The Hindu Business Line : Sunday, May 01, 2005

ABCs of commodities trading
THE investment universe has, for long, consisted of stocks, bonds, fixed deposits, mutual funds, jewellery and real estate. The lifting of the 30-year ban on commodity futures trading in India has opened yet another ... More

OPEN OFFERS

Hindustan Powerplus: Reject and sell in market
SHAREHOLDERS of Hindustan Powerplus could sell their shares in the open market at the current price of about Rs 100. They could refrain from participating in the reverse book-building offer. The Caterpillar group of ... More

Shriram Group: Reject
CHRYSCAPITAL'S offer to shareholders of Shriram Investments and Shriram Transport Finance can be given the go-by. The identical offer price of Rs 35 to the shareholders of both companies is at least 33 per cent below ... More

Shaw Wallace : Accept
IT is A good opportunity for the shareholders of Shaw Wallace to exit by tendering their holding to the open offer made by McDowell at Rs 260 per share. The price represents a premium of 12 per cent to the current ... More

AUTOMOBILES

Bullet Thunderbird is the true cruiser
I own a TVS Suzuki Samurai, which I have been using for the past six years. I commute 10-30 km daily. I want to now purchase a cruiser-style bike; price is not an issue for me. I am 5 feet 3 inches tall and weigh 65 kg. Which cruiser bike ... More

INSIGHT

Restructuring in India Inc — Bigger basket, more goodies
A FRESH spell of corporate restructuring is likely to add depth to the equity market, make it more attractive to foreign institutional investors and unlock value for shareholders. Robust restructuring initiatives ... More

What's cooking in the `S' group?
The `S' group of stocks, formed to allow smaller companies greater access to the capital market, has notched up strong gains in just four months. This is good if it means investors have been enabled to discover these stocks. But both the investors an d the authorities need to watch out for speculative activity. More

MNCs lose the FMCG edge
THE value that the stock market is willing to assign to the multinational and home-grown companies in the FMCG space has converged over the past year. While the price-earnings multiples of domestic entities have been ... More

MUTUAL FUNDS

UTI Growth and Value: Hold
INVESTORS in UTI Growth & Value can retain their units despite the scheme's indifferent performance in the past 12 months, when it underperformed a number of its peers. Its performance record over a longer period of three years has, however, been More

Birla Equity Plan: Hold
INVESTORS can retain their holdings in Birla Equity Plan. The tax-saving fund has been among the better performing funds over the past year as well, having generated a return of about 40 per cent. As is the case with most tax-saving funds, its ... More

A 'Blended Plan' from PruICICI
PruICICI Mutual Fund is launching Blended Plan, which would invest in short-term debt and equity arbitrage positions. The fund offers two options: Plan A would invest up to 50 per cent in fully hedged equity, up to 49 per cent in money ... More

FUND TALK
Game for high-risk funds
Funds that invest in small/mid-cap stocks may be a better option than sector-specific funds, because they are more flexible in responding to opportunities. More

STOCKS

Hindustan Lever: Long-term buy
INVESTORS with a long-term investment perspective can consider adding the Hindustan Lever stock to their portfolio, especially during any price decline linked to broad market levels. The stock trades at a price-earnings multiple of about 25 ... More

Ashok Leyland: Buy
ASHOK Leyland has capped an interesting fiscal year 2004-05 with a good performance in the fourth quarter. The turnover and earnings grew 30-35 per cent (net of `other income') respectively as the company ramped up its ... More

Biocon: Reduce exposures
SHAREHOLDERS could consider reducing their holdings of the Biocon stock, which trades at Rs 399. At this price, the stock trades at a price-earnings multiple of 18 times its expected per share earnings for the current ... More

Hexaware Technologies: Buy
INVESTORS can consider taking fresh exposure in the Hexaware Technologies stock at the current post-stock-split price levels. Any declines in the broad markets may be used to enhance exposures. The stock, however, is ... More

Automotive Axles: Buy
INVESTORS can consider exposure in Automotive Axles at the prevailing price levels. Taking into account the capacity expansion projects implemented by the company and the growth potential in the domestic and export ... More

TECHNICAL ANALYSIS

Query corner
What is the outlook for Gujarat NRE Coke purchased at Rs 125? Please advice whether to sell or hold. — Devendra Gujarat NRE Coke (Rs 107.5): The outlook does not appear positive. The stock is in a corrective phase to the ... More

Nifty perched at crucial support
Preferred view: The market sentiment remained weak during the just concluded week. The expected short-term bounce towards the 1990-2000 range failed to materialise. The index did, however, fall to the target zone of 1895-1900 range ... More

Focus of the week
The stock could, however, get into a term corrective phase on a move to the immediate target zone of Rs 318-320. The expected short-term corrective phase could lead to a decline to the Rs 295-300 range. Shareholders may consider partial ... More

Weakness beckons RIL, Infosys
Reliance Ind (Rs 527.7): The anticipated short-term uptrend materialised during the week and the stock moved closer to the target zone of Rs 562.-562. After touching a high of Rs 559.6, the stock turned weak on Wednesday. The near-term ... More

CARS

Ford Mondeo Ghia: Montage of abilities
THERE is a certain amount of reluctance that premium segment sedan buyers display when they consider competing cars from a few brands in the market. Here, image is everything and though new age technology is all-important, it somehow does not ... More

HCV/LCV/TRACTORS

LAW LANE
Second thoughts on first-aid
DICK says in Shakespeare's King Henry VI, "The first thing we do, let's kill all the lawyers." Well, let's banish that as an impractical suggestion, and choose instead the Law Lane to check out what's new on automobiles in ... More

STOCK MARKETS

Equity-premium
IF you had bought shares that constituted the S&P CNX Nifty index, your one-year return as of March 31, 2005 would have been 15 per cent. The returns are higher if you had invested for 3-5 years. Financial economists term such high returns as the More

DERIVATIVES MARKETS

Mixed signals for Nifty
THE F&O segment at the NSE witnessed heightened activity last week as compared with the previous week. The average daily turnover jumped to Rs 12,180 crore against the previous week's figure of Rs 10,071 crore. But, the turnover was far less when More

FIXED DEPOSITS

FD options
First Leasing: Investments in the three-year fixed deposit of First Leasing can be considered. The company offers 8 per cent for a three-year tenure, one of the higher rates offered by established finance companies. In terms of ... More

INCOME TAX

A question of returns from a couple returning to India
I AM a non-resident. My wife and I were earlier working in India. I have since moved over to Dubai where both my wife and myself are employed. We have made substantial savings out of our earnings in Dubai and our ... More

IPOS

Cyber Media (India): Avoid
RETAIL investors may avoid the initial public offering of Cyber Media (India) as the risks involved in the projects in the pipeline planned are fairly high. Given Cyber Media's long presence in niche media publications ... More

BOOKS

Treat the market as a lady and you will be happy
SPECULATION is a 11 letter word that often gets four-letter treatment. But it need not be so. "Speculation is not a dirty word and neither is it gambling," says Ashwani Gujral in How to Make Money Trading Derivatives: An Insider's ... More

CARTOON