Aberdeen positive on Infosys, TCS, Satyam and realty stocks

Adrian Lim, Investment Manager, Asian Equities, Aberdeen Asset Management, said that there have been long-term buyers in tech stocks. He said that he is positive on Infosys, TCS and Satyam. Most of the management teams of the IT companies continue to focus on delivering a quality service to their clients and that should more an offset the short-term negative impact of a strong rupee. He further said that rupee concerns are over-rated.

About Indian scenario, he said that India is playing catch up with Emerging Markets peers in short-term. He is positive on banking & financial services and he expects good numbers from HDFC bank. He is also positive on Indian real estate stocks over next few years. Valuation levels have priced in a lot of good news, so if you do not hold property stocks, it maybe a difficult time to get in at a reasonable valuation point but the sector has got very strong fundamentals and we are optimistic over the next few years, he said.

Strength in the Q1 numbers would make a strong case for selective revisions upwards for the full year ending March ’08, he believes.



Two weeks ahead of Credit Policy ICICI Bank sounds alarm, says 9% growth story could be derailed if int rates continue to increase

Two weeks ahead of the credit policy, the second most powerful banker sees growth in danger. ICICI CEO K V Kamath said that India's 9% growth story could be derailed if interest rates don't come down from their current levels.

“Inflation has been brought down from 8% dangerous levels to 4% and we can expect interest rates to move down again. If we don’t see an interest rate reduction, 9% growth story will be derailed if interest rate stay where they are and if this story is derailed, putting it back will not be easy,” Kamath said.

It has not affected our customers but it has impacted overall demand and a systemic demand for consumer credit has come down. Maybe that was the object of interest rate hike to curtail demand because they thought there was overheating in the system. Macro situation when you analyze it, inflation is under control, growth is strong credit off take across bank has slowed down, so given all this interest rates have peaked should start declining. What the monetary policy signals...I will not speak on it,” K V Kamath concluded



Sun Pharma Advanced Research Company sees good listing; Stock locked on upper circuit vs base price of Rs 72.65

Sun Pharma Advanced Research Company, the pharmaceutical innovation company, listed on the NSE and BSE today. Currently ,the stock is locked at 20% against its base price of Rs 72.65. With this, SPARC becomes the first pure research company to be listed on an Indian stock exchange.

SPARC becomes the first pure research company to be listed on an Indian stock exchange. SPARC now owns the de-merged innovative business of Sun Pharma, comprising drug discovery and delivery system projects targeted for the world markets. It has received active new chemical entity (NCE) and novel drug discovery system (NDDS) projects, and has a team of scientists, equipment and research space.

The R&D entity will receive Rs 250 crore (Rs 200 crore in cash and Rs 50 crore in tangible assets) and intangible assets pertaining to the products as well as scientists. Sun had spent about $ 45 million on innovative R&D in the last five years, which is 35% of its total R&D spend.


Infosys not too disappointing, interest rates likely to be stable for now, markets reasonably valued at current levels: AIG Global

Tushar Pradhan, CIO, AIG Global Asset Management, said that market run up is due to the strong fundamentals and earnings growth. He said that interest rates are likely to be stable for now and the markets are reasonably valued at current levels. These valuations are reasonable and current PE is expected to sustain or may move up.

About Infosys results, he said that Infosys was not too disappointing and that he won't change the FY08 EPS outlook on the company. He further said that he is cautious on realty given the project execution and valuation parameters



Tata Motors in early stages of evaluating bid For Jaguar, Land Rover, Jaguar & Land Rover deal could be worth $ 1.5 Bn: Daily Telegraph, UK
Tata Motors is in early stages of evaluating bid for Jaguar, Land Rover, reports the leading newspaper in UK - Daily Telegraph. The report further says Jaguar & Land Rover deal could be worth $ 1.5 billion (£ 735 million).

Tata Motors is understood to have instructed advisers in the past fortnight to begin evaluating the merits of a joint offer for Jaguar and Land Rover, which have been earmarked for disposal by struggling American car giant Ford.

People close to the situation last night said that Tata Motors' evaluation of a bid was at an "exploratory" stage and may not lead to a formal bid for the two brands. Tata Motors had signed a confidentiality agreement with Ford in recent days, Daily Telegraph adds. Tata Motors has refused to comment, Telegraph UK also informs.