L&T Sells Part of Satyam Stake

Larsen & Toubro Ltd. Friday sold a part of its stake in Satyam Computer ServicesLtd. for about 3.13 billion rupees ($67.1 million), according to Bombay Stock Exchange data.

L&T, India's biggest engineering firm by sales, sold 27.2 million shares at 114.90 rupees each--a 42% premium to the 81 rupees average price at which L&T had bought the stake.

An L&T executive, who declined to be named, confirmed the stake sale but didn't offer details of the transaction.

On Sept. 30, L&T and unit L&T Capital Co. held 81.13 million shares--or 6.90%--of Satyam, a Hyderabad-based software maker.

L&T acquired part of the stake in early 2009 in the run-up to an auction of a 31% stake in the software exporter.

This came after a government-appointed board took control of Satyam following founder B. Ramalinga Raju's confession in January that he had cooked the company's accounts for several years.

The auction was held in April and L&T, which has an information technology unit L&T Infotech, was outbid by Tech Mahindra Ltd.

Under the bid guidelines L&T had to retain its stake in Satyam Computer for six months. This ended Oct. 13.

Late August, L&T Chairman A.M. Naik had said the company expects to sell its stake in Satyam Computer by March 2010 and make a profit of 2.00 billion rupees to 2.50 billion rupees.

Delhi Metro enters Noida, thousands to benefit

Delhi Metro today achieved another milestone when a brand-new train chugged into the satellite city of Noida for the first time paving the way for thousands of commuters in east Delhi and adjoining areas to enjoy the new age transport system.

The 13.1 km Yamuna Bank-Noida line was inaugurated by Union Urban Development Minister S Jaipal Reddy in the presence of Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit at the newly-built Akshardham station here.

Reddy flagged off the first train with destination to Noida City Centre (Sector-32). This is the first time a Metro train formally enters Noida.

The line, which will be opened for public from 6 am tomorrow, is expected to bring a paradigm shift in the travelling habits of thousands of people in east Delhi and trans-Yamuna areas.

Bulls on rampage; Nifty reclaims 5000 mark

Bulls were on a rampage on Wednesday helping the 50-share Nifty to reclaim the 5000-mark after six trading sessions. The 30-stock sensex managed to garner over 400 points as well. Metals and technology stocks were the star-performers.

The day began with positive news from Asian shores where China’s economic data beat market forecast. The country’s industrial production and trade surplus climbed in October, indicating a recovery. However, it failed to enthuse market participants back home with equities witnessing a sluggish start.
The next trigger which sent the key indices sharply higher was the strong opening on the European bourses, signaling bullishness. According to the latest jobs data, UK’s unemployment rate rose at the slowest pace in 18 months which boosted sentiment that the economy is on the road to recovery.
“The market has closed on a very strong note. From hereon, we expect the Nifty to scale to 5050-5100 in the near term while support lies at 4900. Unless 4900 is breached, the market is poised upward. Being sector-specific, I believe capital goods will take lead with Larsen & Toubro being the top bet. Technology stocks like Infosys also look attractive,” said Michael Pillai, technical analyst at Nirmal Bang Securities.
National Stock Exchange’s Nifty settled at 5003.95, higher by 2.5 per cent or 122.25 points. The index climbed to a high of 5016.70 from a low of 4870.05 intra-day.
Bombay Stock Exchange’s Sensex ended at 16,849.60, up 409.04 points or 2.49 per cent from the previous close. The index surged to a high of 16,887.80 from a low of 16,405.19.
Midcaps and smallcaps participated in the rally as well. The BSE Midcap climbed 2.01 per cent and BSE Smallcap Index rose 1.6 per cent.
Sectorwise, BSE Metal Index surged 4.27 per cent, BSE IT Index rose 3.94 per cent and BSE Realty Index advanced 2.34 per cent.
The Nifty rally was led by Sterlite Industries (6.15%), Reliance Infrastructure (6.04%), Jaiprakash Associates (5.63%), HCL Technologies (5.29%) and Tata Steel (4.61%).
BPCL (-1.38%), Idea Cellular (-0.6%) and Cairn (-0.09%) were the only laggards in the 50-share index.
Market breadth was strong with 1726 advances against 1004 declines on the BSE.
Meanwhile, the Reserve Bank of India said it may withdraw some monetary stimulus if inflation rises towards the end of 2009. “The central bank will wait and see how price situation develops in Nov-Dec," C. Rangarajan, chairman of the Prime Minister's Economic Advisory Council said. The fiscal deficit needed to be reduced by 1 to 1.5 percentage points in the next fiscal year, he said.
Among stock-specific news, Shree Renuka Sugars acquired Brazilian sugar and ethanol producer Vale Do Ivai S.A. Acucar E Alcool for $82 million. The acquisition includes two sugar and ethanol production facilities with a cane crushing capacity of 3.1 million tonnes per annum. Shares of the company ended at Rs 218.95, up 2.31 per cent on the NSE.
On the other hand, entertainment firm Pyramid Saimira Theatre nosedived nearly 10 per cent to hit the lower circuit after market regulator SEBI banned the entity from dealing in stock markets for seven years. Shares of Pyramid Saimira plunged 9.82 per cent to hit the lower trading limit at Rs 19.75 on the BSE.

Reliance discovers oil in Cambay basin

Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Industries on Tuesday said it has made the first oil discovery at an exploratory block in the Cambay basin

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in Gujarat.

The company has found oil for the first time in the exploratory block 'CB-ONN-2003/1', it said in a filing to the Bombay Stock Exchange.

RIL holds 100 per cent participating interest in the block in the Cambay basin, which was awarded under fifth round of the New Exploration Licensing Policy (NELP). The block covers 635 square kilometres.

"The discovery, named 'Dhirubhai-43' has been notified to the Government of India and Directorate General of Hydrocarbons. Commerciality of this discovery is being ascertained through more data gathering and analysis," the filing said.

In October, Reliance Industries had surrendered 14 blocks back to the government after incurring an expenditure of Rs 1,400 crore in unsuccessful exploration.

Nifty gains momentum; Axis Bank, SAIL, RIL up

Intensified buying activity index heavyweights helped benchmarks to move past psychological resistance levels. Meanwhile, broader markets continued to remain firm.
At 1:05 pm, National Stock Exchange’s Nifty was at 4862.85, up 66.70 points or 1.39 per cent. The broader index touched a high of 4864.90 and low of 4789.90.

Bombay Stock Exchange’s Sensex was at 16378.65, up 220.37 points or 1.36 per cent. The index touched a high of 16379.93 and low of 16147.21.
“The next hurdle which the bulls will face in their path is the resistance of 4950. On weekly candlestick chart, Nifty has formed a marginally bullish candle, which does not seem to be very tempting unless we clear the hurdle of 4950. Going further we still maintain our bearish stance and treat the current pull-up just as a relief rally where traders can built fresh short near the resistance area of 4900-4950,” said Emkay Global Financial Services.
BSE Midcap Index was up 1.09 per cent and BSE Smallcap Index moved 1.75 per cent higher.
Sectorwise, large scale buying was seen in the banking, metal and energy space. BSE Bankex advanced 2.41 per cent, BSE Metal Index surged 2.2 per cent, BSE Oil&Gas added 1.9 per cent and BSE FMCG rose 1.65 per cent.
Biggest Sensex gainers were ITC (3%), Reliance Industries (2.85%), Tata Power (2.64%), HDFC Bank (2.5%) and State Bank of India (2.37%).
Reliance Industries is close to announcing a major overseas acquisition. If all goes according to plan, RIL is looking to do so before its annual general meeting on November 17. The likely target is a part of the assets owned by troubled petrochemical major LyondellBasell, which is undergoing reorganisation under the protection of a US court.
State Bank of India, the country's largest lender, said on Monday it had entered into an agreement with T Rowe Price to sell a 6.5 per cent holding each in UTI AssetManagement Company and UTI Trustee Company.
Bharti Airtel (-3.45%), Reliance Communications (-2.11%), Hindustan Unilever (-1.1%) and BHEL (-0.39%) were trading with losers.
Market breadth on BSE was extremely positive with 1803 advances outnumbering 729 declines.

3.4 million apply for 11,000 clerical vacancies in SBI!

Chennai, Nov. 6 Clerical jobs, you may think, are out of fashion. Think again. State Bank of India advertised a few months ago for 11,000 clerical vacancies. The response, to put it mildly, has been overwhelming.

SBI received a staggering 3.4 million applications in response to the advertisement, according to its Deputy Managing Director, Mr N. Raja. That’s about 300 applications for every vacancy. “It might even earn us an entry into the Guinness Book of Records!” he quipped.

That might well happen — and for another reason too. Official estimates put the number of unemployed persons in the country at around 10 million. If one takes that at face value, this job advertisement has managed to attract a third of the unemployed in the country!

Last year, when SBI advertised for about 20,000 vacancies, it received about two million applications. Mr Raja explained that the fairly high response in the previous year was because the recruitment then had taken place after a considerable period of time and so there was pent-up demand.

Mammoth exercise

The response this time has been so high that the SBI has been forced to conduct its entrance test spread over six sessions on three Sundays, starting from November 8. The mammoth exercise will see exams conducted in two sessions (morning and afternoon of each Sunday) across 83 centres all over the country. In each city and town, a number of schools and colleges have been roped in to provide basic infrastructure . The exercise is estimated to cost at least Rs 65 crore.

The objective-type tests will evaluate the candidates’ General Awareness, General English, Quantitative Aptitude, Reasoning Ability, Marketing Ability and Computer Knowledge.

For applicants, career prospects are bright given SBI’s growth plans, Mr Raja said. (The bank currently has over 11,500 branches. It added over 1,500 branches in the last two years.) Besides, the Sixth Pay Commission recommendations have also helped raise pay levels to make them competitive with entry-level salaries in other sectors, he added. The starting emoluments for an employee in the clerical cadre would be around Rs 8,000 a month.

And the jobs are not going to be desk-bound. In keeping with the changing profile of bank jobs, the new recruits are expected to “have a flair for marketing, will be required to make customer calls and cross-sell products.”

Acer launches three new smartphones in India

Computing device player, Acer announced the launch of three new smartphones, beTouch E 101 in the Indian market, beTouch E200 and neoTouchS200.

The E101 model is competitively priced at Rs 11,900 and is targeted for the youth segment. It runs on Windows Mobile 6.5 OS, is touch-screen enabled, comes preloaded with IE and Live Messenger.

The E200 model for the internet savvy priced at 17,900. The model promises to provide easy navigation, search and messaging.

The neoTouch model is priced at Rs 35,000 and is 3G ready. It also supports Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and Qualcomm 1GHz Sanpdragon processor.

“The smartphone market in India is getting accessible to many with prices coming down. We are looking to launch affordable products for the market mass,” said Richard Tan, Country Head, India – Smart Handheld Business Group and Sales Manager – Asia Pacific, Acer.