The Hindu Business Line : Sunday, October 08, 2006

FINANCIAL SERVICES
Innovations in online broking — Is the future flat?
Indian brokerages are coming of age and witnessing a transition towards flat fee products More

INVESTMENTS
`Affective' forecasting
Consider this. My friend recently found a stock trading at Rs 100. He placed a limit order at Rs 97.65. His order was not executed as the stock moved to Rs 115. He refused to buy the stock at that price even ... More

INSIGHT
Mutual funds over the quarter — Back, but not with a bang
A mid-cap tilt in the portfolios and high levels of cash appeared to be the primary reasons for one set of funds under-performing the market. Moreover, the market rally itself was restricted to a limited universe of stocks. More

Changing dynamics in steel sector
For Tata Steel, which has put through two acquisitions in the Asian region, the speculated move into Europe may be the next logical step in the value chain. More

MUTUAL FUNDS
PORTFOLIO MOVES
DSPML Balanced Fund: Fresh entry into metals, media and paper
DSPML Balanced Fund appears to have found investment opportunities in the recent market correction. In June-August 2006, it took fresh exposure in a number of stocks and also increased its equity allocation marginally from 64 per cent to 69 per ... More

Birla Advantage Fund: Hold
Thanks to the presence of large-cap stocks in the portfolio, the fund has bounced back firmly from the lows it touched in June. More

Reliance Equity: Hold
While hedging minimises risk, it caps the upside potential. The concept is suitable for investors looking for more stable returns. More

Fund Talk
I have an SIP of Rs 2,000 each in Magnum TaxGain, PruICICI Tax Plan, Sundaram Select Midcap, Magnum Contra and Franklin Prima. I have a five-year horizon. But should I churn my portfolio every year? If so, based on what criteria? If I do so, ... More

DSPML launches Small and Midcap Fund
Birla Mutual Fund has announced dividends in two of its schemes — Birla Dividend Yield Plus, which has declared an 8 per cent dividend, and Birla FMP Annual Series I a 6.5 per cent dividend. October 10 is the record date. SBI ... More

Market View
With returns of about 31 per cent year-to-date, India has been one of the strongest gainers within the region, placing its market valuations at a significant premium to other emerging markets. The high allocations for India in ... More

PETROLEUM
Back to Qatar for LNG
The wheel has turned full circle in the country's quest for natural gas. It all began with Qatar in the late-1990s, when the country's first LNG deal for supply of 7.5 million tonnes for 25 years was signed with RasGas, a joint venture of Qatar ... More

STOCKS
Ashok Leyland: Buy
Investors can consider buying Ashok Leyland at the current market price of Rs 49. The stock has been rising in the last two weeks following talk of a multinational commercial vehicle manufacturer picking up equity in the company. However, on ... More

Murudeshwar Ceramics: Buy
While the expansion in ceramic tiles business is likely to reduce margins, cost efficiency measures adopted by the company offers protection. More

Pfizer: Hold
Though Pfizer's performance has shown a consistent improvement over the last few quarters, our current view is driven largely by the uncertainty over the impact of the sale of the consumer business at the global level. More

PSL: Buy
A robust order book and buoyancy in the oil and gas sector augur well for PSL. More

Petronet LNG: Buy
The company would graduate to the next level if Qatar picks up equity and agrees to supply additional LNG. More

Tata Coffee: Buy
The Eight O' Clock (EOC) acquisition, instant coffee expansion plans and the turnaround of the recently acquired tea plantations lends confidence to the stock. More

TECHNICAL ANALYSIS
Query Corner
I am holding 45 shares of BHEL. Please tell me the trend in this stock. Can I hold, sell or buy more? Bhattathiri BHEL (Rs 2,324.9): Pure trend following methods are displaying absolutely no weakness in the short or ... More

Nifty may be confined to narrow range
Tata Steel likely to turn weak More

Tech Tools
Should we use the simple moving average or the exponential moving average in MACD? For the short-term as well as for the long-term should the daily MACD or weekly MACD be used? What action should be taken if daily MACD shows "sell" signal ... More

Trader's Corner
We remain pivoted around the pivot-point trading this week, too. Some traders believe that pivot-point trading is inappropriate for equity markets, as price manipulations are rampant here. The way to circumvent this problem would be to apply this ... More

Reliance
The stock took a step lower in the first half of last week to touch an intra-week low of Rs 1144.2. The short-term trend has turned negative; the medium-term outlook, however, remains positive. We will need a fall below Rs 1,080 for the ... More

SBI
The stock was rock steady in spite of the turbulence witnessed in the first half of last week. This stock closed the week almost unchanged from previous week's close. The intra-week movement resembles a running correction, which is a very ... More

Tata Steel
The counter made two unsuccessful attempts, on Tuesday and Friday, to rise above Rs 540. Our medium-term outlook continues to be positive, this stock can be heading for Rs 601 and then Rs 674. But, the present consolidation phase will prolong ... More

Index Outlook
The Sensex lost its foothold and slipped in the early part of the week to an intra-week low of 12178.8. But it was back on its feet in no time and the weekly loss was a mere 0.6 per cent. It can be classified as a week in which the Sensex paused ... More

Infosys
Last week, the scrip did not breach our short-term support of Rs 1,780. It turned up from an intra-week low of Rs 1,797 to lead the market's recovery. The outlook for this stock is positive, as fresh buy signals are being generated by short-term ... More

ACC
The stock consolidated sideways between Rs 970 and Rs 1,000 last week. This is the first red candle on the weekly chart since the medium-term uptrend began on July 24. The oscillators on the daily chart have begun to signal a sell. The weekly ... More

ONGC
This scrip is looking the weakest among all the pivotals. It has registered successive lower peaks and troughs since the high of Rs 1,250 made on August 17. The price is currently below both the 50- and 200-day EMAs. The 10-day ROC is in negative ... More

SSI
GTF's `e-loans' for SSIs
Global Trade Finance has launched an `e-loans sanctioning' facility for exporters in the small-scale industries (SSI) sector. A registered SSI unit having an export relationship with an overseas buyer for at least one year can now seek approval ... More

RADIO/TV
Mundu Radio on your mobile
Mundu Radio, the new product from Geodesic, is now accessible from mobile phones. It connects you to dozens of pre-defined digital radio stations across popular categories; you can also tune into thousands of other radio stations around the ... More

CARS
Features not featured in Indian models
Advanced features that are part of standard equipment in high-end car models abroad will either not be found in India-spec models or will be disabled before sale here. Read on to find out why. More

And now, a sportier Fiesta
The Ford Fiesta has quickly climbed up the market share ladder. Within a year of its launch, the car has become the second largest selling family sedan in the Indian market. Of course, the more popular (by a big margin) of the two models — ... More

Maruti's October scheme
Maruti has come out with its sales scheme for this month. The automaker's offering includes a bundling of gift cheques and exchange bonuses on most of its models. In Chennai and Mumbai, Maruti is offering to pay insurance premium on the M800 and ... More

Tata Motors plans new model
Tata Motors is set to take on Force Motors' niche offering, the Tempo Traveller. Tata Motors plans to launch a new passenger vehicle, which is said to have been developed and based loosely on Renault's Trafik, by early 2007.The company plans to ... More

Shopping Instincts
J.D. Power Asia has come out with a unique study `India Escaped Shopper'. The study, which is into its second year, dwells on 48 aspects new-car buyers consider when voting with their money. It states that while price and finance-related issues ... More

TWO/THREE WHEELERS
CBZ's second coming
Many of us will remember the Hero Honda CBZ as probably the bike that was a bit ahead of its times. It had the unmistakable mark of Hero Honda writ all over it — reliable, well made and relatively fuel-efficient. But it was ahead of its ... More

STOCK MARKETS
Baskets of X
E-mail your guess before Tuesday to: BasketsOfX@gmail.com

Bull's Eye
E-mail your response by Tuesday to BullsEye@thehindu.co.in Blog at: More

INTERVIEW
There are interesting investment opportunities across several sectors
It is very clear that the Indian economy and the stock market will be driven by three main themes over the next 5-10 years: Outsourcing, domestic consumption and infrastructure. — MR S. NAGANATH, CIO, DSP ML MUTUAL FUND More

INCOME TAX
Double trouble for the software engineer
My daughter is working in a software company in India. From April 2005 to June 2005 and December 2005 to March 2006 she was paid salary in India. For the period from July 2005 to November 2005 she worked in the US. Tax was withheld on the ... More

RIGHTS ISSUE
Morarjee Textiles: Invest
With debt at more comfortable levels, Morarjee may be better placed to expand its capacities. More

BOOKS
The secret is steady learning
Trading and investing are skills one can learn, provided one is willing to do so More

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Nifty Companies News
SE Diary
Stock Quotes

Index Outlook

Changing dynamics in steel sector

Features not featured in Indian models

Nifty may be confined to narrow range

Looking back
Oct. 1-Oct. 7
Global consolidation moves — The side effects on Indian pharma

Development Credit Bank: Avoid

Index Outlook

Bullish trend in Nifty likely