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Saturday, September 06, 2008

Historic day for India - PM


Political reactions flew thick and fast, though on expected lines after India won a waiver from the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) in Vienna for indulging in nuclear commerce without signing the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh termed the waiver a “historic day” for India even as Congress chief Sonia Gandhi congratulated him, External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee the government for the diplomatic coup.

Congress party leader Digvijay Singh also termed this a historic day for India as it ended nearly 40 years of nuclear isolation.

The government’s new ally the Samajwadi Party termed the waiver as a great victory for India and said it would help the country in its development. “India needs development and not nuclear bombs,” SP General Secretary Amar Singh said, criticising the opposition parties for “beating around the bush.”

“It is obvious that the deal is good for the country, as countries such as China and Pakistan are opposing it,” he said. “The saddest opposition has come from the BJP which has always stood for the furtherance of India’s nuclear programme, now they are supporting countries like Pakistan and China,” he added.

The BJP said that they will continue to oppose the nuclear deal, and that the waiver granted by the NSG was a historic blunder for India. “We have forever forsaken the right to test nuclear weapons. China and Pakistan are getting stronger everyday and we have whistled away our right to test nuclear weapons,” said former External Affairs Minister Yashwant Sinha .

“We have been against this deal from the beginning and will continue to oppose it,” he added.

The Left declined to comment before seeing the draft of the waiver, but D Raja member of Parliament from the CPI said that the Left’s opposition to the deal still continues.

via Business Standard

BREAKING - Deal Done - NSG Waiver for India


India’s attempt to end its nuclear isolation on Saturday finally found triumph, as the NSG gave a clean waiver for the nuclear deal. An official statement confirming the end of India’s nuclear apartheid came after hard bargaining with the four major opponents China, Austria, New Zealand and Ireland.

The negotiations went down to the wire as the four countries looked set to scuttle India’s aspirations to join the high table with major nuclear powers.

It is believed that the decision finally to give India the go ahead was decided at the highest level. Reports coming in earlier suggested that US President Bush had to speak with Chinese President Hu Jintao to gather consensus. It is believed that the decision finally to give India the go ahead was decided at the highest level. Reports coming in earlier suggested that US President Bush had to speak with Chinese President Hu Jintao to gather consensus.

The first country to buy the Indian argument was Austria, which always spearheads all non-proliferation measures. Once Austria was convinced the others fell in line.

On D-Day today, several countries including China did not attend the meeting.

Immediately after the deal came through, President Bush called up Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to congratulate him.

BREAKING - India gets NSG Waiver


After marathon NSG discussions that spilled over to wee hours today (September 6) in Vienna, diplomats of the 45-member nuclear cartel today approved clean and unconditional waiver for nuclear commerce, a decision that can take the Indo-US nuclear deal forward. Earlier, consensus eluded the NSG for a clean waiver for India with China joining a clutch of countries having strong reservations, however, the US maintained that "significant progress" was made and remained optimistic over securing the crucial exemption. A waiver, which was expected to be a smooth sailing faced a stumbling block towards the end, as four countries had certain reservations.

via TIMES NOW

Ranbaxy, TCI


Ranbaxy, TCI

ONGC


ONGC

Asia's Youngest Billionaires


Asia's Youngest Billionaires

HCL Infosystems


HCL Infosystems

Weekly Market Update - Sep 6 2008


The markets opened on Monday lower, tracking weakness in its Asian peers. Fresh buying was seen in bank stocks taking a cue from dip in inflation and falling oil prices, which helped the markets to recover most of its initial losses at close. HDFC Bank rose 1.5 per cent to Rs 1,296.10 and SBI gained 0.9 per cent at Rs 1,416. The Sensex traded between 14,281.10 and 14,547.41 during the session and finished the day at 14,498 losing 66 points.

Telecom shares lost sheen in the bourses on concerns over slower revenue growth with a further fall in the average revenue per user as new companies prepare to launch mobile services in the coming months at cheaper rates. Reliance Communications fell 1.7 per cent to Rs 388.95 and Bharti Airtel lost 2.5 per cent to Rs 816.25.

Airlines stocks rose on the back of a 16 per cent reduction in aviation turbine fuel prices announced by oil marketing companies on Sunday. The share prices of Jet Airways, SpiceJet, and Deccan Aviation surged two to four per cent reacting to the positive news, but, otherwise reeling under pressure of high cost of oil.

Resurgere Mines and Minerals India Ltd closed 97.6 per cent above its issue price of Rs 270 on its listing day on Monday on the NSE. It opened at Rs 285 and touched an intra-day high of Rs 568.9 and a low of Rs 278.2 before closing at Rs 533.55.

Equity investors, cheered by the drop in crude prices bought shares in the rate sensitive sectors on Tuesday, pushing the Sensex beyond the 15,000-mark and the Nifty above the 4500-mark. The Sensex gained 551 points closing at 15,049, while the Nifty closed 155 points up at 4504.

Exchange-traded interest rate futures will be a reality in the Indian market by December 2008 or latest by January next year, said a top SEBI official. A recent report on interest rate futures had recommended that banks, financial institutions and also FIIs be allowed to participate in this market.

Ranbaxy shares plunged 10 per cent after it witnessed heavy selling as last minute traders were unable to surrender their shares before the close of Daiichi Sankyo's open offer on September 4. The stock closed at Rs 490.

After two months of declining assets under management (AUM), mutual funds reported a 2.77 per cent increase in AUM during August. AUMs had declined 5.9 per cent in June and 6.2 per cent in July. The increase in the asset base in August is on account of the change in NAVs owing to market appreciation and a mild interest in debt schemes, said a fund manager.

FIIs have reduced their holding in real estate companies like Unitech and Parsvnath Developers by over two percent and by 0.8 percent respectively, year-on-year. An analyst opined that the drop in FII holding in these companies reflected the uncertainty in the market.

Tata Motors suspended work at its small car facility in Singur in West Bengal, from where it was to roll out its low-cost car Nano by October. In a statement, the company said it is "evaluating other options for manufacturing the Nano car at other company facilities and a detailed plan to relocate the plant and machinery to an alternate site is under preparation." The news, however could not make a dent on the stock, as there was still some hope the Singur stalemate will end.

After debuting at a premium of almost 100 per cent to its issue price of Rs. 270, Resurgere Mines and Minerals ran a volatile course on Thursday, as the stock hit both the upper and lower circuit. The share touched an intraday high of Rs 740, and closed down at Rs 500.55, also its day's low, recording a dip of 20 per cent.

The shares of HCL Technologies closed 0.82 per cent higher at Rs 251.65, amid market buzz that the company could be on course for a large overseas acquisition.

The annual WPI-based inflation dipped to 12.34 per cent during the week ended August 23, marginally below the previous week's annual rise of 12.40 per cent owing to lower prices of food items, government data showed.

The Sensex, after a smart climb on Tuesday, gaining 550 points on a single day on positives like falling oil prices, lost its way on Thursday and Friday, surrendering the gains made. It finished the day at 14,480, with a loss of 415 points, almost confirming the uncertain trend that seems to be dominating the Indian capital markets now.

Oil price falls would harm producers


Iran's Oil Minister said a continued fall in crude prices would harm producers, the Oil Ministry website Shana reported on Saturday, three days before OPEC ministers are due to meet in Vienna.

Gholamhossein Nozari also said Iran, the world's fourth-largest oil exporter, wanted a "fair" crude price but did not elaborate. Earlier this week, he said USD 100 a barrel was the lowest appropriate price.

Crude has tumbled from a record USD 147 in July and was trading on Friday at below USD 107.

"If the reducing trend in prices continues like now ... the producers will be harmed," Nozari told Shana, making clear this was because production costs had not fallen.

In the run-up to the Sept. 9 meeting of the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, Iranian oil officials have said OPEC members should cut output to their agreed targets so that oversupply on the market was reduced.

Iran's OPEC governor, Mohammad Ali Khatibi, this week told Reuters that OPEC may need to cut oil supplies by as much as 1.5 million barrels per day, or nearly 5 percent, to balance global markets by early next year.

Iran is traditionally hawkish on price. Another price hawk, Venezuela, said record prices near USD 150 were "irrational" and that they would probably settle around USD 100.

OPEC does not officially have quotas but the term is sometimes used to describe agreed output targets for each member country. Some, notably Saudi Arabia, have been producing above these targets.

Suzlon Energy Ltd


Suzlon Energy

GAIL


GAIL

India Property


India Property

Axis Bank


Axis Bank

India Strategy


India Strategy

Rupee falls


Ends at 44.645/655

Rupee fell to its weakest since Dec. 2006 on Friday as dollar demand from corporates and share market losses weighed on sentiment, although suspected central bank intervention saw it end off its lows.

Rupee ended at 44.645/655 per dollar, 0.66 percent weaker than its previous close of 44.35/36 per dollar, to be down 11.7 percent so far this year.