RPL under the scanner

The Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) has received complaints of insider trading by Mukesh Ambani-owned Reliance Petroleum (RPL) and 18 other companies in the last three years, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee told the Lok Sabha today.

Sebi got complaints against nine companies in 2006, Mukherjee said. Complaints against six companies were made in 2007, three in 2008 and one in January this year, the minister said without naming them.

RPL, a unit of Reliance Industries, did not reply to an email query.

A background on the RPL case prepared by Sebi said on November 6, 2007, the derivatives contracts of the RPL scrip reached 95 per cent of the market-wide position limit, thereby inviting upon it a restriction of no further increase in the open interest (OI) position as per the extant rules pertaining to trading in the derivative segment.

Thereafter, from November 7, 2007, further increase in the OI positions was banned and brokers/clients were permitted to trade only by offsetting their existing positions till the OI came down to 80 per cent of the market-wide position limit.

The price of the scrip fell sharply to Rs 220.35 on November 6 from the previous day close of Rs 267.55 on the Bombay Stock Exchange.

On November 23, RPL informed the exchanges that the promoters, RIL, had sold 180 million shares (4.01 per cent of RPL’s equity) during November 6 to November 23.

In view of the volatility observed in the scrip, Sebi examined the transactions in the cash as well as derivatives segment and also asked the National Stock Exchange (NSE) and the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) to examine the trading of RPL for the period November 1 to 29, 2007.

Sebi didn’t respond to queries on the issue.

NSE’s observations said RIL, trading through five members – Enam Securities, JM Financial Services, Shriyam Broking Intermediary, Sonal Share & Stock Brokers, SSM Securities – was observed to be selling in the scrip from November 6, 2007.

Between November 1 and November 23, RIL was observed to have sold 118.2 million shares in 10 trading days at an average sale price of Rs 223.16. On November 29, RIL was the top client on net sale basis in the cash market during the last half hour of trading with net sale of 19.5 million shares.

The top clients on net short basis were observed to have created large net short positions between November 1 and November 6. These entities held a net short position of 79.7 million shares on November 29, 2007, accounting for 93.63 per cent of the open interest. Further, there was no rollover of positions by any of these entities to December expiry, the NSE observation said.

via BS

Reliance Industries, RPL

Reliance Industries, RPL

RPL - a world record - Mukesh Ambani

Reliance Petroleum's new export-oriented 29 million tonne refinery at Jamnagar, Gujarat is will start generating revenues from this year.
Reliance Petroleum (RPL) Chairman Mukesh Ambani in an address to its shareholders during the company's third Annual General Meeting said, "I am happy to announce that refinery will start generating revenues from this year itself. RPL team is set to create a world record by constructing the new refinery at Jamnagar in less than 36 months."

The refinery with commission deadline in December 2008 will be completed ahead of schedule, said Ambani.

The refinery is adjacent to RIL's existing 33 million tonne refinery at Jamnagar in Gujarat and with the existing RIL refinery at Jamnagar, it will have a total processing capacity of 1.24 million barrels per day – the largest and most complex in the world. The project was conceptualised in December 2005 and construction started in April 2006.

On completion, the RPL refinery will have the ability to process heavy and sour crude. It will also produce value added products meeting the highest quality specifications in the world.

"Asia and Middle East will be contributing 60-70 per cent of incremental demand. Our refinery will be well positioned to supply to these markets too. Europe appears to be the most attractive export market for diesel, which is in high demand at the moment. The most important markets for gasoline will be US, Africa and the Middle East. The RPL refinery will earn foreign exchange for the country by exporting its superior quality products to America, Europe and Asian markets. It should increase global production capacity of both gasoline and diesel by around 1per cent," he added.

Ambani expects that prospects for the refining sector will remain encouraging. "The long term outlook for refining margins continues to be positive specially for complex refiners like RPL. This is because of robust demand, tight product supplies and slow growth of new capacities dogging an already stretched refining system," he added.

At time of the RPL refinery project announcement, a number of large scale greenfield export refineries have also been announced in the Middle East and Asia. "RPL will be the first off the mark with a multi-year lead over other Greenfield refineries. This will give it a huge advantage," said Ambani.

During the year, the number of RPL shareholders rose from 12 lakh to nearly 20 lakh. The RPL refinery will be one of the most complex refineries in the world with a Nelson Complexity Index of 14.0.

via Business Standard

RPL

RPL

RPL

RPL

RIL, RPL, RNRL April 2008 futures at premium

Turnover in F&O segment rises


Nifty April 2008 futures were at 4914.90, at a premium of 35.25 points as compared to spot closing of 4879.65.
The NSE futures & options (F&O) segment turnover was Rs 46,369.75 crore, which was higher than Rs 41,003.92 crore on Friday, 11 April 2008.
Reliance Industries (RIL) April 2008 futures were at premium at 2623 compared to the spot closing of 2611.80.
Reliance Petroleum (RPL) April 2008 futures were at premium at 191.20 compared to the spot closing of 189.80.
Reliance Natural Resources (RNRL) April 2008 futures were at premium at 106.75 compared to the spot closing of 105.70.
In the cash market, the S&P CNX Nifty gained 101.85 points or 2.13% at 4879.65.

No insider trading on RPL - Reliance

Reliance Industries Ltd. (RIL) said the company and its other group companies have complied with all rules and regulations. The Mukesh Ambani-owned RIL was reacting to media reports that capital market regulator SEBI was probing alleged insider trading in Reliance Petroleum shares. RIL said it will cooperate and provide all the necessary information to the concerned authorities. SEBI is investigating trading in Reliance Petroleum shares, the Minister of State for Finance Pawan Kumar Bansal said in the Rajya Sabha. "SEBI has informed that it has initiated an examination in the matter," Bansal said. The minister was responding to a question by SP leader Amar Singh on whether the Government has acted against the promoters or affiliates of RIL regarding insider trading activities in Reliance Petroleum. In November, RIL raised Rs40.23bn (US$1bn) by selling 4% stake in Reliance Petroleum. While actual date for the stake sale is not known, shares of Reliance Petroleum moved up sharply between late October and early November

RPL - Refinery - Pictures

RPL - Refinery - Pictures

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Reliance Petroleum, Hindustan Unilever, ONGC

Reliance Petroleum, Hindustan Unilever, ONGC

Reliance Industries, RPL, TCS, Wipro

Reliance Industries, RPL, TCS, Wipro

Reliance Petroleum

Reliance Petroleum

Aar ya Paar - RNRL v RPL

New game - yay ! :-) . We select two stocks .. you tell us which one will outperform in the next 7 days (end of Jan 16 2007)!

RNRL or RPL


RNRL - CMP - 228.70

RPL - CMP - 232.10

Leave a comment and tell us why you think so :). Tell us if you short on both of these :)

Reliance Industries, RPL

Reliance Industries, RPL

Poll - Reliance Stocks you own ?

RIL 270 (44%)

RPL 402 (65%)

RNRL 247 (40%)

RELCAPITAL 138 (22%)

RIIL 100 (16%)

RCOM 263 (42%)

OTHER 96 (15%)

OVERALL - 612 votes

Each vote could select multiple options

WOW, 65% of you own RPL ! Hope most of you got it at IPO and made huge returns

RIL and RCOM have got 42% ownership, RNRL is equally owned at 40%

Thanks for the overwhelming response!

RPL - this is how it was sold

On November 6, RIL sold the largest chunk of 7.18 crore shares, which amounted to 1.60% of RPL and earned about Rs 1,691.48 crore, at an average sum of Rs 235, in the process.

This was the single-largest chunk to be unloaded, with the subsequent tranches accounting for less than 1%.

After November 6, there was a lull.

RIL returned to the markets on November 13 to 16, selling 0.30%, 0.65%, 0.38% and 0.13% RPL stakes, respectively. From November 19 to 23, the shares sold were again less than a percentage point. In this period, RIL sold 0.34%, 0.22%, 0.08%, 0.20% and 0.12% of RPL stake, respectively.

What’s intriguing is that huge voluminous trades were registered a few days before RIL started selling RPL shares. The whole November saw intriguing trading spikes in the RPL counter.

On November 1, the two premier exchanges witnessed frenetic activity as the refinery share recorded an intra-day all-time high of Rs 295 before it ended the day’s high-octane trading at Rs 261.85 per share. On that day, the delivery of shares accounted for 4.5 crore. And the character of trading that day was also very different as it ended with an unusually huge wave of deliveries.

About 4.46 crore RPL shares were delivered that day. On November 2, the deliveries recorded in the RPL counter in both the exchanges were muted at 1.76 crore share. On November 5, the spike was witnessed again as deliveries pole-vaulted to 3.36 crore and the share price ended at Rs 267.55.

While some demand was witnessed in the counter, it should be noted that there were sellers who matched the wits of buyers by unloading shares for delivery instead of squaring off, as in day trading.

Via DNA

RPL - who are the short sellers

The curious story of the Reliance Petroleum stock boils down to a single, unanswered question: Who are the players who began to short-sell the scrip in the derivatives segment just a few days before the company’s promoters (Reliance Industries) started offloading a slice of their holding in the spot market?

These short-sellers in the futures and options market were either very brave — having the heart to take a big short call when spot prices were zooming — or they knew something that the rest of the market was clueless about.

These smart players went on a selling spree towards the end of October, selling shares to double the open interest position from 8 crore shares to 16 crores shares by November 6. Open interest of 16 crore shares simply means that if there was somebody who was buying contracts worth 16 crores shares, there was also somebody else who was selling as many.

Some of the reputed names in the market are believed to have suffered heavy losses by going short on the stock in the last couple of months when the stock was on a tear. So who are these short sellers who burst upon the scene suddenly?

For a stock whose average open interest position has been between 5 crore and 10 crore shares ever since it was listed in April ’06, it must have required real conviction (or `knowledge’) for someone to carry out an aggressive leveraged selling within the span of a week.

Open interest (triggered by such short-selling) peaked on the same day (i.e., November 6) when the promoters began selling the shares in the cash market. Between November 6 and November 23 — the period during which the promoters were selling the share — prices in the spot market plunged from Rs 267 to Rs 204, and those in the F&O segment fell from Rs 260 to Rs 204 (something that helped the short sellers make a pile).

On November 7, NSE banned the stock futures of RPL, making it the first stock among the 50 constituents of the Nifty Index to be put under F&O ban. In the seven-year history of derivatives in India, players could never muster the courage to sell so many shares of a blue-chip company that would cause the exchange to ban derivatives trading of the stock. Still, they chose to take on RPL.

But on Thursday, these operators chose to cover their positions with the RPL counter increasingly coming under the media glare. It is equally possible that some of the smart traders had sensed
their mood and also gone long on the stock.

Via Economic times

SEBI - RPL Probe ?

Kidding ? Does SEBI have any guts to even send a notice to RIL

The buzz is that a well known investment guru has gone short on RPL at various dizzy -was he involved with the promoters ?

Let the operators have a gala time and let informed investors make money!

What are your views, Do you hold RPL ? Why do you think it deserved to go up the way it went up ? Are you planning to hold on ? Leave a comment and let us know.

Disclosure - Don't hold RPL, Reliance Industries

(Comments have to be manually approved and may not appear immediately )

RPL stake sale, volume data don’t match

The numbers in the Reliance Petroleum Ltd (RPL) counter simply don’t add up. Last week, an unusual event took place on the domestic stock exchanges. Between November 14 and 23, Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) unloaded 18.04 crore shares worth over Rs 4,000 crore.

It was said to be the largest ever unloading of shares by a parent company in its subsidiary in the open market.

But a peek at the trading data and a little bit of number-crunching reveal a different story.

If the traded data of RPL shares provided by the BSE and the NSE are to be believed, the truth is something else. According to an official statement late last Friday, RIL sold 18.04 crore RPL shares for Rs 4,023 crore, at an average price of Rs 223.

The company revealed this much after exchange officials went home on a two-day holiday. The official RIL communiqué appeared on the stock exchange notice board on Monday, as Saturday was an official holiday.

As per the communication to the exchanges, the shares were sold between November 14 and November 23. A BSE notice said it was sold on the two dates.

Market insiders say the probability of the sale of over 18 crore shares in two days is highly doubtful, if one takes the number of trades done in the two days into account.

The RPL scrip is listed only on BSE and NSE. A microscopic look at the trading turnover in the two exchanges on November 14 and 23 reveals that the RPL counter did not transact trades for so many shares on those two days.

On November 14, the shares traded on the NSE were in the region of 6.57 crore shares. And it was lesser on the BSE — 3.07 crore shares.

The deliverable quantity was even less at 1.19 crore on the BSE, against 2.56 crore on the NSE. How then can RIL claim that it sold 11.42 crore shares on November 14?

The same is true for November 23 when RIL is said to have sold 6.64 crore shares. On that day, the NSE recorded a traded turnover in the RPL counter of 3.53 crore shares that ended in deliveries for only 1.05 crore shares.

On the BSE, the traded turnover was 1.75 crore shares, attracting a delivery of a piffling 51.46 lakh shares.

So, is there a gaping hole in RIL’s information to the exchanges? Or is it the exchanges that have got their numbers wrong?

Even if we add the entire traded turnover from November 14 to November 23 in the two exchanges, the numbers don’t add up. The total deliveries of the two exchanges together amounted to only 17.55 crore shares.

Remember, RIL said it sold 18.04 crore shares. Even if RIL was the only seller in the marketplace between November 14 and 23, the shares traded in the cash segment were lesser than what RIL sold as per their press statement and notice to the exchanges.

Since the RPL counter has reasonable depth and there are many traders, this is almost impossible.

Have the premier stock exchanges goofed up? Will the small investor ever know what transpired and whether the exchanges have been providing the correct information on their trading screens?

A clue may lie in the November 1 spike when RPL’s share price touched Rs 295 on the BSE, and the two exchanges’ combined traded turnover was pegged at 20.18 crore shares, well above the 18.04 crore shares that RIL sold.

However, shares delivered at the two exchanges amounted to 4.46 crore only. On November 6, the total traded turnover of shares was 22.66 crore and shares delivered were 8.87 crore.

So, this really begs a billion dollar (Rs 4,000 crore) question: When and where were the RPL shares traded? Is it possible that the shares were sold even before November 14. Not likely, if the RIL statement to the stock exchanges is to be believed.

via DNA News

Chevron to sell RPL stake ?

U.S. petroleum giant Chevron on Monday acknowledged it was evaluating whether to hold on to its stake in Reliance Petroleum following a sharp run-up in the stock and parent company Reliance Industries' sale of 4% of its holdings in its subsidiary.

Chevron (nyse: CVX - news - people ) bought a 5% stake in Reliance Petroleum — a vehicle set up by Reliance Industries to build a refinery in the western state of Gujarat — for $300 million in April 2006, with an option to increase its stake to 29% by July 2009. The shares have more than tripled to over 200 rupees ($5) since, which could be a deterrent, particularly following Reliance Industries' share sale last week

Read more

What should RPL investors do?

Following the steep fall in the share price of Reliance Petroleum, what should retail investors do? The surge in the stock last month had many retail investors flocking to the counter, even as experts were crying hoarse that the shares were overvalued. After touching a peak of Rs 295 earlier this month, the stock price has been hurtling downhill.
The stock is yet to emerge out of the trading ban in the derivatives segment — it had done so for brief while on Monday — players expect some more volatility at the counter.

Investors should continue to tread cautiously, warn market watchers. “The current confusion regarding the stock’s movement would get cleared by the expiry of derivatives on Thursday and by then RPL is expected to come out of F&O curb,” said PINC Research head-derivatives and strategy Sailav Kaji.

“What is needed to be looked at is whether in the derivatives expiry short positions are rolled over or get covered. In case of short positions getting rolled over, the stock will find support at Rs 180,” he said, adding that long-term investors can still buy the stock at current levels.

Sentiment has been undermined by the promoter, Reliance Industries’, decision to offload 4% stake in Reliance Petroleum through open market trades.

Market watchers said the next key trigger for the stock will be Chevron’s decision on its 5% stake in Reliance Petroleum. Chevron has an option to raise its stake to 29%, but analysts see a low possibility of that happening following RIL’s decision to sell shares in the open market.

”We believe that RPL’s rich valuation and the fact that RIL sold a 4% stake to the market, may imply a possible future Chevron exit unless there is meaningful pullback in the market,” broking house Goldman Sachs said in a note to clients.

Many analysts expect RPL to stabilise around Rs 180 near term. However, Religare Securities president-equities Amitabh Chakraborty said the stock could rally to Rs 215-220 by the end of the December derivative series.“Investors who are right now long on RPL futures should roll over their positions to the December series,”
he said.

The 29-million-tonne-per-annum refinery being built by Reliance Petroleum was originally scheduled to commission by December 2008. However, considering the fact that almost 70% overall progress has already been achieved, the management expects to complete the project ahead of schedule. By crunching the original timeline of three years, the company is poised to create a new world record for project implementation in the refining sector.

Via ET