Sensex moves up in tandem with Nasdaq, as Tisco steals the show
Mumbai: In an age where silicon is stealing the show at the stock markets, it was steel that was proving the sceptics wrong. Riding high on the back of reports that it was partnering global giant, Thyssen, for the acquitision of the Raymond’s Steel mill, the stock price of the steel giant, Tisco, hit new high.

The Sensex closed the day at 4,453.4, up 128 points, while on the NSE, the S&P CNX Nifty closed at 1,349 netting a gain of 40.25 points or 2.98 per cent over previous close.

Infotech and media stocks Satyam, Infosys, Zee Telefilms, Wipro and NIIT danced to the Nasdaq beat. Cement stocks Grasim and Gujarat Ambuja dropped on profit-booking, while power and engineering stocks like ABB, L&T and Tata Power were up.

While almost all auto stocks like Hero Honda, M&M and Telco bore the brunt of a bear attack, Bajaj Auto escaped the bear onslaught. In the pharma sector, all the counters were up. Glaxo was the star performer with a gain of 12 per cent on both the BSE and NSE.
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Sebi moves to control default on debenture redemption
Mumbai: After a recent study done by the Securities and Exchanges Board of India (Sebi) showed that several companies have defaulted on redemption of debentures worth Rs 373 crore at maturity, the country’s market regulator has now decided to take up the issue with debenture trustees to ensure that investors could recover their investments.

According to Sebi, of the total outstanding amount, Rs 44.2 crore needs to be recovered from four companies which have already reported to BIFR and over which the debenture trustees now have no control. The amount due to financial institutions stands at Rs 33 crore, which Sebi feels would be actively pursued by institutions and the amount should be recovered. The regulator is concentrating on the balance to ensure that investors are taken care of.

The debenture trustees are however of the opinion that with a bare minimum fee of Rs 50,000, it was very difficult for them to pursue extensive legal battles with issuers to recover the dues to investors.

In another move, the market regulator is moving a proposal that will allow corporates to issue unsecured bonds to the public with maturity periods beyond 18 months.

The move follows suggestions made by some corporates involved in infrastructure projects to allow them to raise funds from some long term investors by issuing unsecured bonds. These investors, it is learnt are willing to invest in unsecured instruments but the Sebi norms do not allow this to happen right now.
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Sebi moves to close in on insider trading
Mumbai: India’s chief market regulator, the Securities and Exchanges Board of India (Sebi) is close to laying down norms for prevention of insider trading at corporates. It is believed that measures are on the anvil to ensure that "select groups," including analysts and institutions get access to the minimum-possible price sensitive information through analyst meets.

According to Mr. L.K. Singhvi, senior executive director of Sebi, rules are being finalised to ensure how the information disclosed to these select groups can then be disclosed to the public at the earliest.

Key issues in this regard are to be discussed by the sub-committee on insider trading under the auspices of the Kumar Mangalam Birla committee on corporate governance.

Till date, most corporates in the country have not taken this issue very seriously and have, at times, been "indifferent or at times even totally disrespectful to these issues". The silver lining, however, is that many corporates have been resorting to disclosures in keeping with international standards.

Insider trading based on information being given by companies to analysts and institutions or other select groups is becoming an area of concern for regulators the world over. The rules that Sebi is framing will not be voluntary or advisory but legally enforceable. All developed markets have rules and procedures to ensure that there is fair distribution of information and no selective leakage. The framework would revolve around putting in place Chinese walls, not to trade on the basis of inside information if such comes under the possession of an employee and lay down adequate reporting and compliance.
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