MOIL: Buy ::Business Line

MOIL is a solid franchise with the wherewithal to ride out tough times.

Public sector manganese ore miner MOIL has had a poor run on the bourses. The stock has lost nearly 17 per cent over the last couple of months, and almost 50 per cent since the beginning of 2011.

This was mainly due to the sharp dip in global manganese ore prices — a fall-out of escalating concerns about the world economy and excess supplies.

Technical Query - Ashok Leyland, BHEL, Dabur, Tata Global Beverages, Gravita, Gabriel, Kennametal::Business Line

Pivotals: SBI, Infosys, Tata Steel, Reliance Industries ::Business Line

Sizzling Stocks: Tech Mahindra, Orchid Chemicals & Pharmaceuticals ::Business Line

Building a debt fund portfolio ::Business Line

Investment objective, risk appetite and time horizon will decide your fund choice.

Debt mutual funds such as money market funds and fixed maturity plans have been a very popular investment avenue for retail investors over the last couple of years.

The RBI policy stance and tight systemic liquidity led to money market rates remaining elevated over this period. This provided scope for higher accrual of interest income in money market products and passively managed FMPs.

How real is the rally? ::Business Line

Doing one of its unexpected about-turns, the Indian stock market has bounced up by 12 per cent already this year. Investors tuned in to the gloomy news on every front — the economy, corporate profits and policy — may have missed it entirely.

But this rally has featured some spectacular gainers. Nearly 200 NSE-listed stocks have already zoomed by 50 per cent or more in the first eight months of 2012. Forty-seven of these have doubled in value. Nearly two-thirds of the 1,450-odd traded stocks have participated in this rally.

Mutual funds set to become part of Rajiv Equity Scheme ::Business Line

The Rajiv Gandhi Equity Savings Scheme (RGESS) is all set to allow investment through mutual funds to get tax benefit. But there will be some conditions attached to that. The Finance Ministry is in the process of notifying the scheme.

“We may allow listed mutual fund equity schemes with underlying shares belonging to BSE-100 and/or NSE-100 to be part of the new scheme,” a senior Finance Ministry official said. The Government announced the new scheme in this Budget to bring first-time investors into the stock market.

Loan book quality of banks deteriorates::Business Line

JSW Steel - JSW-Ispat merger: high scale, weak profitability; event update; Buy:: Edelweiss link

JSW Steel (JSTL IN, INR 694, Buy)

JSW Steel (JSW) has announced a merger with its 46.75% associate entity JSW Ispat (Ispat) in the ratio of 1:72. This merger makes JSW the largest steel company in India (14.3mtpa capacity) with potential synergy benefits of INR3-5bn p.a. over time. We currently ascribe negative equity valuation of INR31bn to Ispat considering its weak EBITDA and high net debt. The NPV of tax benefit of INR14bn does not offset this negative valuation and along with the 8.3% equity dilution leads to target price being revised down to INR868 (INR933 earlier). The proforma EPS for the merged entity is estimated to be revised down by ~10.6% and 9.7% for FY13 and FY14, respectively. This is despite 19.5% and 18.2% increase in FY13 and FY14 EBITDA estimates, respectively. Maintain ‘BUY’. 

What they said- week ended Aug 31 ::Business Line

Make your child’s future financially secure ::Business Line

Most of us leave no stone unturned to ensure our child’s well being. However, we ignore a critical aspect of the same — planning for eventualities. The best way to make sure that your child is protected against all eventualities is to identify and plan to protect him through each of his life stages.

If we analyse, in the growing years of a child, education definitely emerges as the most critical aspect.

Incentives for 5-year savings certificates may continue in new tax regime ::Business Line

Inclusion, Sahara style ::Business Line

Policymakers in the financial sector sure have a thing or two to learn from the Sahara group. Here they are, trying every trick in the book to make small investors take to shares and bonds and not succeeding even a bit. The Finance Ministry has offered tax breaks on equities and discounted prized public sector stock. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has pushed banks to serve up no-frills bank accounts. The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) tried everything from minimum public shareholding to electronic IPOs to woo small investors.

But they have ignored all this and poured money into gold and property instead. The number of demat accounts has not moved past the two-crore mark for two years now.

Index Outlook: Up against the 18,000 wall ::Business Line

Why your portfolio should have index funds too ::Business Line