Sources said non-banking financial companies of brokerage outfits had extended loans to clients by availing of bank credit. They could face serious trouble if auditors 'qualify' their books for extending loans on small- and mid-cap stocks as 'highly risky'. With just over a week to go before the end of the current financial year, most of the NBFCs are cleaning up their books before the audit to avoid being caught on the wrong foot.
Budget proposal has put an end to the flourishing trade in STT, as STT is likely to be treated as any other deductible expenditure against business income.
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.
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.
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.
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.
High net-worth individuals, or the rich investors with investment portfolios of Rs 25 lakh and above, who totted up huge losses in this year's price corrections in February and August, are booking profits following the nearly 4,000-point surge in the Sensex since late August.
A day after Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke announced the rate cut, FIIs bought shares worth over Rs 2,400 crore (Rs 24 billion), lifting the index up by 650 points, one of its biggest intra-day gains.
Foreign institutional investors (FIIs), which were the major sellers last month, are on a buying spree.
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