US markets made a green close despite a lackluster day of trade

US markets made a positive close on Wednesday with trade remaining lackluster and the traders in a holiday mood, as the market will be closed on Thursday, while Friday will be a half-day session. Traders were also cautious with mixed set of macro data, while the US consumer spending rose modestly in October and the consumer confidence was near a 7-1/2-year high, a measure of business spending plans fell for a second straight month. Also, the Labor Department released a report before the start of trading, showing an unexpected increase in initial jobless claims in the week ended November 22nd. The report said initial jobless claims rose to 313,000, an increase of 21,000 from the previous week's revised level of 292,000. Separately, pending home sales in the US despite unexpectedly declining in the month of October remained at a healthy level. National Association of Realtors’ pending home sales index tumbled 1.1 percent to 104.1 in October from an upwardly-revised 105.3 in September. A Commerce Department report said durable goods orders climbed by 0.4 percent in October following a revised 0.9 percent decrease in September. The Dow Jones industrial average gained 12.81 points or 0.07 per cent, to 17,827.75, the S&P 500 ended higher by 5.8 points or 0.28 per cent, to 2,072.83, while the Nasdaq Composite added 29.07 points or 0.61 per cent, to 4,787.32. Indian ADRs made a mixed closing on Wednesday, HDFC Bank was up by 0.49%, Wipro was up by 0.07% and Infosys was up by 1.02%. On the other hand ICICI Bank was down by 0.16% and Tata Motors was down by 1.26%.

RCom strengthens on plan to raise funds by issuing US dollar-denominated debt instruments

Reliance Communications is currently trading at Rs 103.25, up by 0.90 points or 0.88% from its previous closing of Rs 102.35 on the BSE. The scrip opened at Rs. 101.55 and has touched a high and low of Rs. 104.70 and Rs. 101.50 respectively. So far 610944 shares were traded on the counter. The BSE group 'A' stock of face value Rs. 5 has touched a 52 week high of Rs. 156.90 on 10-Jun-2014 and a 52 week low of Rs. 93.10 on 26-Sep-2014. Last one week high and low of the scrip stood at Rs. 116.35 and Rs. 99.50 respectively. The current market cap of the company is Rs. 24695.78 crore. The promoters holding in the company stood at 58.25% while Institutions and Non-Institutions held 31.33% and 10.19% respectively. In a bid to refinance $255 million of overseas loans, Reliance Communications (RCom) is planning to raise funds by issuing US dollar-denominated debt instruments. The proceeds will be used to repay existing foreign currency debt to avail of longer maturity redemption period. There will be no increase in the company's overall borrowing. The notes, if issued, will be listed on the Singapore Stock Exchange. The notes won't be available to investors in the US or India. The company’s net debt fell by Rs 3,900 crore to Rs 36,334 crore at the end of September after it raised funds via an institutional share sale. Reliance Communications is India’s foremost and truly integrated telecommunications service provider. The company, with a customer base of about 150 million, including over 2.5 million individual overseas retail customers, ranks among the Top 4 Telecom companies in the world by number of customers in a single country.

Ranbaxy, MRF and Bank of Baroda to see some action today

DC Federal Court in the U.S. has not granted Ranbaxy Laboratoriestemporary restraining order to block the U.S. health regulator from approving other ANDAs for generic versions of digestive disorder medicine Nexium and anti-viral Valcyte.  However, the court ordered the parties to the suit to agree upon a schedule for filing additional legal briefs, addressing Ranbaxy’s request for a preliminary injunction by November 21, 2014. Ranbaxy Laboratories had sued USFDA over revoking an approval to sell generic versions of Nexium and Valcyte in the US market. It had also sought restraining the approval given by the USFDA to Dr Reddy’s Laboratories and Endo Pharmaceuticals from launching generics of Valcyte. MRF has posted 72.14 per cent increase in net profit at Rs 316.91 crore for its fourth quarter ended September 30, on account of robust sales. The company had posted a net profit of Rs 184.10 crore during the same period of previous fiscal. Net sales of the company rose to Rs 3,359.91 crore for the fourth quarter, 2013-14, as against Rs 3,145.70 crore in the same period of the previous fiscal. Bank of Baroda has decided to raise funds by way of private placement of AT-1 Bonds (Basel lll Compliant- Tier l) of Rs 1000 crore with a green shoe option of additional Rs 500 crore, limiting the aggregate issue size up to Rs 1500 crore. This is to augment Additional Tier- I Capital of the Bank. The Exchange had sought clarification from Puravankara Projects with respect to press release dated November 26, 2014 titled "Puravankara enters into Prime Land Deal in Pune - Land Parcel Earmarked for Joint Prime Residential Development". In this regard, the Exchange has advised the Company to provide clarification/confirmation with respect to the following: (1) Consideration (2) Names of Parties in the Joint Venture. The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has issued a Form 483 to Hyderabad-based Dr Reddy's Laboratories where the drug regulator raised inspectional observations at the latter's active pharmaceutical ingredients (API) facility located in the Srikakulam district of Andhra Pradesh. Dewan Housing Finance Corporation (DHFL), India's second largest private sector housing finance company, is bullish on the housing finance market in Uttar Pradesh. The company is targeting 150% growth in loan book in UP from Rs 400 crore to Rs 1,000 crore by March 2016. It also targets to expand its footprint to 30 locations from 16 at present. DHFL loan book outstanding grew 25% to Rs 44,742 crore in July-Sep 2014 quarter against Rs 35,805 crore in the corresponding quarter of previous fiscal. Almost 70% of its advances happened in the top 15 urban centres compared to about 85% three years back. Rating agency Moody's has downgraded Indian Overseas Bank's (IOB) financial strength rating from ‘D-' to ‘E+’. The rating action reflects weakening asset quality and capital profile. However, rating agency affirmed IOB's senior unsecured and local currency deposit ratings at ‘Baa3’. It reflects the high likelihood of support that senior creditors of public sector lender IOB can expect to receive from the Government of India (Baa3 stable). The government of India holds 73.80% stake in Chennai-based lender. IOB reported a loss for the quarter ended 30 September 2014 due to lower operating revenues and higher provisioning expenses. Falling global prices and subdued demand may prompt country's largest iron ore miner NMDC to cut the price of steel-making raw material for the second month in a row in December.  The company had reduced the rate of lumps, which has higher iron content, by Rs 200 per tonne for November to Rs 4,400 a tonne, after holding the price for previous four months.  The company, however, rolled over the October price for fines, the inferior grade of the raw material, now stands at Rs 3,16o per tonne.  The possible reduction in the price of iron ore is likely to happen because of two major reasons - subdued demand in the domestic market and nose-diving international prices of the raw material. Aris International has decided to cancel the acquisition of NBFC Company namely Jeewan Commodities because of non completion of formalities of shifting of NBFC under the jurisdiction of RBI, Maharashtra.

Valecha Engineering bags projects worth Rs 157.95 crores

Valecha Engineering, a leading infrastructure company has bagged projects worth Rs 157.95 crore. First project includes upgrading/improvement works of Joleshor-Loharpatti section of Janakpur Parikarma road at Kathmandu, Nepal worth Rs 19.88 crores. Another project includes construction of flyover and underpasses at Hero Honda chowk at km 36.175 on Delhi Gurgaon section of access controlled highway of NH-8 in the state of Haryana worth Rs 138.07 crores. Valecha Engineering is engaged in the construction of major infrastructure and engineering projects such as irrigation dams, reservoirs and canals, roads, highways and expressways, bridges and tunnels, railways, airports and foundation and piling works. Presently, the company is focusing on getting an appropriate product mix involving leading edge infrastructure technologies which will help it to achieve a de-risked business model and increased operation growth.

Tech Mahindra rises on launching Telematics Platform for the Insurance Industry

Tech Mahindra is currently trading at Rs 2637.00, up by 15.85 points or 0.60% from its previous closing of Rs. 2621.15 on the BSE. The scrip opened at Rs 2623.00 and has touched a high and low of Rs 2640.90 and Rs. 2603.00 respectively. So far 10131 shares were traded on the counter. The BSE group 'A' stock of face value Rs. 10 has touched a 52 week high of Rs. 2741.00 on 21-Nov-2014 and a 52 week low of Rs. 1661.20 on 09-Dec-2013. Last one week high and low of the scrip stood at Rs. 2741.00 and Rs. 2582.00 respectively. The current market cap of the company is Rs. 61806.77 crore. The promoters holding in the company stood at 35.99% while Institutions and Non-Institutions held 50.27% and 13.74% respectively. Tech Mahindra, a specialist provider of connected solutions, has launched Usage Based Insurance (UBI), a big data and predictive analysis driven platform for auto insurers. It allows them to adjust premiums according to actual usage patterns of individual drivers instead of industry averages. The platform is flexible to fit to the growing needs of global insurance enterprises, where the market is expected to grow $100 billion plus by the end of the decade. The solution utilizes the capabilities of Tech Mahindra and AT&T in the areas of multi-vertical, engineering and infrastructure capabilities. As a result of this, the global insurers can reduce their claim costs by up to 20%, while reducing eligible insured driver premiums up to 40%. This Usage Based Insurance solution is hosted on the seamless AT&T cloud and served through AT&T’s global Machine-to-Machine (M2M) capabilities. The initial launch encompasses two products, UBI Lite and UBI Plus. UBI Plus offers a big data driven approach that takes into account real time physical world data to provide accurate information. Tech Mahindra is a leading provider of solutions and services to the telecommunications industry with a majority stake owned by Mahindra & Mahindra. The company, since 2002 has operations in China with offices in Beijing, Shanghai, Nanjing and Guangzhou.

Bond yields edge lower tailing lower crude prices and US yields

Bond yields edged lower as fall in global crude oil prices and U.S. yields, supported sentiments. However, further fall of yields is unlikely ahead of GDP data on Friday and RBI policy review on Tuesday. Q2 GDP data is estimated to have grown at 5 per cent or even lower in the second quarter of 2014-15, sharply lower than the 5.7 per cent witnessed in the first quarter. On the global front U.S. Treasuries yields fell on Tuesday, with long-dated ones hitting their lowest in over a month, after a strong auction of five-year notes and a single major bid for long-dated U.S. debt. Meanwhile, Oil prices dropped early on Wednesday as Asia's top economies showed signs of weakness, but hopes for output cuts by producer club OPEC curbed losses. Back home, the yields on new 10 year Government Stock 2023 was trading 1 basis point lower at 8.15% from its previous close of 8.16% on Tuesday. The benchmark five-year interest rate swaps were trading 1 basis point lower at 7.27% from its previous close of 7.28% on Tuesday. The Reserve Bank of India has announced the auction of 91 and 364 days Government of India Treasury Bills for notified amount of Rs 8,000 crore and Rs 6,000 crore respectively. The auction was conducted on November 27, 2014 using 'Multiple Price Auction' method. The allocation to the non-competitive bidders will be outside the notified amount at the discretion of the Bank. The Government of India have announced the sale (re-issue) of the Government Stock through auctions to be held on November 28, 2014, including (i) 8.27 per cent GS 2020 for a notified amount of Rs 3000 crore (ii) 8.40 per cent GS 2024 for a notified amount of Rs 6000 crore and (iii) 9.20 per cent GS 2030 for a notified amount of Rs 2000 crore and (iv) New 30 Years GS for a notified amount of Rs 3000 crore.

Reliance Capital gains as Nippon Life decides to raise stake in RCAM

Reliance Capital is currently trading at Rs 495.75, up by 14.70 points or 3.06% from its previous closing of Rs. 481.05 on the BSE. The scrip opened at Rs. 479.80 and has touched a high and low of Rs 496.70 and Rs. 478.00 respectively. So far 515622 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. 527.40 and Rs. 469.75 respectively. The current market cap of the company is Rs. 12139.17 crore. The promoters holding in the company stood at 54.14% while Institutions and Non-Institutions held 27.26% and 18.35% respectively. Nippon Life Insurance (NLI), a Fortune 100 company and the seventh largest life insurer in the world, has decided to increase its stake in Reliance Capital Asset Management (RCAM), a part of Reliance Capital. NLI will be increasing its stake in Reliance Capital Asset Management from the existing 26 per cent to 49 per cent in two or more tranches. The Boards of Directors of both the companies - Nippon Life Insurance and Reliance Capital Asset Management - have approved the stake increase by the Japanese partner, subject to regulatory approvals. NLI will be investing an aggregate value of Rs 657 crore ($108 million) to acquire an additional stake of 9% in RCAM in the first tranche, to reach a 35% stake. The transaction pegs Reliance Capital Asset Management’s valuation at Rs 7,300 crore ($1.2 billion), the highest valuation till date for any asset management company in the country. This transaction is expected to be completed within the current financial year, subject to receipt of regulatory approvals. Reliance Capital Asset Management is the largest asset manager in India managing Rs. 2,18,338 crore ($36.0 billion) as on September 30, 2014, across mutual funds, pension funds, managed accounts and offshore funds.

SAIL plans to increase hot metal production capacity

Steel Authority of India (SAIL) is planning to increase its Rourkela Steel Plant's installed capacity of producing hot metal to 10 million tonnes per annum (MTPA) from the present level of around 4.5 MTPA.  Besides, the company is also planning to expand the capacity of its mines. Earlier, the company was in the process of finalising plan to increase the production capacity to 50 MTPA by 2025. SAIL is India's largest steel producing company. The company is among the five Maharatnas of the country's Central Public Sector Enterprises. The company has five integrated steel plants, three special plants, and one subsidiary in different parts of the country.

Birla Sun Life MF introduces Fixed Term Plan - Series ME (1099 days)

Birla Sun Life Mutual Fund has launched the New Fund Offer (NFO) of Birla Sun Life Fixed Term Plan - Series ME (1099 days), a close ended income scheme. The NFO opens for subscription on Nov 25, 2014 and closes on Dec 10, 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 Rs.10 thereafter. The scheme’s performance will be benchmarked against CRISIL Composite Bond Fund Index and its fund manager is Kaustubh Gupta The investment objective of the scheme is to generate income by investing in a portfolio of fixed income securities maturing on or before the duration of the scheme.

GMR Infrastructure receives SEBI approval to raise funds upto Rs 1500 Crore

GMR Infrastructure has received approval from Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) to raise funds upto Rs 1500 crore through rights issue.  The funds raised from the issue would be utilised towards repayment of certain borrowings availed by GMR Infrastructure, investment in its subsidiary - GMR Energy Ltd - as well as for general corporate purposes. In a rights issue, shares are issued to existing investors as per their holding at a pre-determined price and ratio. GMR Infrastructure is a Bangalore headquartered global infrastructure major with interests in Airports, Energy, Highways and Urban Infrastructure sectors. It has successfully employed the public-private partnership model to build a portfolio of high quality assets.