Infotech stocks shine in dull market
Mumbai: Again, on a day of dull trading, infotech stocks propped up the market. Equities in almost all other sectors showed a weak trend. The Sensex of the Bombay Stock Exchange lost 17.22 points to close at 4622.21, marking a loss of nearly 80 points in two days. The S&P CNX Nifty of the National Stock Exchange shed 8.50 points to close at 1376.15.

Almost all the mid-range infotech stocks – Pentafour, VisualSoft, Aftek Infosys, Silverline Industries, DSQ Software, Sonata Software, Kale Consultants, Polaris, Software and Citicorp Securities – rose, with some of them coming up against circuit breakers. The Zee Telefilms stock also flared up to log an all-time high of Rs 6,831.54.

The weakness in the market has been attributed to the slowdown in investments by foreign portfolio funds as well as worries over the passage of some key pieces of legislation now before Parliament.
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BSE membership at Rs 50 lakh
Mumbai: The Bombay Stock Exchange will offer memberships to smaller stock exchanges at Rs 50 lakh each. The BSE took the decision at a meeting of representatives of 13 small exchanges. The BSE and these exchanges had earlier signed a memorandum of understanding. The Securities and Exchange Board of India has also cleared the proposal on condition that the small exchanges float subsidiaries to acquire membership of the BSE.
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Satyam ADS up 30%
Mumbai: Satyam Infoway’s American depository shares appreciated by $32.25 – or 30.5 per cent -- to reach $132.75 on the Nasdaq. This follows the company’s deal to acquire an India portal, IndiaWorld, for Rs 499 crore. The price appreciation took the company’s market cap to $3 billion from $2.91 billion earlier.
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Redeem IndPrakash, Sebi tells Indian Bank MF
Mumbai: The Securities and Exchange Board of India has directed the Indian Bank Mutual Fund to redeem its IndPrakash scheme at the prevailing net asset value. Sebi has also asked the fund to submit a proposal on its plans for meeting the commitments within a month.

IndPrakash will have to find Rs 40-crore worth of funds to redeem the scheme, and it will require another Rs 70 crore to meet dividend payment commitments. The fund has another scheme, Indjyothi, which also requires Rs 2.75 crore to cover payment dues. IndPrakash has not paid dividends in 1996-997, 1997-98 and 1998-99.

Indian Bank, one of the banks recently identified as 'weak', which is the promoter of the fund, has offered to make good the fund’s commitments. The bank has, in turn, sought funds from the government, but the request has been turned down.
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10 stocks for rolling settlement
Mumbai: The Securities and Exchange Board of India has identified 10 stocks for which rolling settlements will be compulsory from 10 January 2000. The stocks are BFL Software, Citicorp Securities, Cybertech Systems & Software, Hitech Drilling Services (India), Lupin Laboratories, Maars Software International, Morepen Laboratories, Sri Adhikari Brothers, Tata Infotech and VisualSoft (India).

These stocks are in the dematerialised list and have a daily turnover of about Rs 1 crore or more, but do not fall under the forward list. The rolling settlement of a trading day plus five days will be compulsory for these stocks, Sebi said.
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Glenmark IPO at Rs 200 a share
Mumbai: Glenmark Pharmaceuticals is making an initial public offering of 26,70,000 shares of Rs 10 each at a premium of Rs 190 per share.The company will raise Rs 53.4 crore from the issue. The issue opens on 10 December.

The company'e executive director Glenn Saldanha said the company intends to focus on building storng brands in dermatology, internal medicine, ear, nose, throat, paediatrics and gynaecology.  It is also slated to launch a new iron supplement, Mumfer, for pregnant women. The drug does not have any side effects, according to the company.
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Star TV plans IPO
Mumbai: Star TV will make an initial public offering sometime late next year. It is learnt that News Corporation has allowed a 25 per cent unloading of its stake in the Indian arm. Star TV’s Indian officials, confirming the proposal, said the size and date of the IPO are yet to be finalised.

Simultaneously, one of the channel’s content providers, ND TV, is also planning to enter the market to fund its expansion plans.
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