Daily News Roundup - Aug 27 2012

MRF foresees a severe rubber shortage in the next 4-5 years. (BL) ONGC Videsh Ltd wants Iran to pay a higher return on the US$5-6 bn it plans to invest in developing Persian Gulf gas field of Farzad-B to make up for the risk involved in investing in US-sanctioned country. (BL) As part of its focus on taking banking services to villages, Indian Bank proposed to set up 1,525 ultra small branches in rural areas across the country, a top official has said. (ET) Marico's beauty and wellness arm Kaya, launched in 2002, is likely to miss its forecast to break even by 2013 as it continues investing in new stores and formats, a top company official has said. (ET)

Nifty ends below 5400…Realty, Bank shares sink

Indian equity benchmarks closed modestly lower at the end of another quiet session, as political gridlock in parliament offset healthy FII inflows. Weakness in the global markets also weighed on the sentiment amid uncertainty about further policy intervention by leading central banks. Trading volumes continue to be low in US and European markets. Investors are also cautious ahead of crucial meetings between the Greek prime minister and leaders of Germany and France. Part of the minor pullback could also be attributed to profit booking after four weeks of gains. The NSE Nifty ended below 5,400 after having crossed the milestone earlier in the week. The Sensex lost ~0.5%. The broader indices too finished in the red, dragging the market breadth into negative territory.

Dark and dreary

"Into each life some rain must fall, some days must be dark and dreary." - Henry Longfellow. It’s not the brightest of days in Mumbai though the rains sure are more than welcome. The start for the market isn’t bright either. The monsoon session of parliament is likely to be a washout, with the BJP not in any mood to relent on its tough stance on the CAG reports. So, brace for a continued war of words between the UPA and BJP leaders on the coal block allocation controversy. A deadlocked parliament and a belligerent BJP mean no meaningful progress on pending reforms like diesel price hike and FDI in multi-brand retail. Markets will be disappointed, as the recent run-up has been fueled by expectations of positive movement on reforms. FII flows have been pretty robust this month but may not sustain in the absence of reforms.

Markets trade flat; Infy, M&M up

The Indian markets open today's session on a flat note due to mixed global cues. The major heavyweights supporting the market are RIL, M&M, ICICI Bank, HDFC, Tata Motors, BHEL and HDFC Bank. Individual stocks like, Bharti Airtel gained on reports that the company may file IPO papers of its subsidiary Bharti Infratel soon. Reliance Industries rose after foreign research firm Goldman Sachs upgraded the stock. Among the 13 sectoral indices, the gainers are - BSE Oil & Gas up by 0.68%, BSE CD up by 0.28% and BSE FMCG up by 0.20%. Losers - BSE Realty fell by 0.76%, BSE Metal fell by 0.71%, BSE Bankex fell by 0.62%. At 9.51 am, the Sensex was trading at 17772.90, down by 9 points and the Nifty was trading at 5384, down by 2 points.

Market may open flat to slightly lower

Trading of S&P CNX Nifty futures on the Singapore stock exchange indicates a fall of 2.50 points at the opening bell. The market may remain volatile this week as traders roll over positions in the futures & options (F&O) segment from the near-month August 2012 series to September 2012 series. The August 2012 derivatives contracts expire on Thursday, 30 August 2012. The Supreme Court on Friday, 24 August 2012, issued notice to Tata Motors on the West Bengal state government's appeal challenging a Calcutta high court judgment quashing a state law for returning land acquired from farmers for the aborted Nano small car factory in Singur. A bench of Justices H L Dattu and C K Prasad issued notice to the car manufacturer and said the high court directed stay on operation of the law will continue. A division bench of the high court on June 22 annulled the law enacted by the Trinamool Congress government in West Bengal to wrest control of the land acquired for setting up the Nano car factory at Singur by Tata Motors. The court had ruled that the Singur Land Rehabilitation and Development Act, 2011 was unconstitutional and void. Prior to this, the single judge of the high court had upheld the Act.