A bout of volatility was witnessed as the market lost ground after hitting day's high in mid-afternoon trade. The BSE 30-share Sensex was down 33.19 points or 0.19% to 17,069.41, off 61.42 points from the day's high and up 23.09 points from the day's low. Most Asian markets were trading firm after initial losses. European markets moved in a narrow range.
The market breadth was weak in contrast to a positive breadth earlier in the day. Auto and banking stocks saw mixed trend. IT stocks extended Monday's gains triggered by strong US job data.
The market moved in a narrow range in the first two hours or so of trade. The market recovered from lower level in afternoon trade after junior finance minister Namo Narain Meena said the government will continue with economic reforms to strengthen the economy. But the intraday recovered proved short-lived. The market once again slipped into the red in mid-afternoon trade.
On the political front, both the houses of parliament were adjourned till 14:00 IST following uproar over the Women's Reservation Bill. Vice President Hamid Ansari on Tuesday suspended seven member of parliament (MPs) for disrupting proceedings in the Rajya Sabha over the Women's Reservation Bill. The seven members belong to SP, RJD and LJP.
Earlier, Vice President Hamid Ansari had adjourned the Rajya Sabha within minutes of reconvening as members began to shout slogans against the Women's Reservation Bill when the House opened at 11:00 IST. RJD chief Lalu Prasad Yadav led the protests in the Lok Sabha against the Women's Reservation Bill forcing the Speaker to adjourn the House for 15 minutes. Later the house was adjourned till 14:00 IST
Earlier in the morning, Janata Dal-United's Sharad Yadav, Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) chief Lalu Prasad and Samajwadi Party (SP) leader Mulayam Singh Yadav, who are opposing the Women's Reservation Bill, met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and informed the PM of their differences towards the bill.
The Women's Reservation Bill, which was blocked in the Rajya Sabha on Monday, seeks to reserve a third of the seats in parliament and state legislatures for women. The government is wary of a confrontation because while SP and RJD are bent on disrupting Parliament, getting a constitutional amendment bill passed without discussion could make it vulnerable to a legal challenge
The government is already facing heat from the opposition parties over fuel price hike. As per reports, BJP will vote for cut-motions moved by the other Opposition parties in an effort to ensure the government comes under pressure of numbers. The entire Opposition, including ideological foes BJP and the Left, have been accusing the government of being anti-poor and pro-rich and had even gone to the extent of staging a walkout in Parliament during the budget presentation.
The Opposition's plans to bring in cut motions on increase in fuel prices are also expected to create uneasiness for Congress allies Trinamool Congress and DMK, which after initial resistance have gone along with the government.
European markets were trading with small gains today as lackluster trading on Wall Street and in Asia offered little direction. Key benchmark indices in UK, Germany and France were up by between 0.11% to 0.24%.
Investors were cautious ahead of a meeting of Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou with US President Barack Obama and Treasury Secretary Timothy later in the global day. Papandreou has said he is seeking support from the Obama administration to rein in the type of market speculation he blames for driving up Greece's borrowing costs, while traders are also watching whether the Greek prime minister says anything new about his nation's debt troubles.
Meanwhile, the Portugal government launched its own budget cuts to shore up its public finances. The plan includes slashing the budget shortfall to 2.8% of gross domestic product in 2013 from 9.3% of GDP last year.
Most Asian stocks were trading higher on Tuesday, reversing initial decline. The key benchmark indices in Singapore, Hong Kong, South Korea, Taiwan, China, and Indonesia, were up by between 0.05% to 0.52%. However, Japan's Nikkei 225 index ended 0.17% lower
US markets ended slightly lower on Monday, 8 March 2010. American International Group Inc inked a deal to sell its unit American Life Insurance Company, better known as Alico, to MetLife Inc for about $15.5 billion. The Dow Jones Industrial Average shed 11.79 points, or 0.11%, to 10,554.41. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index dipped 0.14 point, or 0.01%, to 1,138.56. But, the Nasdaq Composite Index gained 5.39 points, or 0.23%, to 2,331.74.
Trading in US index futures indicated that the Dow could fall 16 points at the opening bell on Tuesday, 9 March 2010.
Back home, Rajan Bharti Mittal, the newly elected president of industry body FICCI said on Monday there's no room for hardening of interest rates and the Reserve Bank of India should maintain status quo on the rates to allow the industry to make fresh investments. He added that fresh investment announcement have begun across sectors and further increase in interest rates will only hamper economic growth.
The government will announce the industrial output data for the month of January 2010 on Friday, 12 March 2010. Industrial output grew 16.8% in December 2009.
Meanwhile, the fourth and the last installment of advance tax by India Inc due on 15 March 2010 will give a broad indication of fourth quarter earnings.
Going ahead, the key triggers for the stock market are structural reforms such as decontrol of petrol and diesel prices, targeting of food subsidies, and financial sector reforms such as increase in foreign direct investment in insurance sector.
The government said on Friday it will seek parliamentary approval to spend an extra Rs 31780 crore for the fiscal year to end-March 2010, which it plans to fund through savings.
There is no risk that the government will borrow more than planned to fund supplementary spending, Revenue Secretary Sunil Mitra said on Friday. Of the additional spending, Rs 12000 crore would be spent on oil subsidy, Rs 8000 crore on fertiliser subsidy and Rs 2459 crore on food subsidy, among others.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said on Friday the economy would grow by at least 8% in the year through March 2011. Asia's third largest economy would expand 7.2-7.5% in 2009-10, he told parliament. Singh said prospects for the winter-sown crop are 'very encouraging'. He also said the government must pay good prices to farmers to ensure higher farm production. The prime minister said the government will take all practical measures to bring down food prices.
He said the government will continue commitment to pubic and private investment in agriculture. The prime minster said there is need to find ways and means to stabilise the sugar economy.
A good harvest is likely to bring down food inflation, which accelerated to nearly 18% in late February. The government, facing mounting criticism for rising food prices, is struggling to meet conflicting aims of controlling food inflation and trying to please farmers by paying them attractive prices.
Food prices will be keenly watched in coming weeks for the second and third round impacts of the recent fuel price rise. Market men see a 25 basis points hike in the repo and reverse repo rates each by the RBI at the April 2010 policy review.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had earlier ruled out rolling back a price hike in fuel prices despite pressure from his main allies, saying populist policies would hurt the economy in the long-term. Petrol prices rose about 6% and diesel prices by 7.75% after the government increased factory-gate taxes and import duties on the fuels as part of last week's 2010-11 union budget 2010-11, which stressed fiscal prudence to cut a wide deficit
Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Governor D Subbarao on Monday, 8 March 2010, said inflation should moderate in the coming months. He said the central bank will ensure that interest rate levels do not have a negative impact on the competitiveness of the economy. Should India need to manage inflationary expectations, the central bank could turn to its traditional mix of policy tools including use of both liquidity and cash reserve requirements, he said.
Subbarao said the government's plans to reduce the fiscal deficit this year and in 2011 would help to manage inflationary expectations and facilitate demand for private credit. The government's borrowing program is likely to proceed smoothly over the next financial year, he said. The government has set its gross market borrowing target for 2010/11 at a record Rs 4.57 lakh crore, up by 1.3% percent from the previous year, a move that has pushed bond prices lower as investors have anticipated a flood of fresh debt supply. Asked if he anticipated a sharp rise in levels of yields in 10-year government bonds, he said that yields had risen slightly this year but would be managed over the coming 12 months.
Finance minister Pranab Mukherjee's budgetary proposals last week offered a progressive cut in fiscal deficit over the next three fiscal years, changed personal tax rates lifting disposable incomes in the hand of individuals and reduced surcharge on corporate tax for domestic companies to 7.5% from 10%.
The Finance Minister in his budget speech on Friday, 26 February 2010 said the government aims to introduce the Goods and Services Tax (GST) and implement the direct tax code from 1 April 2011.
The fiscal deficit is pegged at 5.5% of GDP for 2010-2011, lower than an estimated 6.8% for the current fiscal year. The finance minister said the government also aimed to reduce the deficit further to 4.8% of GDP in the year starting 1 April 2011, and to 4.1% in the year from 1 April 2012. He said there is a need to review stimulus and move towards fiscal consolidation and review public spending.
A thrust on the infrastructure sector augurs well from a long-term growth perspective. The Finance Minister has provided Rs 1.73 lakh crore for infrastructure development in 2010-2011, which accounts for over 46% of the total plan expenditure for the year.
The stock market has applauded the Union Budget 2010-2011 due to its thrust on infrastructure development, government's pledge to reduce fiscal deficit over the next three years, a smaller-than-expected 2% hike in excise duties, and reduction in taxes for individuals which will boost disposable income. The Finance Minister has assumed a modest GDP of about 8% and inflation of about 4.5% for 2010-2011.
Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee on Wednesday, 3 March 2010 said India's economic recovery is still being driven by public spending and is not yet broad-based, further clouding the debate on the timing of rate hikes by the central bank.
At 14:21 IST, the BSE 30-share Sensex was down 33.19 points or 0.19% to 17,069.41. The index rose 28.23 points at the day's high of 17,130.83 in mid-afternoon trade. The Sensex lost 56.28 points at the day's low of 17,046.32 in mid-morning trade.
The S&P CNX Nifty was down 17.30 points or 0.34% to 5106.70
The market breadth, indicating the overall health of the market, was weak after a positive start. On BSE, 1630 shares declined as compared with 1159 that advanced. A total of 79 shares remained unchanged.
The total turnover on BSE amounted to Rs 6222 crore by 14:25 IST. The turnover was boosted by a huge block deal in Tata Motors in opening trade.
Among the 30-member Sensex pack, 18 declined while the rest gained. Jaiprakash Associates (down 2.19%), Hindalco (down 1.77%), and Hindustan Unilever (down 1.38%), edged lower from the Sensex pack
HDFC (up 1.92%), HDFC Bank (up 1.71%), and Sun Pharma (up 1.16%), edged higher from the Sensex pack
IT stocks extended Monday's gains triggered by upbeat US jobs data. US is the biggest market for Indian IT firms.
India's largest software services exporter by sales Tata Consultancy Services gained 1.98% to Rs 776.50 and was the top gainer from the Sensex pack.
India's third largest software services exporter by sales Wipro rose 1.59% after the company secured an order from Financial Intelligence Unit, a unit of ministry of finance to develop an information technology network to track all irregular financial transactions. The company announced the new order win after market hours on Monday, 8 March 2010.
India's second largest software services exporter by sales Infosys was up 1.13%
Other software stocks were also in demand. Polaris Software (up 0.62%), MphasiS (up 1.15%), HCL Technologies (up 0.67%), Zylog Systems (up 12.31%), Financial Technologies (up 3.59%), and KPIT Cummins (up 2.97%), gained.
Kale Consultants galloped 10.53% after the company secured an order for one of its airline software products for an undisclosed sum. The company announced the new order win during trading hours today, 9 March 2010.
Economic data released on 7 March 2010 showed US employers cut a net total of 36,000 jobs in February 2010, after jobs fell by 26,000 in January 2010. That was short of the expected 68,000 jobs lost, according to a consensus of economists. Also the unemployment rate, generated by a separate survey, held steady at 9.7%, versus forecasts for a rise to 9.8%.
Index heavyweight Reliance Industries (RIL) declined 0.87% to Rs 996.50. As per reports, global petrochemicals major LyondellBasell has reportedly rejected a multi-billion dollar takeover offer from Indian giant RIL, preferring its own restructuring plan to exit bankruptcy. RIL had reportedly made a $12.5 billion bid to acquire controlling stake in the global major and later raised the bid to over $14 billion.
India's largest bank by net profit and branch network State Bank of India (SBI) slipped 1.12%. A bill seeking to reduce Centre's shareholding in the SBI from 55% now to 51% and to allow the bank to raise more capital from the market through preference shares, was introduced in the Lok Sabha on Monday.
The amendment bill seeks to provide for enhancement of the capital of SBI by issue of preference shares, to enable it to raise resources from the market by public issue or preferential allotment or private placement. The bill also aims to provide for flexibility in the management of the bank
Auto stocks saw mixed trend. India's largest truck maker by sales Tata Motors slumped 2.75% to Rs 774.50 and was the top loser from the Sensex pack. Reportedly, more than 2.4 crore shares or over 5% of the company's equity changed hands on the counter in various deals at BSE in opening trade. German carmaker Daimler is tipped to be the seller in this deal worth close to Rs 2,000 crore.
India's largest bike maker by sales Hero Honda Motors fell 1.91% to Rs 1876.95. The stock declined on profit booking after striking an all-time high of Rs 1,921 on 8 March 2010.
India's largest tractor maker by sales Mahindra & Mahindra rose 0.33%.
India's largest car maker by sales Maruti Suzuki India gained 1.29%. As per reports, Suzuki Motor Corporation has raised its stake in Maruti Suzuki to 55%, triggering speculation about the Japanese firm's intentions for its Indian subsidiary. Suzuki raised its stake in Maruti by 0.8% through secondary market purchases recently and is set to increase its stake further, reports indicated.
Nissan Copper fell 1.20% after Danial Investment, a promoter group company, pledged seven lakh shares representing 4.81% stake of the firm. The company made this announcement during trading hours today, 9 March 2010.
Tata Motors was the top traded counter on the BSE with turnover of Rs 3157.75 crore followed by Jubilant Foodworks (Rs 162.23 crore), ARRS Infrastructure (Rs 85.44 crore), State Bank of India (Rs 66.19 crore), and Reliance Industries (Rs 60.78 crore).
The market breadth was weak in contrast to a positive breadth earlier in the day. Auto and banking stocks saw mixed trend. IT stocks extended Monday's gains triggered by strong US job data.
The market moved in a narrow range in the first two hours or so of trade. The market recovered from lower level in afternoon trade after junior finance minister Namo Narain Meena said the government will continue with economic reforms to strengthen the economy. But the intraday recovered proved short-lived. The market once again slipped into the red in mid-afternoon trade.
On the political front, both the houses of parliament were adjourned till 14:00 IST following uproar over the Women's Reservation Bill. Vice President Hamid Ansari on Tuesday suspended seven member of parliament (MPs) for disrupting proceedings in the Rajya Sabha over the Women's Reservation Bill. The seven members belong to SP, RJD and LJP.
Earlier, Vice President Hamid Ansari had adjourned the Rajya Sabha within minutes of reconvening as members began to shout slogans against the Women's Reservation Bill when the House opened at 11:00 IST. RJD chief Lalu Prasad Yadav led the protests in the Lok Sabha against the Women's Reservation Bill forcing the Speaker to adjourn the House for 15 minutes. Later the house was adjourned till 14:00 IST
Earlier in the morning, Janata Dal-United's Sharad Yadav, Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) chief Lalu Prasad and Samajwadi Party (SP) leader Mulayam Singh Yadav, who are opposing the Women's Reservation Bill, met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and informed the PM of their differences towards the bill.
The Women's Reservation Bill, which was blocked in the Rajya Sabha on Monday, seeks to reserve a third of the seats in parliament and state legislatures for women. The government is wary of a confrontation because while SP and RJD are bent on disrupting Parliament, getting a constitutional amendment bill passed without discussion could make it vulnerable to a legal challenge
The government is already facing heat from the opposition parties over fuel price hike. As per reports, BJP will vote for cut-motions moved by the other Opposition parties in an effort to ensure the government comes under pressure of numbers. The entire Opposition, including ideological foes BJP and the Left, have been accusing the government of being anti-poor and pro-rich and had even gone to the extent of staging a walkout in Parliament during the budget presentation.
The Opposition's plans to bring in cut motions on increase in fuel prices are also expected to create uneasiness for Congress allies Trinamool Congress and DMK, which after initial resistance have gone along with the government.
European markets were trading with small gains today as lackluster trading on Wall Street and in Asia offered little direction. Key benchmark indices in UK, Germany and France were up by between 0.11% to 0.24%.
Investors were cautious ahead of a meeting of Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou with US President Barack Obama and Treasury Secretary Timothy later in the global day. Papandreou has said he is seeking support from the Obama administration to rein in the type of market speculation he blames for driving up Greece's borrowing costs, while traders are also watching whether the Greek prime minister says anything new about his nation's debt troubles.
Meanwhile, the Portugal government launched its own budget cuts to shore up its public finances. The plan includes slashing the budget shortfall to 2.8% of gross domestic product in 2013 from 9.3% of GDP last year.
Most Asian stocks were trading higher on Tuesday, reversing initial decline. The key benchmark indices in Singapore, Hong Kong, South Korea, Taiwan, China, and Indonesia, were up by between 0.05% to 0.52%. However, Japan's Nikkei 225 index ended 0.17% lower
US markets ended slightly lower on Monday, 8 March 2010. American International Group Inc inked a deal to sell its unit American Life Insurance Company, better known as Alico, to MetLife Inc for about $15.5 billion. The Dow Jones Industrial Average shed 11.79 points, or 0.11%, to 10,554.41. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index dipped 0.14 point, or 0.01%, to 1,138.56. But, the Nasdaq Composite Index gained 5.39 points, or 0.23%, to 2,331.74.
Trading in US index futures indicated that the Dow could fall 16 points at the opening bell on Tuesday, 9 March 2010.
Back home, Rajan Bharti Mittal, the newly elected president of industry body FICCI said on Monday there's no room for hardening of interest rates and the Reserve Bank of India should maintain status quo on the rates to allow the industry to make fresh investments. He added that fresh investment announcement have begun across sectors and further increase in interest rates will only hamper economic growth.
The government will announce the industrial output data for the month of January 2010 on Friday, 12 March 2010. Industrial output grew 16.8% in December 2009.
Meanwhile, the fourth and the last installment of advance tax by India Inc due on 15 March 2010 will give a broad indication of fourth quarter earnings.
Going ahead, the key triggers for the stock market are structural reforms such as decontrol of petrol and diesel prices, targeting of food subsidies, and financial sector reforms such as increase in foreign direct investment in insurance sector.
The government said on Friday it will seek parliamentary approval to spend an extra Rs 31780 crore for the fiscal year to end-March 2010, which it plans to fund through savings.
There is no risk that the government will borrow more than planned to fund supplementary spending, Revenue Secretary Sunil Mitra said on Friday. Of the additional spending, Rs 12000 crore would be spent on oil subsidy, Rs 8000 crore on fertiliser subsidy and Rs 2459 crore on food subsidy, among others.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said on Friday the economy would grow by at least 8% in the year through March 2011. Asia's third largest economy would expand 7.2-7.5% in 2009-10, he told parliament. Singh said prospects for the winter-sown crop are 'very encouraging'. He also said the government must pay good prices to farmers to ensure higher farm production. The prime minister said the government will take all practical measures to bring down food prices.
He said the government will continue commitment to pubic and private investment in agriculture. The prime minster said there is need to find ways and means to stabilise the sugar economy.
A good harvest is likely to bring down food inflation, which accelerated to nearly 18% in late February. The government, facing mounting criticism for rising food prices, is struggling to meet conflicting aims of controlling food inflation and trying to please farmers by paying them attractive prices.
Food prices will be keenly watched in coming weeks for the second and third round impacts of the recent fuel price rise. Market men see a 25 basis points hike in the repo and reverse repo rates each by the RBI at the April 2010 policy review.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had earlier ruled out rolling back a price hike in fuel prices despite pressure from his main allies, saying populist policies would hurt the economy in the long-term. Petrol prices rose about 6% and diesel prices by 7.75% after the government increased factory-gate taxes and import duties on the fuels as part of last week's 2010-11 union budget 2010-11, which stressed fiscal prudence to cut a wide deficit
Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Governor D Subbarao on Monday, 8 March 2010, said inflation should moderate in the coming months. He said the central bank will ensure that interest rate levels do not have a negative impact on the competitiveness of the economy. Should India need to manage inflationary expectations, the central bank could turn to its traditional mix of policy tools including use of both liquidity and cash reserve requirements, he said.
Subbarao said the government's plans to reduce the fiscal deficit this year and in 2011 would help to manage inflationary expectations and facilitate demand for private credit. The government's borrowing program is likely to proceed smoothly over the next financial year, he said. The government has set its gross market borrowing target for 2010/11 at a record Rs 4.57 lakh crore, up by 1.3% percent from the previous year, a move that has pushed bond prices lower as investors have anticipated a flood of fresh debt supply. Asked if he anticipated a sharp rise in levels of yields in 10-year government bonds, he said that yields had risen slightly this year but would be managed over the coming 12 months.
Finance minister Pranab Mukherjee's budgetary proposals last week offered a progressive cut in fiscal deficit over the next three fiscal years, changed personal tax rates lifting disposable incomes in the hand of individuals and reduced surcharge on corporate tax for domestic companies to 7.5% from 10%.
The Finance Minister in his budget speech on Friday, 26 February 2010 said the government aims to introduce the Goods and Services Tax (GST) and implement the direct tax code from 1 April 2011.
The fiscal deficit is pegged at 5.5% of GDP for 2010-2011, lower than an estimated 6.8% for the current fiscal year. The finance minister said the government also aimed to reduce the deficit further to 4.8% of GDP in the year starting 1 April 2011, and to 4.1% in the year from 1 April 2012. He said there is a need to review stimulus and move towards fiscal consolidation and review public spending.
A thrust on the infrastructure sector augurs well from a long-term growth perspective. The Finance Minister has provided Rs 1.73 lakh crore for infrastructure development in 2010-2011, which accounts for over 46% of the total plan expenditure for the year.
The stock market has applauded the Union Budget 2010-2011 due to its thrust on infrastructure development, government's pledge to reduce fiscal deficit over the next three years, a smaller-than-expected 2% hike in excise duties, and reduction in taxes for individuals which will boost disposable income. The Finance Minister has assumed a modest GDP of about 8% and inflation of about 4.5% for 2010-2011.
Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee on Wednesday, 3 March 2010 said India's economic recovery is still being driven by public spending and is not yet broad-based, further clouding the debate on the timing of rate hikes by the central bank.
At 14:21 IST, the BSE 30-share Sensex was down 33.19 points or 0.19% to 17,069.41. The index rose 28.23 points at the day's high of 17,130.83 in mid-afternoon trade. The Sensex lost 56.28 points at the day's low of 17,046.32 in mid-morning trade.
The S&P CNX Nifty was down 17.30 points or 0.34% to 5106.70
The market breadth, indicating the overall health of the market, was weak after a positive start. On BSE, 1630 shares declined as compared with 1159 that advanced. A total of 79 shares remained unchanged.
The total turnover on BSE amounted to Rs 6222 crore by 14:25 IST. The turnover was boosted by a huge block deal in Tata Motors in opening trade.
Among the 30-member Sensex pack, 18 declined while the rest gained. Jaiprakash Associates (down 2.19%), Hindalco (down 1.77%), and Hindustan Unilever (down 1.38%), edged lower from the Sensex pack
HDFC (up 1.92%), HDFC Bank (up 1.71%), and Sun Pharma (up 1.16%), edged higher from the Sensex pack
IT stocks extended Monday's gains triggered by upbeat US jobs data. US is the biggest market for Indian IT firms.
India's largest software services exporter by sales Tata Consultancy Services gained 1.98% to Rs 776.50 and was the top gainer from the Sensex pack.
India's third largest software services exporter by sales Wipro rose 1.59% after the company secured an order from Financial Intelligence Unit, a unit of ministry of finance to develop an information technology network to track all irregular financial transactions. The company announced the new order win after market hours on Monday, 8 March 2010.
India's second largest software services exporter by sales Infosys was up 1.13%
Other software stocks were also in demand. Polaris Software (up 0.62%), MphasiS (up 1.15%), HCL Technologies (up 0.67%), Zylog Systems (up 12.31%), Financial Technologies (up 3.59%), and KPIT Cummins (up 2.97%), gained.
Kale Consultants galloped 10.53% after the company secured an order for one of its airline software products for an undisclosed sum. The company announced the new order win during trading hours today, 9 March 2010.
Economic data released on 7 March 2010 showed US employers cut a net total of 36,000 jobs in February 2010, after jobs fell by 26,000 in January 2010. That was short of the expected 68,000 jobs lost, according to a consensus of economists. Also the unemployment rate, generated by a separate survey, held steady at 9.7%, versus forecasts for a rise to 9.8%.
Index heavyweight Reliance Industries (RIL) declined 0.87% to Rs 996.50. As per reports, global petrochemicals major LyondellBasell has reportedly rejected a multi-billion dollar takeover offer from Indian giant RIL, preferring its own restructuring plan to exit bankruptcy. RIL had reportedly made a $12.5 billion bid to acquire controlling stake in the global major and later raised the bid to over $14 billion.
India's largest bank by net profit and branch network State Bank of India (SBI) slipped 1.12%. A bill seeking to reduce Centre's shareholding in the SBI from 55% now to 51% and to allow the bank to raise more capital from the market through preference shares, was introduced in the Lok Sabha on Monday.
The amendment bill seeks to provide for enhancement of the capital of SBI by issue of preference shares, to enable it to raise resources from the market by public issue or preferential allotment or private placement. The bill also aims to provide for flexibility in the management of the bank
Auto stocks saw mixed trend. India's largest truck maker by sales Tata Motors slumped 2.75% to Rs 774.50 and was the top loser from the Sensex pack. Reportedly, more than 2.4 crore shares or over 5% of the company's equity changed hands on the counter in various deals at BSE in opening trade. German carmaker Daimler is tipped to be the seller in this deal worth close to Rs 2,000 crore.
India's largest bike maker by sales Hero Honda Motors fell 1.91% to Rs 1876.95. The stock declined on profit booking after striking an all-time high of Rs 1,921 on 8 March 2010.
India's largest tractor maker by sales Mahindra & Mahindra rose 0.33%.
India's largest car maker by sales Maruti Suzuki India gained 1.29%. As per reports, Suzuki Motor Corporation has raised its stake in Maruti Suzuki to 55%, triggering speculation about the Japanese firm's intentions for its Indian subsidiary. Suzuki raised its stake in Maruti by 0.8% through secondary market purchases recently and is set to increase its stake further, reports indicated.
Nissan Copper fell 1.20% after Danial Investment, a promoter group company, pledged seven lakh shares representing 4.81% stake of the firm. The company made this announcement during trading hours today, 9 March 2010.
Tata Motors was the top traded counter on the BSE with turnover of Rs 3157.75 crore followed by Jubilant Foodworks (Rs 162.23 crore), ARRS Infrastructure (Rs 85.44 crore), State Bank of India (Rs 66.19 crore), and Reliance Industries (Rs 60.78 crore).
