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Sensex breaks 6,600-mark cordon
ADB to give $325 m to tsunami hit
Negative agro sector growth pulls down GDP |
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Trai issues new interconnect regulation
DEPB for textiles raised
Govt anti-labour, alleges Citu
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Sensex breaks 6,600-mark cordon to usher in 2005
Mumbai, December 31 The bull run saw sustained buying across the board with blue-chips and mid-cap companies enjoying market patronage. The Sensex hit an intra-day high of 6,609 to close at 6,602 gaining nearly 80 points from the previous close. Nifty too saw gains closing at 2,082, up over a per cent. Today’s big gainers were automobile, banking, cement, technology, pharma, steel and textile stocks. Among blue-chips, Bhel and SBI led the surge gaining three percent each. Other big performers were Bharti Tele, Tata Power, Grasim, ICICI Bank and Tata Motors. Brokers attributed the feel good factor in the bourses to the drop in inflation to 6.5 per cent coupled with GDP growth of 6.6 per cent in the second quarter. Also sustaining the momentum were continued foreign fund inflows and hopes of better-than-expected third quarter results. Among the blue-chip auto majors Ashok Leyland, M&M and Tata Motors saw impressive gains. Banking stocks too moved into the limelight with Finance Minister P Chidambaram promising to liberalise FDI in banking, telecom and insurance sectors. IDBI Bank led the rally, zooming over 14 per cent. South Indian Bank, Andhra Bank, Bank of Baroda, Canara Bank, Jammu and Kashmir Bank soared over five per cent each. Allahabad Bank, Bank of India, Indian Overseas Bank, Syndicate Bank and Union Bank of India closed in the positive turf. The cement stocks too saw significant buying activity. Grasim gained nearly two per cent while ACC and Gujarat Ambuja saw gains of over one per cent each. Among the tech majors TCS posted gains of over two per cent while Infosys and Satyam clocked gains of over a per cent each. With today’s record closing, the Sensex has gained 13 per cent this year. It has gained 47 per cent since the Black Monday of May 17, making it the third consecutive year of gains. Nifty too created a record of sorts, gaining nearly 11 per cent in 2004 and its recovery since May 17 is 50 per cent. The best performing stock of the year was Bharti Televentures with a 105 per cent return this year. This was followed by Bhel and Infosys, which gave 50 per cent returns. Dr Reddy’s was the big loser this year, shedding over 40 per cent while Hindustan Lever was down 30 per cent.
Inflation falls
Inflation fell by 0.23 per cent to a 23-week low of 6.5 per cent for the fourth consecutive week ended December 18, mainly due to cheaper food items, edibles oils and manufactured products. The point-to-point Wholesale Price Index (WPI) inflation fell from 6.73 per cent in the previous week, even as fuel prices remained unchanged. It was 5.92 per cent in the year-ago period. Finance Minister P. Chidambaram had recently said the government had used one or the other measures to moderate inflation from time to time and the real issue was that global crude prices should fall below $40.
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ADB to give $325 m to tsunami hit
Manila, December 31 The Manila-based bank said it was working with the three countries and other nations hit by the catastrophe as well as the World Bank and United Nations to identify critical rebuilding work. “This is an unprecedented disaster and we are moving quickly to assist these countries in their hour of need,” ADB President Tadao Chino said in a statement. About $175 million of the $325 million can be taken from existing ADB operations in the three countries and the rest could be drawn as highly concessional loans from the bank’s Asian Development Fund, it said. More money will be made available by the bank as reconstruction needs are identified by the affected countries, the ADB said. Meanwhile, the K.K. Birla Group today announced a contribution of Rs 65 lakh to the PM Relief Fund. Ranbaxy Laboratories Limited announced a contribution of Rs 1.5 crore by way of money and essential medicines and the employees of Mohan Meakin Brewery Limited have contributed their one-day salary.
PM donates Rs 1,000
Vijayawada:
In a symbolic gesture, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today dropped Rs 1,000 in a fund-raising box carried by an enthusiastic Congress worker here today. Dr Singh was here to review the rescue and relief operations for tsunami victims. Congress worker M. Jayendra Kumar, carrying the box on his head, caught the attention of the Prime Minister who immediately took out two 500- rupee notes and put them in the box.
— UNI
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Negative agro sector growth pulls down GDP
New Delhi, December 31 Quarterly estimates of the GDP growth released by the government here today showed that 6.6 per cent in the second quarter is less than the 7.4 per cent growth recorded in the preceding quarter (April to June 2004-05). The agriculture sector registered a negative growth of 0.8 per cent in Q2 compared to 3.4 per cent in Q1. The annual rate of inflation, however, maintained in declining trend and reached a level of 6.5 per cent in the week ended December 18 as compared to 6.73 per cent in the previous week. The Wholesale Price Index (WPI) for all commodities for the week also fell by 0.1 per cent to 188.5 from 188.7 in the previous week, mainly due to cheaper food items, edible oils and manufactured goods. Quarterly GDP at factor cost at constant (1993-94) prices for Q2 of 2004-05 is estimated at Rs. 3,47,308 crore, as against Rs. 3,25,857 crore in Q2 of 2003-04, showing a growth rate of 6.6 per cent over the corresponding quarter of previous year. The growth rate in ‘agriculture, forestry & fishing’ at (—) 0.8 per cent, ‘mining and quarrying’ sector at 4.8 per cent, and ‘community, social and personal services’ at 4.6 per cent, registered lower growth rates in Q2 of 2004-05 as compared to the previous quarter. According to the information furnished by the Department of Agriculture & Cooperation (DAC) on the likely production of crops during the Kharif season of 2004-05, which has been used in compiling the estimates of GDP from agriculture in Q2 of 2004-05, the production of rice, coarse cereals, and pulses has declined by 3.8 per cent, 23.0 per cent, and 25.9 per cent, respectively during the Kharif season of 2004-05 over the corresponding season in the previous year. The sectors which registered significant growth in Q2 of 2004-05 over Q2 of 2003-04 are ‘manufacturing’ at 9.3 per cent, ‘electricity, gas and water supply’ sector at 9.2 per cent, ‘construction’ at 5.2 per cent, ‘trade, hotels, transport and communication’ at 11.6 per cent, and ‘financing, insurance, real estate and business services’ at 5.9 per cent.
External debt $113.6 b
India’s total external debt rose marginally by $ 0.4 billion to $ 113.6 billion as on September end 2004, against $113.2 billion at the end of the previous quarter (April-June) 2004-05. Short-term debt, however, increased by 3.9 per cent over the previous quarter to $ 6.485 billion by September end due to the rise in trade credits attributed to large import growth in the current fiscal. The other component of short-term debt, namely NRI deposit, had been nil since the quarter ended June, 2004 as deposits with maturity up to one year and a non-resident rupee account were withdrawn from April 2003, the quarterly external debt statistics, released by the Finance Ministry, said today.
— PTI
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Trai issues new interconnect regulation
New Delhi, December 31 As per the ‘The Register of Interconnect Agreements (Broadcasting and Cable Services) Regulation, 2004’, released by Trai, broadcasters will have to present updated reports of their agreements on a quarterly basis, instead of monthly as stipulated earlier. The new regulation spares Multi-System Operators (MSOs) to file interconnect agreements with Trai. In fact, as per Trai’s October recommendations to the government on issues related to broadcasting and distribution of TV channels, agreements between an MSO and a cable operator should be registered with an authorised officer. It may be noted that earlier all interconnect agreements in the broadcasting and cable sector were covered within the ambit of ‘The Register of Interconnect Agreement Regulation 1999’, which pertained to telecom services. TRAI said it had to issue a separate regulation for broadcasting and cable services as “existing regulations would require extensive amendments”. Also, this was done to bring in clarity in the interpretation of the provisions.
— PTI
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Punjab bat industry stumped
Jalandhar December 31 A drop in supply of mulberry and willow wood has hit the local sports goods industry. Incidentally, these two types of wood have made Pakistan a top exporter of sports goods. Kashmir willow and mulberry wood have been the backbone of the sports industry at Jalandhar since 1948, when the industry shifted base from Sailkot (now in Pakistan) after partition. Everything went on well till the Jammu and Kashmir Government imposed a ban on the export of willow to other states in 1988. Another blow to the industry came as a result of dwindling mulberry trees in Punjab and Himachal Pradesh. In the absence of any concerted effort on the government’s part, the situation has come to such a pass that more than 50 per cent of the manufacturing units have closed down during the past 10 years, while others have shifted their base to Jammu and Kashmir. They have worked out a profit sharing arrangement with J&K firms, according to which skilled workers from Jalandhar use infrastructure of J&K units to manufacture bats. Subsequently, the bats are shown as ‘sold’ to a Jalandhar-based firm by a J&K firm. “There has hardly been any supply of Kashmir willow in Punjab during the past six months and 70 per cent of the units have either closed down or migrated to J&K. The remaining units are engaged in exports and are being allowed to import willow from the valley under the quota system. The domestic cricket bat industry in on its last legs,” rues Mr Ravinder Dhir, president of Sports Forum, a group of sports goods manufacturing unit.
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DEPB for textiles raised
New Delhi, December 31 As a result, DEPB rates now stand enhanced in respect of synthetic, man-made, woollen, silk and blended textile products, according to a public notice issued by the Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT). An across-the-board reduction of 45 per cent was made in respect of all textile items in the textile group of DEPB Scheme on September 23, 2004. Representations were received by Commerce and Industry Minister Kamal Nath from the trade and industry, including Synthetic and Rayon Textiles Export Promotion Council (SRTEPC), Wool and Woollen Export Promotion Council (WWEPC) and other trade bodies. The government considered these requests/representations and decided to rationalise the DEPB rates by adopting a comprehensive approach consistent with the change in the excise duty in the general Budget 2004-05.
— UNI
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Govt anti-labour, alleges Citu
New Delhi, December 31 “The present ordinance on Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority, resorted to without any consultation with the trade unions, is a blatant violation of the commitment made in the CMP,” Mr M K Pandhe, president of Citu said.
— TNS
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