936 units in same month last year. Of total, the company manufactured a 44,411 vehicles under mini segment (including Alto, A Star, Wagon R), down by 22.21%, as against 57,095 vehicles manufactured in corresponding month previous year.

ICRA shares jump 20% on Moody’s open offer

Shares of ICRA Ltd today surged as much as 20 per cent on the bourses after global rating agency Moody’s said that it would make an open offer to raise its stake in the domestic rating agency.

After market trading hours on Friday, Moody’s said that it would acquire an additional 26.5 per cent stake in the company through open offer at a price of Rs 2,000 a share.

Reacting to the development, shares of ICRA Ltd opened on a bullish note at Rs 1,858 on the BSE. The stock then gathered further momentum and surged 19.99 per cent to an intra-day high of Rs 1,913 on the bourse.

Similar movement was seen on the National Stock Exchange as well where the stock opened at Rs 1,888, then jumped 19.96 per cent to an intra-day high of Rs 1,905.05 a share.

Moody’s plans to acquire up to 2.65 million shares in ICRA, amounting to 26.5 per cent of the company’s equity. If the open offer gets full acceptance, the shareholding of Moody’s in ICRA Ltd would increase to 55 per cent.

The offer is being made by Moody’s Singapore Pte Ltd, Moody’s Investment Company India Private Ltd and Moody’s Corporation.

Rupee trades flat tailing weakness in other emerging currencies

Indian rupee after a mildly soft start is trading flat on Monday morning, tailing some weakness in other emerging currencies and on increased demand for the US currency from importers. Mildly lower opening in the domestic equity market too was putting pressure on the rupee. In the global markets, the dollar index has regained some footing and was trading up against the euro and other emerging market currencies, as investors looked past the Group of 20’s latest commitment to spur faster global growth.

The partially convertible currency is currently trading 62.15, weaker by 2 paise from its previous close of 62.13 on Friday. The currency touched a high and low of 62.18 and 62.09 respectively. The Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) reference rate for the dollar stood at 62.16 and for Euro stood at 85.26 on February 21, 2014. While, the RBI’s reference rate for the Yen stood at 60.66, the reference rate for the Great Britain Pound (GBP) stood at 103.4435. The reference rates are based on 12 noon rates of a few select banks in Mumbai.

JSW Steel to acquire 50% stake in Vallabh Tinplate for Rs 46 crore

JSW Steel intends to acquire 26% equity in Vallabh Tinplate (VTPL) immediately and shall increase its equity stake in VTPL to 50% in due course. The total investment to acquire 50% equity stake in VTPL is estimated to be a maximum of Rs 46 crore depending upon financial performance of VTPL. The above is however subject to customary closing conditions and third party consents. Accordingly JSW Steel has executed a legally binding Share Purchase Agreement and Shareholders Agreement with the shareholders of VTPL and VTPL. JSW Steel will have representation in the Board of VTPL proportionate to its equity holding with a right to appoint certain key managerial personnel. This acquisition marks JSW Steel’s entry into growing Tinplate business in India. Vallabh Tinplate is currently operating a 60,000 MT per annum tinplate manufacturing facility in Beopror Village, Rajpura, Patiala District in the state of Punjab in India. VTPL is owned by Vardhaman Industries (VIL) along with its promoters.

GDP growth to remain in 4.5-5% range in 2014: Nomura

The economy is unlikely to see any major pick in 2014 and may end up with about just 4.5-5 percent growth due to the ongoing fiscal and monetary policy tightening, says a report. 
"GDP growth will remain in a 4.5-5 percent range for much of 2014, due to the ongoing fiscal and monetary policy tightening," Japanese brokerage Nomura said in a report. "
The year 2014 is likely to be a year of consolidation and although the investment downturn appears to be coming to an end, we do not yet see any triggers for a revival," the report said. 
The GDP growth in the first two quarters of FY14 stood at 4.4 percent and 4.8 percent, respectively. 
The economic growth slowed to a low of 4.5 percent in FY'13 on account of mostly local factors such as high interest rates. 
 Finance Minister P Chidambaram in his interm Budget, presented last week, said he expected growth in FY'14 to be at 4.9 percent, similar to the advance estimate given by the Central Statistics Office. 
While he pushed Rs 35,000 crore of oil subsidy payments to next year in the interim budget, the Finance Minister also cut plan expenditure by Rs 75,000 crore to meet the fiscal deficit target which he finally brought down to 4.6 percent from the planned 4.8 percent. According to the agency, this cut back on government spending will negtively impact growth. 
Another growth impediment is the high interest rates, which a hawkish central bank has increased three times or a cumulative 75 bps in the past five months. 
Nomura said the slowdown in domestic consumption was offsetting the better performance of net exports. The report sees growth to pick up in 2015 on account of higher investments and inflation easing out. 
"A revival in the capex cycle and a sustained moderation in inflation are pre-conditions to an economic rebound, which we see as more likely in 2015," Nomura said. 
Meanwhile, rating agency Icra said it expects GDP growth to improve to 5-5.5 percent in FY15 on factoring in a normal monsoon, higher manufacturing growth and a pick-up in investment activity in second half of the fiscal.

Sensex down 44 points

Indian stock markets opened down on Monday amid weak cues from most overseas markets. Trade is expected to be choppy due to rollovers to March derivatives contract.

The BSE Sensex was trading down 44.32 points or 0.21 per cent at 20,656.43 while the NSE Nifty was down 13.25 points or 0.22 per cent at 6,142.20.Nifty is seen taking support at 6,120 points and face resistance at 6,200 points. On Friday, Nifty ended above the technically important 6150-mark at 6155.45, up 64.00 points or 1.0% from Thursday.

US stocks fell on Friday after indications from Fed officials showed that the central bank would continue tapering its bond buying programme. In a speech on Friday, Dallas Fed President Richard Fisher said the central bank should continue to reduce the pace of its asset-purchase programme. At a separate event, St. Louis Fed President James Bullard said US economy is headed for a good year of growth and he expects the Fed to continue tapering the bond-buying programme.

In US, existing home sales dropped 5.1 per cent in January to an annual rate of 4.62 million units, the lowest level since July 2012. Cold weather and a lack of housing stock sidelined potential homebuyers in January, the National Association of Realtors said on Friday, in latest report indicating severe winter weather has dragged on economic growth.