Sebi wants to reduce the time gap between the closure of an issue and its listing. This process is aimed at removing refund-related concerns and the grey market in IPOs.
Two major steel producers Tata Steel and SAIL, however, have maintained their prices according to their commitment to the government. But according to market sources, value-added products continued to remain out of the price control purview, resulting into frequent price hikes of products like blooms, power channels and other high-tensile steel products, which are import substitutes.
According to industry estimates, 5 per cent of India's total gold consumption of about 750 tonnes is sold on this auspicious day alone. This year, too, customer's attraction towards gold is likely to continue despite high prices.
The decline in stock values has created room for the issue of fresh participatory notes, but there are not many takers. P-notes are off-shore derivative instruments issued to foreign investors having securities as underlying. Sebi had banned the issue of derivative P-notes on October 25 last year. Brokers have started focusing on direct FII money rather than the P-note investments. New P-note regime & FII registration procedures are being implemented based on Sebi circular.
Move follows 26 per cent acquisition in Ahmedabad's NMCE.
More interest rate cuts by the US Federal Reserve to protect its slowing economy are likely to strengthen gold prices further with the metal being a safe haven for investors having offered handsome returns in the last year-and-a-half.
C S Bhave has to work on the homework of his predecessor to speed up the processes in the market. He also has to contend with the bitter legal battle between Sebi and his organisation NSDL.
The country's Rs 60,000-crore (Rs 600-billion) diamond industry is likely to lay off 200,000 workers this year and with it the dream of making India a processing hub, according to Sanjay Kothari, chairman, Gems & Jewellery Exports Promotion Council, if the government does not frame favourable policies.
Gold hits Rs.11,360, thanks to rate cuts by US Fed Bank and a languishing dollar.
Fresh investments through participatory notes (P-notes) are flowing into the cash market in huge quantum. The rush of investments is because foreign institutional investors (FIIs) have enough headroom to invest through P-notes.
Stocks lead the chart with 50 per cent returns, followed by real estate and gold. The markets may be expecting a correction now, but the year has been a spectacular one for those who had put money in stocks. Equities gave a return of 49.64 per cent, the same as in the last three years.
Foreign institutional investors, who are big players in the futures and options segment, are making a killing in the domestic market by using arbitrage as a weapon in the spot and derivatives trade as well as structured derivative deals. The arbitrage game is on despite the curb on the issue of P-notes or participatory notes by the Securities and Exchange Board of India recently.
The Indian markets look extremely stretched. The Sensex valuations have gone up 19.28 per cent to 26 per cent since the lows triggered by the sub-prime crisis two months ago. Taiwan and Kospi, on the other hand, have not changed much. A Citi group report suggested that the RBI might hike CRR rates to suck out excess liquidity from the system. An increase of one per cent would draw out $7 billion from the system.
The curbs on participatory notes (P-notes), announced by the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) on Thursday, have virtually ended a flourishing business of many leading foreign institutional investors (FIIs). Observers said the brokerage fees for offshore P-note transactions were nearly four times higher than those prevailing in the onshore market in India.
According to estimates by Citigroup India, P-note investments, excluding the underlying shares, account for 34 per cent of FII assets with custodians in BSE-500 companies. Sebi stipulates that P-Notes can account for up to 40 per cent of FII assets under custody. This leaves room for FIIs to increase their exposure through P-notes 6 percentage points.
Regulating PNs are important when the country has some restrictions on foreign investments. Countries having full capital account convertibility do not need FIIs to even register.
Ravindra Chauhan, a regular commodity investor, is now regretting his decision to invest in gold, which fetched him only 6.08 per cent in the last one year because of a stronger rupee. He says that most banks' fixed deposits would have made him richer by at least 9 per cent during the same period with little holding risk.
Tapping one target customer in the US would equalise the volume of roughly 100 customers in the Australian, Arabian and Japanese markets. Besides, investment to tap 100 customers in the aforementioned potential markets would be much higher.
The move follows anticipation of lower sales in the US market in the wake of the termination of generalised system of preferences, the US incentive that helped domestic jewellers boost exports to that country.
Prices of almost all industrial commodities, barring cotton, are likely to cool down in 2008, after handsome gains in 2007, when a supply glut is expected to supersede demand.
© 2025 Rediff.com - Investor Information - Advertise with us - Disclaimer - Privacy Policy - Sitemap - Feedback - About us - Terms of use - Grievances