Indian Stock News by Experts

Goldman Sachs - subprime crisis

<DIV>For more than three months, as turmoil in the credit market has swept wildly through Wall Street, one mighty investment bank after another has been brought to its knees, levelled by multibillion-dollar blows to their profits. And then there is Goldman Sachs Group Inc. Rarely on Wall Street, where money tends to travel in a thundering herd, has one firm gotten it so right when nearly all its peers were getting it so wrong. Three banking chief executives have already been forced to resign because of the debacle and the pay for nearly all the survivors is expected to be deeply cut. But for Goldman's chief executive, Lloyd Blankfein, this is turning out to be a very good year. He will surely earn more than the $54.3 million (Rs213 crore) he made last year. If he gets a 20% raise—in line with the growth of Goldman's compensation pool—he will take home at least $65 million. Many expect his pay, which is tied directly to the firm's performance, to reach as high as $75 million. Goldman's good fortune is not due simply to good luck. Late last year, with the markets roaring along, David Viniar, Goldman's chief financial officer, called a "mortgage risk" meeting in his meticulous 30th floor office in the firm's New York headquarters. At that point, Goldman's mortgage desk was down somewhat but the notoriously nervous Viniar was worried about bigger problems. After reviewing the full portfolio, his message was clear: the bank should reduce its stockpile of mortgages and mortgage-related securities and buy expensive insurance as protection against further losses, a person briefed on the meeting said. With its mix of swagger and contrary thinking, it was just the kind of bet that has long defined Goldman's hard-nosed, go-it-alone, risk-taking style. Meanwhile, most of the firm's competitors, with the exception of the smaller and more specialized Lehman Brothers, appeared to barrel headlong into the mortgage markets. They kept packaging and trading complex securities for high fees and more market share without hedging, or protecting themselves against the positions they were buying. When the credit markets seized up in late July, Goldman was in the enviable if not quite believable position of having offloaded the toxic products that Merrill Lynch & Co. Inc., Citigroup Inc., UBS, Bear Stearns Cos. Inc. and Morgan Stanley, among others, had kept right on buying until it was too late. "If you look at their profitability through a period of intense credit and mortgage market turmoil," said Guy Moszkowski, an analyst at Merrill Lynch who covers the investment banks, "you'd have to give them an A-plus." This stark contrast in performance has been a struggle for competitors to swallow. The bank that seems to be in every corner, with a hand in so many deals and products and regions, made more money in the boom and—at least so far— managed to go right on making money in the bust. via Mint</DIV>

Goldman Sachs - subprime crisis

For more than three months, as turmoil in the credit market has swept wildly through Wall Street, one mighty investment bank after another ...

Market extends losses in late trade

<DIV>The market slipped deep into the red in late trade as IT and metal stocks tumbled. Index heavyweights Reliance Industries and ICICI Bank faltered. All the sectoral indices on BSE were in red. Banking, power, realty and capital goods stocks declined. Market breadth though positive, it weakened substantially in late trading compared to strong breadth earlier during the day. European markets, which opened after Indian market, were in green. Asian markets, which opened before Indian market, were mixed. Worries of impact of credit troubles on the broader US economy heightened after Goldman Sachs on Monday, 19 November 2007, downgraded Citigroup's stock to sell from neutral, forecasting more write-downs by the largest US bank because of mortgage losses. The 30-share BSE Sensex provisionally ended down 340.05 points or 1.73% at 19,293.31. Sensex hit a low of 19,196.41 in late trade. At day's low of 19,196.41 Sensex had lost 436.94 points. The S&P CNX Nifty was down 118.35 points or 2% to 5,789.30, as per provisional close. The market had bounced back from lower level in early afternoon trade amid volatility as some Asian markets came off lower level. Sensex touched a high of 19,714.22 in early afternoon trade. At day's high, Sensex had risen 80.86 points. The market had opened with a downward gap in early trade tracking weak global markets. The market breadth was positive. On BSE, 1,593 stocks advanced, while 1,217 stocks declined and 41 stocks were unchanged. 25 out of 30 stocks from the Sensex pack were in red. The BSE Mid-Cap index declined 0.94% to 8,648.96 and the BSE Small-Cap index rose 0.29% to 10,704.37. Both these indices outperformed Sensex. IT stocks extended losses in late trade on concerns over the US economy. Infosys (down 3.99% to Rs 1,555), Tata Consultancy Services (down 2.65% to Rs 962), Wipro (down 1.95% to Rs 448.50) and Satyam Computer Services (down 1.57% to Rs 416) edged lower. State Bank of India (SBI) declined 1.08% to Rs 2,280. As per reports it is seeking to expand its foothold beyond immediate associate banks by possibly absorbing UCO Bank and Dena Bank. UCO Bank jumped 7.99% to Rs 61 and Dena Bank soared 5.46% to Rs 92.75. ICICI Bank (down 1.33% to Rs 1,171.05) and HDFC Bank (down 1.04% to Rs 1,638) edged lower. Index heavyweight and India's largest private sector firm by market capitalisation Reliance Industries was down 1.74% to Rs 2,803, off session's high of Rs 2,857.80. Capital goods stocks declined. Bharat Heavy Electricals (down 4.65% to Rs 2,654.20), Suzlon Energy (down 2.54% to Rs 2,041.05) and Larsen & Toubro (down 0.73% to Rs 4,336.35) edged lower. Power stocks fell. Tata Power Company (down 4.09% to Rs 1,220.05), NTPC (down 1.58% to Rs 261.40) and Reliance Energy (down 1.27% to Rs 1,804), edged lower. Realty stocks declined. DLF declined 3.78% to Rs 912. Merrill Lynch (ML) has reportedly acquired 49% equity stake in seven residential projects of DLF for Rs 1,481 crore. Unitech declined 4.64% to Rs 379.90, on reports the company foraying into Mumbai with a commercial project spread over 80 acre near the Bandra Kurla complex. However Indiabulls Real Estate rose 0.68% to Rs 663.50. Tata Motors (up 0.77% to Rs 708), ACC (up 0.38% to Rs 1,088), Hindustan Unilever (up 0.34% to Rs 205.50), Tata Steel (up 0.25% to Rs 864.90) and Bajaj Auto (up 0.16% to Rs 2,430) edged higher. Hindalco Industries (down 5.5% to Rs 194.15), Bharat Heavy Electricals (down 4.65% to Rs 2,654.20), Maruti Suzuki (down 4.11% to Rs 1,010.25) and Grasim Industries (down 3.48% to Rs 3,735) edged lower. Jindal Stainless was the top gainer from A group and rose 15.29% to Rs 204. Fertilisers and Chemicals Travancore (up 4.95% to Rs 47.70), D- Link (India (up 4.54% to Rs 91), MIRC Electronics (up 4.36% to Rs 33.50), Nirma (up 4.02% to Rs 220) were other major gainers from A group. European markets opened on a positive note. France's CAC 40 (up 0.16% to 5,440.95), Germany's DAX (up 0.45% to 7,547.96) and UK's FTSE 100 (up 0.08% to 6,126.60) edged higher. Most of the Asian markets were in the green. Hong Kong's Hang Seng (up 1.13% to 27,771.21) Japan's Nikkei rose 1.12% to 15,211.52 and Singapore's Straits Times gained 0.78% at 3,438.27. Taiwan Weighted index was flat at at 8,680. South Korea's Seoul Composite index (down 1.12% at 1,872.24) was trading in the red. US markets suffered sharp losses on Monday, 19 November 2007, after a broker downgrade of Citigroup sparked concerns of more mortgage losses and fears of slumping auto sales hammered GM shares. The Dow Jones industrial average plunged 218.35 points, or 1.66%, to 12,958.44. The S&P 500 index fell 25.47 points, or 1.75%, to 1,433.27, and the Nasdaq Composite slipped 43.86 points, or 1.66%, to 2,593.38. Crude oil prices edged lower in Asian trade on Tuesday, 20 November 2007 with the dip seen as temporary because traders were still worried about tight global supplies. New York's main contract, light sweet crude for January delivery was down 26 cents at $94.38 a barrel. Brent North Sea crude for January delivery eased 33 cents to $91.95. Market posted losses for third straight day on Monday, 19 November 2007. The 30-share BSE Sensex lost 64.53 points or 0.33% at 19,633.36 while the broader CNX S&P Nifty was up 0.8 points or 0.01% at 5,907.65 on that day. As per provisional data, FIIs sold shares worth a net Rs 371.04 crore, while domestic institutional investors (DIIs) were net sellers of shares worth Rs 63.45 crore on Monday, 19 November 2007.</DIV>

Market extends losses in late trade

The market slipped deep into the red in late trade as IT and metal stocks tumbled. Index heavyweights Reliance Industries and ICICI Bank fa...

Post Market Commentary

<DIV> <TABLE align='"center"'> <TBODY> <TR> <TD align='"center"'></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>The market closed the trading session on a negative note as BSE Sensex declined by 352.56 points to closed at 19,280.80 while Nifty fell by 126.75 points to closed at 5780.90. The market opened on a weak note backed by the unfavoring global cues but manages to pare all its initial losses at the mid session but after that lost the grip and fell to closed in the red zone. Most selling is seen in capital goods, metal. Oil & gas and reality indices scrips. Overall, the market breadth was strong as 1,548 stocks are closed lower while 1278 are closed lower. The BSE Mid cap closed lower by 104.95 points to close at 8,625.87 while Small cap grew by 18.27 points to closed at 10,691.16. BSE Capital Goods index fell drastically by 457 points to close at 20,349.42. Scrips that fell are BHEL (4.65%), Areva (4.32%), Praj industries (4.25%), Siemens (3.36%) and ABB (2.72%). BSE Metal index declined by 358.17 points to closed at 17,310.69. Pulling it down are Nalco (8.09%), Hindalco (5.50%), Sterlite (5.17%), Jindal Saw (4.80%), Hind Zinc (2.23%) closed lower. BSE oil & gas index dropped by 330.92 points to close at 12,136.58. Pushing it down are Essar Oil by (8.34%), Cairn (4.21%), BPCL (4.18%), Indian Oil (4.04%) and RNRL (1.80%). BSE Realty dropped by 300.68 points to close at 10,447.35 as Ansal infra (5.85%), Mahindra ges (5.61%), Penland (5.06%), Unitech (4.57%) and DLF (4.21%) closed in red. BSE Power index closed lower by 140.25 points at 4,513.02 as Tata Power (4.31%), Torrent power (3.06%), Suzlon energy (2.54%), NTPC (1.96%) and reliance energy (1.80%) closed in negative. BSE bankex index fell by 156.14 points to close at 10,764.53. Pulling it down are Allahabad Bank (8.27%), Andhra Bank (5.49%), Federal Bank (3.79%), PNB (3.67%) and BOI (3.42%) closed lower. BSE IT index closed lower by 106.24 points at 4,054.64 as Aptech (8.74%), I Flex (3.80%), Infosys (3.41%), Tech Mahindra (2.95%), TCS (2.79%) closed lower.</DIV>

Post Market Commentary

The market closed the trading session on a negative note as BSE Sensex declined by 352.56 points to closed at 19,280.80 while ...

Sensex sheds 64 points; side counters continue to gain value

<DIV>The market lost ground in late trade as index heavyweight Reliance Industries dropped and ITC slipped. The market was in the green for a better part of the day though it had pared gains after an initial surge. Banking majors plunged. IT pivotals pared gains. Consumer durable, auto, realty moved higher. BSE Mid-Cap and Small-Cap indices outperformed Sensex. The market breadth was strong. 2 out of 3 key European markets were in the red. Key Asian markets ended in the red. The 30-share BSE Sensex lost 64.53 points or 0.33% at 19,633.36. It had hit a low of 19,583.97 in late trade. At the day's low, Sensex lost 114.39 points. Sensex hit a high of 19,971.44 at the onset of the trading session. At day's high of 19,971.44, the Sensex had gained 273.08 points. The broader CNX S&P Nifty was up 0.8 points or 0.01% at 5,907.65. The market breadth was strong. On BSE, 2,148 stocks advanced, 635 stocks declined and 27 stocks were unchanged. 18 out of 30 stocks from the Sensex pack were in green. BSE clocked a turnover of Rs 8081 crore compared to Friday (16 November 2007)'s Rs 8,885.97 crore. Nifty November 2007 futures were at Rs 5918, at a premium of 10.35 points as compared to spot closing of 5907.65. NSE's futures & options (F&O) segment turnover was Rs 51,841.62 crore, which was lower than Rs 61,505.32 crore on Friday, 16 November 2007. The BSE Mid-Cap index rose 2.57% to 8,730.82 and the BSE Small-Cap index rose 2.81% to 10,672.89. Both these indices outperformed Sensex for a third day in a row. BSE Auto index (up 2.45% to 5,413.24),BSE Capital Goods index (up 0.79% to 20,806.42), BSE Consumer Durables index (up 3.04% to 5,360.26), Health Care index (up 1.66% to 3,949.53), BSE Metal index (up 0.98% to 17,668.86), BSE Power index (up 1.33% to 4,653.27) and BSE Realty index (up 2.15% to 10,748.03) outperformed Sensex. BSE Bankex (down 0.75% to 10,920.67), Oil & Gas index (down 0.1% to 12,467.20) and BSE IT index (up 0.04% to 4,160.88) underperformed Sensex. Banking majors declined. HDFC Bank (down 1.89% to Rs 1,655.20), ICICI Bank (down 2.67% to Rs 1,186.85), and State Bank of India (down 0.89% to Rs 2,304.90) edged lower. Index heavyweight and India's largest private sector firm by market capitalisation Reliance Industries declined 0.81% to Rs 2,852.50. IT stocks declined. Satyam Computer Services (down 1.52% to Rs 422.05), Infosys (down 0.23% to Rs 1,619.70), Wipro (down 0.2% to Rs 457.40) edged lower.Tata Consultancy Services rose 0.61% to Rs 988.15. Consumer durables stocks surged and BSE Consumer Durable index was the major gainer from BSE's sectoral indices. Videocon Industries (up 8.99% to Rs 438.25), and Rajesh Exports (up 0.18% to Rs 856.55) edged higher. Gitanjali Gems rose 3.36% to Rs 387.90 after it acquired US jewellery retail chain Rogers for an undisclosed sum, a move that will boost the company's retail presence in India and abroad. Larsen & Toubro (L&T) declined 0.18% to Rs 4,368.15. The company announced during market hours today it in association with Shanghai Urban Construction (Group) Corporation has secured a design & build contract valued at Rs 275 crore from Delhi Metro Railway Corporation (DMRC). Auto stocks were in demand.Mahindra & Mahindra (up 2.19% to Rs 749), Hero Honda Motors (up 2.03% to Rs 708.50), Tata Motors (up 0.64% to Rs 702.60) and Maruti Suzuki India (up 0.39% to Rs 1,053.50) edged higher. Bajaj Auto rose 3.32% to Rs 2,426.20. UBS raised its 12-month price target on the stock to Rs 3,033 from Rs 2,440, saying the company was on a recovery path with its two-wheeler business improving and competition seen easing. Tata Steel (up 2.32% to Rs 862.75), Cipla (up 3.43% to Rs 186.85) and ACC (up 4.25% to Rs 1,083.85) edged higher. India's largest cigarette major by revenue, ITC (down 3.1% to Rs 198.80), edged lower. Realty stocks gained. India's largest real estate firm by market capitalisation DLF rose 1.21% to Rs 947.85. It replaced Dr. Reddy's Laboratories in Sensex today. Indiabulls Real Estate rose 3.32% to Rs 659. Unitech rose 2.22% to Rs 398.40. As per reports Unitech plans a non-banking financial corporation (NBFC) to sell home loans. Nirma rose 27.49% to Rs 211.50 and was the top gainer from A group. Apollo Tyres (up 19.62% to Rs 43.90), Essel Propack (up 16.37% to Rs 61.50), Vijaya Bank (up 13.98% to Rs 84), Dabur India (up 13.86% to Rs 125.70) and were other major gainers from A group. Tata Teleservices Maharashtra rose 16.28% to Rs 50.70 and clocked the highest volume of 6.07 crore on BSE. IFCI rose 9.26% to Rs 98.55 and was the second biggest volume grosser with 2.3 crore shares. Essar Oil clocked the third highest volume of 1.48 crore and rose 6.24% to Rs 204.35. Reliance Petroleum declined 2.61% to Rs 208.85 and clocked fourth highest volume of 1.44 crore shares. Infrastructure Development Finance Company rose 1.31% to Rs 196.90 and clocked the fifth highest volume of 1.11 crore shares. Essar clocked the highest turnover of 312.08 crore on BSE. Reliance Petroleum (Rs 307.53 crore), Tata Teleservices Maharashtra (Rs 2.93 crore), Infrastructure Development Finance Company (Rs 222.88 crore ) and IFCI (Rs 222.35 crore) were other turnover toppers on BSE. Side counters, Maestros Mediline Systems (up 20% to Rs 42.30), Tokyo Plast International (up 20% to Rs 13.32) and Borax Morarji (up 20% to Rs 80.40) edged higher. Federal Bank (down 22.41% to Rs 368.15), Alufluoride (down 9.87% to Rs 31.95) , VTM (down 10.62% to Rs 133) and Manali Petrochemicals (down 10% to Rs 21.21) edged lower. Most of the European markets were in red. France's CAC 40 (down 0.47% to 5,498.93), Germany's DAX (down 0.3% to Rs 7,590) and UK's FTSE 100 (down 0.72% to 6,246.30) edged lower. Key Asian markets ended in red. Hong Kong's Hang Seng (down 0.56% at 27,460.17), Japan's Nikkei (down 0.74% at 15,042.76), Singapore's Straits Times (down 0.85% at 3,411.72), South Korea's Seoul Composite (down 1.7% to 1,893.47) and Taiwan Weighted (down 0.96% at 8,680.71) edged lower. Volatility forced investors across the world to pull out five billion dollars from emerging market equity funds in the second week of November 2007, including over two billion dollars from funds focused on four BRIC markets viz. Brazil, Russia, India and China. China accounted for more than half of the total outflow from BRIC funds, while India, Russia and Brazil together shared the remainder, according to international fund tracking firm EPFR Global. During the second week of November this year, emerging market equity funds reported a net outflow of $5.58 billion, while those focused on developed markets saw an outflow of $5.07 billion. According to EPFR, the money market funds recorded a net inflow of $10.1 billion in the week, taking their total inflow since the beginning of August 2007 to $100 billion.</DIV>

Sensex sheds 64 points; side counters continue to gain value

The market lost ground in late trade as index heavyweight Reliance Industries dropped and ITC slipped. The market was in the green for a be...

Crude ends $1 lower for the week

<DIV> Mixed comments from OPEC affect crude prices Crude-oil future prices for sweet light crude for December delivery which had ended at $96.3/bbl last week (09 November) finished $1.03 lower this week (16 November) at $95.1/bbl. Price had dipped to $90/barrel during the first three days of the week but then perked up. Mixed comments from OPEC affected prices. On Friday, 16 November, crude oil for December delivery rose $1.67 to end at $95.10 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The December contract expired on Friday, with crude for January delivery becoming the new front-month contract. Prices initially fell at the start of the week after OPEC said that it might consider increasing output in its forthcoming meeting, either this month or the one in December. The price further fell after The International Energy Agency cut its forecast for global demand through 2008 as record prices could curb fuel use. Then Energy Department reported unexpected build up in crude inventories further softening prices. Finally, price rose once it was reported that an OPEC official has stated that increase in production is not necessary immediately. As per the weekly inventory report by the Energy Department, U.S. crude inventories rose by 2.8 million barrels to 314.7 million in the week ending 9 November. This was the first build up in five weeks. U.S. refineries operated at 87.7% of their operable capacity last week, the highest in five weeks. The report also stated that gasoline supplies rose by 700,000 barrels to 195 million barrels in the latest week, while distillate fuel stocks decreased by 2 million barrels to 133.4 million barrels. The Paris-based IEA cut its estimate for fourth-quarter demand by 500,000 barrels a day as record prices reduced energy consumption. The IEA also said next year's demand is forecast at 87.69 million barrels a day, or 300,000 barrels a day less than a previous estimate. It was due to higher prices and weaker-than-expected economic data from the U.S. and the former Soviet Union. The IEA has cut its fourth-quarter forecast three times since August on expectations higher gasoline prices and an economic slowdown in the U.S. will restrain demand. OPEC, also reduced its fourth-quarter estimate of global oil demand growth to 1.97%, down from 2.1%, citing warmer winter weather in the Northern Hemisphere and the higher price of gasoline. The cartel also trimmed this year's world oil demand growth to 1.4% from 1.5%, but the cartel kept the first quarter of next year unchanged at 1.8%.</DIV>

Crude ends $1 lower for the week

Mixed comments from OPEC affect crude prices Crude-oil future prices for sweet light crude for December delivery which had ended at $96.3/...