The Hindu Business Line : Sunday, January 23, 2011

Corporates step on sales to accelerate profits in Q3
Input costs shoot up; firms able to keep employee costs under check. Tata Consultancy Services, TVS Motors and Larsen & Toubro all had one thing in common about their third quarter numbers: All reported strong sales growth that helped them ...

Interest income boosts SBI net 14% in third quarter
A robust growth in interest income, coupled with tight control on interest expenses, helped State Bank of India report a 14 per cent increase in net profit in the third quarter ended December 31, 2010. Net profit rose to Rs 2,828 crore, from ...

Book release: P. Chidamba... ESOPs turn out to be money-spinners
After a hiatus in 2008 and a mild revival in 2009, 2010 saw a spectacular revival in employee stock options (ESOPs) being offered as a part of executive salaries. Sectors such as banks, pharmaceuticals, FMCG and, to a lesser extent, IT are ...

Container train operator hauls Rail Ministry before competition panel
Container train operator Arshiya Rail has approached the Competition Commission of India (CCI) with a complaint against the Railway Ministry, after the latter introduced steep hikes in haulage charges for ...

Vinod Dasari named Ashok Leyland's new MD
In a move described as “planned transition”, Ashok Leyland on Saturday appointed Mr Vinod Dasari the company's Managing Director in the place of Mr R. Seshasayee, who has been promoted the company's ...

Textiles Ministry not for cotton export cap hike
The Textile Minister, Mr Dayanidhi Maran, said on Saturday that his Ministry is not in favour of allowing export of cotton over and above the specified cap of 55 lakh bales (170 ...

Index Outlook: Poised at significant support
Market participants mired in gloomy thoughts on inflation and the RBI's next policy rate move were pleasantly diverted by strong earnings reported by some front-line companies. This also provided the bulls with the ammunition to defend the ...

Axis Bank: Buy
Investment Focus. Axis Bank, with its large deposit base and fee income, may be among the private banks best placed to thrive in a rising interest rate scenario. The bank has continued to deliver strong profit growth (35 per cent for the nine ...

Bajaj Auto: Buy
Bajaj Auto has put up a strong show in the quarter ended December 2010 despite rising input costs and interest rate hikes that would have a bearing ...

Provogue India: Buy
Premium retailer Provogue's foray into construction and running shopping malls came to fruition as it opened its first mall in October 2010. That the mall houses established retailers such as Star India Bazaar and Croma is another indicator ...

Container Corporation of India: Book profits
Container Corporation (Concor), the country's largest multi-modal logistics company, may have delivered reasonably well in the third quarter, but the going may get tougher in the coming quarters. Weakening domestic volumes, hike in ...

V-Guard Industries: Book profits
Making its debut in 2008 just around when the market began its plunge, the stock of V-Guard Industries staged an unexciting show in the year of listing — from the issue price of Rs 82, it corrected sharply to ...

SBI Magnum FMCG Fund: Hold
Thematic funds in sectors such as FMCG, pharmaceuticals and banks dominated the equity fund rankings for 2010 runningahead of the broader market. The tiny Magnum FMCG Fund is perched at the top of the rankings as the best performing equity ...

UTI Unit Linked Insurance Plan: Invest
Fresh investment can be considered in the units of UTI Unit Linked Plan 71, a unit-linked insurance plan (ULIP) with a track record of 40 years. UTI ULIP is the only unit linked insurance regulated by the Securities Exchange Board of India ...

Indians as money managers
We Indians like to rank ourselves among the best in the world at writing software codes or launching space programmes, but how good are we at managing our own money? A study released last week by ING, the leading global financial services ...

Query Corner — Nagarjuna Construction at key support
Kindly elaborate the short- and long-term view on Nagarjuna Construction Company. ...

Pivotals: Reliance Industries (Rs 986.5)
As anticipated RIL declined last week and met our downward price target of Rs 960 on Thursday by recording a low of Rs 954. However, the stock bounced up recoupingsome of its early week losses and ended the week 1.5 per cent lower. It has been ...

Consider going long on Punj Lloyd
Punj Lloyd (Rs 100): The stock is in a long-term down-trend but it has psychological support around Rs 100. A short-term pull back rally is possible from these levels. The stock finds immediate support at Rs 95 and resistance at Rs 106. The ...

Sizzling stocks: LIC Housing Finance (Rs 194.2)
LIC Housing Finance sizzled 9 per cent on January 19 in anticipation of its Q3 results announcement. After market closing, the company announced its Q3 numbers that beat the consensus estimates. The stock witnessed buying subsequently and ...

SBI results: Something to cheer about
If the September quarter saw SBI posting flat growth in profits, the December 2010 results bring something ...