Reliance Industries Decided To Stop Gasoline Supplies - Jan 7, 2009

Reliance Industries has reportedly decided to stop gasoline supplies to Iran after fulfilling all contractual obligations. The decision will not impact its business as the quantity of supplies was not substantial.

The stake owned by founders of Satyam Computer Services has fallen to 3.6% from 5.1% after institutional lenders sold the stock. Satyam had said earlier the founders' stake might have been diluted as institutional lenders to whom they had pledged their shares exercised options to cover margin calls.

IL&FS Trust Company had sold 24.52 million shares in Satyam Computer Services that were pledged with it as trustee on behalf of several debenture holders and lenders. The shares had been sold since 23 December 2008, IL&FS said in a statement. The shares constitute 3.6% of Satyam's shares on issue as at 20 October 2008.

ONGC's overseas unit ONGC Videsh (OVL) is reportedly raising Rs 5250 crore from Citibank India to partly fund its recent $2.1 billion acquisition of UK's Imperial Energy. OVL will issue one-year commercial paper, which will carry an interest of 8.15%.

Kohlberg Kravis Roberts (KKR) is reportedly considering pulling out of Aricent after it bought it two-and-a-half years ago for $900 million. KKR is reported to had talks with Wipro, Tata Consultancy Services and Tech Mahindra for possible sale.

Basmati rice exporters like KRBL and Kohinoor Foods may see action on reports the government may scrap export duty of Rs 8,000 per tonne on basmati rice.

The board of Chettinad Cement Corp will meet on 9 January 2009 to consider calling off its proposed rights issue. The company, on 17 October 2008, had approved a proposal to offer rights shares in the ratio of one for every six held to raise up to Rs 250 crore.

Indiabulls Financial Services has released 3.65%, or 2.4 million shares, of Akruti City, which were held under pledge by the financial services firm. The shares were released between 12 December 2008 and 2 January 2009 by Indiabulls, it said in a statement to the stock exchange.

An arm of India Infrastructure Finance Co has reportedly sanctioned loans worth $270 million to two projects undertaken by Tata Power and Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group.

Tata Power reportedly plans to sell part of its stake in group firms Tata Teleservices and Tata Teleservices (Maharashtra) to raise about Rs 2000 crore to fund ongoing projects.

Birla Corp has declared a lay off at its auto trim division in Birlapur in West Bengal from 5 January 2009, due to power shortage. The company declined to comment on the duration of the lay off. Birla Corp makes cement, trims, auto trims and vinoleum.

Andhra Bank reportedly plans to raise Rs 600 crore as Tier-II capital soon and the fund will be used for credit expansion.

India's truck sales have dropped 73.5% to 6,221 units in December 2008 over December 2007 in line with the sharp drop in cargo movement.

Sensex Loses Over 200 pts As Blue Chips Tumble @ 10:49 hrs

After a positive start and a subsequent fall from higher levels, the market has slipped into the red now due to heavy selling in some blue chip stocks from large as well as midcap segments.

The Sensex, which opened at 17,523.81 this morning, has tumbled to 17,146.97 now, netting a big loss of 202.10 points or 1.16%. The Nifty is down 1.02% or 52.35 points at 5058.40. Earlier, after opening at 5112.25, the Nifty had spurted to 5166.90.

HDFC Bank, the biggest loser in the index at present, is down by 4.4% at Rs 1410. ICICI Bank and Bajaj Auto have lost more than 3%. Hindalco and Tata Steel are down by 2.85% and 2.15% respectively. Mahindra & Mahindra has lost 2.15%. Bharti Airtel, DLF and State Bank of India have also declined sharply.

Tata Consultancy Services, Reliance Industries, Reliance Communications, Satyam Computer Services, Reliance Energy, Larsen & Toubro, ACC, Ambuja Cements, Cipla, NTPC, Hindustan Unilever and HDFC have also drifted down sharply from their earlier high levels.

Grasim Industries, ITC, Infosys Technologies, Maruti Suzuki, ONGC, Tata Motors and Wipro hold on in the positive territory with notable gains.

Suzlon Energy, Sterlite Industries, SAIL, Reliance Petroleum, Punjab National Bank and Unitech are down with sharp losses. HCL Technologies (2.15%), Siemens (1.25%), GAIL India (0.75%) and Idea Cellular (0.75%) continue to trade positive.

Tulsi Extrusions has made a fairly strong debut this morning. At Rs 118.70, the stock is up 39.65% over its issue price of Rs 85. Around 6.85 million shares have been traded so far at the Tulsi Extrusions counter on the National Stock Exchange.

IRB Infrastructure, another stock to make its debut today, moved up to a high of Rs 200 in early trade but slipped to Rs 168 subsequently on selling pressure. At present, the stock is down with a loss of 1.95% at 181.40. Over 7.3 million shares have been traded so far at the IRB counter on NSE this morning.

Indices Open Higher; SBI, ICICI Lead

MUMBAI: Equities rose early on Monday but drifted from highs tracking declines in equities overseas. Auto, oils & gas and consumer durables stocks rose, while technology and FMCG dragged.

At 10:05 am, the Bombay Stock Exchange’s Sensex was up 87 points or 0.42 per cent at 20,914.03, making a high of 20,985.62 and low of 20,865.92.

Biggest Sensex gainers were Reliance Communications (up 1.83%), State Bank of India (1.47%), Bajaj Auto (1.22%), Reliance Industries (1.01%), ICICI Bank (0.98%) and BHEL (0.82%).

ONGC (down 0.77%), DLF (0.51%), Wipro (0.2%) and Hindustan Unilever (0.11%) were the losers.

National Stock Exchange’s Nifty was 30 points or 0.48 per cent higher at 6229.90. The index rose to a high of 6244.15 at the open. The low was 6194.15.

US stocks declined sharply on Friday pulling the Dow Jones Industrial Average down 1.92 per cent, the Standard & Poor's 500 Index down 1.36 per cent and Nasdaq Composite Index down 1.95 per cent.

Stocks corrected in Asian markets also. The Nikkei 225 shed 1.93 per cent, the Hang Seng fell 0.56 per cent and the Straits Times lost 0.85 per cent.