Kumar Shankar Roy, TNN The recent stock market rally which has delivered close to 20% returns in just one month, has surprised many market watchers. A quick look into the stock returns reveals that laggards over the past year delivering best returns. According to BSE 500 data, which constitutes 90% of the market capitalisation on Indian bourses, the best returns came from those stocks which lost heavily in the preceding 365 days. Dividing all the stocks in the BSE-500 in groups of fifty, showed that the top 50 stocks delivered 52% gains (on an average ) in the last 30 days and also boasted of 57% losses in the last 365 days — the worst returns. So, a stock like Financial Technologies, part of the top 50 group, definitely gained 61% in just 30 days but has incurred 58% loss in the last one-year period. This analysis not only holds true for the top 50 stocks but progressively for the next 400 stocks: As the average 30-day gains reduce, so do the average 365-day losses. The second 50 stocks recorded 36% gains in the 30-day period but also clocked 56% losses in the one-year period . So, it is not surprising to see that the stock of J K Lakshmi Cement which gained 38% in the 30-day period actually has clocked 55% losses in the preceding 365 days. This continues for third, fourth, fifth and sixth fifty stocks. Analysts feel that trends like these show the divergence that has existed in the stock markets this year. "… the divergence could be a sign that some of the fear gripping investors around the world is abating. No longer selling shares indiscriminately, investors are trying to identify which stocks world-wide will profit if a tentative economic recovery takes hold, even if the economic picture for this year remains grim." an analyst with HDFC Securities said. "One needs to bear in mind that India’s bear markets have historically lasted 30 months on average and longer than India’s bull markets. The market is more likely to crawl rather than spike out of its current trading band that is getting a bit wide," said the head of equity of a foreign brokerage. Courtesy/Source: economictimes.indiatimes.com
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Gold prices exploded on Wednesday — posting the biggest one-day gain ever in dollar terms — as fears of more credit market turmoil unnerved investors and triggered a flood of safe-haven buying.
Gold for December delivery rose as much as $90.40, or 11.6 per cent, to $870.90 an ounce in after-hours trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange after jumping $70 to settle at $850.50 in the regular session. That was the biggest one-day price jump ever; gold’s previous single-day record was a $64 gain on Jan. 29, 1980.
The huge rally came after the government moved overnight to rescue troubled insurer American International Group Inc. with an $85 million bailout loan. The Federal Reserve stepped in after AIG, teetering on collapse from losses tied to the subprime crisis and the credit crisis, failed to find adequate capital in the private sector. The emergency measure came a day after Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc., a 158-year-old investment bank, filed for bankruptcy after failing to find a buyer.
Fearing more tightening of credit markets, investors reacted swiftly and began dumping stocks and socking money into gold, silver and other safe-haven commodities. Gold is especially attractive during times of crisis because the metal is known for holding its value.
Jon Nadler, analyst with Kitco Bullion Dealers Montreal, said buying accelerated as rumours spread across trading floors that another financial firm may be in trouble.
“The psychology right now has everyone asking, ‘Who’s next?,” Nadler said. “If another big bank falls, we could see an implosion and that has people very worried.”
A weaker dollar also boosted gold prices. A falling greenback encourages investors to shift funds into hard assets like gold and other commodities that are bought as hedges against inflation and weakness in the US currency.
Prior to the rally, gold had fallen 25 percent since surging to record levels above $1,000 an ounce in March.
“The same market participants who got out of gold are coming back in now. This is the start of an upward move,” said Carlos Sanchez, analyst with CPM Group in New York, who predicted prices could climb back to $1,000 by year’s end.
Silver prices also jumped. The December contract soared $1.158 to settle at $11.675 an ounce. December copper, however, fell 4.65 cents to settle at $3.0425 a pound.
Courtesy/Source: timesofindia.indiatimes.com
Disclaimer: The Stocks Recommended Above Are Picked Up At Random From Research Reports Of Broking Houses. Investors Are Advised To Use Their Judgment Before Acting On These Recommendations. Author Does Not Associate Itself With The Choices. Investments In Stock Markets Are Risky. Information And Advice Is Based On Technical Analysis And Long Term Fundamentals Of The Company And Is Provided Without Any Liability (Financial Or Otherwise).The Author Or His Clients May Or May Not Be Holding Recommended Scripts.
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Oil prices shot up $6 a barrel on Wednesday, rebounding as fears of a spreading crisis in the US financial sector sent skittish investors scrambling out of stocks and into hard assets.
Light, sweet crude for October delivery rose $6.01, or 6.59 per cent, to settle at $97.16 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Prices had tumbled more than $5 to close at $91.15 on Tuesday. In London, November Brent crude rose $5.62 to settle at $94.84 a barrel.
Prior to the rally, oil had fallen about $55 – or 38 per cent – since hitting a record $147.27 on July 11.
Wednesday’s big rally at least temporarily halted crude’s steep, two-month slide and brought prices back within striking distance of $100. Investors were frantically buying the same commodity that until this week they shunned in the belief that the slowing global economy was eroding demand for energy.
But analysts said oil is unlikely to resume its upward climb; the economic downturn has indeed sharply curtailed demand, and they noted that recent rallies often have been followed by sharp selloffs as oil market traders try to cash in.
Wednesday’s oil rally was energized by the bailout of AIG. The Federal Reserve on Tuesday agreed to pump $85 million in taxpayer money into the insurance giant in return for a 79.9 per cent ownership stake. The lifeline was aimed at avoiding an AIG collapse due to massive losses tied to the subprime mortgage crisis and the credit crunch.
Oil’s climb picked up speed later in the day, stoked by fears that more turmoil lay ahead. Investors raced to dump stocks and poured money into energy, precious metals and other commodities, which are often bought as safe-haven investments during rough economic times.
“We’re seeing this crisis of confidence engulf the market again and oil’s getting caught up in it,” said Phil Flynn, analyst at Alaron Trading Corp. in Chicago.
If AIG had been allowed to fail, investors feared the company would move to unwind positions in energy and other commodities to raise cash, setting in motion another big commodities liquidation. Oil’s big two-day price drop this week was due in part to similar concerns that surfaced after Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. filed for bankruptcy Monday.
“The fear was that if AIG was allowed to go down, we could be looking at a huge exit from financial instruments across the spectrum: equities, oil futures, everything,” said Jim Ritterbusch, president of energy consultancy Ritterbusch and Associates in Galena, Illinois.
A weaker dollar also gave oil prices a boost. A falling greenback encourages investors to shift funds into commodities, which are often bought as safe-haven assets used to hedge against inflation or weakness in the US currency.
But oil market watchers doubted oil would start rising again. Worries about more tumult in financial markets have raised expectations of a prolonged economic downturn that will weaken US demand for crude.
Courtesy/Source: timesofindia.indiatimes.com
Disclaimer: The Stocks Recommended Above Are Picked Up At Random From Research Reports Of Broking Houses. Investors Are Advised To Use Their Judgment Before Acting On These Recommendations. Author Does Not Associate Itself With The Choices. Investments In Stock Markets Are Risky. Information And Advice Is Based On Technical Analysis And Long Term Fundamentals Of The Company And Is Provided Without Any Liability (Financial Or Otherwise).The Author Or His Clients May Or May Not Be Holding Recommended Scripts.
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Wall Street plunged again on Wednesday as anxieties about the financial system ran high after the government’s bailout of insurer American International Group Inc. left investors with little confidence in many banking stocks. ( Watch )
The Dow Jones industrial average lost about 450 points, giving it a shortfall of more than 800 so far this week.
As investors fled stocks, they sought the safety of hard assets and government debt, sending gold, oil and short-term Treasurys soaring.
The market was more unnerved than comforted by news that the Federal Reserve is giving a two-year, $85 billion loan to AIG in exchange for a nearly 80 per cent stake in the company, which lost billions in the risky business of insuring against bond defaults.
Wall Street had feared that the conglomerate, which has extensive ties to various financial services industries around the world, would follow the investment bank Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. into bankruptcy. However, the ramifications of the world’s largest insurer going under likely would have far surpassed the demise of Lehman.
“People are scared to death,” said Bill Stone, chief investment strategist for PNC Wealth Management. “Who would have imagined that AIG would have gotten into this position?”
He said the anxiety gripping the markets reflects investors’ concerns that AIG wasn’t able to find a lifeline in the private sector and that Wall Street is now fretting about what other institutions could falter. Over the past year, companies including Lehman and AIG have sought to reassure investors that they weren’t in trouble, but as market conditions have worsened the market appears distrustful of any assurances.
“No one’s going to be believing anybody now because AIG said they were OK along with everybody else,” Stone said.
The two independent Wall Street investment banks left standing – Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and Morgan Stanley – remain under scrutiny, as does Washington Mutual Inc., the country’s largest thrift bank. Morgan Stanley revealed better-than-expected quarterly results late on Tuesday and insisted that it is surviving the credit crisis that has ravaged many of its peers.
Lehman filed for bankruptcy protection on Monday, and by late on Tuesday had sold its North American investment banking and trading operations to Barclays, Britain’s third-largest bank, for the bargain price of $250 million. Over the weekend, Merrill Lynch & Co., the world’s largest brokerage, sold itself to Bank of America Corp. in a quickly arranged plan to sidestep further slides in its stock.
“It’s still uncertain ground we’re treading. We just have to move on a daily basis,” said Jack A. Ablin, chief investment officer at Harris Private Bank.
The Dow fell 449.36, or 4.06 per cent, to 10,609.66, finishing not far off its lows of the session. On Monday, the Dow lost 504 points, the largest tumble since its drop following the September 2001 terror attacks. On Tuesday, it rose 141 points, after the Fed decided to leave interest rates unchanged.
The index is down more than 7 per cent on the week, its worst showing since July 2002. The blue chips have fallen more than 25 per cent since reaching a record close of 14,164.53 on Oct. 9 last year.
Broader stock indicators also fell sharply Wednesday. The Standard & Poor’s 500 index dropped 57.21, or 4.71 per cent, to 1,156.39, while the Nasdaq composite index fell 109.05, or 4.94 per cent, to 2,098.85. About 200 stocks rose on the New York Stock Exchange, while nearly 3,000 fell. The stock market is likely to see heavy back-and-forth movement as traders continue to assess the flood of news that has poured in over the past several days.
Short-term Treasurys moved sharply higher as investors sought a safe place for at least the near future. There was heavy buying in T-bills, which range from three months to a year in maturities. But the yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note, which moves opposite its price, slipped to 3.42 percent from 3.43 per cent late Tuesday as longer-term debt fell.
Gold for December delivery shot up as much as $90.40, or 11.6 per cent, to $870.90 an ounce in after-hours trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange after jumping $70 to settle at $850.50 in the regular session; that was its largest ever one-day gain in dollar terms.
Crude oil that had also skidded lower since midsummer $6.01 to settle at $97.16 a barrel on the Nymex after the government reported a drop in domestic crude and gas inventories. Oil dropped by about $10 a barrel on Monday and Tuesday.
Among financial names getting hit, Goldman Sachs fell $18.51, or 14 per cent, to $114.50 and Morgan Stanley fell $6.95, or 24 per cent, to $21.75. AIG fell $1.70, or 45 per cent, to $2.05.
Courtesy/Source: timesofindia.indiatimes.com
Disclaimer: The Stocks Recommended Above Are Picked Up At Random From Research Reports Of Broking Houses. Investors Are Advised To Use Their Judgment Before Acting On These Recommendations. Author Does Not Associate Itself With The Choices. Investments In Stock Markets Are Risky. Information And Advice Is Based On Technical Analysis And Long Term Fundamentals Of The Company And Is Provided Without Any Liability (Financial Or Otherwise).The Author Or His Clients May Or May Not Be Holding Recommended Scripts.
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The collapse of major Wall Street firms is likely to result in a tightening of liquidity, adverse impact on the banking sector and a slowdown for information-technology firms that serve customers in financial sectors, analysts said Wednesday.
The Reserve Bank of India, which had net foreign reserves of 288.8 billion dollars in the week ending September 5, has already taken measures to support the rupee which rose by 60 paisa against the dollar on Wednesday.
The central bank also barred Lehman’s India subsidiary from remitting money to its parent company.
But with falling global oil prices, India’s industrial growth rate of about 7 per cent and the strong fundamentals of the Indian economy so far, analysts say foreign funds will continue to come in to the country.
ICICI Bank, India’s second largest, lost more than 4 per cent in share value Wednesday, but said its investments linked with Lehman were less than .01 per cent of total investments, and it had already made provisions to cover the losses.
“There is panic and turmoil in the overseas markets. We will see at the end of this quarter whether to include this component of provisioning in our balance sheet,” ICICI Bank chief financial officer Chanda Kochhar said.
Information Technology firms like Satyam and Tata Consultancy Services, which have Merrill Lynch and AIG as major customers, are also expected to see a near-term decrease in business contracts.
“Certain crisis does create a frenzy effect and its impact will be assessed in the next couple of weeks,” India’s Commerce and Industry Minister Kamal Nath told reporters on Tuesday.
Nath said the US slowdown would affect the global economy including India, which was expecting 40 billion dollars of foreign direct investments in 2008-09.
Nath said the exposure of Asian banks to the collapsed firms was low. He said that reflected sound business practices in Asia, while he criticized the US banking sector and its regulators.
“Those who preached to us about best practices have not helped their own financial sector,” Nath said.
There was also apprehension about possible job cuts in the India operations of Lehman Brothers, Merrill Lynch and AIG. And India’s top business schools were starting to worry that students recruited last year may be losing their jobs even before they start working.
About 25 to 30 per cent of students from the top five business schools go into investment banking, many at Wall Street and London-based firms.
“In an increasingly interlinked global economy, India cannot remain immune to the US credit crisis,” Mumbai-based analyst RS Sharma said.
But he suggested the impact would be moderate because of the cautious approach of the country’s policy planners and calibrated regulation of the financial market. The central bank has raised interest rates several times over the past six months in its efforts to control inflation.
Key benchmark indices of the Indian share market opened higher on Wednesday, boosted by the US Federal Reserve’s bailout package for AIG, but slipped soon after opening.
The Bombay Stock Exchange’s 30-share Sensex was down by 1.47 per cent while the broader 50-share Nifty of the National Stock Exchange slipped by 1.03 per cent, but both recovered somewhat by midday.
The NSE’s banking sector, however, was down by more than 2 per cent. (dpa)
Courtesy/Source: topnews.in
Disclaimer: The Stocks Recommended Above Are Picked Up At Random From Research Reports Of Broking Houses. Investors Are Advised To Use Their Judgment Before Acting On These Recommendations. Author Does Not Associate Itself With The Choices. Investments In Stock Markets Are Risky. Information And Advice Is Based On Technical Analysis And Long Term Fundamentals Of The Company And Is Provided Without Any Liability (Financial Or Otherwise).The Author Or His Clients May Or May Not Be Holding Recommended Scripts.
Disclaimer: The entries posted on http://www.bhaveshthaker.com and http://bhaveshthaker.blogspot.com are purely with the intention of sharing personal interest in news, information, Gujarati music and poetry and Indian film and classical music, Indian stock market related information without any intention of any direct or indirect commercial gain. If any of the posts are causing infringement of copyrights, it is purely unintentional and such posts would be discarded with immediate effect, as soon as they are brought to notice of the administrator. Contact: bhaveshthaker@gmail.com
An international team of scientists has predicted that our galaxy, the Milky Way, contains a disk of ‘dark matter’.
The team includes astronomers Dr Justin Read, Professor George Lake and Oscar Agertz of the University of Zurich, and Dr Victor Debattista of the University of Central Lancashire, who have used the results of a supercomputer simulation to deduce the presence of this disk.
They have explained how the simulation could allow physicists to directly detect and identify the nature of dark matter for the first time.
Unlike the familiar ‘normal’ matter that makes up stars, gas and dust, ‘dark’ matter is invisible but its presence can be inferred through its gravitational influence on its surroundings.
Physicists believe that it makes up 22 per cent of the mass of the Universe, compared with the 4 per cent of normal matter and 74 per cent comprising the mysterious ‘dark energy’.
But, despite its pervasive influence, no one is sure what dark matter consists of.
Prior to this work, it was thought that dark matter forms in roughly spherical lumps called ‘halos’, one of which envelopes the Milky Way.
But, this ‘standard’ theory is based on supercomputer simulations that model the gravitational influence of the dark matter alone.
The new work includes the gravitational influence of the stars and gas that also make up our Galaxy.
Stars and gas are thought to have settled into disks very early on in the life of the Universe and this affected how smaller dark matter halos formed.
The team’s results suggest that most lumps of dark matter in our locality merged to form a halo around the Milky Way, but the largest lumps were preferentially dragged towards the galactic disk and were then torn apart, creating a disk of dark matter within the Galaxy.
“The dark disk only has about half of the density of the dark matter halo, which is why no one has spotted it before,” said lead author Justin Read.
“However, despite its low density, if the disk exists it has dramatic implications for the detection of dark matter here on Earth,” he added.
The ‘wind’ from the dark disk is much slower than from the halo because the disk co-rotates with the Earth.
This abundance of low-speed dark matter particles could be a real boon for researchers because they are more likely to excite a response in dark matter detectors than fast-moving particles.
This new research raises the exciting prospect that the dark disk – and dark matter – could be directly detected in the very near future.
Courtesy/Source: timesofindia.indiatimes.com
Disclaimer: The Stocks Recommended Above Are Picked Up At Random From Research Reports Of Broking Houses. Investors Are Advised To Use Their Judgment Before Acting On These Recommendations. Author Does Not Associate Itself With The Choices. Investments In Stock Markets Are Risky. Information And Advice Is Based On Technical Analysis And Long Term Fundamentals Of The Company And Is Provided Without Any Liability (Financial Or Otherwise).The Author Or His Clients May Or May Not Be Holding Recommended Scripts.
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Sweeping lifestyle changes including a better diet and more exercise can raise the body’s levels of an enzyme closely involved in controlling the aging process, US researchers reported on Monday.
The small study involved 30 men with low-risk prostate cancer who underwent three months of lifestyle changes. They had blood levels of the enzyme telomerase 29% higher after these three months than when they began.
Telomerase fixes and lengthens parts of chromosomes known as telomeres that control longevity and are also important for maintenance of immune-system cells.
The research in the journal Lancet Oncology was led by Dr Dean Ornish, head of the Preventive Medicine Research Institute in Sausalito, California, and a well-known author advocating lifestyle changes to improve health.
The lifestyle changes included a diet rich in fruits, vegetables, whole grains, legumes and soy products, moderate exercise such as walking for half an hour a day, and an hour of daily stress management methods such as meditation.
“This is the first study showing that anything can increase telomerase. If it were a new drug that had been shown to do this, it would be a billion-dollar drug. But this is something that people can do for free,” Ornish said.
Shortening of telomeres indicates disease risk and premature death in some types of cancer, including breast, colon and lung cancer.
Courtesy/Source: timesofindia.indiatimes.com
Disclaimer: The Stocks Recommended Above Are Picked Up At Random From Research Reports Of Broking Houses. Investors Are Advised To Use Their Judgment Before Acting On These Recommendations. Author Does Not Associate Itself With The Choices. Investments In Stock Markets Are Risky. Information And Advice Is Based On Technical Analysis And Long Term Fundamentals Of The Company And Is Provided Without Any Liability (Financial Or Otherwise).The Author Or His Clients May Or May Not Be Holding Recommended Scripts.
Disclaimer: The entries posted on http://www.bhaveshthaker.com and http://bhaveshthaker.blogspot.com are purely with the intention of sharing personal interest in news, information, Gujarati music and poetry and Indian film and classical music, Indian stock market related information without any intention of any direct or indirect commercial gain. If any of the posts are causing infringement of copyrights, it is purely unintentional and such posts would be discarded with immediate effect, as soon as they are brought to notice of the administrator. Contact: bhaveshthaker@gmail.com
If you are planning to buy a new mobile phone, brace up to pay more. A 15 per cent rise in the dollar against the rupee has hit cellphone makers badly.
All major cellphone makers are evaluating a 7-10 per cent price increase if the dollar appreciates further. About 100-million cellphones are likely to be sold this year compared to about 70 million last year.
The rupee hit a two-year low at Rs 46.60 against the dollar on Tuesday, forcing cellphone makers into meetings. “We are evaluating the situation. The appreciation in the dollar against the rupee has made all the components costly. The industry will have to take a decision on price revision upwards it if it goes towards Rs 50 against the dollar,” says Samsung Mobile country head Sunil Dutt.
A price increase may hurt the sales of top-end models most as handset makers may not increase prices of low-end models too much, the latter being a price-sensitive market. Laptop vendors, on the other hand, may not follow up with a price hike as they revised prices upwards by 10-13 per cent in May this year, owing to dollar appreciation.
Cellphone business, however, works on thin margins and companies are waiting for each other to take the first step.
“Though everybody is hurt, price increase has to be an industry-wide move. We cannot increase our prices on a standalone basis. The dollar has moved from Rs 39.4 (in January) to Rs 46.60 now and experts are saying that it will touch Rs 50 soon.
If that happens, there will be no choice, but to hike the prices as we have been absorbing the prices all this while,” says Spice Mobile CEO Kunal Ahooja.
Nokia, the largest handset player, declined to comment.
On an average, cellphone prices have been falling in the last three years by almost 4-5 per cent every three months. The average price of a handset in India is about Rs 4,000. If the rupee falls further, this might be the first price revision upwards in many quarters.
While some cellphone makers are asking for an industry meeting, the Indian Cellular Association (ICA) has declined to call such a meeting as it may result in cartel formation. “The industry association will not call any meeting as this will oppose the idea of free and open competition,” says ICA president Pankaj Mohindroo.
“The dollar has been fluctuating in the last 12 months. We are evaluating it closely and are hopeful that it may depreciate, preventing a price rise,” says Ericsson India GM Sudhin Mathur.
Courtesy/Source: timesofindia.indiatimes.com
Disclaimer: The Stocks Recommended Above Are Picked Up At Random From Research Reports Of Broking Houses. Investors Are Advised To Use Their Judgment Before Acting On These Recommendations. Author Does Not Associate Itself With The Choices. Investments In Stock Markets Are Risky. Information And Advice Is Based On Technical Analysis And Long Term Fundamentals Of The Company And Is Provided Without Any Liability (Financial Or Otherwise).The Author Or His Clients May Or May Not Be Holding Recommended Scripts.
Disclaimer: The entries posted on http://www.bhaveshthaker.com and http://bhaveshthaker.blogspot.com are purely with the intention of sharing personal interest in news, information, Gujarati music and poetry and Indian film and classical music, Indian stock market related information without any intention of any direct or indirect commercial gain. If any of the posts are causing infringement of copyrights, it is purely unintentional and such posts would be discarded with immediate effect, as soon as they are brought to notice of the administrator. Contact: bhaveshthaker@gmail.com
The banking, financial services and insurance (BFSI) segment is the largest outsourcing vertical for Indian technology players. The space contributes up to 40 per cent of the revenues for some top IT firms.
The industry employs around 3,50,000 people in the BFSI space of which the top six players alone account for 180,000 jobs. The domain accounted for $10 billion of the total $32 billion revenues the industry posted during the last fiscal.
What’s happening in the global financial markets can result in the loss of as many as 20,000 to 25,000 jobs in India. That means, the likes of Cognizant, TCS, Infosys, HCL, Wipro and Satyam will announce huge lay-offs over the next couple of quarters.
According to Dr Naresh Malhan, MD, Manpower India , about 9 per cent of the people employed in the BFSI, insurance, IT and ITeS sectors in India risk losing their jobs as a result of the financial meltdown. However, he says the overall market remains robust, with other sectors like manufacturing and construction still very promising.
Not everyone shares this view. “Many firms will also use the present economic environment as an excuse to cut flab,” says Uday Chawla, managing Partner, Transearch, India. “Letting go of people in good times is not acceptable, but is sure to escape media scrutiny in the current climate,” he adds.
But what is a threat for some, is an opportunity for others. “Merrill Lynch and Lehman are respected for the quality of talent they attract and train. It’s an opportunity for small firms desperate for quality leadership,” says Sanjiv Sachar, partner, Egon Zehnder.
“Candidates are insisting on protection clauses, with employment letters guaranteeing 1 or 2 years salary. This is more the rule than the exception today. There is a greater play on variable pay in this high-risk environment,” adds Sachar. “Economy is growing at 8 per cent. The layoffs in the financial services will make skills available to other sectors which are facing a leadership crunch,” agrees R Sankar, head-HR consulting practice at PwC.
Courtesy/Source: timesofindia.indiatimes.com
Disclaimer: The Stocks Recommended Above Are Picked Up At Random From Research Reports Of Broking Houses. Investors Are Advised To Use Their Judgment Before Acting On These Recommendations. Author Does Not Associate Itself With The Choices. Investments In Stock Markets Are Risky. Information And Advice Is Based On Technical Analysis And Long Term Fundamentals Of The Company And Is Provided Without Any Liability (Financial Or Otherwise).The Author Or His Clients May Or May Not Be Holding Recommended Scripts.
Disclaimer: The entries posted on http://www.bhaveshthaker.com and http://bhaveshthaker.blogspot.com are purely with the intention of sharing personal interest in news, information, Gujarati music and poetry and Indian film and classical music, Indian stock market related information without any intention of any direct or indirect commercial gain. If any of the posts are causing infringement of copyrights, it is purely unintentional and such posts would be discarded with immediate effect, as soon as they are brought to notice of the administrator. Contact: bhaveshthaker@gmail.com
In a major setback to Indian pharmaceutical giant Ranbaxy, the US has blocked imports of 30 generic drugs, including anti-biotics and cholesterol medicines, produced by it in two of its plants due to “serious” manufacturing deficiencies. ( Watch )
“The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has issued two warning letters to Ranbaxy Laboratories Limited and an import alert for generic drugs produced by Ranbaxy’s manufacturing facilities in Dewas (Madhya Pradesh) and Paonta Sahib (including the Batamandi unit in Uttar Pradesh)”, a statement from the administration said.
The warning letters identify the agency’s concerns about deviations from US “current good manufacturing practices requirements (cGMP)” at the pharmaceutical major’s two manufacturing facilities, it said on Tuesday.
“Because of the extent and nature of the violations, FDA issued an import alert, under which US officials may detain at the U.S. border, any active pharmaceutical ingredients (the primary therapeutic component of a finished drug product) and both sterile and non-sterile finished drug products manufactured at these Ranbaxy facilities and offered for import into the United States”, the statement said.
However, this action does not impact products from Ranbaxy’s other plants as FDA has inspected those facilities and, to date, they have met US cGMP requirements for drug manufacturing, it said.
Reacting to the FDA decision, Ranbaxy said it “is very disappointed in the action FDA has taken. The company has responded to each concern FDA has raised during the past two years and had thought that progress was being made.
“We are, however, pleased that FDA’s testing and review led the agency to conclude that there is no reason to question the safety or effectiveness of Ranbaxy’s drugs,” the company said in a statement from Gurgaon.
Courtesy/Source: timesofindia.indiatimes.com
Disclaimer: The Stocks Recommended Above Are Picked Up At Random From Research Reports Of Broking Houses. Investors Are Advised To Use Their Judgment Before Acting On These Recommendations. Author Does Not Associate Itself With The Choices. Investments In Stock Markets Are Risky. Information And Advice Is Based On Technical Analysis And Long Term Fundamentals Of The Company And Is Provided Without Any Liability (Financial Or Otherwise).The Author Or His Clients May Or May Not Be Holding Recommended Scripts.
Disclaimer: The entries posted on http://www.bhaveshthaker.com and http://bhaveshthaker.blogspot.com are purely with the intention of sharing personal interest in news, information, Gujarati music and poetry and Indian film and classical music, Indian stock market related information without any intention of any direct or indirect commercial gain. If any of the posts are causing infringement of copyrights, it is purely unintentional and such posts would be discarded with immediate effect, as soon as they are brought to notice of the administrator. Contact: bhaveshthaker@gmail.com
The Indian rupee rose by 62 paise to 46.27/28 against the US currency today as the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) announced measures to ease the liquidity crunch and bolster the sliding currency.
In a bid to prevent any further adverse impact on the local markets of the turmoil in the global financial markets, the central bank on Tuesday decided to allow banks to borrow more by relaxing the statutory liquidity ratio (SLR). The apex bank also expanded the liquidity adjustment facility scheme.
In response to a series of forex measures, the domestic currency resumed stronger at 46.38/40 a dollar from its last close of 46.89/90 and later jumped to 46.27/28 a dollar in late morning deals at the Interbank Foreign Exchange (forex) market.
Forex dealers said the rupee bounced back with a vengeance as foreign banks sold dollars heavily after the RBI’s steps to cool the financial markets.
The rupee had fallen by a huge 84 paise or 1.82 per cent yesterday reacting negatively to fall-out of the on-going credit crisis in the US.
The local unit had lost 229 paise or 5.13 per cent, in the last six days amid heavy capital outflows and heavy dollar demand.
Courtesy/Source: timesofindia.indiatimes.com
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Infogain recognised for its HR practices at the Fifth Annual Global HR Summit organised by Amity International Business School.
Friday, September 05, 2008: Infogain Corporation, a provider of CRM, ERP, integration and business intelligence solutions, has won the ‘Amity HR Excellence Award’ for the year 2008. The award recognises Infogain as one the most admired companies across the globe on account of its best practices and innovative strategies for human resource management and development.
Punkaj Shankar, global head, HR and RMG, Infogain Corporation, acknowledged the honour by saying, “We accept this award with humility and consider it to be an honour, being recognised for our HR practices that adds human touch to Infogain. Recognition of this kind motivates us to outperform ourselves in the years to come and make Infogain a desired organisation to work for. We have consciously focussed on increasing the per-employee value, and our unique approach has made us an employer of choice both in India and the United States.”
Infogain was presented the award at the Fifth Annual Global HR Summit organised by Amity International Business School.
Courtesy/Source: efytimes.com
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Organized retail in India is in flux with the entry of both domestic and international players. Pramod Kapoor, Vice President – Retail Practice, Infogain talked to Malabika Sarkar about how the company, that is focused on store solutions, has built expertise in offering end-to-end solutions to retailers
IT in Indian retail
With government policies becoming favorable and emerging technologies facilitating the business operations, India is an attractive market for retail investment.
The industry uses both custom-built and off-the-shelf software. The former can be tailored to meet the specific needs of a retailer, yet in my opinion the off-the-shelf solution has its own advantages and is the clear winner in the retail solution landscape. This is primarily because of proven technology, short time to market, availability of cost-effective, assured support and implementation of best practices. Amongst the key players in this segment, Oracle Retail Solution is the leader followed by others including SAP and JDA.
The IT sector has realized the potential for growth in the Indian retail industry and has started focusing on and investing in this domain. Store Solutions (POS), Merchandising Solutions and Financials are key areas to look at.
Recent partnership with Manthan Systems
The partnership between Infogain and Manthan is strategic. Through this, we will strengthen our solution offerings to retail clients. This partnership is for selling and implementing Manthan’s products including its complete retail business intelligence (BI), performance management product and ARC. ARC is a comprehensive performance management solution designed specifically for the retail industry. It helps retailers analyze the performance of their business from store to supply chain. It unearths the hidden relationships between products, customers, promotions and multi-channels.
Outsourced Product Development
We have worked in this area for various product companies like AMDOCS and 360Commerce (now Oracle Retail Stores solution). It is a niche market segment and few IT companies have service offerings in this area since it requires a different skillset and process.
According to NASSCOM, revenue from the Indian IT software and services sector including the domestic and exports segments and excluding hardware, touched nearly $40 billion during FY 2007 and is expected to grow by nearly 27% to clock $49 to 50 billion in FY 2008. Of this, software services remain the mainstay of the sector contributing $31.3 billion during FY 2007, beating forecasts to register a 33% growth.
Investment Plans
Infogain is looking to grow through both the inorganic and organic routes to position itself as the dominant player in the retail segment. In this respect, we have acquired Spider Systems, a part of iGate, as part of our strategy to grow with the Oracle product suite. We are continuously investing in the infrastructure as well as resources. Infogain has a well-established retail lab to test and demonstrate all our solutions and offerings. We are also investing in developing an ARTS compliant product that provides value-added services to our client. We have also invested to build training facilities on all the Oracle suite of products.
Spider Systems acquisition
The acquisition establishes Infogain as a strong player in the ERP market space with the ability to deliver Oracle ERP services. With this acquisition, Infogain is one of the only mid-sized firms that provide services for Oracle Applications, PeopleSoft, Seibel, Oracle Fusion, as well as Oracle Retail.
The acquisition of Spider is part of Infogain’s strategy to become a leading business process solution provider for mid-market companies. This strategy is expected to result in greater opportunities to deliver complete solutions in the Oracle ERP space, including full life cycle implementations, migrations to Oracle Apps 11i, development and customization of reports and interfaces, pre- and post-implementation audits, and post-implementation support both onsite and offshore.
Courtesy/Source: expresscomputeronline.com
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Hackers armed with laptop computers, camping tents and dreams of software glory invaded Yahoo during the weekend as the Internet pioneer opened its strategy and its doors to outside developers.
The "hackathon" was as much a symbol of Yahoo rising from the ashes of a burned-out courtship with US technology colossus Microsoft as it was a chance for software wizards to work their magic on Yahoo’s platform.
The approximately 300 hackers that swept onto the firm’s campus in Sunnyvale, California, had the first chance to tinker with the inner workings of Yahoo online offerings such as its globally popular free email.
Yahoo earlier in the week outlined a shift to an "Open Strategy" that it believes will jazz-up the website and lead to meshing offerings from hot online properties such as Amazon and iTunes with its Web pages.
"Open is a really important strategy for us," Yahoo Developer Network head Chris Yeh told AFP as hackers fuelled up on pizza, keg beer and caffeine-based energy drinks for all-night software writing sessions.
"It is a new course for the ship. Our ability to turn Yahoo from a company that owns and operates its own sites to a company that lets other people in on the action is a critical growth moment. This is really exciting."
Breaking down walls between websites where people store digitised photos, videos, messages, and musings is a trend that’s overdue, according to Internet users and developers.
"It’s something that really needs to happen," Developer Ryan Moore said as he worked on a hack in a purple-and-yellow armchair overlooking sand volleyball courts. "It’s the way everything ought to work."
Yahoo announced plans to revamp its homepage in coming months to allow people to customize home pages with mini-applications, including those crafted by third-party developers and vetted by Yahoo.
"Jerry (Yang) and I are dedicated to keeping that spirit of openness and innovation alive, but we know that we can’t come up with all the great ideas ourselves," Yahoo co-founder David Filo wrote in a ‘Hack Day’ message.
"Hackers, bring it on." Hackers working alone or in teams set up camps in booths or tables in URL’s Cafe in the heart of Yahoo’s campus while others retreated to classrooms or stuffed chairs on the second floor of the two-story building.
"This is the Yahoo that you know; that you’ve always dealt with," said Moore, who attended the company’s first and only other US hack day in 2006.
"It’s the old Yahoo: ‘We have eyeballs; we have data — have at it.’ "
Some broke from coding intermittently through the night to nap in tents pitched in a grassy courtyard or play classic arcade videogames including Pac-Man and Galaga.
Musically inclined hackers tested their skills on faux instruments playing pretend rock stars in the Rock Band video game. Nearly 50 "hacks" were completed by the time the event wrapped after dark on Saturday.
Software creations included a "Ganzbot" robot that reads people news, weather, Twitter messages or other information streamed to their home pages by automated delivery mechanisms known as "feeds."
An Icarus.tv hack served up music videos in online radio style, scouring the Internet and fetching performances that promise to fit people’s tastes.
"The people here from Yahoo are psyched, excited," Yeh said. "It’s a great event. It is one of the things we can rally about as a company."
Yahoo claims more than 500 million users worldwide but has been struggling to cash-in on its popularity. Yahoo’s sagging fortunes and Google’s ascension as Internet advertising king prompted Microsoft on January 31 to offer to buy Yahoo for $44.6 billion in a half-cash, half-stock deal.
Microsoft was eager to combine online resources with Yahoo in order to better battle Google. Microsoft walked away from negotiations May 3 after Yahoo rejected an offer it raised from $31 to $33 per share, which amounted to $47.5 billion.
Yahoo subsequently made a deal with Google to put its online advertising expertise to work on Yahoo websites. That deal is to take effect later this year if it passes muster with US anti-trust regulators.
"It’s been a remarkable year so far and it is going to continue to be a remarkable year," Yeh said. "I like interesting times. I think when things are in flux good things happen."
Courtesy/Source: infotech.indiatimes.com
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Growth across developing Asia will slow to 7.5 per cent this year from 9 per cent in 2007 in the face of rising inflation, turbulent financial markets and weakening world demand, the Asian Development Bank said on Tuesday.
Inflation is expected to climb to 7.8 per cent this year from 4.3 per cent last year, the Manila-based lender said in a report, further squeezing a region where food and fuel costs account for nearly 60 per cent of household spending. Next year could see inflation ebb to 6 per cent.
Downturns in the US and Europe, buyers of vast amounts of Asian-made goods, will only aggravate the situation. Already, there are signs that demand for exports is waning.
“Uncoupling is a myth,” ADB chief economist Ifzal Ali said, referring to the idea that Asian economies are increasingly less dependent on the US and Europe to drive their growth.
“The region still depends on industrial countries to fuel its growth. If the global slowdown extends beyond 2009, the repercussions for the region could be severe,” he said.
The forecast comes amid turmoil in financial markets, with Asian stocks plunging Tuesday on news about the bankruptcy filing of US investment bank Lehman Brothers and that Bank of American is buying Merrill Lynch.
The Chinese economy, which expanded 10.4 per cent in the first half of the year, is likely to see its growth rate moderate somewhat to 10 per cent for the year due to softening demand for its exports and tighter fiscal measures, the ADB said.
The country will post 9.5 per cent growth for 2009 as its trade surplus and investment shrink.
On Monday, the Chinese central bank said it was cutting interest rates for the first time in more than six years to stimulate growth.
In East Asia, growth was pegged at 8 percent this year, down from 9.6 per cent in 2007, the bank said.
The bank found that inflation in Asia was largely driven by homegrown demand and expectation that prices would continue their rapid rise.
Less than 30 per cent of inflation could be explained by the recent boom in world commodity prices.
“The flames of inflation were already there,” Ali said. “The spike in oil and commodity prices just added fuel to a fire that was kindling.”
Ali warned that countries trying protect their vulnerable populations from higher fuel and food costs through subsidies could end up creating more problems down the line.
Government-backed subsidies, he said, could lead to higher deficits and more liquidity – conditions ripe for long-term inflation.
Emerging East Asia comprises Brunei, Cambodia, China, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand and Vietnam.
Courtesy/Source: timesofindia.indiatimes.com
Disclaimer: The Stocks Recommended Above Are Picked Up At Random From Research Reports Of Broking Houses. Investors Are Advised To Use Their Judgment Before Acting On These Recommendations. Author Does Not Associate Itself With The Choices. Investments In Stock Markets Are Risky. Information And Advice Is Based On Technical Analysis And Long Term Fundamentals Of The Company And Is Provided Without Any Liability (Financial Or Otherwise).The Author Or His Clients May Or May Not Be Holding Recommended Scripts.
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Equity benchmarks reversed all losses made during the day as investors picked up bargains in battered index heavyweights. Midcaps and smallcaps were also on recovery mode.
At 3:15 pm, Bombay Stock Exchange’s Sensex was up 9 points at 13,540, recovering from a low of 13,051.73.
National Stock Exchange’s Nifty climbed 0.29 per cent or 11.65 points to 4084.55 from a low of 3919.35.
Courtesy/Source: timesofindia.indiatimes.com
Disclaimer: The Stocks Recommended Above Are Picked Up At Random From Research Reports Of Broking Houses. Investors Are Advised To Use Their Judgment Before Acting On These Recommendations. Author Does Not Associate Itself With The Choices. Investments In Stock Markets Are Risky. Information And Advice Is Based On Technical Analysis And Long Term Fundamentals Of The Company And Is Provided Without Any Liability (Financial Or Otherwise).The Author Or His Clients May Or May Not Be Holding Recommended Scripts.
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Oil prices plummeted on Tuesday in Asia, falling briefly below $92 a barrel as investors feared the US credit crisis that brought down brokerage giant Lehman Brothers will drag global economic growth and restrain demand for crude.
Light, sweet crude for October delivery tumbled $3.59 to $92.12 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange mid afternoon in Singapore. It briefly fell as low as US$91.54. Overnight, the contract dropped $5.47 to settle at $95.71, the first time oil closed below $100 since March 4.
In a stunning turn of events Monday on Wall Street, Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc, a 158-year-old investment bank, filed for bankruptcy after failing to find a buyer and Merrill Lynch & Co. agreed to be bought out by Bank of America Corp.
"People are selling everything. It’s a bit of panic," said Jonathan Kornafel, Asia director for market maker Hudson Capital Energy in Singapore. "We may not have seen the end of demand destruction. It’s scary what’s going on economic-wise right now, and that’s why oil is selling off."
The Dow Jones industrials lost 504 points, or 4.4 percent, on Monday in their worst point drop since the September 2001 terrorist attacks, and Asian stock markets tumbled on Tuesday.
US Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson tried to calm markets, saying the American people can remain confident in the "soundness and resilience in the American financial system."
Crude fell despite an attack by militants on an oil-pumping station operated by the local unit of Royal Dutch Shell PLC in southern Nigeria with dynamite and other explosives Monday which killed at least one guard in the third day of heavy battles between the armed forces and militants fighters.
Shell said one guard died and four others suffered injuries in the battle, which prompted an evacuation of some facilities in the southern region. No details were given about any effect on oil production.
The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta, the region’s main militant group, claimed responsibility for the attack. Since it emerged nearly three years ago, the group has mostly focused on hobbling Nigeria’s oil industry, bombing pipelines in hopes of forcing the federal government to send more revenues to the impoverished oil-producing south.
"When you start to see the market not paying attention to what’s going on around it, the fundamentals are not being closely looked at," Kornafel said. "This drop since mid-July seems a bit overdone."
Crude has fallen about $55 or 37 per cent from its all-time trading record of $147.27 reached on July 11.
In other Nymex trading, heating oil futures fell 8.12 cents to $2.71 a gallon, while gasoline prices dropped 7.28 cents to $2.4886 a gallon. Natural gas for October delivery fell 5.2 cents to $7.322 per 1,000 cubic feet.
In London, October Brent crude fell $1.63 to $90.70 a barrel on the ICE Futures exchange.
Courtesy/Source: timesofindia.indiatimes.com
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Satyam Computers, which has just started giving pink slips to its employees, could potentially downsize its workforce by a whopping 4,500 employees.
This translates to a little less than 9% of the 51,000 employees that the company employs. Company sources say 1,500 employees have been put under the performance improvement plan (PIP), euphemism for employees put on watch list and asked to shape up or ship out. Apart from this, 3,000 others have not been given any increment in the last appraisal cycle, thereby indicating that their services are dispensable.
"This 1,500 plus 3,000 equals 4,500, which indicates the total number of persons who could be eased out of the company," the source said.
On Friday, all employees received an e-mail from the company chief Ramalinga Raju warning them, especially the ones on the bench, to not bunk office and be in their best dress code, failing which they may face strict disciplinary action.
Last week, some 400 employees from across different locations were given the pink slip. Sources also indicated that after getting the message many among the 3,000 have also started leaving jobs. But an estimate of the employees who have left is not known.
A Satyam spokesperson said: "The bottom 5% of those who have got a bad appraisal are put under PIP and given dummy projects to prove themselves. If they fail they will be shown the door. But some of them marked for PIP said they have been given very little time to come up as winners." However, even as it downsizes, Satyam continues to hire new employees in thousands. Over 40% of them are fresh blood just passing out of college.
The spectre of retrenchment is creating panic among employees of the company. "Of the 12 people working in my project, five were suddenly asked to resign, failing which, the company warned, it would fire us. Everything came without warning," said a techie pleading anonymity.
Courtesy/Source: timesofindia.indiatimes.com
The Indian rupee on Monday dipped to a two-year low of 46 against the US dollar following heavy demand from importers for the greenback.
The rupee fell by 25 paise to 46, a level last seen on September 29, 2006, against the US dollar in early trade.
It fell by 18 paise on Friday to close at a fresh 23-month low of 45.75/76.
Courtesy/Source: timesofindia.indiatimes.com
The crack on Dalal Street widened as global financial worries mounted. The US financial system took a turn for the worse after investment bank Lehman Brothers’ filed for bankruptcy, troubled insurer American International Group asked the Fed for a lifeline and Bank of America agreed to buy Merrill Lynch.
With Lehman and Merrill out of the picture, three of the top five US investment banks have effectively departed the scene in less than six months. Bear Stearns was acquired in a fire sale by JPMorgan in March.
Tracking the weak sentiment globally, the Bombay Stock Exchange 30-share barometer tumbled by 724.99 points or 5.18 per cent at 13,275.82.
The broader 50-share Nifty of the National Stock Exchange also dipped below 4,000-mark by falling 236.45 points or 5.59 per cent to 3992.
Investors dumped shares across the board. Realty counters faced the brunt of the bear onslaught. Technology and power shares also took a sharp knock.
Midcaps and smallcaps were also badly hit. BSE Midcap and Smallcap indices were down 5.1 per cent and 4.74 per cent respectively.
Among frontline stocks, Reliance Infrastructure (-8.85%), Satyam Computer (-8.58%), Sterlite Industries (-8.12%), Jaiprakash Associates (-7.65%) and DLF (-7.46%) were the worst hit.
None of the stocks in the 30-share index could weather the tide.
Market breadth worsened with 2027 declines.
www.economictimes.indiatimes.com
Courtesy/Source: timesofindia.indiatimes.com
