|
|
INVESTMENT WORLD
INDUSTRY ANALYSIS
Tea — pale and watery
FAR from coming to a boil, the tea industry is becoming tepid. For three years now, it is almost as if the kettle was never put on the stove at all. Prices have not improved and production has risen but marginally. Exports are at the bottom. ...
More
Tea: Positive policy changes
THE tea industry was somewhat happy with Budget 2002-03. The valuation of majors such as Tata Tea and Goodricke improved on the back of the cut in excise duty to Rs 1 per kg and the hike in the import duty to the industry-preferred level of 100 ...
More
So, what's for tea?
SO, WHAT is the solution for tea? Consumption has to increase, of course. But this requires a long-term strategy. The Tea Board is looking at marketing tea as a health drink and, thereby, enhance its profile. The tea industry has attempted to do ...
More
Coffee: Brewing still
It has been a tepid two years for coffee. Prices are at their 30-year low, the retention plan has failed, and Brazil's production is set to increase in 2002-03. India's coffee production in October - November 2001 was 19,216 tonnes, 13.6 per ...
More
`We want to deliver a better mix' -- — Mr P. T. Siganporia, Deputy Managing Director, Tata Tea
We intend to competitively deliver a better mix of products and services to customers across geographies in a more relevant and effective manner and, while doing so, drive benchmark efficiencies across our operations.
More
EXCISE AND CUSTOMS
Uneven tax field for domestic manufacture
THE Finance Minister, Mr Yashwant Sinha, never loses an opportunity to proclaim that he has brought a great deal of sanity to the excise duty taxation system. He has claimed, and rightly too, that there is now in place, with some exceptions, a ...
More
MUTUAL FUNDS
Mastershare 86: Hold/Avoid fresh exposures
THE redemption date for Mastershare, UTI's largest close-ended scheme, is barely a year and a half away. With the market price of the units hovering at Rs 9.65 in the secondary market, the market price carries a discount of nearly 22 per cent to ...
More
Sundaram Bond Saver: Invest
FRESH investments in Sundaram Bond Saver may be considered. Its performance record since launch has been impressive, and the portfolio is reasonably placed to deliver above-average returns. In addition, the sensitivity of the fund to any ...
More
UTI Services Fund: Cut exposures and book profits
INVESTORS in the UTI Services Sector Fund can contemplate booking profits in the fund. The broad markets have, no doubt, declined in the last month or so. But the portfolio may have limited room for an upside from the present level. Especially ...
More
Pioneer ITI FMCG: Pare exposures
WITH returns of around 12.6 per cent since launch, the Pioneer ITI Index Fund has comfortably outperformed the BSE FMCG index, which lost 22 per cent in value since the fund's launch. However, given the relatively high valuation levels for the ...
More
MIP '97: Take cash, avoid rollover
THE assured return scheme Monthly Income Plan 1997 (I) is coming up for redemption at end April. The Unit Trust of India had guaranteed returns and capital protection on the backing of its Development Reserve Fund. Now there are plans to launch a ...
More
Focussing on theme funds
ASSET management companies are looking to enhance inflows into their mutual funds, and theme funds are one option. Recently, Mr T. P. Raman, Managing Director, Sundaram Newton Asset Management Company, said that they were looking to launch a ...
More
Warrants from UTI
STOCKS
Wockhardt: Buy
Wockhardt has created the ingredients to genetically engineer its way ahead. Sanjiv Shankaran takes a look at the potential of biotechnology to be the company's engine of growth.
More
Infosys: Sell now and buy at lower levels
THOSE who have invested in the Infosys Technologies stock can book profits now and re-enter when the valuations are more attractive. The current valuations require the stock to grow upwards of 15 per cent for a fairly long period to deliver ...
More
MphasiS BFL: Sell/Buy on declines
INVESTMENTS in MphasiS BFL stock can be liquidated. The stock now trades at Rs 647. The valuations are demanding and require growth rate in per share earnings to be robust even in the year succeeding the next financial year. Given this backdrop, ...
More
Unichem Lab: Book profits early
UNICHEM Laboratories is a mid-sized pharmaceutical company and has attracted much market interest in the last few days. The company's share price has been on a successive uptrend since the first week of this month. The reason behind this rally is ...
More
Swaraj Mazda: Hold
SWARAJ Mazda Ltd (SML), the third largest player in the light commercial vehicles (LCV) market, has been steadily climbing out of a slow growth spiral for the past three years. The just ended financial year could see the company closing its books ...
More
TNPL: Hold
SHAREHOLDERS of Tamil Nadu Newsprint (TNPL) can stay invested despite the sharp run-up in the stock price in the past one month. Straying away from the trends in prices of paper industry stocks that have remained sluggish, the TNPL stock has ...
More
TRAVEL & PLACES
US tightens visa rules
Transit visa on Air France
SOFTWARE
Medium-size software companies -- Exaggerated valuations
IN A tough year, most key medium-size software companies took on the frontliners in the core services business and stayed afloat (though some of them posted negative growth rates). Going forward, it appears that offshore outsourcing will become ...
More
Frontline software companies -- Lessons from the returns
THE 2001-02 fiscal turned to be the most turbulent year in the software sector's history so far. It was dejection all-round with hardly a ray of hope. For the frontline companies, the key events that dictated the course of stock prices were: ...
More
LIFE INSURANCE
Endowment assurance policies -- Rest assured, with caution
"Fill it. Shut it. Forget it." — An old motorcycle advertisement. THE LINE seems apt for an endowment assurance policy too. Savings-oriented endowment policies are most popular. In less complicated times, an annual premium ...
More
STOCK MARKETS
Techs keep Sensex in positive zone
THE firming up of prices in the technology sector, specially frontline stocks helped keep the BSE Sensex in the positive territory. The BSE Sensex appreciated by 10.33 points to close the week at 3510.90 points. The trigger for the technology ...
More
IPCL moves up on divestment hopes
TATA Engineering: Tata Engineering's shares marched up successively this week as the company announced a 10 per cent rise in its domestic vehicle sales for the March quarter over the same period last year. Even though the announcement ...
More
Positive trend in Sterlite Optical
THE stock market sentiment recovered a bit during the week gone by. After a weak start, the sentiment perked up following the announcement of Infosys's financial performance. Led by Infosys, a host of software stocks moved up during the week. ...
More
Nasdaq at crucial juncture
NEGATIVE sentiment prevailed for yet another week at the American bourses. There was, however, some recovery on Friday on the back of the SEC's decision to close an earlier enquiry about IBM. The week ahead would turn out to be a crucial one ...
More
DEBT MARKET
Bonds carry downside bias
THE yield curve witnessed a non-parallel shift last week. The front-end of the curve flattened further, while the medium and long end shifted upwards, albeit marginally. Going forward, bonds carry downside from the current levels. Consider the ...
More
DERIVATIVES MARKETS
Volumes decline on bourses
OVERALL Trends: The week saw some positive sentiment underlying trading in the spot equity market. On a week-on-week basis, the BSE Sensex gained close to 0.3 per cent over the previous week, thus extending its gain for the second ...
More
Interest wanes on index puts
INDEX options: Trading interest in index calls continued to decline during the week. No new contract managed to find a place among the list of top 10 traded calls. In contrast puts were placed better. However, in comparison to last week, ...
More
Reliance Industries remains active
TECHNOLOGY stocks dominated trading interest in the preceding week's single stock futures sessions. Continuing with the trend that the market has seen so far, April futures contracts were the most frequently traded ones in the preceding week. ...
More
Options help guide
Futures guide
FOREIGN BANKS
Revolve with Amex
CORPORATE BONDS
Krishna Bhagya Jala Nigam: Invest (Medium-to-high risk)
KRISHNA Bhagya Jala Nigam (KBJNL), an infrastructure company wholly owned by the Karnataka Government, has floated secured redeemable non-convertible bonds offer aggregating to Rs 350 crore. These have a face value of Rs 5,000. The seven-year ...
More
FIXED DEPOSITS
TVS Srichakra: On a smooth ride
TVS Srichakra accepts cumulative and non-cumulative deposits for two and three years. The cumulative scheme offers an annual yield of 10.40 per cent and 10.93 per cent for two and three years. The non-cumulative scheme offers monthly and ...
More
INCOME TAX
Income received outside India
I AM employed by a software company in India and am currently on a project overseas. I continue to be on the payroll of the Indian company and my salary is credited to my bank account in India. During my stay overseas, I am paid a living ...
More
INSIGHT
Two-wheeler market: Gathering speed
IN fiscal 2001-02, the two-wheeler industry is revving up, with the entry of more players, newer models, a comeback by Bajaj Auto and a late launch of two new models by TVS Motors. The recent developments in the motorcycle market indicate that ...
More
UTI's assured return schemes -- Hardly reassuring?
INVESTORS in the assured return schemes of the Unit Trust of India are now in a delicate situation. The UTI is insisting it will meet the assured returns and capital protection guarantees. But there is a big uncertainty : Who will help the UTI ...
More
Investing abroad: Sensible restriction on mutual funds
THE restriction of 4 per cent of net assets imposed on investments abroad by debt funds is a sensible move by SEBI. As part of the efforts to relax capital account controls, the Finance Minister, Mr Yashwant Sinha, announced in the Budget that ...
More
Does investing abroad generate higher returns?
THE Securities and Exchange Board of India has permitted Indian mutual funds to invest in corporate bonds abroad. Why should mutual funds invest in foreign bonds given that interest rates in the developed countries are lower than in ...
More
CARTOON
It Adds Up!
"Of course, I've considered LIC, bonds and housing loans. That's when I figured that moving to Monte Carlo was the cheapest way to save on tax."
|
