Asian markets ended mostly in red on Monday

Asian markets ended mostly in red on Monday, as Japan's economy unexpectedly fell into recession and Hong Kong shares slid as a trading link with Shanghai started. Japan’s economy unexpectedly slipped into recession in the third quarter, setting the stage for Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to delay an unpopular sales tax hike and call a snap election two years before he had to go to the polls. Gross domestic product (GDP) shrank by an annualized 1.6 percent in July-September, after plunging 7.3 percent in the second quarter following a rise in the national sales tax, which clobbered consumer spending. The recession comes nearly two years after Abe returned to power promising to revive the economy with his ‘Abenomics’ mix of massive monetary stimulus, spending and reforms, and is unwelcome news for an already shaky global economy. The world’s third-largest economy had been forecast to rebound by 2.1 percent, but consumption and exports remained weak, saddling companies with huge inventories to work off. Hong Kong Unemployment Rate remained unchanged at a seasonally adjusted 3.3%, compared to the preceding month. Thai GDP rose to a seasonally adjusted 0.6%, from 0.4% in the preceding month.

Asian Indices	Last Trade	Change in Points	Change in %
Shanghai Composite	2474.01	-4.82	-0.19
Hang Seng	23797.08	-290.30	-1.21
Jakarta Composite	5053.94	4.46	0.09
KLSE Composite	1806.48	-7.31	-0.40
Nikkei 225	16973.80	-517.03	-2.96
Straits Times	3288.67	-27.00	-0.81
KOSPI Composite	1943.63	-1.51	-0.08
Taiwan Weighted	8884.39	-98.49	-1.10

Rasi Electrodes’ product approved by NTPC

Rasi Electrodes’ two products of welding electrodes have been included in National Thermal Power Corporation List of approved products. The company has been pursuing with its efforts to market its products to PSUs and infrastructure companies.

Rasi Electrodes is a specialist in manufacturing quality welding electrodes catering to the requirements of diverse Heavy Engineering and Light Engineering industries. The Company is one of the preferred suppliers of welding electrodes under the brand name RASI for reputed public sector undertakings and larger private sector engineering conglomerates and other Original Equipment Manufacturers. The Company also deals in diverse welding products such as welding machines and accessories.

Reliance Capital soars on reporting 10% rise in Q2 net profit

Reliance Capital is currently trading at Rs. 489.90, up by 9.80 points or 2.04% from its previous closing of Rs. 480.10 on the BSE. The scrip opened at Rs. 482.25 and has touched a high and low of Rs. 492.65 and Rs. 482.00 respectively. So far 335070 shares were traded on the counter. The BSE group 'A ' stock of face value Rs. 10 has touched a 52 week high of Rs. 668.40 on 09-Jun-2014 and a 52 week low of Rs. 304.55 on 28-Feb-2014. Last one week high and low of the scrip stood at Rs. 492.65 and Rs. 458.65 respectively. The current market cap of the company is Rs. 12040.92 crore. The promoters holding in the company stood at 54.14% while Institutions and Non-Institutions held 27.26% and 18.35% respectively. Reliance Capital has posted a rise of 9.68% in its net profit at Rs 68 crore for the quarter ended September 30, 2014 as compared to Rs 62 crore for the same quarter in the previous year. Total income has increased by 8.28% at Rs 889 crore for quarter under review as compared to Rs 821 crore for the quarter ended September 30, 2013. Reliance Capital is a systemically important non-deposit taking NBFC. The company is part of the Reliance group led by Anil Dhirubhai Ambani. It currently operates as the holding company for the group’s entities in the financial services sector.

UP government keeps sugarcane SAP unchanged for 2014-15

The government of Uttar Pradesh has kept the State Advisory Price (SAP) of sugarcane unchanged for the 2014-2015 crushing season. The price of early ripening variety was kept at Rs 290, normal variety at Rs 280 and late variety at Rs 275 per quintal, which is the same as last season, by the State Cabinet. The sugar mills have to make a mandatory payment of Rs 240 per quintal to farmers within first 14 days of procurement or else they would have to pay a penalty. The remaining amount would be payable within three months after the completion of the crushing season. The mills who will be maintaining this payment schedule would be entitled to benefits of reimbursement and compensation in purchase tax and cane society commission as last year, which comes to Rs 20 per quintal. The millers have been demanding that the SAP be rolled back to Rs 225 a quintal, pointing out to their bleeding balance sheets while farmers were demanding an increase to Rs 320-350.

Indian Oil Corporation launches MDBTL in 4 districts of Madhya Pradesh

Indian Oil Corporation (IOC), the country’s biggest refiner, has launched modified direct benefit transfer for LPG (MDBTL) in four districts (Burhanpur, Khandwa, Harda and Hoshangabad) of Madhya Pradesh. Under this scheme, LPG customers who don't have an Aadhaar card can also avail subsidy in their bank accounts. The ambitious plan of direct benefit transfer for LPG (DBTL) was launched by UPA government in June 2013 but was abruptly stopped earlier this year following court orders, has been modified to exclude the requirement of unique identification number (Aadhaar) for availing the cash subsidy.

IOC is the largest enterprise in the country and the foremost ranked Fortune Global 500 Company in India and has presence in the complete hydrocarbon value chain from downstream refining & marketing, pipeline transportation, Petrochemicals, E&P and Gas Marketing.

Turmeric futures trade up on NCDEX

Turmeric futures ruled flat in the near term contracts. While December contracts traded up due to fresh buying support from retailers and stockists amid paucity of stocks.

The contract for November delivery was trading flat at its previous close of Rs. 6150.00/ Quintal. The open interest of the contract stood at 495.00 lots.

The contract for December delivery was trading at Rs 6344.00/ Quintal, up by 0.70% or Rs 44.00 from its previous closing of Rs 6300.00. The open interest of the contract stood at 8600.00 lots on NCDEX.

Chana futures edge lower on ample supply

Chana futures traded down on NCDEX as speculators reduced positions amidst a fall in demand in the spot market. Further, adequate stocks in the physical market due to increased supplies from producing regions also put pressure on chana prices.

The contract for November delivery was trading at Rs 3187.00, down by 0.72% or Rs 23.00 from its previous closing of Rs 3210.00. The open interest of the contract stood at 55900.00 lots.

The contract for December delivery was trading at Rs 3172.00, down by 0.72% or Rs 23.00 from its previous closing of Rs 3195.00. The open interest of the contract stood at 67500.00 lots on NCDEX.

Integrate Foreign Trade Policy with 'Make in India' programme: Assocham

Industry chamber Assocham has suggested that government must utilize the opportunity to integrate proposed Foreign Trade Policy with the 'Make in India' programme, which would help in realizing its greater objective of making India a low cost global manufacturing hub. The apex trade association has suggested the country to prioritize its manufacturing focus on key sectors where India already has existing strengths like Auto, Textiles, Pharma, bio-tech etc and deepen its capabilities in creating strong global market share and mind share. It also insisted India to mandatorily provide incentives for Domestic Value Addition (DVA), which is the proportion of exports truly produced in India. While, lauding Textile Industry’s efforts in nearly doubling its DVA component from 8% in 1994-95 to 18% as of 2013-14, it pointed that electrical components and machinery exports were the industries which require adequate support  so as to dovetail these sectors strongly into the 'Make in India' theme. It noted that electronics was another key segment where India has a good talent base, domestic demand or consumption and necessary environment to create a strong manufacturing base. On GST front, the trade apex industry body opined that the government should adopt a dual model of GST one for the Centre (CGST) and one for the state (SGST) to grant autonomy to both states and the Centre, thereby creating a harmonious model acceptable to states and centre.

CRISIL assigns fundamental grade of 3/5 to Manappuram Finance

Credit rating agency, CRISIL Research has assigned a CRISIL IER fundamental grade of 3/5 on Manappuram Finance. The grade indicates that the company’s fundamentals are ‘good’ relative to other listed equity securities in India. The rating agency has also assigned valuation grade of 3/5 to the company. 

Manappuram Finance is a non-deposit taking NBFC and having a strong presence in South India in states of Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh.

Asian markets trade mostly lower in early deals on Monday

Most of the Asian equity benchmarks are trading lower in the early deals on Monday on account of soft lead from Wall Street, where stocks ended lower on Friday despite fairly encouraging economic data. On the regional front, the Japanese stock market declined sharply, hurt by a report showing the economy to have unexpectedly contracted in the July - September quarter. Furthermore, yen strengthened from a seven-year low against the dollar also contributed to the downside. On the economic front, Japan's gross domestic product unexpectedly contracted 1.6 percent on year in the third quarter of 2014, the Cabinet Office said in Monday's preliminary reading. Among other markets in the Asia-Pacific region, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Singapore and Taiwan are notably lower. South Korea is down marginally, while Shanghai and Indonesia are slightly higher. Nikkei 225 tumbled by 420.17 points or 2.40% to 17,070.66, Hang Seng declined by 131.68 points or 0.55% to 23,955.70, KOSPI Index contracted 3.66 points or 0.19% to 1,941.48,  Straits Times dipped 19.35 points or 0.58% to 3,296.32, FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI slipped 3.19 points or 0.18% to 1,810.60 and Taiwan Weighted was down by 58.91 points or 0.66% to 8,923.97. On the flip side, Jakarta Composite surged by 4.11 points or 0.08% to 5,053.59 and Shanghai Composite was up by 16.98 points or 0.68% to 2,495.80.

G20 leaders give thumbs up to India-US agreement; pin hopes for implementation of TFA

Heartened by the major breakthrough between India and US over the food stock piling issue, G20 leaders, in their meeting on Sunday, expressed hope that that this development would put WTO negotiations back on track and would facilitate the implementation of Trade Facilitation Agreement (TFA), necessary for driving growth and generating jobs.

In a development paving the way for ending a three-month long stalemate on Trade Facilitation Agreement at the multi-lateral trade body, the country, in the previous week, achieved a major breakthrough with the US agreeing to its proposal on food  security issues at WTO. The TFA had been stalled since July, when India refused to endorse it, unless its food stockpiles were exempted from possible punitive measures, prompting the US to accuse it of taking the WTO to the brink of crisis.

As per the agreement with India, the US will support India's proposal at WTO that 'peace clause', crucial for uninterrupted implementation of India's food security programme, should continue indefinitely until a permanent solution on the issue is found. This agreement would enable the country in continuing procuring and stocking of food grain for distribution to poor under its food security programme, without attracting any kind of action from WTO members in the scenario if it breaches the 10% subsidy cap as prescribed by the multilateral trade body.

Separately, G20 leaders also endorsed India’s concerns over black money and promised for a new global transparency standard that would modernize international tax rules and allow automatic exchange of related information between governments to curb illicit outflow of money estimated at over $1 trillion annually.

CARE reaffirms ratings of Apar Industries’ bank facilities

Credit rating agency, CARE has reaffirmed ‘A+’ rating to Apar Industries’ long term bank facilities worth Rs 816.00 crore and ‘A1+’ rating to company’s Short term Bank Facilities worth Rs 1,950.65 crore. The rating agency has also reaffirmed A+/A1+ rating to the company’s long/ short-term bank facilities worth Rs 9.40 crore.

The company has received the said ratings on the back of its experienced promoters and management, strong order book position, established market position of the company in the product segments it operates in along with long-term relationship with customers and diversified revenue profile.

Apar Industries is engaged in the manufacturing of transformer and specialty oils along with transmission & distribution overhead conductors. It is the second largest manufacturer of power conductors in India. The company is also engaged in the manufacture of electrical and telecom cables.

Gold futures edge lower as dollar strengthens

Gold futures edged lower on Monday as investors focused on expectations for the Federal Reserve to hike interest rates next year. The sentiments weakened further as the dollar jumped to a seven-year high against the yen.

Gold futures for December delivery edged down 0.24 percent at $1,182.80 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange. While spot gold fell 0.2 percent to $1,185.14 an ounce. 

Capital Trust inks agreement with YES bank

Capital Trust has signed an agreement with YES bank to act as their business correspondent. The company will provide the following services like Self Help Group (SHG) Identification and Recommendation, SHG Saving account and individual saving account opening and SHG loan account sourcing and servicing.

Capital Trust has been one of the pioneers in offering consultancy services to foreign banks, not having their own branches or representative office. The company is currently engaged in the business of micro finance, insurance.

Jaiprakash Power Ventures gains on inking agreement for sale of HBPCL

Jaiprakash Power Ventures is currently trading at Rs. 14.78, up by 0.41 points or 2.85% from its previous closing of Rs. 14.37 on the BSE. The scrip opened at Rs. 15.24 and has touched a high and low of Rs. 15.24 and Rs. 14.70 respectively. So far 4,89,000 shares were traded on the counter. The BSE group 'A' stock of face value Rs. 10 has touched a 52 week high of Rs. 26.63 on 26-May-2014 and a 52 week low of Rs. 11.20 on 25-Sep-2014. Last one week high and low of the scrip stood at Rs. 15.24 and Rs. 13.50 respectively. The current market cap of the company is Rs. 4,339.00 crore. The promoters holding in the company stood at 63.60% while Institutions and Non-Institutions held 11.90% and 24.50% respectively. Jaiprakash Power Ventures (JPVL) has signed a definitive agreement with JSW Energy for sale of the securities in Himachal Baspa Power Company (HBPCL). The board of directors of the company had approved the transfer of businesses in relation to two of the company’s operating power plants namely, 300 MW Baspa-II Hydro-Electric Plant (commissioned in 2003) and 1091 MW Karcham Wangtoo Hydro-Electric Plant (commissioned in 2011) (both located in Himachal Pradesh) on a going concern basis to Himachal Baspa Power Company, a subsidiary pursuant to the scheme of arrangement to be sanctioned under Companies Act, 1956 and subject to all approvals, as may be required. On the effectiveness of the scheme of arrangement, HBPCL will own 300 MW Baspa Stage II and 1,091 MW Karcham Wangtoo Hydro Power Plants in the state of Himachal Pradesh prior to the said sale. The value of consideration to be received from JSW Energy is linked to a base enterprise value of approximately Rs 9,700 crore for the two power projects subject to mutually agreed adjustments. SBI Capital Markets acted as advisors to the transaction for JPVL, Bansi S Mehta & Company as tax advisors, Vaish Associates as company’s legal advisors and Sobhagya Capital Options as Independent Merchant Bankers.

Centre asks state governments to consider increasing GST threshold limit

The goods and services tax (GST) bill that seemed reaching a conclusion finally may get delayed further, as the Centre is against keeping the threshold limit at Rs 10 lakh for levying GST and wants the committee on dual control to take a final view on the matter after detailed discussions. Earlier, an empowered committee of state FMs after its meeting has insisted that threshold turnover for levying GST be retained at Rs 10 lakh and petroleum be kept out of the purview of the new tax regime. However, the Centre in its recent communication to the state Finance Ministers has suggested that the meeting of the Committee on Dual Control, Threshold and Exemptions be convened at the earliest for 'detailed discussion and analysis'. It has argued that keeping the threshold limit at Rs 10 lakh would mean that any dealer with a daily turnover of Rs 2,800 would come under the GST net. Meanwhile, the law ministry has cleared the GST bill brought to it for legal consultation and now the finance ministry will take the proposed constitutional amendment to the Cabinet in the coming week for its approval before it is tabled in the winter session of Parliament. The GST Constitutional Amendment Bill, which was introduced in the Lok Sabha in 2011 had lapsed and the government needs to bring a fresh bill. The proposed GST regime will have dual tax structure where one will be the central component levied by the Centre, called the central GST, and the other to be levied by the states, called the state GST. It will subsume indirect taxes like excise duty and service tax at the central level and VAT on the states front.

HDIL’s arm receives environmental clearance for project ‘Planet HDIL’

Housing Development and Infrastructure’s (HDIL) wholly owned subsidiary - Privilege Power and Infrastructure, has received the environmental clearance from State Environment Impact Assessment Authority, Government of Maharashtra for its project ‘Planet HDIL’ which is an affordable housing project situated in the suburbs of Mumbai at Virar.

HDIL is a real estate development company. Its business activity comprises of construction and development of residential projects, commercial, retail and slum rehabilitation projects. It is also engaged in construction of special economic zone (SEZ).

SBI MF introduces Equity Opportunities Fund-Series II

SBI Mutual Fund has launched the New Fund Offer (NFO) of SBI Equity Opportunities Fund-Series II, a close ended income scheme. The NFO opens for subscription on Nov 17, 2014 and closes on Dec 01, 2014.  No entry load or exit load will be applicable for the scheme. The minimum subscription amount is Rs 5,000 and in multiples of Re. 1 thereafter.

The scheme’s performance will be benchmarked against S&P BSE 500 and its fund manager is Dharmendra Grover.

The investment objective of the scheme is to generate capital appreciation from a diversified portfolio of equity & equity related instruments.

Visu International to sell entire stake in Visu Academy

Visu International has received an approval to sell its 100% subsidiary namely Visu Academy. The board of directors at their meeting held on November 13, 2014 has approved for the same.

The board has agreed to sell the above said subsidiary company subject to approval of the members, stake holders and other regulatory bodies.

Visu International is a pioneer in the field of ‘Global Education’, is the main arm of Visu Group of Companies. Its core activity lies in assisting students to make the right choice with regard to higher education overseas.

ONGC, JSW Energy and Jaiprakash Power to see some action today

Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC), India’s biggest energy explorer, will invest Rs 10,600 crore in raising production from its western offshore fields. ONGC’s board has approved third phase of redevelopment of its prime Mumbai High South oil and gas field at a cost of Rs 6,069 crore and integrated development of Mukta, Bassein and Panna formations at an investment of Rs 4,620 crore. The Mumbai High South Redevelopment (Phase-III) will lead to incremental gain of 7.547 million tonne crude oil and 3.864 billion cubic meter gas by 2030. The project comprises drilling 36 new wells and 34 sidetrack wells, and facilities. The facilities under the project are scheduled to be installed by April, 2017. JSW Energy, controlled by billionaire Sajjan Jindal, has acquired two of Jaiprakash Power Ventures’ hydro power plants, with a combined capacity of 1,391 Mw, for Rs 9,700 crore. The board of directors of Jaiprakash Power Ventures, a fully owned subsidiary of the Jaypee group, has approved the 100 percent transfer of businesses of its operating power plants - the 300-Mw Baspa-II hydroelectric plant (commissioned in 2003) and the 1,091-Mw Karcham Wangtoo plant (commissioned in 2011), in Himachal Pradesh. Jaypee’s entire hydropower portfolio of three plants was up for sale. Earlier, Anil Ambani-promoted Reliance CleanGen had decided to buy Jaypee’s entire hydro portfolio but that deal had run into regulatory troubles. DLF, the country’s largest real estate company, plans to launch Real Estate Investment Trusts (Reits) in the next financial year. The aim is to monetize its commercial properties and it is in discussion for partnerships. Its net debt grew by Rs 817 crore during the second quarter of this financial year to Rs 19,944 crore. It also plans to raise Rs 3,600 crore through an issue of securities backed by commercial assets, to replace costlier debt. DLF earns about Rs 2,100 crore a year from its rental business, expected to grow to Rs 2,600-2,750 crore by March 2017. DLF is also readying a large CMBS (commercial mortgage-backed securities) offering of Rs 3,600 crore. Private airliner Jet Airways launched its maiden direct flight from Lucknow to Abu Dhabi, UAE. The company has deployed a Boeing 737 for the daily service. It will provide connectivity to North America, Africa, West Asia and the Gulf via Abu Dhabi. The base fare for the flight is Rs 11,300. The airline is confident to fly at over 90 percent load factor for the service. The company has trimmed its debt by 7% since the beginning of this fiscal year, even as it readies itself for more funding from its strategic partner Etihad Airways. The airline as of end September had total consolidated debt at Rs 9,794 crore on its books. Orchid Chemicals and Pharmaceuticals (OCPL), which has returned to net profit from a net loss of around Rs 200 crore during the last quarter, expects its capacity utilization to touch 100 percent by the next quarter, up from the present 60 percent. The pharmaceutical maker also expects revenues from its first-to-file products in the United States, to flow from the next fiscal. The company earlier was facing a working capital crunch, which had resulted in lower capacity utilization and had thereby affected profitability. However, with the corporate debt restructuring (CDR) package being implemented and a part of the sales deed used as working capital, the company was expecting improvement in revenues and profit. Apprehending an uncertain future for the company, some 40-odd SpiceJet pilots including commanders have quit the airline during the past six months. The airline auditors in their recent report have cast doubts over the ability of media baron Kalanithi Maran’s budget carrier to run it as a going concern. The quitting of these pilots have also impacted the airline’s operations significantly through delays and flight cancellations. The airline had last week reduced its fleet from 48 planes to 38 over the past few months. The airline has reported its fifth straight quarter of net losses for the July-September period, at Rs 310 crore, although it is down from the year-ago period when it had a net loss of Rs 559 crore. The losses came down as the airline witnessed a 15 percent growth in total revenue. Good Luck Steel Tubes is eyeing a turnover of Rs 1,800 crore by 2017-18 and plans to invest Rs 200 crore in the next three years towards setting up a new forging facility and enhancing capacity of its structural division. The work on two greenfield plants would start next year and both would commence production in a year’s time.  Post-expansion, forging division is expected to double its contribution to Rs 400 crore to the projected turnover of Rs 1,800 crore. Turnover from the structural division would also double to Rs 200 crore.  The company, which is now sitting on around Rs 160 crore reserves and surplus, plans to fund the proposed expansion with a 2:1 debt-equity ratio. G P Goenka group company Stone India expects that new businesses will contribute around 35 percent to its turnover this fiscal from almost nil in the previous year. In FY13, Stone India had earned a revenue of around Rs 104 crore. Bio-toilets, solar and project engineering are the new businesses while Railways is the core activity of the company. Though bio-toilets were introduced three years back but the product is yet to be popularized in a big way. Stone India recently got its first major order of bio-toilets from Delhi Development Authority (DDA) for 200 parks in Delhi and if feedback stays positive, DDA may offer another contract for 1,000 parks. Prime Minister Narendra Modi is likely to inaugurate the much awaited Rs 35,000 crore refinery project of Indian Oil Corporation (IOCL) in March next year. The 15 MTPA capacity oil refinery project of IOCL, now in final stage of completion, is expected to be commissioned in March 2015.The company has reported a net loss of Rs 898.46 crore for second quarter ended September 30, 2014 under review as compared to a net profit of Rs 1683.92 crore for the same quarter in the previous year. However, total income of the company has increased marginally by 1.15% at Rs 112121.01 crore for Q2FY15 as compared Rs 110848.51 crore for the corresponding quarter previous year. Wind energy farms set up by ITC are caught in the ‘cross fire’ between Andhra Pradesh and Telangana over wheeling issue. The diversified corporate house, which has set up a series of wind farms to meet its internal requirements, is forced to pump the power generated into the grid for the past few months as there is lack of mechanism to wheel the power to its manufacturing units. As a result, it has supplied renewable energy worth Rs 12 crore free into the Andhra Pradesh Grid as it could not use it due to lack of wheeling arrangement. ITC has invested Rs 300 crore in a wind farms in Anantapur in Andhra Pradesh for captive usage at factories in Chirala, Anaparthi (now in Andhra) and Bhadrachalam (now in Telangana).