Sensex closes at record high
Mumbai: The upbeat sentiment of the stock market continues unabated. The 30-scrip Bombay Stock Exchange Sensex and the 50-scrip S&P CNX Nifty of the National Stock Exchange scaled new heights on 14 July and closed at a record -- 4710.25 and 1335.45 respectively.

The market apparently is being controlled at the moment by the bulls, as the Sensex shattered the previous record of 12 September 1994 at 4630.54. The main reason for the upward mobility seems to be reports of foreign institutional investors making huge investments, which totalled Rs 411 crore on 13 July. There was news of large buys by US-based funds at the Infosys and Hindustan Lever counters in mid-session.

Software shares led the rally. Infosys' scrip gained Rs 342.75 and closed at Rs 4,627.25, while Satyam Computers, Pentafour Software and NIIT also recorded significant gains.
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Infosys at peak
Mumbai: Infosys crossed a market capitalisation of Rs 15,000 crore with the stock sailing past the Rs 4,600 mark on the Bombay Stock Exchange on an ex-bonus basis. On the cum-bonus basis, it had an all-time high of Rs 5,100. The scrip was on a circuit breaker freeze on the National Stock Exchange.

The company's ADR on the Nasdaq too touched an all-time high of $76.50 on 13 July. One ADR represents half an Infosys share. In absolute terms, the price of the Infosys ADR is deemed to be much beyond that of Microsoft, the hottest infotech stock in the world, which trades at $93.62 on the Nasdaq. However, the two companies are not comparable on market capitalisation.
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Essar NCD downgraded
Mumbai: Crisil downgraded the two non-convertible debenture issues of Essar Oil totalling Rs 765 crore to "D" (default grade) from "C" (substantial risk). The revised rating indicates that Essar Oil has defaulted on the rated instrument, as a significant portion of the residual funding for its refinery project remains untied.

Prashant Ruia, director of the company, is reported by The Economic Times as saying that the company could not honour interest payment on part of the debentures on time as the financial institutions are yet to disburse Rs 841 crore sanctioned to the company.
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Raymond Synthetic active
Mumbai: Shares of Raymond Synthetic witnessed intense activity on the bourses with rumours of a buyout of its polyester filament yarn unit by Reliance Industries. The stock, which was quoted at Rs 4.50 on 1 July on the Bombay Stock Exchange now trades at around Rs 8.25.

Meanwhile, the stocks of Raymond Ltd too are active with trading taking place at around Rs 102 against Rs 78.55 on 1 July.
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US-64 NAV at Rs 12
Mumbai: The Unit Trust of India's flagship scheme US-64, has gained from the stock rally of the last few days. The net asset value of US-64 is learnt to have risen by Rs 1.50 to Rs 12 since 2 July.

On 2 July, the NAV stood at Rs 10.50. UTI has substantial holdings in some of the leading software and pharma shares. One of its success stories is the Infosys scrip, which is ruling high on the exchanges.
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BSE to commission surveillance system
Mumbai: The Bombay Stock Exchange is introducing a system whereby abnormal trends in stock price movements and settlement-related defaults will be detected with its online surveillance system. The system will be operational on 15 July.

Finance minister Yashwant Sinha is to inaugurate the new system along with the Central Depository Services, a joint venture between the BSE and a consortium of banks.

The system will generate on-line alerts for price movement and volume positions.
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Market-making system for B2 shares
Mumbai: The Bombay Stock Exchange is designing a compulsory market-making system for its B2 group of stocks with a view to reviving their liquidity and volumes.

The exchange has set up a committee to frame rules for the system in line with the market-making norms laid down by the Securities and Exchange Board of India. 
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ICICI lowers interest rate of safety bonds
Mumbai: ICICI has lowered interest rates on its safety bonds for July. For a one-year period, the interest being offered is 11.5 per cent compared to over 12 per cent on the May issue.

The financial institution has indicated that there would be a paring down of interest rates on its safety bonds in line with the general decline in interest rates.

ICICI intends to raise Rs 300 crore in this tranche with a greenshoe option for another Rs 300 crore.
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