The Hindu Business Line : Sunday, June 12, 2005

The segments don't add up yet
CORPORATE India has failed to put its best foot forward on `segment reporting' — disclosing corporate performance under different business segments — even four years after this became mandatory. Blame ... More

Restructuring signals
A POWERFUL argument for segment reporting is that it helps investors understand the risk and returns from different segments, enables companies to undertake restructuring based on margin and ROCE comparisons and keeps the market for corporate ... More

Tax savers acquit themselves well
EQUITY-Linked Savings Schemes, more popularly known as tax-saving funds, have acquitted themselves well between March 2003 and March 2005. On an average, they have delivered better returns than the average diversified equity fund, even on a ... More

A buzz beyond the numbers
IT HAS been a rather interesting first two months for the automobile industry in the current financial year. Companies have reported diverse sales trends with some recording a growth and others, a fall in sales. In the ... More

SEBI GUIDE
What's cut-off price?
Green-shoe Option: A Green Shoe option means an option of allocating shares in excess of the shares included in the public issue and operating a post-listing price stabilizing mechanism for a period not exceeding 30 days through a ... More

MUTUAL FUNDS

Sundaram Select Midcap: Hold
INVESTORS in Sundaram Select Midcap can continue to retain their exposures. The fund is following its mandate of investing in mid-cap stocks and its performance since inception has been impressive. Fresh investments ... More

Tax savings with a dash of equity
GRANTED, it is not the time of the year when you usually begin to think of investing to save tax. But if you want to add the flavour of equities to your portfolio of tax-saving investments, it may be better to make an ... More

Reliance Diversified Power Fund: Hold
INVESTORS may retain their holdings in Reliance Diversified Power Sector Fund in the wake of a fairly impressive performance in its first year since launch. This fund has diversified its exposures across stocks of ... More

STOCKS

Gateway Distriparks: Hold
SHAREHOLDERS of Gateway Distriparks can remain invested, as there could be room for further gains over a one/two-year period. Logistics is likely to emerge a business with high growth potential and Gateway is well-placed to capitalise on this ... More

Amara Raja Batteries: Buy
LONG-TERM investors can consider equity exposure at the prevailing levels. The recent developments relating to bagging of orders along with the technical backing of Johnsons Control of US would help Amara Raja grow at a steady pace. Though the ... More

Bharati Shipyard: Buy
AN investment may be considered in the stock of Bharati Shipyard, as a rising order book, expansion in capacity, and modernisation that would enable it build a wider range of ships, promise robust revenue and earnings growth. The stock, which ... More

TECHNICAL ANALYSIS

Weakness likely in the near term
Preferred view: The market activity was marked by high degree of volatility during the week. The index was confined to a trading zone. Though the Nifty managed to close above the resistance level at 2110, it failed to hold above this ... More

Focus of the week
Century Textiles (Rs 260.6): After being confined to a narrow range, the stock has managed to recover ground in the recent weeks. The long-term outlook is bullish. A move to the Rs 310-320 range appears likely. The positive view would be ... More

Query Corner
What is the outlook for Nava Bharat Ferro Alloys bought at Rs 395.— R.Rama Rao Nava Bharat Ferro (Rs 366.5): Sell at least a portion of the holdings as there are no signs of recovery. A drop to the Rs 335-340 range ... More

Downward bias in SBI
SBI (Rs 680.4): The stock failed to close above the resistance level of Rs 690. This resulted in a sharp drop on Friday. The recent price patterns suggest that the downward move witnessed on Friday could continue. A decline to the Rs ... More

CARS

Reva Standard a practical car
I GATHER that Reva's new model is likely to be launched soon and obviously is yet to be proven for its performance. But what's your observation about its current Classe model? What is the running cost and what are ... More

ECONOMICS

Primate instinct
ECONOMICS is monkey business! A published working paper by Professor Chen and his colleagues at Yale University shows that monkeys apply economics just the way we do. Here is how: To start with, Professor Keith Chen and his colleagues taught ... More

DERIVATIVES MARKETS

Nifty may seek lower levels
Nifty outlook: Last week, we had indicated that Nifty was poised at a critical level and had we gad expected a major breakout if it breaches the 2110 level. Also, we had indicated that if it dips below 2065 levels, the Nifty could touch ... More

FIXED DEPOSITS

India Cements: Invest
India Cements: An investment in the one- and two-year options can be considered. The rates of 8 per cent and 8.5 per cent are attractive compared to what is on offer from a host of other companies. The risks are, however, higher as the ... More

INTERVIEW

`GenNext hopes to ride consumption boom'
AFTER being absent from the new fund scene for over two years, Birla Mutual Fund plans to unveil a new offering this month. Birla India GenNext Fund is a theme fund that will invest in sectors that it believes will benefit from the consumption ... More

INCOME TAX

What is the exemption limit for children's hostel rent?
OUR company provides the employees an allowance of Rs 450 per month per child as educational allowance, subject to a maximum of two children. This allowance is given specifically as per the terms of employment to ... More

Employer bound to consider previous salary for tax
DURING the financial year 2004-05, I worked with two employers. I was initially employed by a company and then later, during the year, shifted to another company. I have given the particulars of salary earned from my former employer to my present ... More

IPOS

Uniply Industries: Invest
AN INVESTMENT can be considered in the initial public offer of Uniply Industries, which makes plywoods and veneers. At Rs 24, the stock is valued at 20 times the FY-05 per share earnings on the post-issue equity base. The stock is stiffly priced, ... More

Jindal Poly Films: Invest at Rs 360
INVESTORS can subscribe to the public offer by Jindal Poly Films at the lower end of the Rs 360-400 band. Jindal Poly Films proposes to primarily use the proceeds of this offer primarily to enhance capacities in the flexible packaging business. ... More

Yes Bank: Invest at Rs 45
YES BANK is making losses, and as at end-March 2005 its low-cost deposits were a mere Rs 10 crore. It is, however, asking investors to pay a multiple of 2.25 times the post-offer book value. It plans to debut in the ... More

Provogue: Invest at Rs 150
INVESTORS with an appetite for high risk can consider subscribing to the initial public offering of Provogue, a pure-play branded apparel player. Our recommendation is not linked to any gains upon listing. At Rs 150, ... More

RIGHTS ISSUES

The Oudh Sugar Mills: Invest
SHAREHOLDERS of The Oudh Sugar Mills can subscribe to the rights offer, which is being made at a significant discount to the market price. They may simultaneously sell their holdings in the open market as it may not be wise to enhance exposure to ... More

Bata India: Invest
SHAREHOLDERS can consider investing in the rights offer of Bata India. The offer price of Rs 54 is at a substantial discount to the market price of about Rs 90. With Bata poised for a turnaround in performance, there is scope for ... More

Lakshmi Vilas Bank: Invest
SHAREHOLDERS should accept the rights offer of Lakshmi Vilas Bank. The offer is at a considerable discount to the prevailing market price and also at a substantial discount to the book value. The offer is priced at Rs 55 when the prevailing ... More

OPEN OFFERS

Alstom: Reject
SHAREHOLDERS of Alstom should reject the open offer, as it is at a substantially lower price compared to the value at which the stock trades. The open offer is at Rs 75.03 per share while the stock now trades in the vicinity of Rs 200. The ... More

INVESTMENTS

Value investing: Know what you are buying
ONE OF the key principles of value investing is to understand the business you are buying. If you don't, it is better to stay away from it. An investor should take a commonsense approach in buying shares. He should ask ... More

BOOKS

All stocks are bad unless they go up
A SIGN of a stock topping is when you see four or five down days followed by two or three up days, whereas before you would have seen 4 up and 2-3 down. This is just one of the scores of such nuggets of info that William J. O'Neil provides in ... More

CARTOON