3:30 pm Market close: The market
ended flat with oil & gas stocks dragging major indices. The Sensex was up
40.95 points at 29135.88 and the Nifty was up 3.85 points at 8809.35. About
1336 shares advanced, 1584 shares declined and 195 shares were unchanged.
ITC gained 3 percent while TCS, Bharti, HUL and
HDFC were top gainers in the Sensex. Among the losers were Sun Pharma, ICICI
Bank, Hindalco, Hero and Axis Bank.
3:10 pm PSU capitalisation: PSU
banks will have to raise funds from the capital market to meet capital
requirement norms in absence of adequate financial support from the government
in the forthcoming Budget, rating agency Moody's said today. For the current
fiscal, the government has earmarked Rs 11,200 crore for capital infusion in
state-owned banks. Of that the government has said it will soon infuse Rs 6,990
crore in nine banks including SBI, Bank of Baroda (BoB) and Punjab National
Bank (PNB).
"Unless the government materially increases
the capital allocation to state-owned banks in the next budget, the only way
these banks can improve their capital ratios is by accessing equity capital
markets," Moody's Investors Service said. The government in the current
fiscal has adopted new criteria in which the banks which are more efficient
would be rewarded with extra capital so that they can further strengthen their
position. The capital infusion has been decided based on the performance of the
bank.
3:00 pm Fund raising: Private
sector lender Yes Bank today said it will be raising Rs 500 crore through
issuance of "green infrastructure bonds", which will be deployed to
fund renewable energy and energy efficiency projects.
The bank claimed it is the first such issue in
the country and the money will be used to fund solar power, wind power,
biomass, and small hydel projects. The bond will have a tenor of ten years, it
said in a statement, adding the issue has already been launched.
The city-headquartered lender said it had made a
commitment to fund 5,000 MW of renewable energy projects during the recent
summit organised by the Government and added the proceeds from the issue will
be used to fund the same.
2:30 pm New patent: Pharmaceutical
firm Suven Life Sciences has been granted one patent each by Australia, Canada,
Japan and New Zealand for its drug used in treatment of neurodegenerative
diseases. "Secured patents in Australia, Canada, Japan and New Zealand to
one of their New Chemical Entity (NCE) for CNS therapy through new mechanism of
action H3 Inverse agonist," the company said in a BSE filing. These
patents are valid until 2030, it added.
Neurodegenerative diseases include Alzheimer's
disease, Schizophrenia and Parkinson's disease. The granted claims of the
patent include the class of selective H3 ligands discovered by Suven and are
useful in treatment of cognitive impairment associated with neurodegenerative
disorders, the statement said.
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The Sensex is up 128.85 points at 29223.78 and
the Nifty is up 31.55 points at 8837.05. About 1287 shares have advanced, 1477
shares declined and 212 shares are unchanged.
M&M, ITC, HDFC, Bharti Airtel and TCS are top
gainers in the Sensex. Among the losers are Sun Pharma, Hero, Reliance, ICICI
Bank and Axis Bank.
Oil stocks are down as Finance Minister Arun
Jaitley may look at re-imposing 5 percent customs duty on crude oil imports to
shore up revenues by USD 3 billion and create a level-playing field for
domestic producers.
Presently, the government does not levy any
import or customs duty on crude oil imports. On the other hand, domestically
produced crude oil attracts two percent central sales tax, something which
imported oil is exempted from.
Gold extended gains to a third session, bolstered
by safe-haven bids amid a softer dollar and jitters ahead of negotiations
regarding Greece's future in the euro zone.
Traders were eyeing a meeting of euro zone finance ministers in Brussels later on Monday to find common ground with Greece's new government, elected on a pledge to scrap the austerity strictures of Greece's international bailouts.
If the meeting produces no results, there is a concern that Greece will be headed for a credit crunch that would force it out of the euro zone.