Sensex drops 101 pts on profit-booking

Similarly,the wide-based National Stock Exchange index Nifty declined by 29.00 points,or 0.54 per cent,to 5,316.35.

Brokers said profit-booking by speculators after yesterday’s strong gains and a weak trend on Asian bourses following overnight losses in the US markets amid renewed worries over eurozone efforts to stem the debt crisis,led to a fall in the domestic market.

Meanwhile,in Asian region,Japan’s Nikkei Index fell by 0.48 per cent,while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng shed 0.13 per cent.

The US Dow Jones Industrial Average ended 0.65 per cent lower in yesterday’s trade.

Stocks More on CMC

Company INFO More on Uflex

STOCKS/PRE-OPEN: Indian stocks to watch-July 11

GLOBAL MARKETS

* The Nifty futures in Singapore Exchange fell 0.4 percent,while the MSCI Asia-Pacific index excluding Japan fell 0.1 percent.

* U.S. stocks fell for a fourth day on Tuesday as more pessimism from U.S. companies compounded worries the sluggish world economy is taking a toll on U.S. profit growth.

* Asian shares inched lower on Wednesday on worries that the global economic slowdown will hurt corporate earnings,with the market still unconvinced the euro zone can decisively bring down struggling member states’ borrowing costs even after yields pulled back.

FACTORS TO WATCH

* HDFC will report April-June earnings today. As per I/B/E/S estimates,net profit for the mortgage financier is expected to grow 21.4 percent to 10.25 billion rupees while revenue for the quarter is expected to grow 24.6 percent to 16 billion rupees from 12.86 billion rupees a year earlier.

* Other earnings: CMC and Uflex.

* India’s money supply data. (1130 GMT)

INDIAN STOCKS TO WATCH

FINANCE/REGULATORY

* The finance ministry is preparing a set of measures to reduce the current account deficit (CAD),which was discussed at a meeting of senior finance ministry officials on Tuesday.

R Gopalan,secretary in the department of economic affairs (DEA) in the ministry,has asked his officers to prepare projections for CAD for the next couple of years,sources said.

* MCX-SX was given approval from stock exchange regulators to launch stock trading,stepping up competition with National Stock Exchange,the country’s leading bourse.

* Securities and Exchange Board of India might further tweak the rules governing qualified foreign investors. Two of the main changes being discussed internally are how best to classify these investors in an initial public offering (IPO) and a provision governing taxation,a senior SEBI official said.

* India will sell unused foreign debt limits in government and corporate bonds to overseas investors on July 20,two senior sources from foreign custodian banks briefed by the stock market regulator told Reuters on Tuesday.

* A Singapore-listed trust that will own Reliance Globalcom,the underseas cable unit of Reliance Communication,will end up controlling nearly one third of the Mumbai-based company’s global carrier operations,according to its preliminary prospectus.

* Potential tax liabilities have become the central focus of the negotiations between potential buyers and Hutchison Whampoa ,which is seeking to sell its call centre operations in India, said two people with direct knowledge of the transaction.

* Singapore is expected to press India for an investment agreement on the lines of the one it has with Mauritius when prime minister Lee Hsien Loong comes to New Delhi on a state visit later this week.

Banks have mobilised more than $10 billion from overseas Indians through nonresident rupee deposit schemes since December when the Reserve Bank of India liberalised interest rates banks could offer on such deposits.

The Securities Appellate Tribunal (SAT),a quasi judicial body,has directed HSBC Mutual Fund to compensate the losses suffered by some investors in one of its debt schemes.

COMMODITIES/ENERGY

* Niko Resources is selling gas at higher than a government mandated price,labelling government price control as cartelisation,said a Niko Resources executive,who did not wish to be identified.

The Canada-based company is doing so as the government is sitting on the approval for its gas price formula. An interpretation of a clause in the production-sharing contract allowed it to go ahead with a higher price if the approval did not come within 120 days,said the Niko executive.

* Steel Authority Of India Ltd and Kobe Steel signed a MoU to set up a 0.5 million per annum iron nugget making plant in Durgapur,West Bengal with investment of 15 billion rupees.

* Oil and Natural Gas Corporation,Indian Oil Corp ,and Oil India have formed a consortium to place the binding offer for a stake in oil sand assets worth over $5 billion,owned by Houston-based ConocoPhillips,two people with direct knowledge of the development said.

* Essar Oil has offered to invite fresh bids to determine the price of coal bed methane (CBM) produced from its Raniganj block,government and company officials said.

* Seven energy firms,including ONG Videsh,are likely to compete with Exxon Mobil Corp for the right to explore oil and gas blocks in northern Afghanistan,the country’s Mining Ministry said in a statement.

* Hindustan Zinc faces pressure on its margins,with prices having fallen sharply in the first quarter,CEO Akhilesh Joshi said.

PHARMA

* Ranbaxy Laboratories Ltd will launch at least three copies of biotech medicines in India by 2015,mostly to treat cancer,and needs to develop such high-tech drugs to remain a serious player in the global generics business,Chief Executive Arun Sawhney said.

* The Prime Minister’s Office has sent letters to finance and industry ministries seeking a progress report on the implementation of the changes in the foreign direct investment policy in the pharmaceutical sector.

* South African drugmaker Adcock Ingram is to buy a portfolio of about 60 medicines and a distribution network from India’s Cosme Farma for $86 million.

TELECOMS

* Maxis Berhad has held preliminary discussions to sell its Indian unit Aircel,according to an executive close to Maxis with direct knowledge of the discussions.

INDUSTRIAL/INFRASTRUCTURE

* Malaysia-based Tamco Switchgear,a wholly owned subsidiary of Larsen & Toubro and part of the Electrical & Automation business,announced the acquisition of Henikwon Corporation Sdn Bhd.

* Asian Development Bank and the Indian government have signed a $150 million loan for first tranche of railway sector investment programme aimed at improving rail freight services and passenger transport routes.

PROPERTY

* Blackstone Group is set to acquire 36 percent ownership in the tenant office space portfolio of southern developer Embassy Property Developments for about $230 million,said bankers close to the transaction.

* Singapore has emerged as the most sought after destination for foreign direct investment by Indian companies,which invested over USD 500 million there in May. MEDIA

* Multiplex operator PVR plans to link its advertising rates to ticket sales to make its cinemas more attractive to advertisers.

OTHER FACTORS TO WATCH

* Indian debt/FX factors to watch

* Euro wallows around two-yr lows against dollar

* Oil falls as Norway strike ends,China’s imports slip

* Foreign institutional investor flows

Mutual Funds Check for top funds