The Hindu Business Line : Sunday, April 10, 2005

Mutual fund performance — Braving a bumpy market
THE first quarter of 2005 saw the market scale new highs and investors taking to equity mutual funds with renewed vigour. But the euphoria did not last too long, with the indices tumbling as rapidly as they rose, ... More

Why IPOs are losing sheen for retail investors
UNTIL recently, most Initial Public Offerings (IPOs) were good investments because they were an attractive entry point to a listed or yet-to-be-listed company's shares. Companies that debuted on the bourses did not ... More

Pension plan: Benefits of defined contribution
THE defined benefit pension scheme of the Government has been replaced with a defined contribution scheme for the new employees. The change is part of a series of steps taken by the Government over the past few years to ... More

MUTUAL FUNDS

Sundaram India Leadership Fund: Hold
LAUNCHED in the midst of the market meltdown in June 2004, Sundaram India Leadership Fund has acquitted itself reasonably well. The fund's returns of about 40 per cent are better than those of Franklin India Bluechip ... More

Kotak MNC Fund: Buy in small lots
AN INVESTMENT may be considered in Kotak MNC Fund to capitlise on a portfolio that owns stocks with potential for further gains, especially in the engineering and pharmaceutical space. It may also withstand any ... More

Prudential ICICI declares dividend

UTI Mutual to launch dividend yield fund

STOCKS

Dwarikesh Sugar: Hold
SHAREHOLDERS can retain the Dwarikesh Sugar stock as there could be upside potential linked to sugar industry fundamentals and the commissioning of new capacities towards end-2005. However, at the current price ... More

Hindalco: Hold
SHAREHOLDERS can retain their holdings in the Hindalco stock. Any decline in the stock price in line with the broad market can be used as an opportunity to take fresh exposure. The firm trend in the international ... More

Pfizer: Hold
SHAREHOLDERS can retain their holdings in the Pfizer stock. With two mergers (of Parke Davis and Pharmacia) behind it, Pfizer can now focus on driving growth in the domestic market operations. At the current market ... More

Madras Cements: Buy
AN INVESTMENT can be considered in the stock of Madras Cements, as its earnings card is likely to benefit from a nascent recovery in the southern markets. The enhanced institutional investor interest in the cement ... More

GRUH Finance: Buy
AN investment in GRUH Finance stock can be considered. The stock trades at a multiple of seven times its expected per-share earnings for FY 05 and at a price to book value ratio of about 1.6. Considering its profit growth of 28 per cent in the ... More

TECHNICAL ANALYSIS

Reliance perched just above critical support level
Reliance Ind (Rs 557.2): The stock was confined to a narrow trading band and the price action last week was characterised by a zig-zag pattern. The share price is now perched just above the crucial support level at Rs 552. A close below ... More

Short-term outlook turns bullish
Preferred View: The market sentiment turned distinctly bearish in the last couple of trading sessions. The Nifty failed to close past the key reversal bar recorded last week. The failure of the Nifty to move past the 2077 mark, which is ... More

Focus of the week
India Cements (Rs 70): The stock was in a consolidation phase for a while. There was a breakout from this range on Monday that was also complemented by a pick-up in trading volumes. As a result, the short-term outlook has turned ... More

Query Corner
Kindly advise whether to hold or exit Karnataka Bank bought at Rs 96 and ING Vysya at Rs 170. — S. Senthil Karnataka Bank (Rs 70): The share price appears to be tracing out a downward sloping "wedge" pattern. If this view is ... More

CARS

Question `n' auto
I AM planning to buy a car in the Rs 6-7.5 lakh range. I took both the Ford Fusion and the new Honda City for test drives and am now thoroughly confused? I liked the Ford Fusion more than the City. Will it be a ... More

TWO/THREE WHEELERS

The 125cc race for ranks
THE INDIAN bike buyer is an enigma. His clan is so diverse by age group and expectations and yet so contrived when it comes to the bike of choice. Great brands get kicked to the wayside and excellent bikes wait ... More

ECONOMICS

Bonds, inflation and oil prices
INVESTORS are concerned about further rise in crude prices, as that would lead to higher bond yields. What is the relationship between oil prices and bond yields? When you invest in a bank deposit or bonds, the interest you receive is the ... More

DERIVATIVES MARKETS

FIIs in exchange-traded derivatives
FIIs have been permitted to trade in all exchange traded derivative contracts subject to compliance with position limits prescribed for them and their sub-accounts as well compliance with procedure for trading, settlement and reporting as ... More

Downward bias likely in Nifty
TRADING activity was lacklustre as the market remained highly volatile. The average daily turnover on the NSE in the F&O segment dipped sharply to Rs 8,791 crore against the previous week's level of Rs 15,324 crore. The Nifty April futures are .. More

Options guide

Futures guide

FIXED DEPOSITS

FD options
Srei Infrastructure Finance: Investment in the one-year fixed deposit programme of Srei can be considered. The company offers 7.25 per cent for a one-year cumulative term deposit. The interest rate is attractive, considering ... More

INCOME TAX

ESOPs in a company that's been taken over
I WORK for a software company whose shares are not quoted. I was allotted 5,000 shares of the company under an Employees Stock Option Plan (ESOP). The company could not go for a public issue as originally planned. I was ... More

Tax on share trades
I AM an investor in shares and seek your advise on the treatment of the profit from the sale of shares after introduction of the securities transaction tax (STT) with effect from April 1, 2004. For this, I give below ... More

IPOS

Allsec Technologies: Avoid
INVESTORS may refrain from bidding in the book-built initial public offering (IPO) of Allsec Technologies. This is the first pure-play investment exposure in the customer care and support (call centre) business. Allsec, ... More

PUBLIC OFFERS

Allahabad Bank: Invest at Rs 82
AN INVESTMENT in the book-built public offer of Allahabad Bank can be considered at Rs 82. The bank is offering 10 crore shares in the price range of Rs 75-82. The offer closes on April 12. At Rs 82, the stock is ... More

BOOKS

Commodities cannot go to zero
BLUE chips get talked about with great reverence, but `commodities get no respect', writes Jim Rogers in Hot Commodities, from Random House (www.atrandom.com). Thus, while people think of ... More

NEW PRODUCTS & SERVICES

Cash back on railway tickets
If you have a HSBC credit card, you can book train tickets online at www.irctc.com and get a `cash back' incentive of 2 per cent. There is also a bouquet of offers that include dining, lifestyle, gold credit card and `Home and Away' ... More

Saving while you spend
Citibank has come out with new offers aimed at saving you money and adding value. Called Suvidha, the scheme saves you up to 5 per cent every time you use the Indianoil Citibank, the Citibank Grocery, or Shopper's Stop Citibank ATM/Debit ... More

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