Larsen and Toubro (L&T), ICICI Bank and Reliance Industries (RIL) were the top-three stocks that accounted for over 60 per cent of the 991-point gain in the Sensex between October 15 (Sensex at 19,057) and October 29 (Sensex at 19,978). Larsen and Toubro, which was the top gainer among the Sensex stocks, was also the largest contributor, adding 336.09 points to the Sensex's total gains.
The three corrections in stock markets this year - February, August and now in October - has one common thread, which is the dominance of foreign investors/hedge funds in the equity markets.
The BSE Sensex has recovered 60 per cent of the last week's loss in just two trading days. The benchmark index recovered by 935 points (+56 points yesterday) and (+879 points on Tuesday) after losing 1,492 points last week between October 16 and 19.Investors, who lost Rs 4.13 trillion (Rs 4.13 lakh crore) in just three trading days last week, have recovered 70 per cent of their loss or Rs 2.90 trillion (Rs 2.90 lakh crore) in the first two trading days of the current week.
Most of the PN money is coming into stocks that are not in the blue-chip category. This means the source of the money is questionable and the investments are not driven by fundamentals.
Historically, Indian stocks trade at earnings multiple of 17-18 times. At current prices, the earnings multiple for the Sensex is 26 times.
Powered by surging markets, seven companies, Reliance Communications (R-Com) and stock market debutant DLF among them, have joined the Rs 1 trillion (Rs 1,00,000 crore) club in terms of market capitalisation. New entrants are hard-core engineering and mining companies like National Mineral Development Corporation (NMDC) and Bhel - both in the public sector - and L & T. Bharti Airtel, SBI and ICICI Bank are other entrants.
Interested parties are concerned about the possibility of 24 domestic banks and six financial institutions converting to equity Rs 1,480 crore worth of zero-coupon debentures to which they subscribed in 2002-03.
Global liquidity, which dried up after the turbulence in the US credit markets, has returned big time following the Fed rate cut of 50 basis points on September 18. In the secondary markets alone, FIIs have pumped in over $4.5 billion in about 11 trading sessions, data from the BSE show.
Of the 43 new issues listed on the BSE between April and September 2007, 33 are currently trading at a premium over the offer prices. Of the 33, nine have appreciated by over 100 per cent each, while 15 gained between 25 and 100 per cent.
Of the 508 crorepatis, 17 are from newly-listed companies while 26 joined their companies last year.
The Securities and Exchange Board of India is set to introduce new norms to ensure higher public participation for delisting of company shares.
Motilal Oswal and Raamdeo Agrawal, the promoters of leading brokerage house Motilal Oswal Financial Services, will be worth Rs 700-800 crore (Rs 7-8 billion) each, after the company's initial public offer later this month.
World's largest exchange, the New York Stock Exchange is wooing India's showpiece IT firm Infosys Technologies to list its shares on its trading platform.
Under the proposed rules, mutual funds may not be allowed to borrow more than 20 per cent of the net assets of a scheme and the duration of such borrowing would not exceed six months.
The New York Stock Exchange has stolen a march over its rival Nasdaq in India.
A back-of-the-envelope calculation suggests that the total mobilisation through share issues (including rights, initial and follow-on issues) will be at least Rs 1.04 lakh crore (Rs 1.04 trillion).
India's well-known investors who are known for their Midas touch have spotted an opportunity in bio-fuel, betting big on ethanol, bio-mass and even bio-fuel equipment makers in India and other parts of the globe.
International brokerages, especially those which have made recent entry into the domestic market, are lining up to acquire the institutional broking business of the city-based Brics Securities.
The domestic mutual funds such as Reliance Mutual Fund and Tata Asset Management Company are in advanced talks with global fund houses and investment advisors, in an attempt to offer global investment products to their Indian investors.
Over 500 minority shareholders of realty major DLF have missed out on a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to become 'crorepatis' overnight.
