L&T Construction bags order worth Rs16.05bn

The Metallurgical & Material Handling Business secured a new EPC order worth Rs 307 crores.

L&T Construction has won new orders worth Rs1605 crores across various business segments.
The Buildings & Factories Business has bagged an order valued Rs445 crores from Hospital Services Consultancy Corporation (India) Limited for the construction of a super specialty cum new paid ward including associated services at Safdarjung Hospital, New Delhi.

The Metallurgical & Material Handling Business secured a new EPC order worth Rs 307 crores from a reputed customer for the construction of a sinter plant in eastern India.

The Power Transmission & Distribution Business has bagged a major order worth Rs 675 crores from Kudgi Transmission Limited. The scope includes detailed engineering, survey, civil works, installation, testing and commissioning of three 400 kV and one 765 kV double circuit line transmission system to evacuate power from the 3 x 800 MW  Kudgi Thermal power station in Bijapur District, Karnataka.
In the Heavy Civil Infrastructure Business additional order worth Rs178 crores has been received.

Sensex jumps 114 points; Capital goods, realty stocks steal the show

Indian stock markets were trading up by over 0.5 per cent in the mid-session on Tuesday on heavy capital inflows amid weak European cues.

At 2.10 p.m., the 30-share BSE index Sensex was up 114.21 points (0.57 per cent) at 20,009.31 and the 50-share NSE index Nifty was up 27.6 points (0.47 per cent) at 5,933.75.

Capital goods, realty, consumer durables and bank stocks were the star performers and were up 1.63 per cent, 1.41 per cent, 0.92 per cent and 0.91 per cent, respectively. Metal and IT stocks were the only losers and were down 0.4 per cent and 0.05 per cent, respectively.

L&T, ICICI Bank, Tata Power, Bharti Airtel and Jindal Steel were the top five Sensex gainers, while Hindalco, Coal India, Tata Steel, Hero MotoCorp and Bajaj Auto were the top five losers.

European stocks were down as investors watched the beginning of the US earnings season and negotiations to end a government shutdown in the world’s largest economy. Asian shares were up.

Senate Democrats could introduce legislation as soon as today that gives President Barack Obama the authority to raise the debt ceiling unless two-thirds of Congress disapproves, according to a Senate Democratic aide.

But US House Speaker John Boehner said that the Republican-controlled chamber can’t pass an increase to the US debt ceiling without packaging it with other provisions.

BHEL's share in fresh orders only at 1% in Q2

Company expected to be one of the worst performing Sensex companies as orders dry up and execution slowdown

The performance of Bharat Heavy Electricals in the second quarter of FY14 is set to drag down the revenue and profit growth of benchmarks as the company is still battling structural challenges. Even though of late there has been positive news flow on the capital goods sector and order inflow has shown a pick-up, BHEL is not a beneficiary of this trend. In the second quarter, order inflows picked up to Rs 38,569 crore, up 9% annually and 23% sequentially. This is the highest order inflows seen by the capital goods sector in two years but BHEL's share is an abysmal 1% of this, says Sharekhan. Larsen & Toubro has cornered 66% of most of these orders.

Shares of BHEL rose 43%, after touching a low of Rs 101.50 in August, on expectations that the company could get new BTG orders from ultra mega power projects (UMPPs). The market believes that the risk of foreign competition has abated substantially and the rupee's depreciation would only help further. The other factor that contributed to the share price rally was the notification of standard bidding document for case-two bids with fuel cost as pass-through and approval of the coal block auction policy by the government.

However, analysts believe that operational challenges faced by BHEL continue. ICICI  Securities believes that while foreign competition may not be a threat, domestic players have already queered the pitch as 30-35GW of BTG capacity is already awaiting fresh orders. Further, incremental ordering is likely to be weak, unless current issues are addressed. The power sector is battling multiple issues, ranging from fuel shortage to outstanding dues from state electricity boards. Analysts beleive that till these are resolved, BHEL may not see any meaningful recovery. Also slower capacity addition in the sector may impact BHEL's order inflows in the coming quarters.

Analysts expect a decline in earnings per share of 21.2% CAGR over FY12-15. In the second quarter, some analysts expect BHEL's revenues to decline 17% year-on-year even though there may be an a healthy pick up sequentially. BHEL's operating margin is also expected to decline by 770 basis points between FY13 and FY15. The market is also not very keen on BHEL taking over troubled projects, which could further add to the company's balance sheet stress. Macquarie Capital believes BHEL could see sharp earnings downgrades.

BSE to transfer 56 securities to ‘T’ group

The Bombay Stock Exchange has decided to move securities of 56 companies, including Birla Capital & Financial Services and Essar Shipping, to the restricted trading category with effect from October 11.

Bharati Shipyard, Bil Energy Systems, Lotus Eye Care Hospital and Zenith Birla (India) are among other scrips which would be shifted by BSE to the trade-to-trade segment (‘T’ group category).

The measure is part of “preventive surveillance measure to ensure market safety and safeguard the interest of the investors’’, BSE said in a notice.

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

BSE has asked the trading members to “take adequate precaution” while trading in these 56 stocks, “as the settlement will be done on a trade-to-trade basis and no netting off positions will be allowed’’.

However, the exchange said the transfer of these stocks to ‘T’ group “should not be construed as an adverse action against the company’’.

“Further, this is a temporary measure and will be periodically reviewed depending on the market conditions,” it added.

NTPC employees protest against performance-linked pay

A section of employees at NTPC is protesting against the performance-linked payment mechanism put in place by the public sector power producer from the current financial year.

The aggrieved employees belong to E1 (entry position) till E7 (Deputy General Manager) levels.

“Nearly 11,000 employees are protesting across all power stations of NTPC,” said Rakesh Pandey, Chairman of NTPC Executives' Federation of India.

According to the executives federation, the company is categorising the bottom 10 per cent of executives as non-performing and has denied payment of performance-linked incentives to them. Though the protesting employees are not completely against this mechanism, they feel that there is no justice in totally denying any payment.

“The company can set a performance target- say 80 or 95 per cent. But, depriving the bottom 10 per cent of any payment is not proper,” Pandey said.

Simply put, there are examples of new-recruit engineers, hired from IITs, showing performance of more than 90 per cent. But in the overall average, their performance figures in the bottom 10 per cent. Hence, they are not getting any performance-linked pay.

Till now, operations at any of the NTPC power stations are not impacted. The largest power producer in the country operates 15 coal-fired and 7 gas-fired stations on standalone basis. This accounts to nearly 41,000 mw.

When contacted, NTPC spokesperson said that the performance linked payment is as per guidelines issued by the Department of Public Enterprises. “This is a step towards enhancing productivity,” he added.

Silver futures down by 0.3% on Asian cues

Market analysts said the fall in silver prices at futures trade was mostly in tandem with subdued trend in the Asian region and profit booking by speculators

Amid a weak trend in the Asian region, silver prices fell by Rs 167, or 0.34%, to trade at Rs 49,463 per kg in futures trade today as speculators reduced positions.

At the Multi Commodity Exchange, silver for delivery in December contract traded Rs 167, or 0.34%, lower at Rs 49,463 per kg in business turnover of 884 lots.

In a similar fashion, the white metal for delivery in far-month March fell by Rs 174, or 0.34% lower, at Rs 50,601 per kg in four lots.

Market analysts said the fall in silver prices at futures trade was mostly in tandem with subdued trend in the Asian region and profit booking by speculators.

Meanwhile, silver fell by 0.18% to $22.31 an ounce in Singapore.

Sensex jumps 134 points; Capital goods, realty stocks steal the show

Indian stock markets were trading up by over 0.6 per cent in the pre-noon session on Tuesday on heavy capital inflows amid firm Asian cues.

At 11.51 a.m., the 30-share BSE index Sensex was up 133.62 points (0.67 per cent) at 20,028.72 and the 50-share NSE index Nifty was up 33.65 points (0.57 per cent) at 5,939.80.

Capital goods, realty, banks and consumer durables stocks were the star performers and were up 1.87 per cent, 1.63 per cent, 1.54 per cent and 1.09 per cent, respectively.

Metal and oil & gas stocks lost investors' support and were down 0.36 per cent and 0.01 per cent, respectively.

Bank stocks were up as the Reserve Bank of India had yesterday cut the interest rate under marginal standing facility by 50 bps to 9 per cent to ease the liquidity for banks.

L&T, ICICI Bank, Bharti Airtel, Tata Motors and Tata Power were the top five Sensex gainers, while Coal India, Tata Steel, SSLT, Hindalco and Bajaj Auto were the top five losers.

Asian stocks were up led by utilities and developers. Japan's Nikkei rose 58.26 points or 0.42 per cent to 13,911.60, Hong Kong's Hang Seng surged 239.65 points or 1.04 per cent to 23,213.60 and Australia's S&P/ASX 200 was down 11.71 points or 0.23 per cent at 5,149.40.

The US government shutdown entered its second week, leaving investors on tenterhooks as politicians in Washington made little headway in agreeing a deal to avoid the debt default.

Senate Democrats could introduce legislation as soon as today that gives President Barack Obama the authority to raise the debt ceiling unless two-thirds of Congress disapproves, according to a Senate Democratic aide.

But US House Speaker John Boehner said that the Republican-controlled chamber can’t pass an increase to the US debt ceiling without packaging it with other provisions.

The US Dow Jones Industrial Average had ended 0.9 per cent lower yesterday.

Gold futures rise to Rs 29,549 per 10 gm

Gold futures prices today rose 0.22 per cent to Rs 29,549 per 10 gram as speculators enlarged positions, largely in tandem with a firm trend overseas.

On the Multi Commodity Exchange, the metal prices for delivery in December gained Rs 63 or 0.22 per cent to trade at Rs 29,549 per 10 gram in a turnover of 1,349 lots.

Similarly, the metal prices for delivery in February 2014 edged up by Rs 22 or 0.05 per cent to Rs 29,230 per 10 gram clocking a business volume of 9 lots.

Analysts attributed the gains in the precious metal at the futures trade to a firm trend in overseas markets, besides rising demand in the domestic markets for the ongoing festive and marriage season.

Meanwhile, the yellow metal rose 0.17 per cent to $1,324.70 an ounce in Singapore today.

Canara Bank shines on entering into tie-up with Apollo Munich Health Insurance

Canara Bank, a Bangalore-based public sector lender, has entered into a bancassurance tie-up with Apollo Munich Health Insurance (AMHI). Through this tie-up, the bank will distribute AMHI products in over 4,200 branches which will act as a corporate agent for selling these products. Bancassurance is distribution of insurance products through a bank's network.

Besides, the bank will also utilize it business correspondents’ network to take health insurance to unbanked areas. This is the first such tie-up for the insurance company in its six years of existence.

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.

Financial Technologies gains on clarification to stock exchange

The stock up 3.5% at Rs 173 on the Bombay Stock Exchange.

Shares of Financial Technologies were up 3.5% at Rs 173 on the BSE after the company clarified to a query by the stock exchange.

In response to Exchange query regarding reports in the electronic media about raids being conducted on the residences of the Directors of Financial Technologies (India) Limited (FTIL) by the Economic Offences Wing (EOW), FTIL in a release to the Bombay Stock Exchange said, "It appears to us that EOW had conducted search operations on 30.09.2013 at the residence of the Directors of NSEL including at the residence of Mr. Jignesh P. Shah, Chairman & Managing Director, FTIL, may be due to he also being a Director on the Board of NSEL. Please note that no official communication in this regard has been received by FTIL from EOW and/or NSEL."

The stock opened at Rs 170.20 on the BSE and touched in intra-day high of Rs 174. Over 1.7 million shares were traded on both the stock exchanges so far.