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Thursday,
May 23, 2002, Chandigarh, India  
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Gold surges as war fear mounts
Hind Lever market-cap falls Rs 20.5b, Infosys
Nabard scheme on rural godowns ITC net profit rises 18
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Polaris to merge with Orbitech
HPCL 5 kg LPG cylinder soon
Gujarat Ambuja to pay 40 pc
dividend
Sparkling water by
Shaw Wallace soon
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Gold surges as war fear mounts London, May 22 Spot gold hit $319.60 an ounce in European trading, its strongest level since October, 1999, as investors piled into the ultimate safe haven asset. Gold prices in India, the world's largest consumer of the precious metal, soared to their highest in over six years. Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee told his soldiers confronting Pakistani forces across their border in disputed Kashmir that the time had come for a decisive fight. "The Kashmir situtaion is very much playing into gold's hands...I see the price going to $325 an ounce," said Ross Norman, mining analyst at TheBullionDesk.com. The gold market was also spooked by news that Britain was set to withdraw some of its embassy staff from Pakistan after "terrorist threats" against institutions there. The temporary security closure of New York's Brooklyn Bridge after the discovery of a suspicious package, later found not to be a bomb, also unnerved traders. The dollar's weakness against the euro , yen and Swiss franc has also boosted gold as it makes gold more attractive to investors outside the USA Other precious metals were broadly flat from New York closing levels on Tuesday. Silver was unchanged from New York's overnight close of $4.82/4.84 an ounce
Reuters |
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Hind Lever market-cap falls Rs 20.5b, Infosys loses Rs 14 b New Delhi, May 22 The market capitalisation (m-cap), or the value of the total shares traded, on the benchmark BSE has tumbled by a whopping Rs.493 billion in the weekly trading period ended on Tuesday, its biggest weekly fall in the current calendar year. "The sharp plunge in the market cap is a clear indication of the fact that the investors have pressed the panic button and are resorting to across the board selloff," said Kavi Kumar, president of online brokerage firm Indiabulls.com. "I think we will see continued erosion in the market cap over the next few sessions if the prevailing tension escalates into longer and more engaging conflict. It especially affects the retail investors," Kumar told IANS. The market index has gone into a freefall since May 14 after terrorists shot children and wives of Indian soldiers on a day of massacres that left 32 persons dead in Jammu and Kashmir. Since the massacre, the Sensex has plunged nearly 7 per cent to 3,186.53 till Tuesday. On Wednesday, the benchmark Sensex had lost 11 points lower than yesterday but the difference would have been much more had it not been for a brief period of short selling towards the very end of trading by operators in key counters. Reflecting the bearish sentiment, the m-cap of the traded equities on the Bombay exchange has drooped from a high of Rs.6,341.38 billion on May 14 to Rs.5,848.51 billion on Tuesday. The m-cap of 30 shares, which form the benchmark Bombay exchange index, has tumbled from Rs.2,695.58 billion on May 14 to Rs.2,512.43 billion on Tuesday, a loss of Rs.183.16 billion. Hindustan Level , which has over 17 per cent weightage in the 30-share index, has seen its m-cap falling by Rs.20.46 billion in the last seven trading sessions. The m-cap of Infosys Technologies touched Rs.239.48 billion, a weekly fall of Rs.14.04 billion. Analysts say the border tension has come as a major blow to the bruised market investors who were hoping for a turnaround in the sagging market index after some abatement in communal violence in Gujarat. "The worst victim of the erosion in market cap will be the scores of small investors who had put in their money on the bourses after a string of scams in the mutual funds industry," said Vijay Bhusan, a broker with the BSE.
IANS
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Nabard scheme on rural godowns Chandigarh, May 22 “The scheme will help promote grading, standardisation and quality control of agricultural produce, apart from ensuring better marketing and prevention of distress sale, said Mr A. Ramanathan, CGM, Nabard. Under this scheme for which individuals, groups of farmers, partnership firms, private and public companies , NGOs, self help groups, cooperatives, marketing boards and APMCs are eligible, term loans for construction of godowns and also related facilities like consumer shops, agri-clinics, weighing, grading, packaging and quality certification etc will be provided and Nabard will provide refinancing facility . The subsidy under the scheme will be 25 per cent of the capital cost , subject to a maximum of Rs 37.50 lakhs (general category) and will be linked to institutional credit through commercial banks, regional rural banks, ADFCs scheduled private commercial banks, eligible for Nabard refinance. While the owner’s contribution will be 25 per cent of the cost, the repayment period will be up to 11 years, including one-year grace period depending upon the cash flow. Interest rate would be as per the RBI norms, he said, adding that on refinance, 8.5 per cent was being charged. Meanwhile, Nabard has also come out with a capital investment subsidy scheme for construction of cold storages and onion godowns. Under this scheme, refinance at 8.5 per cent will be provided, whereas, the borrower will be charged at PLR plus 1 per cent (maximum). Subsidy of 25 per cent (of project cost ) subject to maximum of Rs 50 lakh in case of cold storage and godowns is being provided. We are also promoting setting up of agri clinics and agri-business centres by agriculture graduates, he said, adding that specialised training, free of cost, was being provided at Hisar and Ludhiana in Punjab for agricultural graduates.
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ITC net profit rises 18 pc
Kolkata, May 22 The financial performance of the company was announced after its Board of Directors approved the audited accounts at a meeting here during the day. The company, fast expanding into other areas of business, posted a 13 per cent rise in the gross turnover to Rs 9,840 crore (Rs 8,816 crore last year) while the pre-tax profit went up by 11 per cent to Rs 1,780 crore. Describing the performance as, “yet another year of satisfying results despite a challenging economic environment,” an ITC spokesman said the amalgamation of paperboard subsidiary, ITC Bhadrachalam, into the parent company during the year had a substantial impact on the results. The proposed dividend of 135 per cent for the year against 100 per cent for the year 2000-01 includes dividend payable on the new ordinary shares of the company, issued and allotted to shareholders of erstwhile ITC Bhadrchalam. The company said the amalgamation of ITC Bhadrachalam contributed Rs 511 crore to company’s gross turnover, while profit from operation increased by Rs 101 crores. But despite an overall improved performance during the entire fiscal, the tobacco major’s 4th quarter performance was well below market expectation as it reported only marginal increase of 6.91 per cent in its net profit to Rs 296.21 crore from Rs 277.07 crore in the corresponding quarter of 2000-01.
PTI
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Polaris to merge with Orbitech
Chennai, May 22 The Board has recommended signing of MoU between Polaris Software and Orbitech Solutions for the proposed merger. Announcing the decision soon after the Board meeting at the Polaris headquarters here, the company CMDand CEO Arun Jain said the new merged entity would continue to be called Polaris Software Lab Limited, with a staff of 3,800 and combined revenue of Rs 600 crore. He would continue to head the new entity. Shareholders of Orbitech would receive approximately 14 newly issued Polaris shares for every 25 shares held in Orbitech by them, giving the merged entity a current value of Rs 2,700 crore. The shareholders of Polaris would own 46 per cent and that of Orbitech would own 54 per cent of the merged company.
UNI
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HPCL 5 kg LPG cylinder soon
Mumbai, May 22 “We are ready with 5 kg cylinders and after approvals from the ministry, HPCL will introduce them in the northern regions of Uttar Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh and other far-flung areas”, HPCL Marketing Director N.K. Puri told reporters here today. New connections were available upfront and the company was also in the process of developing a low cost single burner stove to facilitate rural consumers. Asked if the company plans to reduce the Rs 700 per cylinder deposit, Mr Puri said the deposit was in form of a security for the cylinder and was refundable. HPCL General Manager S.V. Sahni said the company is operating two skid-mounted filling plants for 5 kg cylinders for rural consumers in Gorakhpur (Uttar Pradesh) and Hoshiarpur (Punjab). HPCL will set up 42 auto LPG dispensing stations during 2002-30. “We plan to set up 40-42 auto LPG dispensing stations this fiscal. Out of this 16 will be in Delhi,” HPCL General Manager (Coordination) K. Muralidharan said at a news conference called to announce company’s new LPG marketing strategy here. Selling auto LPG at a retail price of Rs 17.15 per litre, HPCL would in the first phase set up auto LPG dispensing stations in Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Pune and Ahmedabad, he said.
PTI
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