Pragmatic Investments

Date: 01 July 2009

Thought for the day

 ”If you do the right things in the right way, you will get whatever results you desire.”

 –Brian Tracy

 GENERAL

1)UPA chairperson and Congress president Sonia Gandhi on Tuesday inaugurated the first sea link in the country, the 5.6km BandraWorli sea-link (BWSL), built on the Arabian Sea which connects suburban Bandra to South Mumbai’s Worli area reducing commuting time between these two points from about an hour in the peak hours to less than 15 minutes.

Indian Express

ECONOMY

2)THE government is likely to retain economic growth projection for 2009-10 at 7%, riding on the hope of a sharper recovery in the second half. Though, monsoons have emerged as a concern area, there is optimism that recovery would be much sharper in the second half in line with global economy and make up for the growth in first half, a government official told ET. It is on the back of this optimism that the government is proposing to retain the 7% growth estimate in the economic survey and budget. The interim budget had pegged the gross domestic product growth at 7%.

ET

CORPORATE / INDUSTRY

 3)Reliance Power Ltd(RPower), part of the Reliance Anil Dhirubhai Ambani group, is in talks with five leading global power companies to sell 15 per cent equity stake in the company. Preliminary talks
 have started with three Chinese power companies, which include China Light and Power Holdings(CLP), and French and Canadian companies.

BS

MONEY & BANKING

4)The rupee was in selling mode tracking the Sensex, which closed lower by about 290 points. But some dollar inflows saw the rupee gaining by about 20 paise. The rupee’s movement during day trade
 was quite volatile, said a forex dealer with a private bank. The rupee opened at 47.96/97 and closed at 47.90/92 against Monday’s close of 48.10.

BL

5)STATE Bank of India, the country’s largest lender, on Tuesday launched two new home loan products – SBI Easy Home Loan and SBI Advantage Home Loan – for buyers in the sub-Rs 30-lakh and over Rs 30-lakh category, with processing fee for both waived until September 30, while home mortgage lender LIC Housing Finance has reduced the interest rates for its existing borrowers.

FE

 6)Corporation Bank plans to raise Rs 1,000 crore through bond issue in 2009-2010 to fund its projected growth needs and to boost capital adequacy ratio(CAR), according to its Chairman and Managing Director, Mr J.M. Garg.

BL

MARKETS

7)THE country’s equity indices, after witnessing volatility throughout the trading session, closed lower on Tuesday, after investors booked profit and foreign institutional investors(FIIs) continued their selling streak in the domestic markets. The 30-share Sensex of Bombay Stock Exchange(BSE) lost 291.90 points, or 1.97%, to close at 14,493.84 points. The broader S&P CNX Nifty of National Stock Exchange (NSE) closed lower by 99.85 points, or 2.27%, to 4,291.10 points.

FE

MUTUAL FUNDS

8)DESPITE serious protests from mutual fund distributors, capital markets regulator Sebi has gone ahead and scrapped entry load in equity mutual funds. From August 1, investors will have the freedom to directly negotiate on the fee that they pay for advisory services rendered by distributors or brokers while purchasing mutual funds.

ET

COMMODITIES

9)UNIVERSAL Commodity Exchange (UCX), newly-promoted commodity exchange, has approached the Forward Markets Commission (FMC) for setting up a national-level commodity exchange. If the
 exchange gets formal approval from the regulator, it will be the country’s sixth national commodity exchange.

FE

10)Gold rose above $940 per ounce on Tuesday, helped by a weaker dollar. Spot gold was at $940.50 per ounce at 1035 GMT, up from $937.05 quoted late in New York trade. The price earlier hit a high of $944.70 and has found support around $940.

BL

11)Copper rose as much as 1.7 per cent on Tuesday, rounding off a stellar first half on a surge in oil, dollar weakness and an improved economic outlook. Copper for three-month delivery on the London Metal Exchange is up about 67 per cent in the first half, heading for its biggest half-year rise in more than two decades. The metal used in power and construction was at $5,160 a tonne at 0919 GMT, from $5,095 at the close on Monday, having touched a session high of $5,180, its highest since June 15.

BL

12)After a two-week long weakness, chana futures prices on National Commodity & Derivatives Exchange(NCDEX) have taken U-turn this week over reports of fresh buying from millers on fears that slow progress of sowing in chana growing areas might pull down the output.

FE

 REAL ESTATE

13)AS the demand for luxurious apartments declines in the northern region, real estate developers are now turning toward studio apartments, which have suddenly become popular. While some developers have announced fresh projects for developing studio apartments, others have opted to convert the ongoing projects into one-room or two-room apartments. Market experts view this as a corrective measure being adopted by the developers to counter the slump in the realty market. Delhi-based developer, Sandwoods Infratech Projects, after developing two luxury housing projects in Zirakpur(Punjab), has moved on to develop studio apartments priced between Rs 6.22-6.55 lakh in Baddi, the industrial hub of Himachal Pradesh. Taking care of the basic needs of the middle income group, the company is offering 360 one-room apartments  in Baddi.

FE

COMMUNICATIONS

14)TELECOM regulator Trai on Tuesday unveiled draft regulations for the implementation of mobile number portability (MNP), a facility that will allow consumers to change their telecom operator but retain their phone number. The government had earlier said it will kick off MNP in metros and some states on Sept 20.

ET

15)Several major mobile phone manufacturers have agreed to back the European Union’s (EU) plan for a common charger for all mobile phones by next year. The agreement signed by major phone manufactures like Nokia, Siemens, Research in Motion, Sony Ericsson and Samsung would meant that future mobile phones across a variety of brands and models will all share the same charger port – the micro USB.

FE

INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

16)AS companies in the $60-billion technology service sector gear up to announce results for the first quarter of 2009-10 fiscal, the straws in the wind suggest that they may have weathered the worst of the global economic downturn. The biggest straw in the wind is the return of deal flows, albeit in smaller sizes of about $25-30 million. This is a welcome development considering that in the last couple of quarters, clients had battered down the hatches by suspending discretionary spending, freezing IT budgets and putting offshoring decisions on hold. Many of the new deals involve what
 is referred to as business transformation outsourcing, where an Indian vendor would work with a client to reshape entire processes such as payroll or HR administration to make them more efficient
 and achieve cost savings.

ET

17)INDIA’S biggest tech firms TCS, Wipro and Infosys apart from business software vendors SAP and IFS Defence are currently pursuing contracts worth Rs 2,000 crore from the country’s defence forces, the Indian Air Force(IAF) and the Army who are seeking to modernise their processes and become more efficient organisations.

ET

18)THE new management at Mahindra Satyam is reviewing the $80-million contract with the Federation of International Football Association (FIFA) to provide a customised event management system for the 2010 and 2014 World Cup.

ET

19)HCL Technologies on Tuesday announced bagging a five-year IT applications support and infrastructure management deal from US based beverages frim Dr Pepper Snapple Group (DPS). HCL America president Shami Khorana said the DPS deal marked the fourth largest outsourcing contract won by HCL in the US this year.

ET

INTERNATIONAL

20)US consumer spending rose last month for the first time since February as government stimulus pushed incomes sharply higher, the Commerce Department said, supporting the view the economy
 was close to pulling out of recession. Consumer spending, which accounts for over 70% of US economic activity, rose 0.3% in May after an upwardly revised flat reading in April, the department said.

ET

21)AUSTRALIA & New Zealand Banking Group Ltd., Australia’s fourth largest bank, may buy Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc’s operations in at least five Asian countries, three people familiar with the
 plan said.

FE

FOR MORE INFORMATION, PLEASE BROWSE THROUGH THE FOLLOWING SITES.

Karvy Consultants Ltd www.karvy.com
 www.khojhyderabad.com
 www.indiacorporateadvisor.com
 www.karvycomtrade.com (Commodities)
KARVY Global Services Ltd www.KARVYGlobal.com
KARVY Realty (India) Limited www.karvyrealty.com
Economic Times www.economictimes.com
The Financial Express www.financialexpress.com
Business Line www.businessline.in
Business Standard www.business-standard.com
The Times of India www.timesofindia.com
The Hindu www.hindu.com
Deccan Chronicle www.deccan.com
The New Indian Express www.newindpress.com