Thursday March 15, 02:00 PM
Early gains pared... |
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By Equitymaster.com
The indices saw some profit booking during the previous hour of trade. The advance-decline ratio is currently 4:1 on the Nifty. There is buying interest seen across the board but a few sectors like banking and energy have shed their early profits.
The BSE Sensex is trading at 12,690 (down 160 points) while the NSE Nifty is trading at 3,685 (down 44 points). The Indian rupee is trading at 44.10 to the dollar.
According to a leading business daily, Satyam Computer, India's fourth-biggest software services firm Ltd is looking to acquire a telecom or technology consulting firm in the US or Europe for upto $50 million. The company is in talks with five or six companies. Satyam has considerably strengthened its consulting practice. In addition, it is also looking at buyouts in the enterprise business solutions space. An acquisition in the telecom space could bring domain expertise in areas such as billing. Niche small buyouts with a 'string of pearlsī acquisition strategy that is being successfully implemented by its peer Wipro (WIPRd.BO, news) would be a better option than a transformational merger and acquisition that involves large buyouts. Satyam is trading 2% up while its industry peer Tech Mahindra and iGate Global are trading 4% up each.
The JSW group plans to diversify from its metals business into manufacture and marketing of cement. This marks the second recent diversification for the Jindal group. The mines-to-metals group is examining the feasibility of setting up a cement plant-at a cost of Rs130 crore-at its Toranagallu steel facility in the Bellary district of Karnataka. The move to diversify into cement in addition to mining and metals, ports and industrial gases is an attempt by the Jindals to capitalize on the growth of the core and manufacturing sectors in an economy growing at more than 9% per annum. The cement foray will also allow the group to utilize a by-product of steel making-slag, which comprises impurities that are removed while converting ore to steel in furnaces. With the proposed expansion of its steel plant, the company will be producing more slag. This waste product is currently sold at Rs 250 per tonne to other cement makers in the area. With more slag available in the future, the company wants to use it to manufacture a higher value-added product to boost its margins and revenues. JSW Steel has been in a massive expansion phase having outlined plans to invest Rs 6.2 bn over the next couple of years for a variety of projects. Along with its peers TISCO and SAIL, JSW Steel is trading 2% up.
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