HSBC MF files an offer document with Sebi

HSBC Mutual Fund files an offer document with Sebi to launch HSBC Long Term Strategic Bond Fund. It is a 3-year close-ended debt scheme. The investment objective of the scheme is to provide reasonable income through a diversified portfolio of fixed income securities. HSBC Long Term Strategic Bond Fund offers regular and institutional option. The scheme has two sub-options dividend and growth option. Dividend option further offers dividend reinvestment and payout facility. Dividend shall be declared on a quarterly basis under dividend option for both the options i.e. regular and institutional option.

Indian BPO boom seems to be over

For the first time the BPOs in India are conducting large-scale lay offs and the industry agrees that with the US economy slowing down India''s call centre boom may finally be over.Gurgaon''s call centres have for years been the first choice of college graduates, who don''t mind odd hours, in exchange for quick money. But now the dream run is being replaced by a reality check. Rajeev, a Senior Customer Care Executive at Convergys has worked at five different call centres in the last seven years. He''s looking for a change again, but this time not out of choice. Rajeev is one of the 450 employees fired in the last two weeks by a Gurgaon BPO called 24/7 Customers. Reason being that this UK-based mobile phone company has decided to cut back its India operations.In a written statement, the company said that all affected employees have been provided the option of continuing at other centres like Hyderabad and Bangalore. For those who do not wish to relocate, the company would assist in finding job with other call centres.But that isn''t reassuring for an industry where job security has always been taken for granted. Umar, a team Leader at 24/7 Customer, I need to feed my family, that is the most important thing. People are ready to relocate to Hyderabad, but they are rejecting people like anything. The orange crisis has led to lay offs at two other Call Centres, Convergys and EXL services. And this comes after 400 people were let go last month by another BPO giant, Keane India, after a merger and a scaling down of size.

Commodity exchanges Q1 turnover sees 24pc growth

The Government measures such as prohibition on futures trading in four commodities soya oil, potato, rubber and channa in May and mark up in transaction cost seems to have not impacted trading. Turnover in 22 commodity exchanges increased 68 per cent to Rs 2.22 lakh crore in the fortnight ended June 30, against Rs 1.31 lakh recorded in the same period last year, according to data released by the market regulator Forward Markets Commission (FMC). For the first quarter ended June 30, turnover of the 22 exchanges increased 24 per cent to Rs 11.15 lakh crore. The three national commodity exchanges Multi Commodity Exchange of India Ltd (MCX), National Commodity & Derivative Exchange Ltd (NCDEX) and National Multi Commodity Exchange (NMCE) contributed Rs 2.19 lakh crore, about 99 per cent of the total turnover of the 22 exchanges.

Birla Sun Life MF launches FTP AZ

Birla Sun Life Mutual Fund launched Birla Fixed Term Plan-Series AZ. It is a close end debt scheme. The scheme seeks to generate current income by investing in a portfolio of fixed income securities maturing normally in line with the duration of the scheme. It will have dividend and growth option. Minimum Investment Amount: The minimum investment amount is Rs 5,000 and in multiples of Re 1 thereafter.

Sebi should enhance networth for MFs to Rs 10 cr

To ensure that only serious players with a long-term view enter the mutual funds space, market regulator Sebi should enhance the networth limit for companies seeking MF license to Rs 10 crore from the present Rs 2 crore,CII and PWC said in their joint report. With the high cost of operations in the initial years and a relatively longer gestation period, there is a case for re-consideration of Rs 10 crore networth criteria set from the present Rs 2 crore for obtaining a mutual fund license, the report said.
This would ensure that only major players who are committed to the mutual fund industry are capable of sustaining over a long-term would be able to operate in the industry, the report said. With more players entering the industry, the fee rates are likely to drop in the period ahead and may prompt the fund houses to seriously consider outsourcing, it said. Moving ahead, MF players would also have to bridge the demand-supply gap of human-assets needs and the companies should tie-up with educational institutions to offer programmes dedicated to the financial services industry, the report said. Similarly, there was a case for re-consideration of cap on the maximum amount of expenses that can be charged to a scheme, it said.
Charging additional expenses would enable the fund houses to invest more on expanding the investor network and improvise on delivering quality services to the investors, it said. In the longer-term, MF players will also have to enhance their association with other sectors such as banking and telecommunications to achieve deeper penetration in Tier-II and Tier-III cities, the report said. A few fund houses with deep pockets may be able to make necessary investments in the required technology. But in the long term, it is indeed necessary to join hands with other sectors of the economy such as banking and telecommunications for the long-term benefit of all players in the industry, it said. Meanwhile, mounting cost of operations, including the lease rentals and staff costs are likely to pose the biggest challenges before MF players, the report said.

ING MF extends NFO period under Latin America Equity Fund

ING mutual fund has extended the closing date of new fund-offering (NFO) period of ING Latin America Equity Fund to 18 July 2008 instead of 10 July 2008. The issue was opened for subscription on 19 June 2008. ING Latin America Equity Fund is an open-ended fund of fund scheme. The primary investment objective of the scheme is to seek capital appreciation by investing predominantly in ING (L) Invest Latin America Fund. The scheme may, at the discretion of the Investment Manager, also invest in the units of other similar overseas mutual fund schemes, which may constitute a significant part of its corpus. The Scheme may also invest a certain portion of its corpus in money market securities, in order to meet liquidity requirements from time to time. The minimum investment amount is Rs 5,000 and in multiples of Re 1 thereafter. The scheme will offer growth, bonus and dividend options.

Principal Pnb MF launches Principal Pnb FMP 30 days-Series I

Principal Pnb MF has unveiled a new fund called Principal Pnb FMP 90 days-Series I and it is a close-ended debt scheme offering Fixed Maturity Plan. The investment objective of the Scheme is to seek to build an income oriented portfolio and generate returns through investment in Debt / Money Market Instruments and Government Securities. The Scheme will have two Investment Plans viz. Regular Plan and Institutional Plan with growth and dividend options under each plan. The Regular Plan and Institutional Plan will share a common portfolio. Further, the dividend option under both plans will have the facility of Payout and Sweep. The fund will invest 0%-100% in debt securities (including securitized debt) and money market instruments. It will have an investment of 0-100% in government securities.

IPO of Birla Cotsyn was subscribed 0.44 times

The IPO of Birla Cotsyn was subscribed 0.44 times on Monday. The issue received 3,95,64,350 bids, out of which around 2,06,87,100 were at the cut off price. The qualified institutional buyers' portion was subscribed 0.01 times, non-institutional investor portion was subscribed 1.46 times, the retail portion was subscribed 0.90 times and the employee's portion was subscribed 0.02 times.
The company has extended the closing date of its initial public offer to July 9. Also it has revised its price band downward from Rs 15-Rs 18 to Rs 12-Rs 14 per share.
The company plans to utilize the IPO proceeds to set up an integrated textile unit and a garment manufacturing plant at the facilities located at Khamgaon, Ghatanji and Makkapur in Maharashtra. Also to fund the company's foray into retail outlets.

Pre Session Market

8-07-2008, The Indian Market is expected to have negative opening on the back of weak global cues as the US market gave up its initial gains despite of fall in crude oil prices and this led to the Asian market to trade on the back foot. Crude oil dropped by $3.92 to close at $141.37 per barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Monday On Monday, the Indian market closed with gains after it pared back its earlier gains. Market opened on the firm note tracking positive cues from the Asian markets and receding political worries as SP is expected to support the UPA in Nuke Deal. Further, it continued the same but during final trading hours it surrendered earlier gains and after a struggle managed to close in green. BSE Sense closed above 13,500 points and NSE Nifty 4,000. From the sectoral front Oil & Gas and Pharma stocks were major sufferers of selling pressure while Metal, IT, Auto and Bank stocks were best performers as witnessed most of the buying in these baskets. The BSE Sensex closed higher by 71.99 points at 13,525.99 and NSE Nifty ended up by 14.00 points at 4,030.00. We expect that market may decline during the trading session.

US markets closed lower on financial worries and weak energy sector on Monday after the U.S. Independence Day long weekend. The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) closed lower by 56.58 points at 11,231.96 along with S&P 500 down by 10.59 points to close 1,252.31 and NASDAQ dropped by 2.06 points to close at 2,243.32.

Indian ADRs ended up. In technology sector, Patni Computers ended up by (7.90%) along with Satyam by (5.00%), Wipro by (0.69%) and Infosys by (0.23%). In banking sector, ICICI bank and HDFC bank gained (2.65%) and (0.06%) respectively. In telecommunication sector, MTNL ended without any change and Tata Communication advanced by (2.70%). Sterlite industries declined (0.75%).

Today the major stock markets in Asia are trading weak. Hang Seng index is trading lower by 310.08 points at 21,602.98 along with Japan’s Nikkei trading down by 238.18 points at 13,121.86 and Taiwan Weighted trading at 7,205.55 with a fall of 135.56 points.

The FIIs on Monday stood as net buyer in equity and in debt. The gross equity purchased was Rs3,008.90 Crore and the gross debt purchased was Rs2,083.80 Crore while the gross equity sold stood at Rs2,476.20 Crore and gross debt sold stood at Rs441.50 Crore. Therefore, the net investment of equity reported was Rs532.70 Crore and net debt was Rs1,642.30 Crore.

Today, Nifty has support at 3,848 and resistance at 4,096 and BSE Sensex has support at 13,072 and resistance at 13,764.

ABN Amro MF launches Interval Fund-Series 2-Quarterly Plan

ABN Amro MF launches Interval Fund-Series 2-Quarterly Plan

ABN Amro Mutual Fund launched ABN Amro Interval Fund -Series 2- Quarterly Plan N. It is a debt-oriented fund. The interval period will be the 90th day from the date of allotment for the first time and subsequently 90th day from the date of allotment for the respective interval period. The primary objective of the scheme launched there under would be to seek to generate steady returns through investments made in a basket of fixed income securities, with a provision to offer liquidity at periodic interval.