Gold and silver trade divergently

NEW DELHI, Aug 17: A divergent trend prevailed at the local bullion market when gold prices improved and silver remained subdued today.

Gold standard, ornaments and bittur gained Rs ten per ten gms on on marginal demand from domestic consumers for the ensuing Raksha Bandhan festival next week.

Silver .999 ready and weekly delivery prices, however, slipped by Rs 20 and Rs ten per kg respectively on increased offerings.

Sovereign and silver coins prices remained intact as demand matched supplies.

The rates:

Gold standard (per ten gms) Rs 5,200 ornaments Rs 5,050

Bittur (per ten gms) Rs 5,190

Sovereign (per eight gms) Rs 4,050/4,100

Silver .999 ready (per kg) Rs 7,720

Weekly delivery (per kg) Rs 7,740

Silver coins (100 pieces) buyers Rs 11,600, sellers Rs 11,700. (UNI)

‘India’s investment outlook remains positive’

MUMBAI, Aug 17: The investment outlook of corporate India remained positive in the composite weightage of the Morgan Stanley quarterly index announced here today.

The standard indices of Morgan Stanley, tracked regularly by global financial institutions to make sectoral allocation of investments, saw deletion of sterlite optical from the list, while adding two valuable Indian corporates - Infosys Technology and Zee Telefilms. India’s overall position remained positive as an investment destination.

Among the emerging market funds in Asia, India’s weightage in the composite indices remained little changed at 4.2 per cent during the period, to be effective from August 30. With the addition of two and deletion of one companies, the number of Indian firms included in the Morgan Stanley Composite Indices (MSCI) stood at 57.

In a release, Morgan Stanley said there were 10 additions and 29 deletions from the standard indices and almost all deletions were due to low market capitalisation or low liquidity. Of the deletions, both developed and emerging markets have nearly an equal share 14 and 15 respectively.

Besides South Africa, which witnessed the largest decline in weightage, from 12.6 to 11.6 per cent, there were no significant country or sector wise changes in the MSCI. (UNI)

Select seeds, groundnut, sunflower, palm oils rise

NAVI MUMBAI, Aug 17: Key Seeds, groundnut raw, sunflower and palmolein oils flared up again on supply constraint and renewed seasonal demand at the local oilseeds and oils exchange here today.

In the seeds category (per quintal), groundnut javas 60/70, 70/80 and 80/90 varieties shot up by around Rs 50 each, while groundnut bold and castorseed gained by Rs 10 and Rs 40 respectively on renewed demand, mainly from exporters, and lesser stocks in the market, traders said.

In the oils category (per 10 kgs), groundnut raw touched an all-time high of Rs 555 on sustained festival demand from bulk consumers in view of scanty rainfall at Saurashtra, Hyderabad and others, traders said.

Cottonseed wash and its refine prices also gained by Rs five each on brisk seasonal buying support at the previous lower levels from bulk consumers and retailers amid reduced stocks.

However, sunflower expeller refine, solvent refine, sunflower expeller, and its solvent refine also gained by around Rs 10 each on renewed demand from local dealers in view of better advice from Saurashtra and other producing centres.

Prices of imported Refine Bleached Deodourised (RBD) palmolein, soyabean crude, and sunflower crude oils, too, moved by Re one, Rs 2, and Rs 20 respectively on heavy demand from bulk consumers, induced by bullish advice from Malaysia and Indonesia.

Among deodourised cakes (per tonne) all prices, including rapeseed extr and soyameal varieties, remained steady on moderate demand from exporters, traders said.

In the futures section, castorseed September 2002 contract rose further by Rs 30 to close at Rs 1,495 per quintal on sustained support from local operators. Total traded volume stood at five units of 100 kg each. (UNI)

RVPN’s Rs 130-cr bond assigned ‘A(SO)’ rating by CARE

MUMBAI, Aug 17 : The Credit Analysis and Research Ltd (CARE) has assigned an " A (SO)" (structure obligation) rating to Rajasthan Rajya Vidyut Prasaran Nigam’s (RVPN) proposed Rs 130 crore-bond issue.

These bonds are backed by an unconditional and irrevocable guarantee of Rajasthan Government for payment of interest and repayment of principal.

In addition, a structured payment mechanism would be used for servicing of the bonds.

CARE said the rating factors in the guarantee of the State Government, RVPN’s low operating margin, high overall gearing, low interest coverage and tight liquidity.

As part of restructuring of power sector in Rajasthan, erstwhile Rajasthan State Electricity Board (RSEB), was unbundled on July 19, 2000 into a generation company, RVPN a tranmission company and three distribution companies viz Jaipur Vidyut Vitaran Nigam Ltd, Ajmer Vidyut Vitaran Nigam Ltd and Jodhpur Vidyut Vitaran Nigam Ltd.

RVPN is the sole supplier of power in the State. It supplies power in bulk to the three distribution companies (discoms) for sale in the State.

During fiscal year 2001-02, out of the total income of Rs 4920 crore from sale of power, aroundt 97 per cent was on account of power sold to the three discoms.

PBILDT (profit before interest loss depreciation and taxes) margin for the Fy’02 was low at 10.7% on account of inflexibility to increase the bulk supply tariff and high power purchase cost.

Under the scheme of unbundling, RVPN is not expected to make any revenue surplus, for the initial two years (Fy2001 Fy2002).

Overall gearing (with customer deposits) as on March 31, 2002 was higher at 3.4 times and interest coverage was 1.0 time on account of increase in the interest expenditure with additional borrowings. Liquidity was also tight as on March 31, 2002 with the current ratio of 1:1:1. (UNI)

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