The Union Budget 2008-09 will leave more money in every pocket.
One of the main factors that created a big hype for the R-Power initial public offer, said experts, was its grey market premium of over Rs 400 on January 18 -- the day the issue closed. R-Power collected a record $180 billion (Rs 710,000 crore or Rs 7,100 billion) as the issue was subscribed 72 times.
Volatility in the secondary markets has forced some initial public offers to revise their price bands as markets continue to be plagued by liquidity problems.
In spite of FM's assurance, experts feel that US recession will have definite repercussions on the Indian economy. But it will continue to enjoy a positive run.
According to stock brokers, the real pain in markets started with the over-zealousness on the part of stock exchanges in collecting margin money after the 700 points fall on January 18 and another 14,00 points fall on January 21. The trading terminals of nearly 90 per cent stock brokers were shut on Tuesday when the markets hit the lower circuit of 10 per cent within a few minutes of opening bell, as the National Stock Exchange doubled the margin money overnight.
Overall market open interest on NSE down 15 per cent to Rs 89,307 crore (Rs 893.07 billion). A majority of stock brokers have unwound their leveraged positions in the futures and options segment. The total leveraged position (in excess of Rs 1 lakh crore or Rs 1 trillion) contributed heavily to the stock market crash.
Says Gul Teckchandani, investment advisor, "It is that time when you should have a shopping list ready. Look for large-cap liquid stocks that have fallen more than the index and invest 10 to 15 per cent of your cash in them. Also, continue buying if the market falls further."
A severe squeeze in liquidity in the domestic and the global markets over the last one week helped bears to make a killing on Monday, as they anticipated little buying support even at lower levels, said dealers.
The deal, sources say, is that the retail investor, subscribing on broker's behalf, would have to make an application for 225 shares, the entire cost of which -- considering the discount of Rs 20 a share that RPL has offered -- would come to Rs 96,750.
In anticipation of the IPOs of FCH and RPL, investors were seen off loading small and mid-cap stocks heavily.
Last year money-making hardly took any effort, this year you will need to pick and choose.
Close on the heels of the alleged money laundering by farm owner Hasan Ali Khan through Switzerland-based bank UBS, Europe's biggest bank by assets, another Swiss bank, Credit Suisse, has come under scrutiny of the Enforcement Directorate (ED), which investigates foreign exchange violations.
In the first-ever auction of 'enemy property' that the Indian government has held since the 1971 Indo-Pak war, rights shares of Tata Steel were sold to an Indian investment firm for Rs 485 per share against the rights issue price of Rs 300 per share.
The stock-selling spree unleashed by foreign institutional investors over the past one month from November has turned them net sellers in the cash market this calendar year. But the markets have shown resilience mainly due to big buying by insurance companies, say experts.
The continued selling in frontline stocks by foreign investors over the past one month, which also coincided with curbs on participatory notes (P-notes), delayed the Sensex and the Nifty from closing above the crucial milestone of 20,000 and 6,000 respectively.
Infrastructure, realty are the current favourites.
With the stock markets growing in size, this rule, which was framed eight years back, needs revision to allow such nominal dilution only if the IPOs are worth Rs 500 crore (Rs 5 billion) or above, according to experts. The rules require promoters to shed at least 25 per cent if the IPOs are less than Rs 100 crore (Rs 1 billion). The promoter holding in 500 listed companies has gone up to 58 per cent during the July-September quarter from 54 per cent in the April-June quarter.
While Geojit Financial Services and Kotak Securities are already managing large NRI portfolios in West Asian countries, Sharekhan, yet another local brokerage outfit, recently launched a broking platform called India First in Bangkok for NRI clients.
Credit Agricol (CA), the second-largest French bank, is all set to enter the Indian insurance and asset management business.US-based middle market focused investment bank Jefferies Group, which opened its representative office in New Delhi last month, plans to enter the institutional brokerage and asset management business in India.
For prospective buyers, the advice is simple. Go ahead and buy because there is no indication of where the interest rate will be in the next six months.
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