NATIONAL Refinery, bank stocks lead rally; Sensex up 54 pts Led by refinery and banking segments, share prices rallied further pushing up the Sensex by 54.84 points to close at 5935.19 at the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) today (Mar 8, 2004) on sustained buying by foreign funds as well as operators, mainly enthused by the massive response to the ONGC (Oil and Natural Gas Corp) equity offering.
Govt offers tax-free bonds in exchange for UTI plans Government will start issuing 6.6 per cent tax-free bonds aggregating up to Rs 5,000 crore to investors from March 31, for the seven assured return schemes of Unit Trust of India (UTI) that are being prematurely closed this fiscal, a senior Finance Ministry official said today (Mar 8, 2004).
Reliance ready to cut int'l bandwidth cost by 70 pc In a major development, Reliance Infocomm today (March 8, 2004) said it could reduce prices of international bandwidth by upto 70 per cent if the access to bottleneck facilities (landing station), currently with Videsh Sanchar Nigam Ltd (VSNL), were opened up for competition.
ICRA deflates 'feel-good' balloon, growth at 6.4pc Rating agency ICRA (Indian Credit Rating Agency) has warned that economic growth may dip to 6.4 per cent during 2004-05, hinting that the "feel-good factor" would be temporary and over 8.0 per cent growth unsustainable.
Sensex rallies past 5900-level on fresh buying The sensex opened moderately up and later rallied smartly rising past 5900-level during the morning trading as stocks continued their upsurge on the Stock Exchange today (Mar 8, 2004) on fresh buying by retailers as well as institutional investors.
INTERNATIONAL 'Reaction to outsourcing can toughen opponents' Giving a clear indication of India's discontentment over the ongoing controversy on outsourcing, Minister for Disinvestment, Communications and Information Technology Arun Shourie has said that reaction in the United States on the issue could only strengthen the opponents of economic reform in India.
