Money on the markets

Reliance Ind slips on EIH stake buy

Shares in Reliance Industries closed 3 percent lower on Tuesday, a day after the company pushed ahead with its diversification plan by acquiring a stake in hotel chain EIH for $217.5 million.

Reliance is already active in petrochemicals, refining, oil and gas, and retail.

Analysts said the deal was likely to thwart designs of EIH’s larger rival ITC, which holds a 14.98 percent stake in EIH, to raise its stake in the hotel chain.

Reliance shares ended lower at 918 rupees, while EIH, which opened 9 percent higher, pared most of its gains and ended 7.1 percent lower at 139 rupees with volumes of 9.1 million shares.

Do you think Reliance’s foray into hospitality is a good move?

Tata Steel rises on sale agreement

Tata Steel ended 3.5 percent higher at 527 rupees after the company said on the weekend its unit Corus has reached an agreement with Thailands SSI on the potential $500 million sale of its mothballed Teesside plant.

Shares in Tata Steel were among the biggest gainer among the Sensex stocks and ended with volumes of 1.9 million shares on BSE.

For the year the stock has declined over 15 percent but for the month of August it had gained a little over 13 percent.

Do you think the price tag for the acquisition is right for Tata Steel and will help the counter in diversification process?

Are you happy with the direct tax code?

The much-awaited direct tax code bill, aimed at simplifying the country’s archaic direct tax laws, was passed by the cabinet on Thursday, with new income tax slabs being proposed for individuals.

Though these slabs will put some extra money in taxpayers’ pockets as compared to existing slabs, the original slabs proposed in the first draft of the direct tax code have been diluted.

The original code proposed that income up to 10,00,000 rupees would be taxed at the rate of 10 percent, but the tax slabs announced on Thursday propose a tax of 20 percent for income between 500,000 – 10,00,000 rupees and a tax of 10 percent on income between 200,000 – 500,000 rupees.

The new proposal exempts income up to 200,000 rupees from taxes. For senior citizens, the basic exemption would be hiked to 250,000 rupees.

(Direct Tax Code Bill – Changes in personal taxation, click here)

The other good news is that investments like PF and PPF would continue to be treated as per EEE (exempt-exempt-exempt) method, meaning you will not have to pay any tax at the time of redemption.

The initial proposals recommended that such investments be treated under EET method, meaning they would have been taxed at redemption.

FMCG index up 1.1 pct

Shares in FMCG index posted decent gains on Thursday, with stocks like Nestle India gaining 3.7 percent and ending as top gainer in the index.

Ruchi Soy gained 3.15 percent, while Godrej Consumer Products gained 1.8 percent.

However, HUL shares bucked the trend and lost more than 1 percent.

Would you invest in this sector right now?

Realty stocks tumble

It was a tough day for real estate counters as the sectoral index dropped more than 3 percent and ended as the top loser among BSE indices.

All but one stock in the index closed in red, with Orbit Corp shares ending down 5 percent as the top loser. Indiabulls Real Estate slipped 3.8 percent.

Top listed firm DLF slipped 3.3 percent whereas rival Unitech slipped 3.6 percent.

Do you think the fall is an opportunity to enter this sector?

Weak day for banking counters

The BSE Banking index ended down 0.5 percent on Tuesday, with stocks such as Union Bank, Canara Bank and Oriental Bank of Commerce slipping more than 3 percent.

Bigger players like ICICI slipped 0.9 percent but SBI bucked the trend and gained 0.8 percent in the session.

However, the banking index has done well of late, gaining 16.5 percent since July. Shares in SBI have surged a whopping 23.6 percent during this period.

Would you invest in this sector right now?

Oil marketing firms rally

Shares in oil marketing firms like BPCL, HPCL and IOC surged on Monday, helping the BSE Oil & Gas index close marginally in positive.

Shares of such firms rose amid reports that companies have received subsidy from the government to ease selling losses and on expectations that the government may deregulate diesel prices soon.

BPCL ended as the top performer in the index with gains of 11 percent, followed by HPCL which gained 5.3 percent and IOC which rose 3 percent.

Reliance Industries, India’s top listed firm, ended as the top loser in the index, with losses of 1.2 percent.

Do you think such counters would continue to rally?

Realty stocks gain in weak market

Realty counters posted decent gains in Friday trade, pushing the realty index up 1.8 percent in a weak Mumbai market that closed 53 points lower.

Sobha Developers topped the index with gains of 4 percent, followed by DLF, India’s top listed realty firm, which closed 3.55 percent up. Unitech shares ended 1.5 percent higher.

DLF recently reported quarterly net profit rose 3.8 percent helped by a revival in demand, while Unitech said consolidated Apr-June net was up 14 percent.

The realty index has gained 15.6 percent since July, with stocks like Unitech and DLF rising 14.1 percent and 15.4 percent respectively.

Would you invest in one of these counters now?

HDFC Bank shares at all-time high

HDFC Bank, India’s second-largest private bank, rose as much as 2.4 percent to an all-time high of 2,240 rupees during trade on Thursday, before closing 1.95 percent higher.

It was a good day for financial stocks overall, which rose on the back of rising FII inflows who have been lured by 8.5 percent economic growth forecast this year.

ICICI Bank climbed as much as 4.6 percent during trade to touch its highest in 29 months, while SBI bucked the trend and ended marginally lower.

The banking index has gained a whopping 17.3 percent return since July. Would you invest in a banking stock at this stage?

BSE IT index gains nearly 2 pct

IT stocks posted decent gains on Wednesday, pushing the sectoral index up nearly 2 percent as robust profits from U.S. retailing giants boosted confidence in the corporate outlook in the world’s largest economy.

Mphasis topped the BSE IT Index with a 3.8 percent gain, followed by HCL Tech which rose 3.1 percent. Bigger players like TCS and Infosys posted gains of 2.1 percent and 1.92 percent respectively.

Only two stocks in the index – Patni and Tech Mahindra – ended in the red.

The sectoral index is up marginally this month. Would you invest in an IT counter at this stage?