The market may open higher on firm Asian stocks. Trading of Nifty futures on the Singapore stock exchange indicates that the CNX Nifty could gain 22.50 points at the opening bell.
The board of directors of realty major DLF holds a meeting today, 6 March 2013, to consider offer of securities and all related actions thereto, subject to the approval of shareholders, for achieving the minimum public shareholding in compliance to the Securities Contracts (Regulations) Rules, 1957 as amended and read with Clause 40A of the listing agreement. The promoters currently hold 78.58% stake in DLF (as per the shareholding pattern as on 31 December 2012). As per the Sebi mandated minimum public shareholding rule, private-sector companies must cut founders' stake to adhere to the rules by 13 June 2013, while the deadline for state-run firms is 13 August 2013.
Dish TV India after trading hours on Tuesday, 5 March 2013, said that the company's board of directors has approved the divestment of the company's investment in its wholly owned subsidiary viz. Dish TV Singapore Pte.
ICICI Bank said after market hours Tuesday, 5 March 2013, that it has received aggregate capital repatriation of $100 million from ICICI Bank UK PLC -- its wholly owned banking subsidiary in the United Kingdom. This comprises redemption of $50 million of preference share capital and return of $50 million of equity capital, after receiving requisite approvals. ICICI Bank UK PLC had a capital adequacy ratio of 31.5% as on 31 December 2012. Post the repatriation, the capital base of ICICI Bank UK is $495 million and its capital adequacy ratio continues to be strong, ICICI Bank said in a statement.
ICICI Bank already has a strong capital adequacy ratio, and the above return of capital would further improve the same and enhance ICICI Bank's ability to optimise capital deployment and return on equity, ICICI Bank said.
Mahindra & Mahindra (M&M) after market hours on Tuesday, 5 March 2013, said that there was a brief stoppage of work for about 3 hours in two assembly shops of the company's Nashik plant on Tuesday, 5 March 2013. However, from the 2nd shift, production in all shops of the plant was back to normal, M&M said. There is no material effect of this temporary disruption on the production and operations front and the management is confident that the shortfall in production of around 90 vehicles will be soon made good, M&M said in a statement.
M&M said it has received a notice of strike from the Employees' Union, Nashik to commence the strike on or after 11 March, 2013, should the Charter of Demand made by them are not settled by that time. M&M said that the company's management is in regular dialogue with the employees' union for the normal wage negotiation process and will put in its best efforts to reach a mutually agreeable settlement at the earliest possible. The appropriate Government Agencies are being kept informed of the same and are also part of the discussions in this regard, the company said.
Separately, M&M also announced after trading hours on Tuesday, 5 March 2013, that it has decided to sell 34 lakh shares of Mahindra Holidays & Resorts India, constituting 4.02% of the equity share capital of Mahindra Holidays, through Offer for Sale (OFS) through the separate window provided by the stock exchanges for this purpose. The OFS will take place on Thursday, 7 March 2013.
AstraZeneca Pharma India after trading hours on Tuesday, 5 March 2013, said that it has received by e-mail communication a scanned copy of the letter dated 28 February 2013 from the company's foreign promoter i.e. AstraZeneca Pharmaceuticals AB Sweden notifying the company of its decision to reduce its shareholding in the company in order to comply with the requirement of minimum public shareholding, as specified in Securities Contracts (Regulation) Rules, 1957 subject to receipt of all necessary statutory and regulatory approvals, as may be required, appropriate market conditions and investor interest. AstraZeneca Pharmaceuticals AB Sweden currently owns about 89.99% stake in AstraZeneca Pharma India.
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Tuesday, 5 March 2013, said that companies which are being investigated by law enforcement agencies no longer need to get its approval to raise money overseas. "It has been decided to permit all entities to avail of external commercial borrowings under the automatic route as per the [current rules], notwithstanding pending investigations... by the law enforcing agencies," the Reserve Bank of India said in a notification on its website. Previously, companies being investigated by the Directorate of Enforcement, for instance, needed to get their external commercial borrowing proposals cleared by the RBI.
The Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) has detected what it says are flaws and irregularities in the implementation of a farm loan waiver plan of the government. The CAG report which was tabled in Parliament on Tuesday, 5 March 2013, raised serious concerns over the loan waiver plan after it found lapses and errors in 22% of the 90,576 accounts it audited. The audit body also alleged that, in 2,824 cases there was evidence of tampering and alteration of records, while in 4,826 cases farmers weren't given due benefits.
The CAG found irregularities in the monitoring of the program because the department of financial services, which looks after issues relating to banks and financial institutions, was completely dependent on nodal agencies such as the Reserve Bank of India and National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development for implementation of the plan, who were providing data without confirming the veracity of claims. The Department of Financial Services also accepted reimbursement claims worth Rs 336 crore from the Reserve Bank of India on behalf of urban co-operative banks, those were actually implementing the plan at the ground level, even though the total number of beneficiary accounts wasn't indicated, according to the CAG report.
The government had launched an agricultural debt waiver and debt relief plan in 2008 to address farmers' difficulties in repaying loans on time.
Coming back to stocks, the key benchmark indices surged on Tuesday, 5 March 2013 after Finance Minister P. Chidambaram on Monday, 4 March 2013, said that the government will soon announce more measures to boost economic growth which will include sops for exporters. The S&P BSE Sensex jumped 265.21 points or 1.4% to 19,143.17 on that day, its highest closing level since 27 February 2013.
Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) bought shares worth a net Rs 220.80 crore on Tuesday, 5 March 2013, as per provisional data from the stock exchanges.
Data on advance tax payment for the final installment of the current fiscal year which is 15 March 2013, could provide cues on the likely Q4 March 2013 corporate earnings.
Reduction of promoter stake to meet the Securities & Exchange Board of India (Sebi) mandated minimum public shareholding of 25% for private companies and 10% for state-run firms will result in supply of equity in the market over the next few months. As per the Sebi mandated minimum public shareholding rule, private-sector companies must cut founders' stake to adhere to the rules by 13 June 2013, while the deadline for state-run firms is 13 August 2013. PSU divestment will also add to share sale glut in FY 2014. The government has set a target of Rs 40000 crore from divestment of government stake in state-run firms and Rs 14000 crore from divestment of stake in non-government companies for FY 2014.
The Central Statistics Office (CSO) will unveil data on industrial production for January 2013 and also data on the combined consumer price index for rural and urban India for February 2013 on 12 March 2013. The CSO will unveil data on inflation based on the wholesale price index for February 2013 on 14 March 2013.
The Budget Session of the Parliament which began on 21 February 2013 will conclude on 10 May 2013. In order to enable the Standing Committees to consider the Demands for Grants of Ministries/Departments and prepare their Reports, the two Houses will adjourn for recess on 22 March 2013 to meet again on 22 April 2013.
The government has lined up a number of key bills for consideration and passing during the Budget session of the parliament, which include The Forward Contracts (Regulation) Amendment Bill, 2010, The Pension Fund Regulator and Development Authority Bill, 2011, The Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Bill, 2011, The National Food Security Bill, 2011 and The Insurance Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2008.
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) undertakes mid-quarter review of Monetary Policy 2012-13 on 19 March 2013. The central bank on 29 January 2013 signaled after a monetary policy review that there is less room for aggressive policy rate cuts amid any negative surprise emanating from inflation and the twin deficits viz. the current account deficit and the fiscal deficit.
Asian stocks edged higher on Wednesday, 6 March 201, after Dow Jones Industrial Average surged to a record as the service sector expanded at the fastest pace in a year in the United States and as investors bet central banks will continue stimulus measures. Key benchmark indices in China, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Japan, Taiwan, Singapore and South Korea rose by 0.25% to 1.32%.
Australia's economy expanded last quarter, driven by exports and a surge in infrastructure spending, extending the nation's run of 21 recession-free years. Fourth-quarter gross domestic product advanced 0.6 percent from the previous three months, when it rose a revised 0.7 percent that was higher than initially reported, a Bureau of Statistics report released in Sydney today showed.
US stocks rallied on Tuesday, 5 March 2013, as a bullish survey on the service sector fed into indications that the US economy is gradually improving.
The influential US non-farm payroll data for February 2013 is due on Friday, 8 March 2013.
The Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) holds a two-day meeting on the interest rates in the United States on 19 and 20 March 2013.
In Europe, the Governing Council of the European Central Bank (ECB) holds a meeting on euro area interest rates on Thursday, 7 March 2013. The euro area comprises the 17 European Union countries that have introduced the euro since 1999.
The Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) of the Bank of England (BoE) holds a meeting on interest rates in the UK tomorrow, 7 March 2013.
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