The Hindu Business Line : Sunday, October 09, 2005

Construction is a Cinderella story
CONSTRUCTION companies have never before enjoyed such strong investor fancy. Lifted suddenly out of years of low single-digit price earnings multiples (what the market is willing to pay for every rupee of earnings), ... More

Earnings preview of IT majors — Better times beckon
The ABN Amro deal is expected to increase pressure among European vendors to outsource, and large unbundled deals may be closed more quickly. Once this trend picks up, it will enhance the scope for Indian vendors to cross-sell newer services. More

COURTS/LEGAL ISSUES

On dating a Porsche!
A CAR can massage organs that no masseur can reach, is a quote of Jean Cocteau, best known for his 1929 novel Les Enfants Terribles, the 1934 play The Infernal Machine, and the 1945 film, Beauty and the ... More

MUTUAL FUNDS

FUND TALK
Investing for children's education
It is best to commit yourself to SIPs only for one year at a time; a lot can change over a long period, including the shortlist of the best funds to invest in. More

DSP ML T.I.G.E.R Fund: Hold
DSP ML T.I.G.E.R (The Infrastructure Growth and Economic Reforms) Fund, which seeks to invest in stocks of companies that would benefit from economic reforms and an infrastructure thrust, has delivered a return of close to 70 per cent over the ... More

Birla Equity Plan: Invest
BIRLA Equity Plan appears to be a good investment option in the universe of tax-saving funds. On a one-year and a three-year basis, its performance compares well with that of other diversified equity funds with a similar profile. The sector and ... More

A new scheme from Tata MF

UTI Mutual Fund has declared a dividend of 25 per cent on UTI Mastershare. The record date is October 20. The last dividend declared by the fund was in September 2004.

HDFC Mutual has identified October 13 as the record date for ... More

STOCKS

Bharti Tele-Ventures: Buy
ROBUST growth in customer addition, an expanding scale of revenues and earnings and big-ticket investments in network and services, which will drive growth over the next few years make Bharti Tele-Ventures an attractive opportunity in the ... More

Dalmia Cement: Book profits
SHAREHOLDERS of Dalmia Cement could reduce exposure in the stock to take advantage of the sharp rise in the price; the stock has doubled over the past three months and may settle at a slightly higher level once it starts to trade on an ex-stock ... More

Sundram Fasteners: Buy
LONG-TERM investors may consider equity exposure in Sundram Fasteners. Strong fundamentals, healthy growth prospects and growing contribution from exports are major positives from an investment perspective. Though the profitability could be ... More

Indian Hotels: Buy
SEVENTY-three properties and still expanding, Indian Hotels, owner of the Taj Group of Hotels, remains India's leading hotelier. That it is an industry frontrunner, with aggressive plans for the mass market and a slowly expanding global footprint ... More

DCW: Hold
INVESTORS may retain their exposures in DCW. At Rs 10, the stock trades at 8 times its trailing 12-month per share earnings. Though lower off take at its polyvinyl chloride (PVC) division wiped out profits from this business in the first quarter ... More

Geometric Software: Hold
FOR the second consecutive quarter, Geometric Software has warned that its revenue and earnings will fall short of expectations. Citing delays in ramp-up of specific projects by clients and partners, Geometric indicated it is expecting only a ... More

TAXATION

Long-term capital gains versus loss on share deals
I HAVE long-term capital gain computed without the benefit of indexation from sale of shares of XYZ Ltd of Rs 50,000 and long-term capital loss computed with the benefit of indexation of Rs 25,000 from the sale of shares of ABC Ltd. How is the ... More

Gift to HUF
MY HUF (Hindu undivided family) consists of my wife, my two minor children and myself. My father proposes to give a gift to the HUF. Will the income received from such gifts be clubbed and taxed in my hands? V. D. Datar Reply Though ... More

TECHNICAL ANALYSIS

Corrective phase is not complete
The short-term correction materialised during the week and the Nifty tested the support zone of 2550-2560 that was mentioned last week. Though the index managed to move past the crucial positive trigger level of 2650, the failure to hold above ... More

A mixed trend in pivotal stocks
SBI (Rs 916): After a firm trend in the early part of the week, the stock went into the anticipated corrective phase since Wednesday. As observed in the earlier weeks, the stock appears on its way towards the support zone at Rs 875-885 ... More

Focus of the week
Ashok Leyland (Rs 29): The outlook is positive and the stock appears to have the potential to move to the target zone of Rs 36-38 range. There is, however, a possibility of a drop to Rs 24-25 range. This possibility would be validated ... More

Query Corner
Should I hold or sell Vijaya Bank bought at Rs 67? — S.K. Kapur, T.J. Ravi Vijaya Bank (Rs 62): The stock has not moved past our earlier trigger price of Rs 70 indicated in the edition dated August 14. ... More

INVESTMENT QUOTIENT

Investment quiz
1. What is Gecis Global — the leading outsourcing company in India promoted by General Electric — now known as? 2. Dr Reddy's Labs has vested a substantial part of its R&D activity in a new company, which is financed by ICICI ... More

PENSION PLANS

ICICI Pru Golden Years retirement plan
AS THE medical world strives to extend human longevity through its many advances and innovations, having to secure oneself financially for a lengthy post-retirement innings becomes even more important. Retirement plans offered by insurance ... More

CARS

A comparison of the Honda Accord and Hyundai Sonata
More

Ford's October Blast
FORD has announced a special offer on the Ikon. Under the October Blast scheme, the company is offering free insurance cover, free maintenance plan for three years and accessories, which include leather seats and ... More

Maruti hikes prices
Maruti has also jumped onto the price-hike bandwagon. Citing higher freight costs, it has raised the prices of almost all its models. It plans to maintain status quo on the prices of Swift until the bookings made until June 8 are cleared. The ... More

Market buzz
Fiat is in talks with Tata Motors to jointly develop and produce cars. An alliance for selling is also on the cards. There are also plans for a car targeted at the Asian market as well as commercial, industrial and agricultural vehicles. ... More

TWO/THREE WHEELERS

Hero Honda woos the fairer sex
Hero Honda has showcased two new products, Pleasure and Achiever. The Pleasure would be the company's first foray into the fast growing scooter segment and is targeted at women; Hero Honda, which has for long left out the fairer sex, now seeks ... More

Discount restored
On all its bikes, Hero Honda has come out with a special discount of Rs 1,001, which was lifted after the price hike in April. Alagappan ... More

ECONOMICS

Less is more
RECENTLY, my friend decided to treat himself to dinner at an exotic restaurant. He had a horrific time deciding what to eat because the restaurant offered a wide spread! He later said that he was happier with his neighbourhood restaurant that ... More

STOCK MARKETS

SEBI GUIDE
Takeovers and substantial acquisition
When an "acquirer" takes over the control of the "target company", it is termed as takeover. When an acquirer acquires "substantial quantity of shares or voting rights" of the target company, it results into substantial acquisition of ... More

FUND VIEW
Outlook for profit growth rates
THE long-term sustainable profit growth rates of Indian corporates on an average are nearly equal to the growth rates of manufacturing and service sectors plus inflation. Assuming around 8 per cent real growth rates of service and manufacturing ... More

DERIVATIVES MARKETS

Options guide
Call option: A call option gives the buyer `the right but not the obligation' to buy the stock at a specified price on a future date. Put option: A put option gives the buyer `the right but not the obligation' to sell a stock ... More

INTERVIEW

`This bull market is different from previous ones' — Tridib Pathak, CIO, Cholamandalam AMC
Tridib Pathak, Chief Investment Officer of Cholamandalam AMC, believes that there is no reason to worry about a big-time stock market decline as long as India manages to sustain its "growth gap" with the rest of the world. He points out that ... More

IPOS

Sree Renuka Sugars: Invest at cut off
INVESTORS can bid for the initial public offer from Sree Renuka Sugars at the cut-off price. The offer is stiffly priced, and demands a premium valuation on the company's current earnings. The offer price, at Rs 300 (the higher end of the ... More

RIGHTS ISSUE

Century Extrusions: Reject
INVESTORS can give this rights offer from Century Extrusions a miss. The offer is to part finance the cost of a rehabilitation scheme approved by the BIFR in 2003. The fragmented nature of the industry, the stiff competition from peers and ... More

BOOKS

Women with enough money!
Laura Rowley is the Personal Finance Columnist for `Self' magazine with over 5 million readers, and here is her new book "Money & Happiness," from Wiley (www.wiley.com) , to debunk the usual `or' between ... More

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