The Hindu Business Line : Sunday, September 22, 2002

Evaluating mutual fund costs: Initial issue expenses
HOW do you choose one mutual fund scheme over another? You will, undoubtedly, pore over its performance track record, dissect the credentials of its fund manager and ponder over whether you are comfortable with its investment style. But do you ... More

Zooming ahead with variants
VARIANTS are the flavour of the day. They catch the customer's fleeting fancy until a newer version or a competitor's `copy-cat' beguiles him. Pampered car buyers of today have never had it so good, with manufacturers wooing them with an array ... More

INDUSTRY ANALYSIS

Endgame in sight?
THE end-game is in sight for Development Financial Institutions (DFIs). Adversely impacted by a large proportion of bad loans and a hostile environment, DFIs are heading towards extinction. At the moment, it is difficult to imagine DFIs lasting ... More

The sum of all fears
IF a solution is not found soon, IDBI and IFCI will have to carry on in the present form. It may be pertinent to consider the situation in the event of status quo.Business opportunities appear limited for DFIs. Heightened competition, following ... More

MUTUAL FUNDS

UTI Regular Income Scheme: Unattractive
THE UTI Regular Income Scheme is an open-end fund designed to invest a minimum of 90 per cent of its assets in debt instruments, with the balance in equities. The fund is currently open for subscription. The offer opened on September 12 and ... More

Birla Mid-Cap Fund: Unattractive
INVESTMENTS in the new Birla Mid-Cap Fund can be avoided now. There is, no doubt, a place for such funds. But in the backdrop of the rally in mid-cap stocks in 2002, the timing could prove detrimental. This is despite the fact that mid-cap stocks ... More

Bonds for UTI investors
Investors in the assured return schemes of the Unit Trust of India will be offered an option to take either cash or tax-free bonds. The latter will be the 7 per cent tax-free bonds launched on October 1. But the Government has indicated that no ... More

Sundaram Balanced Fund: Hold
IN THE two-and-a-half years since launch, Sundaram Balanced Fund comfortably outperformed its balanced benchmark, though it generated lower returns than some of the top-performing balanced funds, such as Zurich India Prudence Fund. Investors can ... More

Dhanavarsha (13): Set for premature redemption
LIC Mutual Fund's assured return scheme Dhanavarsha (13) is set to be redeemed prematurely on September 30. The units will be redeemed at NAV on this date, at least at Rs 10 per unit for the monthly / yearly income options and at the NAV for the ... More

UTI Petro Fund: Hold
INVESTORS in UTI Petro Fund can stay invested. The fund's NAV has declined sharply in the wake of the Government's decision to put off disinvestments in the oil-refining sector. Stocks such as BPCL and HPCL, the fund's mainstays, dipped more than ... More

UTI Index Select Equity Fund: Hold/Avoid fresh exposures
INVESTORS in the UTI Index Select Equity Fund can stay invested for the present if they find the scheme's positioning in line with their investment objective. The fund has, within the confines of its objective, done fairly well by outperforming ... More

Bonds for MIP investors
THE proposal to issue 7 per cent tax-free bonds to investors in the monthly income plans of the UTI that will mature over the next few years may not find favour with investors. That is so because there are better options in the market. The ... More

K-30: Hold
INVESTORS in the open-end growth scheme, K-30 of Kotak Mahindra Mutual Fund can stay invested and use any uptrend in the market to re-evaluate their exposures. The fund's overall performance since December 1998 has been modest, though it stayed ... More

STOCKS

Nedungadi's proposed merger with PNB: Not a credit-worthy proposition
Recommendation
PNB: Hold
Nedungadi Bank: Sell More

Ballarpur Industries: Hold
SHAREHOLDERS can stay invested in the Ballarpur Industries' stock This may enable them to take advantage of any upside in the valuation of the stock if the recovery in the paper industry takes firm hold. Capped upside: But the upside ... More

Nifty companies: Struggling to stay ahead
THE report card for the 50 companies comprising the Nifty index for the year-ended 2001-02 indicates that Corporate India has been struggling to pep up demand in the economy. Meanwhile, it has been tightening up its costs and improving internal ... More

NRB Bearings: Hold
THE recent improvement in automobile production has resulted in an improvement in business prospects for quite a few companies with exposure to the auto sector. NRB Bearings is one such company whose financial performance has seen sharp ... More

Monsanto India: Hold
WITH Pharmacia Inc. recently divesting its residual stake in Monsanto Inc. (the parent of Monsanto India), the uncertainty about a change in ownership of Monsanto India at the global level has dissipated. But this fiscal, Monsanto India's ... More

Atlas Copco: Capitalise on the rise
CONSIDERING the spurt in the share price of Atlas Copco in the last four months and the low liquidity in the stock, conservative investors can book profits at the current market price of Rs 180. The share price has doubled in 2002 from around Rs ... More

LIFE INSURANCE

Bima Nivesh 2002 from LIC
THE Life Insurance Corporation of India has launched the third version of Bima Nivesh, a life insurance-cum-assured return product. Bima Nivesh 2002 offers sum assured ranging from Rs 25,000 to Rs 50 lakh with a term of five-ten years. The single ... More

STOCK MARKETS

Dreary outlook for key pivotals
AS observed last week, the Nifty (969.6) appears to be headed towards the target zone at 945-950. In line with expectations, the close below 985 imparted weak undertone. On the upside, the index could face resistance around the 980-983 band. ... More

Protecting the markets
THE Finance Ministry appears determined to contain the fallout of the US-64 crisis on the equity market. If large-scale redemptions from US-64 happen as expected in May and June 2003, it could have an adverse impact on the stock market. This may ... More

Depressed sentiment
THE hangover of the delayed privatisation plans of the Central Government and bearishness in the US markets continued to affect the stockmarkets in Mumbai. Towards the latter half of the week, the sentiment was further depressed by the rating ... More

Pare exposure in Bajaj Auto
THE stock market went through a distinctly bearish phase last week. The Sensex registered a net week-on-week drop of 71 points while the NSE Nifty dropped by about 22.4 points. The weakness in American bourses affected domestic market sentiment. ... More

United Phosphorus, Zee move southward
THE markets turned bearish this week, with the exception of Tuesday that saw the markets going up ephemerally due to the rally of technology stocks and select PSUs. Grim US economic data, firm stance taken by the US on Iraq, poor rating given by ... More

Nasdaq: Weak undertone
THE American bourses passed through yet another week that was marked by distinct bearishness. The benchmark indices registered week-on-week loss for the fourth week in succession. The Dow Jones Industrial Average slipped below the psychological ... More

DEBT MARKET

Bonds: Upside limited
THE yield curve shifted marginally downwards week-on-week, except the five-year yields, which saw an increase of 13 bps. Going forward, bonds are likely to remain bid, though the upside is limited. Consider the reasons. First, based on the ... More

DERIVATIVES MARKETS

PSU petro stocks remain active
ADVERSELY impacted by the growing opposition within the Government to the disinvestment programme and Standard & Poor's downgrade of India's rupee denominated debt, the stock market indices finished the week on a weak note. The BSE Sensitive ... More

Why puts are costlier than calls?
PUTS are typically priced higher than calls. The October 230 Satyam puts, for instance, carry an implied volatility (vols) of 39 per cent against 36 per cent for the 230 calls (implied vols is the output you get if you input data into an option ... More

Exercising option and selling
I SAW your writeup 'In-the-money options', Sunday, the 15th September. You say that a 3000 expiry option which is deep in the money at 3450 should be held on for further rise or fall which may not be true. Options per se is not an instrument used ... More

Options guide

Futures guide

FIXED DEPOSITS

Canbank Factors: Bank on it
CANBANK Factors, a 70 per cent subsidiary of Canara Bank accepts fixed and cumulative deposits from the public. Though the minimum deposit requirement is on the higher side, one can go in for a one-year deposit. The other tenures can be ... More

INTERVIEW

`HMT's brand is Titan's lure'
Titan Industries, the top watch company in India with a market share of 50 per cent, recently expressed its interest to acquire a 74 per cent stake in India's first watch company, HMT Watches. Mr Bhaskar Bhat, Managing Director, Titan ... More

INCOME TAX

Rebates: Avenues to reduce tax
The UGC revised the pay for college teachers with retrospective effect from 1996. Kerala, however, due to the stringency of funds did not pay the arrears but transferred the same to the credit of the PF account. There is a substantial ... More

Tax payments without PAN/TAN
Banks will accept tax challans even if they come without the Permanent Account Number (PAN) or the Tax-deduction Account Number (TAN). But the tax-payer must furnish a copy of the application made for PAN/TAN or give in writing that he has ... More

INSIGHT

SEBI's amended Takeover Code: Levelling the playing field?
AFTER five long years, the first major amendments to the SEBI's Takeover Code, 1997 have finally come into force. This overhaul is based on the recommendations of the Committee set up under the Chairmanship of Justice P. N. Bhagwati, opinions ... More

Some landmark takeover cases
IN A dynamically evolving market for corporate control, more than half-a-dozen high-profile open offers have highlighted the loopholes that are proposed to be plugged by the draft recommendations of the Justice Bhagwati Committee. These ... More

S&P's wake-up call
AS with every downgrade, much heat and dust has been raised by the latest one of India's rupee debt rating to junk grade by Standard & Poor's (S&P). There are the usual arguments about rating agencies and their motivated actions as also the ... More

Cracking the Nifty mould too often
IN WHAT has almost become a chore now, the S&P CNX Nifty Index (Nifty) has had one more set of changes in the past week. This is the third recast in 2002. The number of changes to the basket has almost made it a quasi-actively managed portfolio ... More

INVESTOR PROTECTION

Attention CRB depositors
The Delhi High Court has asked depositors to submit proof of their debt against the company by September 30. The claim with an affidavit proving the debt in the prescribed form must be sent to the official liquidator, Mr V. P. Singhal, A2, W2, ... More

CARTOON

It Adds Up!
More

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