Thursday, July 30, 2009

Intraday chart (range one day)


Intraday chart (range five days)

Microsoft, Yahoo ink 10-year web search deal

New York: Microsoft Corp and Yahoo Inc inked a 10-year web search deal to better compete against market leader Google Inc but stopped short of combining their display advertising businesses.

Shares of Yahoo, which had risen in recent weeks in anticipation of this deal, fell more than 7 per cent in premarket trading, while shares of Microsoft edged higher.

The deal will boost Yahoo's annual operating income by about $500 million and yield capital expenditure savings of $200 million, the companies said in a joint statement on Wednesday.

Microsoft's Bing search engine will be the exclusive algorithmic search and paid search technology for Yahoo's sites, while Yahoo will be responsible for selling premium search ads for both companies.

Each company will maintain its own separate display advertising business and sales force, they said.

The deal combines the number two and number three players in the US market for Internet search and positions them to better compete with Google, which has an estimated 65 per cent share of the US search market.

Indian Airlines merger behind Air India's fin woes: Experts

Critics are blaming a mis-managed merger with Indian Airlines as the major reason for Air India's financial doldrums. ITC Chairman YC Deveshwar, who headed Air India in the 90s, told Tanvi Shuka and Vidhi Godiawala in an exclusive interview that he would have handled things differently.
Air India was not always flying through turbulent times. In 1993, under the leadership of ITC chairman YC Deveshwar, it was a profitable company -- among the top five globally.
Today, critics say the merger with Indian Airlines was mis-managed and ill-planned, and led to the airline's financial troubles. Deveshwar says he would have taken a different approach.
YC Deveshwar, Chairman, ITC, said, "I would have done it differently. I would have first created two divisions and then identified those areas where there are synergies. Definitely, I would have gone into getting the same genre of planes, so that the pilot training could be common. This strategy has to unfold, conceptualized much before you begin to buy planes as two different organizations."
Experts say the merger remained on paper, but was not implemented properly. Buying of planes, route planning as well as recruitment of pilots was not done on a consolidated basis. Deveshwar, who first suggested a merger during his brief stint at Air India, said that to compete internationally, the airline needed bulk in terms of fleet size, something the merger should have delivered on. But is he willing to go back and pilot the airline out of the mess?
"I would have done it differently. I won't take up that challenge again. I don't know what going on at the moment, so it not fair for me to comment," Deveshwar added.
With the Maharaja's fate hanging in the balance, experts are certain only someone who can cut across bureaucracy and unions can fly it back into the black.

Jet Airways owes Service Tax Department Rs260cr

Jet Airways owes Rs 260 crore to the Service Tax Department. Mint's PR Sanjai reports that no service tax had been paid on import of services for the past three years. Jet has now been asked to pay Rs 247.47 crore as tax for FY06-FY08, with interest. Jet Airways’ officials confirmed that they have received a show-cause notice from Service Tax Department.

Railways to issue Rs 2K cr tech deals; TCS, HCL in race

The Indian Railways has Rs 2,000 crore worth contracts in store including a deal earlier bagged by Mahindra Satyam. TCS, HCL are leading in the race for the bid.
Sources tell us that the Indian Railways has Rs 2,000 crore worth of IT deals on the block. We learn that Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) and HCL Technologies are the frontrunners for all of the deals. There were a large number of IT companies who had bid for a number of these projects but TCS and HCL are the frontrunners.
The first deal is a Rs 100 crore deal which is for the software development of locomotive management systems (LMS). This LMS contract was earlier bagged by Mahindra Satyam, but since Mahindra Satyam could not provide its financial details right now, the project was cancelled by the Indian railways.
Now, TCS and HCL, while they are the frontrunners for this bid, had not contended at all owing to the fact that it is Rs 100 crore deal.
The other deals that are on the anvil are larger deals. The second one is Rs 450 crore deal which is for a software aided train scheduling management systems which will allow real time train scheduling and management by the help of a software solution.
There are three other projects on the anvil, the first one is Rs 450 crore project and two others are worth Rs 500 crore each which would be coming up in next three-four months. The Indian Railways, however, could not comment on the perspective of the deals and company policies did not allow TCS or HCL to give comments on the same.

FMCG, pharma, auto, banks to lead next rally: Atul Suri

Trader Atul Suri believes the Nifty can cross 4,700 levels on the back of positive global trends. However, he was quick to add that the Nifty will take out 2009 highs. "Reliance Industries (RIL) and State Bank of India (SBI) were weak links for the Nifty."
Suri sees opportunities when short-term correction happens. He however, is not bothered about the China fall. “China is seeing correction after a big run.”

Vijay Bhambwani picks stocks you must own in your portfolio

Vijay Bhambwani of bsplindia.com. is bullish on Power Finance Corporation (PFC) and Rural Electrification Corporation (REC) from the power space. “From the banking space, we like HDFC Bank and State Bank of India (SBI). We would also bet our money on Petronet LNG and Cairn India from the oil and gas segment,” he said.

Q: What do the charts indicate at the moment for a next seven-ten day scenario?
A: One aspect is that you need to take out that 4,693 high. That is acting like a dampener on the spirits because traders tend to look at their screens and see the previous resistance and this resistance is very fresh in their minds. You see a breakout above 4,693, good volumes, open interest going up on the long side in F&O. You can take out 4,800–4,850 in a short while because then you will be aided by short covering as well as fresh buying. On declines, 4,100 maybe, give or take 50 points here and there, would become a critical support level to watch out for. If 4,100 or 4,050 is violated on a closing basis, bulls will be on the defensive. Till then I would rather buy on dips then short sell at all.
Q: Can you construct a portfolio for somebody who has not bought anything right now and also for somebody who is already holding a portfolio and has made the gains from 4,100 or 4,200; a portfolio of just four-five stocks?
A: If you are long in the markets if you have a portfolio which has an exposure, fine, just hold on with it, sit on it and wait for 4,800–4,850. If you surge past 4,850, all the more better. Then 5,200-5,300 is what you are looking at. If you are in cash at this point in time, I think the power sector is looking extremely positive. I think Power Finance Corporation (PFC), Rural Electrification Corporation (REC); from the banking space HDFC Bank and State Bank of India (SBI) and from the oil and gas, I would go with Petronet LNG and Cairn India. These six stocks I would bet my money on.
Q: Just in terms of momentum and where you get more gains what would you pick SBI, Union Bank, Allahabad Bank, Punjab National Bank (PNB) or any public sector undertaking (PSU) bank, Infosys, Rolta, Bharti Airtel, Subex? These stocks are going fine but they are already sitting on top of the peak, do you need to go with them or do you need to go with the stocks that have still got momentum?
A: Given the choices that you have made, for example Infosys or Rolta, I would go with Infosys. I feel safe in a largecap. I don’t think these stocks fall as much as a Rolta would. So my choice would be SBI rather than Allahabad Bank or Union Bank, Infosys clearly over Rolta.
Subex is looking like it is making a rounding bottom formation but I would clearly go with Bharti Airtel at this point in time. I feel comfortable in largecaps, no question about it.

Stick to equities despite huge run up: BlackRock

Robert Doll, Vice-Chairman and Global CIO of Equities, BlackRock, said the economy was likely to emerge from recession given the better than expected earnings.
He added that equities were still a good place to be in despite the run up. "There’s cash on sidelines, which shows scepticism for upside." Doll sees the US housing market bottoming out.
Meanwhile, Nouriel Roubini, Chairman of RGEMonitor.com said that better macro and financial fundamentals relative to other emerging markets would be a plus for Asian economies and asset markets during the recovery. “The dependence of China and India on foreign capital will keep growth below full potential even in 2010.”
“In India, domestic consumption will ensure growth of around 5.7% but Indian companies will have difficulty accessing external capital and investors.”

Ambani case: Govt to modify SLP; SC to hear plea on Sep 1

Reliance Industries and the government have supported Reliance Natural Resources' plea for an early hearing, . This move comes after RNRL moved the apex court yesterday for an early hearing in the gas case. The Supreme Court said it will consider the plea and has asked parties to come back on September 1.
Mahesh Agarwal, Counsel for RIL, said that the government had taken back its SLP (special leave petition) for amendment. the government will submit a modified SLP to the court on Saturday.

Today, Reliance Industries and RNRLhad an early hearing on the RIL-RNRL gas dispute. The government and RIL have supported RNRL’s plea. Although the Supreme Court has refused to bring forth the September 1 hearing, they have told all parties to come back on September 1 and then they would consider the plea to bring forward the final hearing on the entire matter.
But the other big news coming out is that the government has for the moment withdrawn its special leave petition (SLP) on the matter. Disputing contradictory comments coming, we are still not able to confirm whether that SLP has been withdrawn for modifications or whether it has been withdrawn for good. We heard Mahesh Agarwal (RNRL Counsel) say from his knowledge that the SLP has been withdrawn for modifications. So, it may come back with some modifications, some changes, or some alternates being made to the earlier plea. We still don’t have clarity on that as the government has withdrawn its SLP in the RIL-RNRL case.
Q: At this point pending the next hearing when the Supreme Court will decide on final hearing date things are pretty much statusquo in the court?
A: Yes, things are pretty much status quo. The next date continues to be September 1. All that the court has admitted is that when the September 1 hearing comes up, if they feel a need to bring forward the final hearing to earlier than they were suppose to, they would consider it. But for the moment the next hearing is on September 1 and the government has withdrawn its SLP.

See Sensex floor at 12000-13000: Uday Kotak

The primary concern for the markets today is the supply of paper which is coming in. It started with qualified institutional placements (QIPs), followed by global depository receipts (GDRs). Now, initial public offerings (IPOs) are starting and of course there is a big disinvestment calendar from the Government of India as well. Can the market absorb this kind of paper and what is the disinvestment calendar going to look like going forward? How will that impact the markets as well?
Commenting on the same, Uday Kotak, Vice-Chairman and Managing Director, Kotak Mahindra Bank, said that the markets would absorb paper at reasonable prices from good companies. He said that the demand in primary markets would positively impact the sentiment as he considers them to be vehicles for sensible capital formation. Demand from primary market could stop secondary market exuberance as well, he said, adding, “Successful issues are good for primary market and the economy.” He said that one could expect a much higher Sensex floor than early March. He sees the Sensex floor at around 12,000-13,000 levels. "Markets are likely to be range-bound in the near-term but must stabilise in a reasonable range," he added.
Vallabh Bhanshali, Chairman of Enam Securities also believes that the primary and secondary markets needed to co-exist. “I think it’s a self balancing mechanism.” He said, capital raising had begun after a long time and therefore, companies starving for money were rushing to raise capital at all price levels. “The markets are pricing capital in a sensible manner,” he said.
He further added, India was one of the few countries getting allocations, and therefore, there was enough appetite for Indian companies to raise money

SBI Q1 net profit up 42% at Rs 2330 cr

SBI (State Bank of India) has announced its Q1FY10 numbers. Its net profit shot up 42% at Rs 2,330 crore as against Rs 1,640.8 crore.

The company's net interest income (NII) was up 4.32% at Rs 5,026 crore versus Rs 4,818 crore, YoY.
estimated net profit at Rs 2,020 crore and NII at Rs 4,984.8 crore.

Other income increased 49.29% to Rs 3,589 crore versus Rs 2,404 crore. Net NPA (non-performing asset) went up to 1.55% from 1.42% (YoY).

The company has made provisions of Rs 173 crore. NPA provisions stood at Rs 1,234 crore.