A day after facing massive erosion from their wealth, equity investors became richer by Rs 13.22 lakh crore on Wednesday with markets making a strong comeback. The 30-share BSE Sensex jumped 2,303.19 points, or 3.20 per cent, to settle at 74,382.24. During the day, it rallied 2,455.77 points, or 3.40 per cent, to 74,534.82.
The government's decision to divest its stake in power PSU NTPC would be delayed as the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs could not meet on Thursday due to pre-occupation of key ministers.
Equity benchmark indices Sensex and Nifty closed marginally lower on Friday as investors booked profit in FMCG, IT and healthcare stocks after the BSE Sensex and Nifty hit fresh lifetime highs in intra-day deals. The 30-share BSE Sensex dipped 7.65 points or 0.01 per cent to settle at 75,410.39. During the day, it rallied 218.46 points or 0.28 per cent to hit its all-time intra-day high of 75,636.50.
Adani Ports, NTPC, Infosys, Hindustan Unilever, HCL Technologies and Sun Pharma were among the other big gainers. However, Larsen & Toubro, Bajaj Finance, State Bank of India, Axis Bank and HDFC Bank were amonh the major laggards.
State-owned National Thermal Power Corporation said on Monday that it plans to hit the market with an initial public offering of shares representing 5 per cent of its equity by early August.
NTPC executives, who had planned to join the oil sector officers' stir from this evening, deferred their agitation for the time being, as "no communication could be established with hiding members of Oil Sector Officers Association".
Power major National Thermal Power Corporation will list in major stock exchanges on November 5.
NTPC Ltd on Thursday said it was taking legal opinion on the impact of a court battle between Ambani brothers group firms over gas supply and a related government petition on its ongoing case with Mukesh Ambani-led RIL.
State-owned National Thermal Power Corporation on Monday filed draft prospectus with the market regulator Sebi for enhancing equity by 5.25 per cent through an initial public offer.
The power ministry had approached the department of disinvestment in August 2007 for approval for NTPC's FPO, which could fetch the company nearly Rs 6,000 crore to part-finance its expansion programme.
The last batch of quarterly earnings, global trends and trading activity of foreign investors will guide the equity market movement in a holiday-shortened week ahead, analysts said. Volatility may continue amid investors' cautious approach in the election season. Markets will remain closed on Monday due to the fifth phase of the Lok Sabha elections in Mumbai.
NTPC has vowed to raise the amount of energy it generates from renewable resources
NTPC CMD said it will take nearly 3-6 months to put the unit back on track.
NTPC has served notice of power suspension from February 11 to BSES Rajdhani, an electricity distributor in the national capital, due to payment issues.
Many private players have been under pressure due to factors such as macro-economic issues and delay in receivables from state electricity boards with weak financial health.
The government is selling over 41.22 crore shares or 5 per cent stake in NTPC.
Shares of NTPC slid as much as two per cent on the BSE in the early trade on Thursday as the government's 9.5 per cent stake sale of country's largest power producer commenced on the bourses.
The National Thermal Power Corporation would shortly undertake work for site selection to set up nuclear power projects in Madhya Pradesh and other states.
National Thermal Power Corporation has bagged the ISTD-FICCI Award for excellence in HR practices.
It is also going for 9.5 per cent stake sale.
The government is likely to come out with 10 per cent stake sale offer of Oil India in the second fortnight of this month, followed by NTPC's issue in the first 14 days of February, a Finance Ministry official said.
State-run utility NTPC plans to more than double its power generation capacity by 2017 from the current 30,000 MW, diversifying further into renewable and nuclear energy.
NTPC is fighting a case in the Bombay high court to get gas from RIL at a committed price of $2.34 per mmBtu.
The quantities and price of $4.2 per mmBtu for gas under the GSPAs signed for five years are as approved by the government.
From the Sensex basket, Power Grid, Asian Paints, Tata Motors, Tata Steel, NTPC, Sun Pharma, Mahindra & Mahindra, HDFC Bank, Tata Consultancy Services and JSW Steel were among the major gainers. Kotak Mahindra Bank, Bharti Airtel, Axis Bank, Wipro, ICICI Bank and IndusInd Bank were among the laggards.
The petroleum ministry on Wednesday pledged support to power firm NTPC in its legal battle to get natural gas from Mukesh Ambani-led RIL at a price committed in 2004 and said the public sector unit's interests will not be compromised.
NTPC on Tuesday asked the two BSES utilities to make their payments and said in the event of failure to do so it would be forced to regulate supplies to the state discoms.
'Those betting against PSUs will likely be punished in this upswing.'
Larsen & Toubro, Axis Bank, Reliance Industries, UltraTech Cement, Mahindra & Mahindra, IndusInd Bank, ICICI Bank and Tata Steel were the other big gainers. Sun Pharma, HCL Technologies, Asian Paints, Nestle and Infosys were the laggards.
Investors' wealth jumped Rs 13.78 lakh crore on Monday as the benchmark equity index Sensex hit its lifetime high after exit polls predicted a massive win for the BJP-led NDA in the Lok Sabha polls. The 30-share BSE Sensex jumped 2,777.58 points or 3.75 per cent to hit a record peak of 76,738.89 in early trade. The benchmark finally ended at 76,468.78, registering a sharp rally of 2,507.47 points or 3.39 per cent.
The government on Wednesday said the public offer for sale of shares in state-run power firms NTPC and NHPC will come as and when market conditions are appropriate.
'We are in a position to start due diligence and private data room access shortly.'
They said rampant infrastructure development without a plan is making the fragile Himalayan ecosystem even more vulnerable to the effects of climate change which acts as a force-multiplier.
From the Sensex basket, JSW Steel, Tata Steel, UltraTech Cement, NTPC, Larsen & Toubro and HDFC Bank were the major gainers. Titan, Nestle, Bharti Airtel and IndusInd Bank were among the laggards.
The dispute relates to NTPC's Barh stage-I project, where the Russian company is supplying boilers for three units of 660 MW each. The work at the Rs 8,700-crore (Rs 87-billion) project has come to a standstill and is now running two years behind schedule, owing to the dispute between NTPC and TPE.
NTPC-BHEL Power Projects, the joint venture between state-run BHEL and NTPC for making power equipment among others, is likely to rope in a global technology provider and may offer a minority stake, an NTPC official said on Tuesday.
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