The markets opened higher and continued their recovery from Tuesday’s trade. Buying was seen in infrastructure, metals and banking stocks. Midcaps and smallcaps also moved up following the benchmark indices. The Sensex touched the 15000 mark in the opening trade but retreated from the same level.

At 9:58 am, the Sensex was up 123 points, to 14,997 and the Nifty rose 32 points, to 4,558. The CNX Midcap went up 0.94%, to 5,560 and the BSE Smallcap Index gained 1.5% at 6345.

Among the frontliners, Tata Motors, Tata Steel, Suzlon Energy, Reliance Infrastructure, Hindalco, HDFC Bank, ACC, M&M, Tata Power, ABB, ICICI Bank and PNB were gainers. However, Unitech and Maruti were the losers.

Satyam jumped 6%, as SEBI cleared Tech Mahindra open offer for the company. Great Offshore was up just 0.6%, as Bharati Shipyard has decided open offer for Great Offshore at Rs 344/sh, subject to SEBI approval. Bharati Shipyard was up 5%. Essar Oil was up 3%, as the company is planning to raise USD 500 million via QIP (qualified institutional placement). Sasken Communication, Kale Consultants, Balaji Telefilms and FDC gained over 5%.

BSE SENSEX at 15000 - Originally Published at KnolIndia (RSS)

The one-sided win for the UPA government (lead by 262 seats) in the 15th Lok Sabha election, which shrugged off the exit polls results drastically, brought great cheers for the markets in early trade. The benchmark indices locked at upper circuit. The BSE & NSE are in discussion on extent of trading halt, as the Nifty has already breached second circuit (i.e. 15%).

In the first 30 seconds of trade, the Sensex crossed the 13,000 mark. This was the first time since October 2008 that the Sensex surpassed the 13,000 mark and the Nifty crossed the 4000 level. Huge upsurge of 420 points or 11.4% in the SGX Nifty was suggesting the same trend.

The 50-share NSE Nifty was up 531.65 points or 14.48% at 4,203.30 and the 30-share BSE Sensex surged 1305.97 points or 10.73% to 13,479.39. Less than Rs 1000 crore of trade was seen in the cash and F&O segment.

SENSEX: 13479.39 (+1305.97)
NIFTY: 4203.30 (+531.65)

Update: Market will be re-open at 11:55 AM (2 hr after upper circuit)

The BSE Realty Index shot up 15.84% and Bankex gained 13.63%. Among other, Capital Goods, Power, Metal, Oil & Gas and TECK indices rose 10.5-12.83%. IT, FMCG, Healthcare and Auto indices went up 4-9.64%.

Among the broader indices, the BSE Midcap Index was up 7.25% and the Smallcap Index gained 5.10%.
Reliance Industries was up 20%. Sun Pharma, HDFC, ICICI Bank, L&T and DLF gained 19-20%. Tata Communication, Hero Honda, Unitech, Grasim, ABB, Reliance Petroleum, Suzlon Energy and Axis Bank surged 17-18.8%.

Reliance Capital, Ambuja Cements, Sterlite, Reliance Power, Bharti Airtel, SBI, HDFC Bank, Reliance Infrastructure, Reliance Communication, TCS, SAIL, Infosys and Power Grid Corp were up 15-16.8%.BHEL, Siemens, ONGC, Tata Motors, Idea Cellular, Tata Steel, M&M, Ranbaxy Labs, NTPC and ACC shot up 10-14%.

What is a circuit breaker?
It is a system to curb excessive speculation in the stock market, applied by the stock exchange authorities, when the index spurts or plunges by more than a fixed limit. Trading is then suspended for some time to let the market cool down. If the market changes more than 10%, trading is halted for one hour, more than 15% trading is suspended for 2 hours. Although introduced in November 1992, it was used for the first time in the Bombay Stock Exchange on Tuesday, 9 March 1993 when the Sensex declined by more than 5% from the opening level, i.e. from 2451.20 to 2318.26. At that time, the circuit was 5%.

Update: Trading halted for the day as market hits upper circuit again (two times).

SENSEX: 14272.63 (+2099.21)
NIFTY: 4308.05 (+636.40)

Market hit Upper Circuit - Originally Published at KnolIndia (RSS)

Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Thursday released the results of quarterly survey of Professional Forecasters on major macroeconomic indicators of medium term economic developments. According to the survey done by the RBI of 17 agencies, including the World Bank, the Indian economy is likely to grow by 5.7% in the year ending March 2010 as against the earlier Central Bank forecast of 6%. The results of the survey represent views of the respondent forecasters and in no way reflect the views or forecasts of the central bank, the RBI said.

The central bank has been conducting the survey on a quarterly basis from the second quarter ended September 2007. Done through a questionnaire responded by 17 forecasters who participated in this round, the survey covered component-wise detailed forecasts of GDP growth, inflation, savings, capital formation, consumption expenditure, export, import, interest rates money supply, credit growth, stock market movements, corporate profit, etc. The RBI will disseminate the survey results through its web site on a regular basis.

In 2009-10, bank credit is expected to grow at the rate of 16% against its previous forecast of 20%. In its annual policy statement, RBI had urged banks to expand credit beyond 20%. A sector-wise break-up of the real GDP for 2009-10 from the survey shows that growth on account of the industrial sector has been revised downwards from 5% to 4.1%, while it remains unchanged for agriculture and for services, at 3% and 7.5% respectively.

The forecasters are also projecting a negative WPI inflation of 1.4% in the first quarter of the current financial year against the earlier forecast of 2.4%. For the full year, while the RBI`s projection for WPI inflation stands at 4%, the forecasters have assigned `highest 40% chance` that inflation will be in the range of 5-5.9% in 2009-10.

Broad money (M3) growth is revised downwards to 17.5% in 2009-10 from the earlier forecast of 18.3%. Central Government fiscal deficit is expected to widen to 6.2% of GDP in 2008-09, whereas; the combined gross fiscal deficit is placed at 9.8%. Both these figures have been revised upwards from 5% and 8%, respectively, in the last survey.

The RBI’s objective is to restore the country’s economy to a high growth path, and India’s recovery is linked to a global rebound, Governor Duvvuri Subbarao said in Bangalore today. The central bank will consult the Government and the financial markets before pursuing steps to unwind its monetary expansion, he said. The central bank Governor said that he saw concerns over managing inflation expectations as the monetary authority injects money into the financial system. He also said in Bangalore today that the Government’s borrowing programme won’t hurt funding for the private sector

India`s FY10 GDP to grow at 5.7% - Originally Published at KnolIndia (RSS)

Microsoft has laid off 1 per cent of its India workforce on May 5. This move is part of the global software maker’s second wave of layoffs. Microsoft India has sent notices to its employees in Bangalore and Hyderabad that it would be eliminating their jobs.

It is not clear which groups of the Indian operations have been affected by the cuts which are learnt to have been carried out across diverse functions. A company source said that a sizeable number of Microsoft’s sales and support personnel in Hyderabad and a few in Bangalore were among those affected. The Response Windows team has also been dismantled completely. Layoff in IT industry

These layoff’s are part of Microsoft’s global initiative announced in January that it would reduce 5,000 jobs worldwide by June 2010. At that point of time, the company had laid off 1,350-1,400 people largely in the US. In the second round of layoffs effected on May 5, another 3,000 jobs were eliminated. With the second wave of layoff notifications, Microsoft has cut 4,500 jobs and is close to its 5,000 layoff target.

On whether more layoffs would be announced in the India operations, which have over 5,500 people on its rolls, sources said that such a possibility could arise under a new round of job cuts, though no hint or official announcement to the effect has come from CEO Steve Ballmer. HP cutting 24,600 jobs

While announcing the second round of job cuts, Ballmer had said in a memo last week that the company would closely monitor the impact of the economic slowdown and take necessary action on its cost structure, including taking a decision on undertaking additional job eliminations “as required”.

Poll – Recent Layoff in IT

Microsoft lays off 1% of India employee - Originally Published at KnolIndia (RSS)

At 12:23 hours IST, the 30-share BSE SENSEX touched 12,000 mark. Metal, realty, technology, banking, capital goods and FMCG were witnessing buying interest. Midcaps and Smallcaps also surged but the benchmark indices outperformed the broader indices.

BSE Metal index surged 6.6% followed by Bank, IT, Realty and Capital Goods indices, which shot up 5% each. Auto, FMCG, Oil & Gas and Power indices rose 3-3.7%. IT, Bank, Realty and Capital Goods indices went up over 5%.

In the technology pack, Wipro, TCS and Infosys gained 5-8%. Among banking stocks, ICICI Bank, SBI, HDFC Bank, Axis Bank and PNB were up 4.4-6.5%. Unitech, Indiabulls Real, HDIL, Orbit Corporation, Parsvnath and DLF rose 3-10% in the realty pack. Among the capital goods stocks, Siemens, Punj Lloyd, L&T and BHEL were up 3-9%.

Among other indices, FMCG, Auto, Oil & Gas and Power gained 3.5-4.5%. Reliance Petroleum, Reliance Industries and ONGC were up 3-3.9% in the oil & gas space. In the midcap space, Sintex India, Pantaloon Retail, MindTree, India Infoline and Asian Star were up 10-13%. In the smallcap space, Fresenius Kabi, Ruchi Soya, Infotech Enterprises, Kesoram and Aztecsoft gained 11-20%.

Currently Sensex is trading at 12058.41

BSE SENSEX above 12K - Originally Published at KnolIndia (RSS)

Tech Mahindra has won the bid for Satyam Computer Services. The long-drawn race finally drew to a close as it was confirmed that Tech Mahindra bid for Satyam at Rs 58 per share, while Larsen & Toubro, the other player in the fray, bid at Rs 49.50 per share.

Tech Mahindra will have to pay Rs 1757 crore (USD 351 million) for 31% at Rs 58 per share, whereas for the total 51% stake the company will have to pay Rs 2,890 crore. The company will make an open offer at Rs 58 per share. American Depository Share (ADS) holders are expected to be able to take part in the open offer. The announcement of the open offer will happen within four working days of the Company Law Board (CLB) approval. Tech Mahindra will issue a public offer within 55 days of public announcement. The CLB said it will respond within 24 hours of Satyam filing affidavit. Satyam will now have a market capitalization of Rs 5,666 crore on expanded equity.

Sources in Tech Mahindra said there were no second thoughts on Satyam bid yet. The board meeting will happen on Sunday to consider the bid price. Sources further stated that there is no decision yet on partnering with private equity (PE) firms. The company has offers from two PE firms for the joint bid. Sources also said that the company has sufficient funding to bid alone.

Tech Mahindra wins bid for Satyam at 58 Rs per share - Originally Published at KnolIndia (RSS)

Wipro is going to take all the 8000 fresher to whom the offer is made but the joining is likely to be delayed and it can go to next year, a senior official of the company said.

“They are going to come out in June or July… They will come as and when we actually need them. Hopefully, it will happen. If it does not happen, it will spill over to next year,” Pratik Kumar, Executive vice-president (Human Resources) of Wipro, said. The company is giving indications to those who are coming closer to joining time about when they could actually join.

The delay would create a sense of dissatisfaction among the candidates, but this is because of the current business situation. In this sitiuation when lot of companies laying off if joining will happen then it is a good news for the fresher.

Wipro delaying joining of 8000 freshers - Originally Published at KnolIndia (RSS)

Today on the occassion of diwali NSE and BSE both are conducting muhurat trading, but mood of both invester and broker is sombre.

“No miracle is going to happen in the markets just because it is Diwali. We do not expect clients to conduct any big trades,” said Anita Gandhi, head-institutional business, Arihant Capital Markets.

BSE and NSE both fallen about more than 30% in the october only, largly driven by foreign institutional investors (FIIs) selling and hedge funds faced with redemption pressures back home. Brokers are expecting dull mahurat session.

Kotak Securities is offering incentives for people to trade on the muhurat trading day. In a special offer, Kotak Securities has announced the ‘double dhamaka’ contest, where investors can win prizes if they generate a certain volume through trading tomorrow.

Lakshmi Puja And Muhurat Trading on Tuesday, October 28, 2008

Lakshmi Puja : 4:00 PM Onwards

Muhurat Trading Session Details:

Session Start Time End Time Login 05 : 15 p.m. 06 : 15 p.m. Continuous Trading 06 : 15 p.m. 07 : 15 p.m. Closing 07 : 15 p.m. 07 : 25 p.m. Post Closing 07 : 25 p.m. 07 : 45 p.m.

Muhurat Trading in Stock Exchange - Originally Published at KnolIndia (RSS)