China PMI helps Aussie shares amid US, Europe worries

TOKYO (Reuters) - Asian shares inched up on Tuesday as Chinese factory data lent support to Australian stocks, but concerns about the U.S. economy and the euro zone capped prices.
MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan (.MIAPJ0000PUS) rose 0.2 percent, after posting just a 0.4 percent gain in April.
Japan's Nikkei stock average (.N225) extended losses from Friday to fall 1.1 percent as a stronger yen hurt exporters. The market was closed on Monday for a public holiday. (.T)

Spain is the New Greece

Nearly one Spaniard in four is unemployed, according to data released on Friday, as the country’s economic and financial predicament prompted a government minister to talk of a “crisis of enormous proportions”.The data from the National Statistics Institute showed 367,000 people lost their jobs in the first three months of the year. At this pace, Spanish job losses are equivalent to 1 million per month in the United States. That means more than 5.6m Spaniards or 24.4 per cent of the workforce are unemployed, close to a record high set in 1994.

Critical Factors That Will Impact Silver

The fundamentals for silver today are even better than they were last year when its price and sentiment were higher.  Nevertheless, consumer affinity for precious metals has turned rather pessimistic presently.  This may be indicated by those who see a rise in the COMEX silver inventories as well as a drop-off in Silver Eagle purchases.  Furthermore, our favorite so-called precious metals analysts (more like Bears in a Bull’s skin) have come out of the woodwork to rub it in that the “GOLD BULL MARKET IS NOW OVER.” 

Cotton prices drop as India allows exports

New York: There has been an unseemly and very public spat between the commerce and agriculture ministries over a surprise March decision to ban Indian cotton exports. India finally decided on Monday to ease a nearly two-month restriction on cotton export permits, removing all barriers to shipments. Cotton prices fell by 2 percent on the back of the news as global commodity traders rejoiced that India had finally brought clarity to a muddled situation.

“After a comprehensive review it was decided that suspension of new registrations for exports be revoked and exports be permitted,” said a government statement released on Monday.

Gujarat NRE Mineral to file draft papers for IPO in a month

Gujarat NRE Mineral Resources Ltd, (GNMRL), an associate of Gujarat NRE Coke Ltd, today said it will file the draft prospectus for its planned initial share sale offer in a month.

"We will file draft red herring prospectus (DRHP) in a month," Gujarat NRE

IOC, ONGC divestment by Q4, to fetch Rs 19K cr: Oil Secy

The Government expects to complete the ONGC and IOC divestments by the end of this fiscal and hopes to raise up to Rs 19,000 crore from the process.

"We plan to complete the (divestment) process before the end of the financial

IIP grew at 13.8% in July 2010

The Quick Estimates of Index of Industrial Production (IIP) with base 1993-94 for the month of July'2010 have been released by the Central Statistics Office of the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation. The General Index stands at 330.8, which is 13.8% higher as compared to the level in the month

Revision of Market Lot of Derivative Contracts from MARCH-09

Click here to read in detail.

http://www.nseindia.com/content/circulars/faop11720.htm

Rupesh Yatesh Dalal
MARKETCALLS

Ministry favours STT removal

The finance ministry has drafted a proposal to remove the securities transaction tax (STT), a levy that P Chidambaramm, when he headed the ministry, steadfastly refused to lift.

Pranab Mukherjee, now finance minister, has sent the proposal to the prime minister’s office for opinion and consent.

P Chidambaram imposed the levy four years ago and rejected persistent demands thereafter for its removal.

STT at 0.125 per cent is levied on all transactions of securities traded on stock exchanges. The levy on derivative trading is 0.017 per cent.

Even if the PMO agrees, the mode of the withdrawal of the levy is a question mark. Normally, finance ministers do not change direct tax rates in an interim budget. The UPA government is presenting such a budget this time.

A former senior official of the ministry, however, does not see why the minister cannot change a direct tax provision. “Nothing prevents a finance minister from making tax related announcements even in an interim budget in an election year,” he told Financial Chronicle.

One way Mukherjee can scrap STT is to do so as a “temporary measure” that may be re-visited when the full budget is presented in June – July by the new government.

The ministry reasons that the withdrawal will breathe some life into the moribund stock market. But whether it can revive the market is a moot point. Second, in the present market, trading is down, and hence, so is the collection of STT. One argument in the ministry is that since the collections are down in any case, it is worthwhile to sacrifice the revenue and see if it helps.

If the withdrawal does take place, it will mark a reversal of Chidambaram’s policy on the levy. He has repeatedly refused to withdraw this levy as well as the commodities transaction tax and the cash transaction tax despite demands from within the ruling UPA and outside.

As long as the market was booming, STT yielded good money for the government. The boom over, collections have declined. In the first 10 months of 2008-09, the collections were Rs 4,815 crore, compared with Rs 6,793 crore in the same period of the previous year. The drop was 29.13 per cent.

In 2004-05, the first year of the levy, the collections were only Rs 589 crore, but increased to Rs 2,513 crore in 2005-06 and to Rs 4,648 crore in 2006-07. In 2007-08, the figure was Rs 8,577 crore.

Amitabh Chakrabarthy, president for equity at Religare Capital believes the scrapping of the tax will benefit retail investors. “STT is similar to other taxes and if it is removed, it is likely to have a positive impact,” he said.

R K Gupta, managing director of Taurus Mutual Fund, however, does not see any impact of the move. “As a knee jerk reaction, the market may go up by a few points. But the move would not have any material impact on the overall market sentiment,” he said.

Rupesh Yatesh Dalal
MARKETCALLS

Sensex ends flat; RIL may lift market on Friday

Indian equity benchmarks ended flat on Thursday after stock specific movement backed by earnings. Markets were marred by lack of participation as traders expected disappointing quarterly results from oil&gas major Reliance Industries.

However, RIL earnings beat market expectations and traders may cover their shorts pushing the indices higher on Friday.

The company reported 9.8 per cent dip in net profit at Rs 3501 crore for the quarter ended Dec 31, 2008 against Rs 3882 crore same quarter year ago. Net sales was down 8.8 per cent at Rs 31,563 crore for quarter against Rs 34,590 crore in the same quarter year ago. The gross refining margin was $10 per barrel, on expected lines.

“Everybody was waiting for Reliance results which turned out to be better than expected. Provided international markets don’t see any exceptional sell-off, we may see a better opening (Friday). Investors should stick to buying in top 10 index stocks and not venture beyond that,” said Rajesh Baheti, managing director, Crossseas Capital Services. (Source : Economic Times)


Rupesh Yatesh Dalal
MARKETCALLS

What’s In the USA’s Stimulus Plan

What’s In the Stimulus Plan

Democratic leaders in the House have proposed an $825 billion economic stimulus package with $550 billion in spending to create jobs and $275 billion in tax cuts.

Lawmakers hope to send a final bill to the White House by mid-February. The bill would create a website to track spending projects and a seven-member board to oversee the management of them.

Here’s where the money would go and what it would do:

Tax Cuts

• Expand so-called net operation loss carryback period to five years from the current two years. The change would let banks, home builders and other companies accelerate the use of allowable deductions. The tax break would not be allowed for banks that received taxpayer money from the Treasury Department’s Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP).
• Speed up depreciation deductions for businesses investing in new plants and equipment.
• Nearly double the amount small businesses can immediately write off on taxes for capital investments and new equipment.
• Give businesses tax credit to hire veterans, youths.

Highways, Rail, Transportation

• $30 billion for highway construction.
• $19 billion for clean water, flood control, and environmental restoration investments.
• $10 billion for transit, rail to cut traffic congestion and gas consumption.
• $6 billion to buy buses, equipment for public transit.
• $3 billion for airport improvement projects to improve safety and reduce congestion.
• $1.1 billion to improve speed, capacity of intercity passenger rail service.
• $2 billion to modernize existing transit systems.
• $1 billion for grants for new commuter rail projects.

States, Education

• $79 billion in state fiscal relief to prevent cuts to key services.
• $39 billion to school districts, public colleges, universities via existing state and federal formulas.
• $26 billion to build new K-12 schools and for higher education construction.
• $15.6 billion to increase Pell grants for college students.
• $6 billion for higher education modernization.

Energy

• $31 billion to modernize federal, other public infrastructure with investments for long-term energy savings.
• $11 billion for research and development, pilot projects, and federal matching funds to modernize electricity grid.
• $8 billion for loans for renewable energy power generation and transmission projects.
• $6.9 billion for state, local governments to improve energy efficiency.
• $6.7 billion for renovations, repairs to federal buildings, especially for energy efficiency improvements.
• $2.4 billion for carbon capture and sequestration technology demonstration projects.
• $2 billion for advanced vehicle battery loan guarantees and grants.
• $500 million for energy-efficient manufacturing demonstration projects.

Health Care

• $87 billion to states, increasing through the end of FY 2010 the share of Medicaid costs the Federal government reimburses all states by 4.8 percent, with extra relief tied to rates of unemployment.
• $30.3 billion to extend health insurance coverage to the unemployed beyond 18 months provided under current law.
• $8.6 billion to provide full federal funding through 2010 for state Medicaid coverage of unemployed.
• $4.1 billion for preventative care and to evaluate the most effective healthcare treatments.
• $3.75 billion for Pentagon to build hospitals and ambulatory surgical centers.
• $3 billion to fight chronic and infectious diseases.
• $950 million to repair, modernize veterans hospitals.
• $900 million for biomedical research, pandemic flu preparation, cybersecurity at Health and Human Services Dept.

Broadband, Technology

• $20 billion for health information technology to prevent medical mistakes, provide better patient care.
• $6 billion to expand broadband Internet access for businesses in rural areas.
• $1 billion for school technology, computer labs.
• $400 million for Social Security Administration to replace its computer center.
• $276 million for State Department to upgrade technology to meet stricter security needs.
• $245 million for Farm Service Agency to upgrade technology to handle workload increases.

Housing

• $6.2 billion to help low-income families weatherize homes, cut energy costs.
• $5 billion for public housing repair, modernization.
• $4.2 billion to help communities buy, rehabilitate foreclosed properties for affordable housing.
• $1.5 billion to help local communities build, rehabilitate low-income housing using green technologies.

Environment, Water Resources

• $6 billion in loans to help communities upgrade wastewater treatment systems.
• $4.5 billion for environmental restoration, flood protection, hydropower, and navigation infrastructure.
• $2 billion in loans for drinking water infrastructure.
• $800 million to clean up hazardous, toxic waste sites.

Unemployed Workers

• $27 billion to continue unemployment benefits up to 33 weeks until the end of 2009.
• $4 billion for job training including formula grants for adult, dislocated worker, and youth services.

Miscellaneous

• $10 billion for science facilities, research.
• $3.1 billion for projects on federal lands such as visitor facilities, historic buildings, rehabilitation of abandoned mines and oil fields.
• $2.1 billion to repair military facilities.
• $1.2 billion for new construction and $154 million for renovations to improve military housing.
• $650 million to extend coupon program to help Americans convert TV sets to receive digital transmission.
• $430 million in loans and loan guarantee authorities to stimulate loans to small businesses.

Regards,

Rupesh Yatesh Dalal
MARKETCALLS

List of Companies Audited by PwC

Same Satyam's Auditors PWC is doing audit these companies also. So.....

· Bayer CropScien
· Colgate Palmolive
· Coromandel Fert
· Cummins India
· Gateway Distpark
· GlaxoSmith C H L
· GMR Infra.
· Graphite India
· Guj Gas Company
· HCL Info systems
· HCL Technologies
· Hinduja Ventures
· Info Edge (India
· InfoTech Enterpr
· Ingersoll-Rand
· Jagran Prakashan
· Kesoram Inds.
· Lanco Infratech
· Marico
· Maruti Suzuki
· Mastek
· Max India
· McLeod Russell
· Moser Baer (I)
· Motherson Sumi
· NDTV
· NIIT
· NIIT Tech.
· Piramal Health
· Rain Commodities
· Religare Enter
· Satyam Computer
· Simplex Infra
· T.V. Today
· United Breweries
· United Spirits
· Usha Martin
· Wyeth
· Bosch
· Entertainment Nt
· Glaxosmit Pharma
· Piramal Life
· UTV Software
· Arshiya Intl
· Glenmark Pharma
· Novartis India

Rupesh Yatesh Dalal
MARKETCALLS
http://marketcalls-stock.blogspot.com

Reliance oil price bets go awry

Mumbai, Jan. 5: Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL), the country’s largest private sector company, has racked up big losses as its bets on oil futures went wrong in 2008.

Speculation is rife that the mark-to-market losses on the oil price hedges are over $1 billion. It is not immediately clear whether this will impact the third-quarter results that are due later this month.

However, a source close to the development said the loss estimates were way off the mark and would be in the region of “hundreds of millions of dollars”.

RIL is the largest oil refiner in the country with a fairly large presence in the oil exploration and production business.

Asked to comment on the development, a RIL spokesperson said, “We will not be able to comment specifically on your query on account of the silent period.”

There have also been unconfirmed reports that a large number of treasury officials, who worked in the supply and trading division and were involved in these transactions, are no longer with the company.

“It is difficult to assess how much losses have been incurred on oil futures trading as it depends on the contracts they have entered into, what prices these were struck at and when they ended. This kind of trading has nothing to do with physical operations of the company and, therefore, crude requirements are not the benchmark,” said an analyst who did not wish to be named.

RIL has suffered losses because the price of crude oil has dropped from $136.32 a barrel in the third week of July 2008 to $35.99 in the last week of December 2008 (see chart).

There is little clarity on whether Reliance traded in crude or a basket of products, and the prices and the tenures of these futures contracts. The company suffered losses because it may have contracted to buy or sell a particular product at a date in the future at a price determined by market forces.

Since it isn’t clear whether all the contracts have expired, it is possible for the company to recoup some of the losses if oil prices recover. Oil prices have been rising since the December lows.

As oil prices plummeted by over 60 per cent in the past six months, the company, like the rest of the oil industry, was caught on the wrong foot.

RIL posted a turnover of Rs 89,163 crore and a net profit of Rs 8,232 crore in the half year ended September 30, 2008, an increase of 38 per cent and 10 per cent, respectively, compared with the corresponding period of the last year. The RIL scrip closed at Rs 1,365.75 on the Bombay Stock Exchange today.

Most brokerages are expecting RIL’s gross refining margins to tumble to a single digit in the third quarter from $13 per barrel in the second quarter ended September 30.

While reaffirming its BBB long-term corporate credit rating for RIL, Standard and Poor’s had said last week: “Profitability is expected to be adversely affected by lower fuel demand, especially in developed markets. We project refining margins to decline further to $9-$10 per barrel in the near term.” (Source : The Telegraph)

Rupesh Yatesh Dalal
MARKETCALLS
http://marketcalls-stock.blogspot.com

Govt announces Rs 20K cr fiscal stimulus pkg

The government has announced a second fiscal stimulus package amounting to Rs 20,000 crore.

As part of these measures, the government has announced the liberalization of external commercial borrowings policy and removed all-in-cost ceiling on such borrowing. Realty companies are now eligible to use ECBs to develop integrated townships.

The government has also given a boost to the corporate bond market by hiking the FII investment limit from USD 6 billion to USD 15 billion.

The government will also form a special-purpose vehicle to aid liquidity against investment grade papers for non-banking finance companies. The SPV can provide liquidity up to Rs 25,000 crore. Public sector banks will work out larger credit line for commercial vehicle purchases by NBFCs.

The credit target of public sector banks has been hiked to meet the needs of the economy. The government will also monitor provision of sectoral credit by public sector banks on a fortnightly basis.

Montek Singh Ahluwalia, Deputy Chairman, Planning Commission, Government of India is hoping that the stimulus package will make the New Year happier than it would have been without it. Simultaneously the Reserve Bank of India or RBI has reduced the cash reserve ratio (CRR) by 50 bps and also reduced the two policy rates, repo rates and the reverse repo rates by 100 bps.

"In coordination with the RBI, the existing restrictions on ECBs have been liberalized making it easier for companies that want to borrow to be able to get ECBs from abroad if they want them," he added.

Commenting on NBFCs Ahluwalia said: "We have also taken a set of measures to channel credit towards non-banking financial companies (NBFCs) - this sector of the economy was not directly affected by the additional liquidity provided, but now the government is setting up or is designating an special purpose vehicle (SPV), which will be used to channel financial support to the NBFCs in a total amount which could be up to Rs 5,000 crore to make sure that the liquidity needs of the NBFCs in the next six months or so do not pose any problems."

He said the government had earlier announced a new window for the India Infrastructure Finance Company Ltd (IIFCL) to provide refinance to banks, which lend in support of infrastructure projects.

According to Montek, the expansion of infrastructure investment in the Public Private Partnership (PPP) area is a very important part of the effort to mount a countercyclical thrust at a point when there is a bit of a global slowdown. (Source : CNBC TV18)

Rupesh Yatesh Dalal
MARKETCALLS

RBI cuts CRR by 0.5%; repo, reverse repo by 1%

The Reserve Bank of India has cut the cash reserve ratio by 50 basis points, and both the repo and reverse repo rates by 100 bps. (100 bps=1%) The CRR now stands at 5%, while the repo rate post the cut stands at 5.5% from 6.5% earlier. The reverse repo rate is now at 4% from 5% earlier.

In a statement, RBI said, “The reduction in the CRR will inject additional liquidity of around Rs 20,000 crore to the financial system. It is expected that the reduction in the policy interest rates and the CRR will further enable banks to provide credit for productive purposes at appropriate interest rates. The Reserve Bank on its part would continue to maintain a comfortable liquidity position in the system.”

"The fundamentals of our economy continue to be strong. Once the crisis is behind us, and calm and confidence are restored in the global markets, economic activity in India would recover sharply. But a period of painful adjustment is inevitable," it stated. (Source : CNBC TV18).

Rupesh Yatesh Dalal
MARKETCALLS

IIFCL to raise Rs 10K cr in FY09; can raise addl Rs 30K cr

The government has announced the second stimulus package. As part of the package, India Infrastructure Finance Company has been allowed to raise a further Rs 30,000 crore via tax-free bonds.

Commenting on this development, SS Kohli, CMD, IIFCL, said the company will raise Rs 10,000 crore this fiscal. "The first tranche of bonds is to be issued next week. The amount will be decided later. We are awaiting the Central Board of Direct Taxes nod to raise funds via bonds for the national highway projects." (source : CNBC TV18)

Rupesh Yatesh Dalal
MARKETCALLS

RBI & DOLLAR RELATION

The Reserve Bank of India sold $20.6 billion in October, according to the figures published in the December bulletin of the bank.

It was during October that the local currency faced severe pressure. The currency declined from about 47 to the dollar at the beginning of the month to a little over 50 at the end of October. The decline in forex reserves during that period had prompted speculation that the RBI was ‘intervening’ massively to prop up the local currency.

The super spike in oil prices on the one hand and flight of capital on the other have been the two factors that saw the RBI furiously sell off dollars to prop up the rupee, according to Dr D.K. Joshi, Director and Principal Economist at rating agency Crisil.The RBI has so far in this fiscal sold close to $34 billion while purchasing $5.68 billion. The net sale of $28.3 billion would mean that an equivalent amount of Rs 1,20,000 crore has been removed from the banking system – causing some liquidity crunch before the announcement of recent liquidity infusing measures.

Why RBI buys

The RBI buys dollars in the market when there is a heavy inflow of dollars – as was the case in the last few years. This is done to prevent the rupee from appreciating beyond the level that the RBI is comfortable with. A considerable part of the liquidity enjoyed by commercial banks during the past few years owed its origins to the dollar inflows that were sucked out by the RBI.

By placing rupees in their hands and once again ‘sterilising’ it by selling government paper to banks, the RBI was hoping to keep inflation under control.

During 2006-07 the RBI did not sell any dollars in the market. In 2007-08 also the RBI remained a purchaser of dollars – except in March, when it sold about $1.4 billion. During these two years alone, the RBI had purchased about $100 billion – which got added to the country’s forex reserves.The RBI was also very active in the forward market for dollar purchase from October 2007 when the inflows were high. Its outstanding net purchase of dollars in the forward market was at a high of $17 billion in April 2008 after which it has gradually reduced the net position to a mere $90 million in October 2008.

Since June this year, the RBI has had to intervene actively and sell more dollars than what it purchased during each month. There was a brief reprieve in August but things have taken a turn for the worse after that.

Volatility to continue

According to Dr Joshi, the nascent, if hesitant, uptrend in rupee in recent times should relieve the pressure on the Reserve Bank to continue to aggressively engage the market.

The drop in oil prices has come in as a major stress-buster, but Dr Joshi was apprehensive that the exchange rate scenario would continue to be volatile with each passing day bringing out varyingly depressive forecasts on global finances.

But he struck an optimistic note with a hunch that capital flows should begin to trickle in sooner than later. And that next year would not require the RBI to be as active in the market as it has been throughout year 2008. (Source : EMAIL)

Rupesh Yatesh Dalal
MARKETCALLS

Second package to boost economy in next few days

Government will come out with a second stimulus package for this fiscal and one for 2009-10 in the next few days to spur economic growth, reeling under the impact of global financial crisis.

"We are trying to coordinate a number of different steps. And I hope in the next few days we will be ready to make an announcement (about the second stimulus package)," Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia told reporters here on Monday.

He said there were different things coming from different people and that they were referred to Cabinet Secretary K M Chandrasekhar.

"I am hoping that we will get something. I can assure you that the main thing is to make sure that expenditure we have already provided and the new expenditure, gets done. In the Planning Commission, we are not proposing any new expenditure for the current year," Ahluwalia said.

With industrial production contracting by 0.4 per cent in October, for the first time in 15 years, and the exports declining by over 12 per cent during the month, the Government came out with a stimulus package on December 7 to spur growth and help the industry combat the impact of global financial meltdown.

As part of the stimulus package, the Government cut excise duty by 4 per cent across the board, except on petroleum products, and announced raising of the public expenditure by Rs 20,000 crore to boost demand.

The Government has also increased public expenditure by Rs 1.47 lakh crore through two supplementary demands for grant over Rs 7.5 lakh crore provided in the Budget for 2008-09. (source : Economic Times)

Rupesh Yatesh Dalal
MARKETCALLS

GDP shrank in third quarter as economy chilled

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The economy shrank at a 0.5 percent annual pace in the third quarter as expected after consumers and businesses cut spending and the country's recession gathered steam, government data showed on Tuesday.

The U.S. economy entered a recession last December which deepened after the failure of U.S. investment bank Lehman Brothers in September, which froze credit and sent households and firms into a defensive crouch.

"The past couple of quarters have been really weak and if anything, I'm afraid it may indicate a really bad fourth quarter," said Kurt Karl, chief U.S. economist at Swiss Re in New York.

The Commerce Department, in its final revision, said the decline in gross domestic product in the third quarter versus the previous three months was the steepest since the third quarter of 2001, in the aftermath of the September 11 attacks on the United States.

Analysts polled by Reuters had predicted the report would show GDP declined by an unrevised 0.5 percent in the third quarter after growing at a 2.8 percent pace in the previous three months, when tax rebates temporarily helped fuel demand.

With the numbers coming in smack on target, financial markets largely ignored the report

Consumer spending shrank at a 3.8 percent pace for the sharpest pull-back since 1980, when a global oil crisis tipped the economy toward a prolonged slowdown, while investment in equipment and software slumped 7.5 percent for the largest decline since early 2002.

Corporate profits fell 0.5 percent in the third quarter versus a previously reported 0.4 percent decline and forecasts for a 0.6 percent fall.

A collapse in the U.S. housing market after years of soaring prices sparked the worst financial market turmoil since the Great Depression, which chilled growth and has already inflicted the longest recession since the early 1980s.

Residential investment contracted 16 percent at an annual pace in the third quarter, which was slightly less than previously estimated and subtracted 0.6 percentage points from overall growth.

Americans banked on rising home prices to support other expenditure and as the property market turned down, this had magnified the impact on the rest of the economy.

"It continues to show basically the same story, which is people stopped spending," said David Wyss, chief economist at Standard & Poor's in New York.

Expenditures on durable goods fell 14.8 percent, subtracting 1.16 percent from growth. A large chunk of this fall was due to declining demand for motor vehicles, which reduced overall growth by 0.83 percent in the third quarter.

Separate weekly reports on chain store sales offered conflicting signs on holiday shopping activity.

The International Council of Shopping Centers and Goldman Sachs said their chain store sales index rose 2.6 percent in the week ended December 20, although the year-on-year decline deepened to 0.6 percent.

In contrast, the Johnson Redbook sales index showed a month-to-date decline of 1.1 percent, with sales for the December 20 week 1 percent below their year-ago level.

"Sales growth continued below plan for the third consecutive week ending with a disappointing weekend," Johnson Redbook said. (Source : YAHOO FINANCE)

Rupesh Yatesh Dalal
MARKETCALLS

Sebi okay with 8 am start for NSE Nifty F&O

The National Stock Exchange may soon open trading in futures and options at 8 am. CNBC-TV18’s Vivek Law reports that the market regulator Securities Exchange Board of India (Sebi) may give the go-ahead to NSE though it is still studying market feedback.

Sebi is, in principle, not averse to giving the nod to futures and options (F&O) trades in NSE’s Nifty from 8 am, say sources. The NSE has already applied to Sebi to be allowed to open the F&O trade at 8 am. The move is aimed to counter SGX Nifty that opens at 8 am. The market regulator is concerned over export of domestic futures market overseas via SGX Nifty. SGX Nifty has 40%–45% OI volumes of the domestic Nifty futures trades — it had reached almost 80% at the peak, it subsided after participatory notes were banned.

Sources added that Sebi is studying market feedback before it arrives at a final decision. There would be no change in the underlying cash market timing due the delivery issue and due to infrastructure concerns on settlement (Source : CNBC TV18)

Rupesh Yatesh Dalal
MARKETCALLS