Commodity Updates - Aluminum surges as demand strengthens

Investors focus returned from safe-haven assets amid rebound in global equities and supply tightening, supported the uptrend in prices of Aluminum futures.

At the MCX, Aluminum futures for June 2016 contract is trading at Rs 107.85 per kg, up by 0.23 per cent, after opening at Rs 108, against a previous close of Rs 107.60. It touched the intra-day high of Rs 108.05

Aluminum futures were trading higher during the morning trade in the domestic market on Friday as participants widened their positions as demand rises amid rebound in global equities.


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SEBI Updates - SEBI Pitches India To Silicon Valley Investors

 

The Head of India`s financial markets regulator visited Silicon Valley this week to promote rule changes in his country protecting minority shareholders and encourage more investment in his country`s thriving technology startups.

U.K. Sinha, chairman of the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI), said improved regulations make it much easier for investors in the country`s over-4,000 technology startups to eventually cash out through initial public offers in Asia`s third-largest economy.

"The technology startup scene in India has picked up dramatically," Sinha told Reuters in an interview on Thursday. "A lot of investment has taken place in those companies from Silicon Valley. The question is how they exit, and what is the minority shareholder protection available to them?"

A 2013 overhaul of India`s corporate governance rules clamped down on related-party transactions benefiting majority shareholders. It also beefed up the role of independent directors and audit committees on company boards.Minority shareholders in India now have stronger rights than in the United States, Sinha said.

In Silicon Valley, corporate governance can be a thorny issue. In April, Facebook said it would create a new class of non-voting shares so that Chief Executive Officer Mark Zuckerberg could give away his wealth without relinquishing control of the social media juggernaut he founded.

 

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Sebi To Tweak Settlement Norms To Exclude Only Serious cases

Markets regulator Sebi is considering changes to its settlement norms by bringing in a new provision that would enable settling all 'insignificant' cases without any "market-wide impact" on payment of certain charges.

 

The cases pertaining to serious securities market violations, which may have severe impact on the markets, would be left out of the consent framework, Sebi Chairman U K Sinha said today.

In the consent settlement process, the entity facing a probe by Sebi is subjected to certain fees and restrictions without admission or denial of alleged irregularities, and the regulator thereafter drops its charges and the investigations with a caveat that all disclosures made to it are correct. The case can still be re-opened if some new facts come up later.

In the past, Sebi has refused consent settlement in some big cases including one Reliance IndustriesBSE -0.30 % and its erstwhile subsidiary Reliance Petroleum for alleged insider trading.

After Sebi refused to allow consent settlement, the Mukesh Ambani-led company had challenged the decision at the SAT, but its plea was rejected there also. Sebi is yet to pass its order in this case and believe that the changes in settlement norms may pave the way for RIL to make a fresh attempt at settlement process. 

 

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!3 April Stock Market Top Headlines:-

                                                          Stock Market Headlines

• Crude rally is a hope rally, may not sustain itself:
• Paytm, MobiKwik, Oxigen watch out! UPI set to eat up your lunch
• India's exports may settle at $50-260 bn in 2015-16
• Panama raids offices of Mossack Fonseca law firm
• Foreign, PE players eye Lafarge's India assets: Sources
• Better monsoon to help co achieve 10-15% growth: PI Industries
• Japanese consortiums bid for GAIL's $7 bn tender
• Wipro to consider buyback of equity shares on April 20
• Stocks in news: L&T, Wipro, Shilpa Medicare, Madhucon, Cairn
• SC asks IBA, FinMin to respond to loan default case
• Monsoon to be above avg; 94% chance of normal-excess rains: IMD
• L&T Finance to raise Rs 750 cr via NCDs
• Customs dept imposes Rs 33 cr fine on Tata Sponge Iron
• Fed's Williams says two or three US rate hikes 'reasonable'
• Govt asks BHEL to take initiatives for power sector
• India to appeal against WTO panel ruling in solar case 
• Read More - Stock Tips

Agro Update - Cardamom falls 0.64% on sluggish Demand

Cardamom prices fell by 0.64 per cent on Friday at the Multi Commodity Exchange (MCX) due to the adequate stocks availability in the physical market on account of higher supply from the producing belts of Chandausi in Uttar Pradesh. At MCX, Cardamom futures for January 2016 contract were trading at Rs. 820 per kg, down by 0.64 per cent, after opening at Rs. 821 against the previous closing price of Rs. 825.30. It touched the intra-day low of Rs. 820 till the trading. (At 10.45 AM today). Sentiment weakened further as the traders booked profits at the prevailing levels in the midst of a subdued demand for the commodity.
 

Kerala (70 per cent), Karnataka (20 per cent) and Tamil Nadu (10 per cent) are the cardamom growing states in India while about 90 per cent of the produce is consumed within the nation. The important markets for cardamom in India are Vandanmendu, Bodinayakanur, Kumily, Thekkady, Kumbum and Pattiveeran Patti in Kerala.

Cabinet Clears New Crop Insurance Scheme

The Government on Wednesday has given its approval to a crop insurance scheme that would replace the existing ones to ensure that farmers pay less premium and get early claims for the full sum insured. 

A decision on the much awaited scheme was taken at the Cabinet meeting, headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

“The cabinet has cleared the agriculture ministry’s proposal on new crop insurance scheme,” according to sources.

The new crop insurance scheme, to be implemented from the kharif season this year, will replace the existing two schemes National Agricultural Insurance Scheme (NAIS) and Modified NAIS which have some inherent drawbacks.

Sluggish physical Demand Drags Down Mentha Oil

Mentha Oil futures were trading lower during noon trade in the domestic market on Wednesday as investors and speculators exited positions in the agri commodity amidst weak physical demand for Mentha Oil from the major consuming industries in the domestic spot market.

More than adequate supplies in the market amidst higher supplies from Chandausi in Uttar Pradesh also exerted downward pressure on Mentha Oil prices in the domestic market.
 

At the MCX, Mentha Oil futures, for the January 2016 contract, is trading at Rs 890.6 per kg, down by 0.29 per cent, after opening at Rs 893, against a previous close of Rs 893.2. It touched an intra-day low of Rs 889.5 .

Zinc Extends Losses On Weak Physical Demand

Zinc futures ended lower in the domestic market on Tuesday as investors and speculators exited positions in the industrial metal amidst subdued physical demand for zinc in the domestic spot market. Further, a gloomy demand outlook in China, the world’s biggest metals consumer, weighed as the country’s manufacturing activity contracted for the tenth month on the trot in December while stocks in China extended a New Year rout, with the benchmark Shanghai Composite falling 0.26 per cent even after the Chinese securities market regulator vowed to combat stock market volatility by improving a circuit breaker system that saw stock trading halted amidst Monday’s severe sell-off, while the People’s Bank of China pumped in cash into the banking system via the biggest reverse repurchase agreements since September. At the MCX, Zinc futures for January 2016 contract closed at Rs 104.35 per kg, down by 0.14 per cent after opening at Rs 104.45, against the previous closing price of Rs 104.5. It touched the intra-day low of Rs 103.65.

Lead drops 1.52% on weak industrial Demand

Lead prices fell by 1.52 per cent on Monday at the Domestic markets as a result of low demand for the commodity from battery-maker in the spot market in the midst of weak overseas trend. At the MCX, Lead futures, for the December 2015 contract, is trading at Rs 116.75 per kg, down by 1.52 per cent, after opening at Rs 117.45, against a previous close of Rs 118.55. It touched an intra-day low of Rs 115.85 till the trading. (At 3.30 PM today).
 

The London Metal Exchange (LME) lead stocks remained unchanged at 191650 metric tonnes as on January 4, 2016.

Net Neutrality issue: Deadline for public comments extended to January 7

As the debate over the net neutrality resurfaces, Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) on Wednesday decided to extend deadline for comments on differential data pricing over net neutrality to January 7.

"We have extended it to January 7 mainly due to request from telecom industry bodies," Trai Chairman RS Sharma said. The deadline for comments on the paper was ending today.
 

The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) has extended date for counter comments to January 14, which was earlier set to close on January 7.
 

"On the request of the stakeholders, the last date for receipt of written comments/views has been extended up to January 7 and counter comments, if any, up to January 14. It has also been decided that no request for any further extension of time for submission of comments/counter comments shall be entertained," Trai said in a statement.
 

A debate on net neutrality stirred across the country after Airtel decided to charge separately for internet-based calls but withdrew it later after people protested. Internet activists and experts flayed the operator for 'Airtel Zero' service along with Facebook's internet.org service, currently renamed 'Free Basics'.
 

Facebook's Internet.org had partnered with Reliance Communications in February this year to provide free internet access to many websites as part of the initiative.

Delhi odd-even scheme: Now twitter Will help you

New Delhi: Twitter Micro-blogging site will help Delhittes know the best way of transportation and route to take during the Fifteen-day odd-even car scheme.

Twitter India has partnered with the Delhi Gov to make its ambitious scheme to decrease pollution in the city a success.

By using the hashtag pollution free Delhi (#PollutionfreeDelhi) and entering the origin and destination, users will be updated information about the nearest bus and metro stop, said a Twitter official at a press meeting.

Transport Minister Gopal Rai outlined the details of the traffic rationing system.

He said the Gov. would run 3,000 additional buses starting from New Year.

Special hologram stickers have been issued in Delhi NCR to some 5 lakh CNG vehicles, which have been exempted from the rule.

The scheme, mooted by the city Gov, will be implemented on a trial basis between Jan 1 and 15.

Rai said the registration of 2,700 buses has been completed and the remaining 300 buses would be registered by Mon or Tue. "It will benefit 15-16 lakh people."

The Gov. had earlier vowed to add 6,000 buses but it was changed after 2 wheeler were exempted from the odd-even system.

Private vehicles with odd and even registration no. will ply on odd and even dates, respectively, from Jan 1st. According to the city gov, the restrictions will apply between 8 a.m. and 8 p.m. There would be no restrictions on Sunday.

Shah Rukh to be brand ambassador of Mukesh Ambani's Reliance Jio

Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan will be the brand ambassador of billionaire Mukesh Ambani's telecom venture Reliance Jio, which will launch the 4G services on December 27.The company will, however, begin the commercial rollout of the service from March-April and the Sunday's soft launch will be only for Reliance Industries' employees.

"I am their brand ambassador. Mukesh Bhai explained it to me. Actually its his children who are doing it. All the three are very close to me," Khan said in an interview to a television channel.Khan and musician A R Rahman will host the soft launch function of Reliance Jio Infocomm Ltd's (RJIL) 4G service on December 27.
 

The film star added that Reliance Jio deferred the launch twice because it was looking to improve the services.
 

"They deferred it twice, because they felt there is work still left in end use. 27th will be soft launch and in March-April we will do more. So I think Jio will be revolutionary.
 

Not just for India. It will change things around world for India," Khan said.

When contacted, a Jio spokesperson said "Shah Rukh Khan is launching Jio on 27th December."
 

RIL Chairman and Managing Director Mukesh Ambani in June had said that beta programme (trials) of Reliance Jio "will be upgraded into commercial operations around December of this (2015) year" and "financial year 2016-17 will be the first full year of commercial operations for Jio".Later in October, RIL said financial year "2016-17 is projected to be the first year of commercial operations for RJIL".
 

Khan in the interview said the new service will be a game changer as it will increase speed and with speed, information and knowledge.
 

"We have only seen tip of the iceberg. It will lead to a lot of innovations. This will increase speed. Speed will increase information, knowledge. It will be used at various places, I think, from education to production to manufacturing. I am talking very futuristic," Khan said.

Reliance Jio holds the highest amount of liberalised spectrum among telecom operators that can be used for deploying any technology for mobile services.
 

It has a total of 751.1 MHz spectrum across 800 MHz, 1,800 MHz and 2,300 MHz bands.
 

According to field trials by brokerage firm Credit Suisse, download speed on 4G network of Reliance Jio during beta-test peaked at 70 megabit per second but remained in 15-30 mbps range on most occasions.
 

Khan was earlier the brand ambassador of Bharti Airtel.
 

Telecom major Bharti Airtel's Founder and Chairman Sunil Bharti Mittal had recently said that RJIL was using Airtel's two icons, Khan and Rahman, for the soft launch.

SBI raises Rs 4,000 crore via tier-II bonds

Country's largest lender State Bank of India (SBI) on Thursday said it has raised Rs 4,000 crore by issuing tier-II bonds on private placement basis under the Basel-III norms.

"The bank on December 23, 2015 issued 40,000 Basel-III compliant tier-ll bonds in the nature of debentures of face value of Rs 10,00,000 each at par with 10-year tenure, bearing 8.33 per cent per annum coupon and with call option after 5 years, aggregating to Rs 4,000 crore on private placement basis," SBI said in a filing to the BSE.

 

However, State Bank of India did not elaborate on the usage of proceeds.
 

The PSU lender on Monday had said it was planning to raise up to Rs 12,000 crore by issuing tier-II bonds on private placement basis.
 

The Committee of Directors' authorised the bank to raise up to Rs 12,000 crore by way of "issue of Basel-III compliant tier-II bonds, at par, through private placement," it had said.
 

According to a Fitch Ratings report, Indian banks need USD 140 billion capital to ensure full compliance with the Basel-III norms by 2018-19. The Basel-III norms are aimed at bolstering banks' resilience. Basel-III capital regulations are being implemented in India with effect from April 1, 2013 in a phased manner. Shares of SBI were trading at Rs 228.95 apiece on the BSE, down 0.41 per cent from its previous close.

Steel ministry writes to PMO for fixing min import price for steel

A note for fixing minimum import price for various steel products has been sent to the Prime Minister's Office (PMO), union minister of state for steel and mines, Vishnu Deo Sai said at an ASSOCHAM event held in New Delhi on Wednesday. “The ministry is looking into the industry’s suggestion to impose minimum import price on steel products and it has been sent to the PMO last week,” said Sai while inaugurating 9th Steel Summit organised by The Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (ASSOCHAM). Sai said that steel and mines ministry is in talks with state-run iron ore miner, National Mineral Development Corporation (NMDC) to explore the possibility of further reducing the iron ore prices. “Now that winter session of Parliament has ended, we will sit with our senior minister and look into the challenges being faced by the Indian steel sector and explore possible solutions,” said the minister. He informed that the mines and steel ministry has initiated talks with secondary steel producers to find a solution to their problems. He also said that total investment in setting up four ultra-mega steel projects (UMSP) will cross Rs 1.5 lakh crore mark as the government aims that each plant should have a capacity to produce 60 lakh ton steel. “Apart from producing 10 lakh ton of steel if we add the cost of mining, the investment amounts to about Rs 6,000 crore.” He said that the Centre has signed an agreement letter with Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh in this regard and is in talks with Karnataka government vis-à-vis a three million ton steel plant.

Leaked! Moto X 2016: Here's what we know

The latest leaked images of Moto X 2016 shows an internal heating pipe linked inside the inner body of the smartphone.

The heat pipe, generally used in Desktops or PCs, allows safe heat transmission from power supplies (especially processors).
 

The feature is very rare in smartphone devices but it's quite surprising and a good move by Motorola manufacturers to overcome thermal heating problems with such solution.
 

The reasons behind the introduction of a heating pipe might be: the upcoming model Moto X 2016 will be using a Snapdragon 810 processor which already had heating issues earlier and the company wants to be a step ahead so that the chipset inside the device will be cool boycotting all sort of heating evils in the new smartphone.
 

Few more leaked images show Moto X 2016 edition will be of glass construction along with a metal frame.
 

According to rumours, the upcoming model of Moto X may get equipped with fingerprint sensor feature too. The smartphone is expected to release during mid months of the year 2016.

Essar Oil delisting gets through as Sebi clears LIC Bids

Essar Oil's delisting on Wednesday got through as the markets regulator Sebi gave its go-ahead to the stock exchange BSE to accept nearly 2 crore shares tendered by the state-run LIC for the promoters' buyout offer. The delisting had got mired in "technicalities" on the last day of the offer on Monday, after a large block of tendered shares could not be 'confirmed' within the stipulated time, prompting BSE to refer the matter to Sebi.

While the promoters' buyback offer had got more than sufficient bids, the non-confirmation of this large chunk of shares - tendered by LIC - had come in the way of the closure of the delisting offer. After looking into the matter in detail in consultations with all the stakeholders concerned, Sebi has now given its go-ahead for the confirmation of those shares, top officials at the exchange and the company said.
 

The offer is said to have received total bids for an estimated 10.1 crore shares, as against a requirement for 9.26 crore shares for the offer to succeed. However, over 1.98 crore shares tendered by LIC had remained 'unconfirmed' on the stock exchange platform till the time of the scheduled closure of the offer at 3.30 pm on Monday. Sources said the bids from LIC had come well within the scheduled time as shares tendered even later than LIC's bid got confirmed, but some "technicalities" led to the LIC shares remaining in the 'unconfirmed category'.
 

The issue was subsequently looked into by all the entities concerned -- Essar Oil, LIC, BSE and the custodian for LIC shares, StockHolding Corp. "Due to technicalities relating to timing of the confirmation of some of the institutional offers received for the delisting process of Essar Oil, the matter is being referred to Sebi for their decision," BSE had said earlier.

RCom in talks with Aircel to Merge Mobile Businesses

Reliance Communications (Rcom) is in talks with shareholders of telecom operator Aircel for a potential merger of the wireless or mobile businesses of the two companies.

The Anil Ambani-led telecom company said "it has entered into a 90-day exclusivity period with Maxis Communications Berhad (MCB) and Sindya Securities and Investments Private Limited, the shareholders of Aircel Limited, to consider the potential combination of the Indian wireless businesses of RCom and Aircel."
 

The idea is to mutually derive expected substantial benefits of in-country consolidation, including operating expenditure (opex) and capital expenditure (capex) synergies and revenue enhancement, RCom said in a statement.

"The discussions are non-binding in nature. Any transaction will be subject to due diligence, definitive documentation and regulatory, shareholders' and other third party approvals. Hence, there is no certainty that any transaction will result," the company said.The potential combination will exclude RCom's towers and optical fibre infrastructure, for which RCom is proceeding with an asset sale, as announced on December 4, 2015.On December 4, the RCom said it had signed a non-binding pact to sell its cellular towers to private equity firm
 

Tillman Global Holdings LLC and TPG Asia Inc in an estimated Rs 30,000 crore deal to pare debt. RCom is already in the process of buying Indian mobile telephony business of Sistema Shyam Teleservices under MTS brand.According to sources, there will be a separate entity as a result of a potential merger of RCom, MTS and Aircel. Rcom's current debt, estimated to be around Rs 10,000 crore, will be transferred to this new entity.
 

The combination of RCom, Aircel, MTS wireless businesses will hold 19.3 percent of the total spectrum allocated to the the industry - the highest in the country by an entity.The new entity, which is in the works, will hold spectrum across all allocated bands -- 800 Mhz, 900 Mhz, 1800 Mhz, 2100 Mhz and 2300 MHz -- for 2G, 3G and 4G services.The stock of RCom was trading at 85.15, up 2.15 percent, soon after the announcement of the talks.

Sebi dispenses recovered funds to investors hit by IPO irregularities

SEBI - Investors, who lost out on their initial public offering (IPO) opportunities almost a decade ago, will be getting some portion of their amount this week.

The Securities and Exchange Board of India(Sebi) has started distributing recovered amount to investors who were affected by IPO irregularities.

The regulator on Thursday said it has initiated the second tranche of distribution of Rs . 18.06 crore to 4.63 lakh investors.The amount would be distributed to investor across the country on December 18,2015.

"Wherever the bank details of the eligible investors are available,the amount would be credited in the said account with an intimation to the investors. In the cases where bank details are not available, the cheques would be sent to the last known address of the investors," Sebi said in a statement posted on its website."Sebi is continuing its recovery process by identifying assets of the defaulters etc for recovering and distributing the same to the remaining investors," it said.

In April 2010, Sebi had already distributed Rs. 23.28 crore to 12.75 lakh investors,out of which 7.99 lakh investors were paid the full eligible amounts.

In the current tranche-2 exercise, the regulator is distributing amounts to those investors to whom partial amount was paid earlier and are entitled to receive additional amounts.

Govt mulls viable Insurance scheme for farmers.

Commodity News - After the successful launch of the Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchai Yojana, Soil Health Card Scheme, Prampragat Krishi VikasYojana, the government of India is seriously debating on bringing out a viable insurance scheme for the farmers, said Radha Mohan Singh, the agriculture minister on Thursday.

Speaking on the occasion of national dialogue on “Innovative Extension System for Farmers Empowerment and Welfare”, he said that the government is strengthening the extension infrastructure to new develop from lab to marginal farmer.
 

Agriculture is a state subject and as per the state requirements respective governments are initiating their programmes but government of India has always been supporting the States with relevant schemes and other strategic information and advisory for success of agriculture sector, he said.
 

The minister said that the extension is lacking infrastructure to reach the individual farmers (14 crore farmer families) and thus, looking into it, long awaited demand of the farmers have been fulfilled by starting a 24 hours Kisan Channel by the Prime Minister.
 

The extension is expected to provide information for production, protection, post-harvest, value addition, marketing, insurance, credit and other information related to the farmers regarding availability of inputs, weather, he added.

Two years After Acquisition, Apple shuts social Analytics platform Topsy

Apple Inc has shut down its Topsy Labs unit, which specialised in analyzing Twitter data and providing insights into current sentiment on a variety of topics, and the move prompted an outcry from many of its users.The website for the platform www.topsy.com currently directs users to an Apple support page. On Tuesday night, Topsy sent out its last tweet from its Topsy account: "We`ve searched our last tweet."

Apple acquired Topsy in December 2013 for more than $200 million, an unusual purchase for a hardware-focused company that has made few forays into social networking. An Apple spokesman was not immediately available for comment.San Francisco-based Topsy was one of Twitter`s early partners, enjoying direct access to the messaging service`s billions of tweets over several years. It has indexed them all to make them readily and rapidly searchable.
 

Topsy employee Paul Gerard Porter (@paul_g_porter) tweeted: "What an incredible run we had - I thoroughly enjoyed being part of the Topsy team #endofanera."
 

Before the Topsy acquisition, Apple`s main effort in social media had revolved around Ping, a music-centered social sharing network that was at one point integrated into the company`s iTunes app. The service, which lets users post music tracks they liked to a news feed, did not catch on and was shut down.


Apple shares were down 0.4 percent at $110.01 on Wednesday.