All eyes on Satyam

SRSR Holdings, an investment vehicle of the promoters of Satyam Computer, has sold a 1.27% stake of pledged shares in the outsourcing firm, a disclosure to the stock exchange showed on Thursday (8 January 2009). The stock was sold on the open market, and SRSR Holdings now held 2.34% of the company's stock, the disclosure showed.

Meanwhile, Citibank has reportedly frozen more than 30 operational accounts of Satyam Computer Services. These are trade receivable accounts, and the aim may be to protect the bank's $70-million exposure to the troubled technology firm.

Following a sharp plunge in Satyam's stock price on Wednesday (7 January 2009), both BSE and NSE have excluded Satyam Computer from their respective benchmarks effective 12 January 2009. Sun Pharmaceuticals Industries will replace Satyam on the Sensex, while Reliance Capital will replace Satyam on the Nifty.

The government has decided Reliance Industries would reportedly provide gas from its KG basin to Reliance Power for its 7,480 megawatt power project in Uttar Pradesh, subject to availability.

Sterlite Industries may see action after copper prices in London jumped as much as 8% overnight and in Shanghai the copper prices hit their upper circuit limit today as commodity markets pushed higher after US jobs data proved better than expected.

Tata Motors' heavy commercial vehicle unit in Jamshedpur announced it would go for a six-day block closure from 12 January 2009, in view of the slowdown. This will be the fifth block closure undertaken by the firm.

NTPC reportedly expects to start production from the captive coal mine block allocated in Jharkhand by end of 2009 as it tries to reduce dependence on Coal India.

Shares of the state run oil marketing firms may see action as an indefinite strike for higher pay hikes by officers of state-run oil companies entered the second day on Thursday. Flights too were delayed by 30-40 minutes as replacemnet staff took longer to refuel aircraft. An indefinite strike by the PSU oil firm employees may hit revenues in the near term.

Mastek has slashed its revenue growth target for the year to June 2009, saying it expects hits from a continued slowdown in demand and an adverse foreign exchange environment. The company now expects full-year revenue to rise 10% to 15% in rupee terms, over last year's revenue of Rs 916 crore. The company had earlier expected revenue to rise by about 33%.

Chambal Fertilizers & Chemicals has shut down its units in Gadepan in Rajasthan due to the disruption in gas supplies caused by the Oil Sector Officers Association's strike. The shutdown, which started on Wednesday (7 January 2009), was likely to continue until normal gas supplies are restored, the company said in a statement.

Simplex Projects has been awarded a Rs 2000 crore contract to develop a housing project in Libya. The project, comprising the construction of 2,000 houses, a public building and infrastructure like roads, drainage and sewage systems, is scheduled to be completed in 36 months, it said in a statement.

Great Eastern Shipping Company has cancelled two new ship-building contracts, citing the highly uncertain business environment. The company had placed the orders for the construction of two Supramax bulk carriers with a Chinese shipyard in 2007, it said in a statement.

The board of Radico Khaitan has approved a plan to explore opportunities to buy back some of its foreign currency convertible bonds.