The Hindu Business Line : Sunday, August 01, 2004

Textiles: Gloom is over for the looms
TEXTILE company stocks are spinning new tales in the stock markets. Even when the bourses were looking drab, stocks such as Vardhaman Spinning, Raymond, Arvind Mills and Mahavir Spinning were bright and looked ... More

Quite warm enough to wrap around
OVER the past year, textile stocks have spun back to life. With the deadline for dismantling of quotas nearing, confidence levels among investors about the industry's prospects have gone up. Announcements by ... More

INSIGHT

`Insuring' more bang for the buck
CHOOSING from the variety of insurance options on offer and allocating funds among them requires careful planning. The sheer variety of products available, each with an array of features, most often leaves the ... More

The EPF rate crisis
Fixing an inflation target and making the Government pay if the target is breached may be a balanced solution to the vexatious problem of setting interest rates for employees' provident fund. That could permanently resolve the crisis, which has now b ecome an annual ritual. More

Why pharma is good prescription
There are reasons to be sanguine of the pharma industry's prospects over the longer term. More

MUTUAL FUNDS

ING Vysya Select Stocks: Sell
INVESTORS in the ING Vysya Select Stocks Fund can cut exposures as its performance continues to be unimpressive. Several actively managed funds tend to outperform their benchmark by a comfortable margin. That is not the ... More

Principal Resurgent India Equity Fund: Hold
PRINCIPAL Resurgent India Equity Fund, formerly known as the Sun F&C Resurgent India Equity Fund, has a performance record that stacks up well against top performing equity funds such as Franklin Bluechip and HDFC ... More

PORTFOLIO MOVES
HDFC Growth Fund
A COMPLETE exit from steel stocks was the only significant change in the portfolio of HDFC Growth fund in June. Tata Steel and Jindal Stainless were the two stocks that had comprised the steel sector holdings of the portfolio. The stock of ... More

Top moves at Franklin Templeton

Fund Talk

STOCKS

IDBI: Buy
IDBI Bank: Hold
FORTUNES of IDBI Bank's shareholders is at the crossroads. This fast growing new bank will now not be allowed to realise its potential as a stand-alone bank. Consequently, their hopes of the bank growing at 100 ... More

Glenmark Pharma: Buy
FRESH investments can be considered in theGlenmark Pharmaceuticals stock. Since our previous `buy' recommendation about a year ago (Business Line, July 6, 2003), when the stock was trading at Rs 63 (adjusted for ... More

Valecha Engineering: Hold
INVESTORS can continue to retain their holdings in the stock of Valecha Engineering. The company's focus on infrastructure projects, particularly roads, its robust order-book position and improving revenue growth augur ... More

Godrej Consumer: Hold
GODREJ Consumer Products' robust numbers for the June quarter suggest that it may be pulling itself out of the morass that the entire FMCG sector has been mired in for a couple of years now. But with a significant ... More

Shree Cement: Buy
AN INVESTMENT can be considered in the stock of Shree Cement. A pure cement company catering to the northern market, it is well-placed to benefit from the emerging balance between demand and supply. The stock trades ... More

Patni Computers: Hold
SHAREHOLERS can consider retaining their exposure in the Patni Computers stock. Fresh exposures may, however, be considered at declines as the stock has run-up by nearly 10 per cent over the past week. At the current ... More

Asahi India: Buy
TAKING into account the strong fundamentals, prominent position in the industry and the de-risking efforts undertaken recently, Asahi India is a good long-term portfolio candidate. Asahi India is the market leader in the laminated safety glass ... More

BASF India: Buy
FOR investors who are willing to wait for a three-four year period, BASF India appears a reasonable addition to the portfolio. The stock price has weakened in recent times after peaking at over Rs.170 in April. Investors can use opportunities ... More

TECHNICAL ANALYSIS

Bullish near-term for Tata Motors
ONGC (Rs 716.3): The price action last week was not strong enough to push the stock out of the recent trading range. The buoyancy in the last couple of days has imparted short-term positive trend. A break above Rs 732 would impart positive ... More

Short-term correction likely
Preferred view: The market action last week was not entirely on expected lines. The anticipated short-term correction turned out to be extremely short-lived. After a weak trend on a couple of days, the index turned bullish on Thursday and ... More

Focus of the week
Alembic Chemicals (Rs 116.2): The near-term outlook for the stock appears positive. A move to the Rs 130-135 range appears likely. A drop below Rs 109 would negate the positive outlook. Remain invested with a stop-loss at Rs 109. Long ... More

Query corner
I am holding Tube Investments India bought at Rs 230 and Carborundum Universal at Rs 250. Please tell me the long-term view for these stocks? — Atul Tube Investments (Rs 273): Shareholders could remain invested, as the ... More

CARS

Await the awesome threesome
TODAY, it is difficult to believe that just two decades ago the Maruti 800 was the most coveted passenger car available in the market. The car, a product of the then historic tie-up between the government and Suzuki Motor Corporation of Japan, ... More

Fuel effeciency cars
Which of the following — Wagon R LXi, Indica V2 LXi petrol, Santro Xing XP or Suzuki Alto LXi — is a better option if I am looking for a car that is good value for money car and has good resale value and decent mileage? Or ... More

LIFE INSURANCE

AMP Sanmar Kanaka Shree
IF the popularity of unit-linked insurance plans over the past year is any indication, it follows that such a product should be an integral part of any company's bouquet of offerings. AMP Sanmar joined the list of ... More

DERIVATIVES MARKETS

GTC order and program trading
THE National Stock Exchange (NSE) recently informed its brokers that they cannot henceforth place Good Till Cancelled (GTC) order in the futures and options (F&O) segment. What is GTC order and how does it impact ... More

Nifty may see further upside
LAST week marked the settlement of July contracts and the introduction of October contracts at the derivative segment on the NSE. Average daily trading volume also picked up at Rs 9,844 crore last week on account of the settlement of July ... More

Using Futures/Options
Rho: Rho measures the sensitivity of option prices to changes in interest rate. Option premium is not highly sensitive to changes in interest rates. Given that the time of expiry of options is usually less than three months, even ... More

Options: Uses and benefits
In the Indian Derivatives market, SEBI has not created any particular category of options writers. Any market participant can write options. However, the margin requirements are stringent for options writers. What are Stock Index ... More

Futures guide

Options guide

PRIVATE BANKS

GTB moratorium: What it means for bank's customers
THE Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has placed the operations of Global Trust Bank (GTB) under suspension to protect the interests of depositors and ensure the safety of funds for three months ending October 23. Here is ... More

FIXED DEPOSITS

Sundaram Finance — Safe parking
INVESTORS can park their money in the fixed deposit programme of Sundaram Finance. The rates are on a par with other auto finance companies such as Cholamandalam Investment and Finance. Considering the good track ... More

INTERVIEW

`Mills are improving productivity'
The spinning sector is among the more modern sectors of the Indian textile industry. But it is not without its share of problems. However, the recent Budget spells good news for the cotton spinning industry and Vardhman Spinning, one of the ... More

INCOME TAX

Writing off interior decoration when moving off
WE WERE carrying on business from a rented premises for 12 years. Last year, we shifted to our own premises. We had in the rented premises spent Rs 26,25,000 towards interior decoration, which included the cost of ... More

A loan from brother
I COMPLETED my PGDBA from an institute in Mumbai in 2002. Since the institute was not approved by the AICTE at the relevant point in time, I could not get a bank loan for my education. I, therefore, took an ... More

OPEN OFFERS

Max India: Accept
SHAREHOLDERS of Max India can accept the open offer made by the Warburg Pincus group at Rs 200 per share. Over a three/five year period, there is the possibility of upside linked to growth in the healthcare and ... More

CARTOON