All Eyes on Legality of ECB Bond buying:: HDFC Sec

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--> The fear of Greece elections can be sidelined. The crude oil slide can wait. Today the markets will have their eyes glued to an opinion delivered by Europe's top today.

That will essentially either ease or complicate European Central Bank plans for printing money to boost the struggling Eurozone economy. Advocate General Pedro Cruz Villalon will respond to Germans who questioned the legality of an earlier unused bond-buying scheme.

Germanys Bundesbank and many of the country's prominent economists believe it would seed Eurozone governments with cheap finance, preventing them from initiating economic reforms, which will ultimately impact the German taxpayer.

Although Wednesday's opinion looks at a bond-buying blueprint from 2012, designed at the height of the crisis to avert a break-up of the euro by helping countries in strife, it could determine the shape of future QE to buy state bonds.

Prudence demands that positions should be trimmed. Positions can be rebuilt if the advice is in favour of the bond buying programme.
 
Bad news for ITC: Government proposes ban on sale of loose cigarettes

Government has moved to amend the anti-smoking law and proposed radical changes, including ban on sale of loose cigarettes and raising the minimum age of a person buying tobacco products to 21 years from existing 18 years.

It has also proposed raising the fine to Rs 1000 from Rs 200 on smoking in public places and recommended removal of designated smoking zones in hotels and restaurants.

These are some of the major recommendations in the Cigarettes and Other Tobacco Product (Prohibition of Advertisement and Regulation of Trade and Commerce, Production, Supply and Distribution) (Amendment) Bill 2015, which were put out by the Health Ministry to seek suggestions from the public.

Max India : A three way split on the cards

Max India, the flagship company may be split into three divisions - insurance, healthcare and specialty films with holding companies being created for each of them, reports a pink paper.
These may then be listed at a later date in a bid to unlock the value from separate businesses. 

Founding promoter of Hutchison Max (now Vodafone India), owns 74% stake in each of the two insurance ventures Max Life Insurance and Max Bupa Health Insurance and 46% in Max Healthcare, which runs hospitals. Max India  has a market cap of Rs 10,676 crore.

Tata Motors global sales up 8% in December

Tata Motors reported 8% increase in global sales, including Jaguar Land Rover, at 85,742 units in December 2014. The company had sold 79,220 units in December 2013. In the passenger vehicles category, the global sales last month were at 55,145 units as against 49,721 units in December 2013, up 11%.

Sales of luxury brand Jaguar Land Rover increased by 7% to 42,962 units in December as compared to 40,244 units in the same month last year. Sales of commercial vehicles increased by 4% in December 2014 to 30,597 units from 29,499 units a year ago.

Novartis Okays OTC unit sale to GSK Consumer for Rs 109.7 crore

Novartis Indias board today approved the sale of its OTC division to GlaxoSmithKline Consumer Pvt Ltd, a consumer healthcare joint venture between Novartis AG and GSK, for a consideration of Rs 109.7 crore.

The move follows a global deal struck in April last year, under which Swiss-based Novartis AG had agreed with UK-based GlaxoSmithKline plc to create a global consumer healthcare joint venture, GlaxoSmithKline Consumer Private Ltd (GSK CPL), as a part of its global portfolio transformation. On January 13, the Board approved the transfer of the OTC (Over-The-Counter) Division by way of a slump sale to GSK CPL (or another affiliate of GSK) for a consideration of Rs 1,097.3 million, on or before October 22, 2015.

The transfer of the business is subject to the receipt of all applicable legal and regulatory approvals, consents, permissions and sanctions as may be necessary from concerned authorities, as well as closing of the global joint venture transaction between Novartis AG and GSK.

Jet Airways Naresh Goyal pledges entire shareholding in airline to PNB

Jet Airways main promoter and chairman Naresh Goyal has pledged his entire shareholding in the carrier of 51 per cent, valued at over Rs 2,600 crore, to state-run Punjab National Bank. Goyal has pledged his entire 57,933,665 shares constituting 51 percent holding in the airline effective January 8 to PNB with a "non-disposal undertaking".

IndusInd Bank profit up 29% at Rs 447 cr

IndusInd Bank posted 29% Y-o-Y growth in its Net Profit in December quarter at Rs 447 crore, in line with the estimates, driven by strong operating income coupled with lower provisions. Net interest income grew 18% to Rs 861 crore and other income jumped 27% to Rs 611 crore. The numbers met the expectations

Asset quality of the bank remained stable during the quarter. Gross non-performing assets (NPA) as a percentage of gross advances declined to 1.05% in December quarter from 1.08% in previous quarter and 1.18% a year ago. Net NPA stood at 0.32% compared to 0.33% in the June quarter and 0.31% during the same quarter the previous year.

DCB Bank Q3 profit rises 17% on higher NII, other income

DCB Banks third quarter net profit jumped 16.8 percent to Rs 42.5 crore supported by higher net interest income and other income despite higher provisions and tax cost. Profit was Rs 36.4 crore in the previous year. Net interest income, the difference between interest earned and interest expended, grew by 29.8 per cent year-on-year to Rs 122 crore while other income (non-interest income) surged 45.45 per cent to Rs 48 crore in the quarter ended December 2014.

Provision and contingencies increased to Rs 18.4 crore in the third quarter of current financial year 2014-15 against Rs 13.7 crore in previous quarter and Rs 10 crore in the year-ago period. Net interest margin for the quarter stood at 3.7 per cent as against 3.55 per cent in the same quarter last fiscal.

Yes Bank to report robust earnings for Q3FY15

Yes Bank is expected to report 25% Y-o-Y growth in its net profit of Q3FY15 at Rs 520 crore, led by robust growth of operating income. Net Interest Income is likely to jump 33% while other income would go up 35%. Despite challenging economic environment, asset quality is expected to remain stable with gross NPA of 0.4%.
 
Dow swings wildly, ends lower

It was a wild day on Wall Street. The indices first surged in the morning on better than expected results from Alocoa and hopes that the ECB would soon start its quantitative easing. However the bonohomie soon vanished and stocks were in deep red before closing off their lows when the markets downed their shutters.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average, which was up 280 points at one stage, erased all these gains and swung more than 100 points in the red before closing with a loss of 27 points or 0.15% at 17,614. 

The S&P 500, which was up 30 points in the morning dived to a loss of 19 points before recovering to end the day with a smaller loss of 5 points or 0.26% at 2023. This was the third consecutive loss for the broad-based index, with 8 of the 10 sectors closing in the red.

The Nasdaq Composite rose 86 points in the morning only to fall 41 points lower before recovering to end 4 points or 0.08% lower. Somewhere down the line, the scare crow was Crude. In the afternoon it dipped to a fresh 5-year low, pulling the equity indices down with them.

February U.S. crude fell 18 cents, or 0.4%, to $45.89 a barrel, lowest settlement for oil since April 20, 2009, as oil supply estimates and comments from the United Arab Emirates?s oil minister about OPEC standing pat on oil production combined to stir oil-glut concerns.
With wildly swinging indices, volatility was sure to follow. The CBOE Vix index spiked above 20, gaining more than 16% in the past two days.

A measure of small-business confidence rose in December to the highest level in more than eight years, according to data released Tuesday by the National Federation of Independent Business.

Amazon shares were up 1.1% on an upgrade to "buy" from Citigroup, City believes  Amazon's valuation represents a good risk/reward as they  see valuation support near $300 and upside to at least $354 without assuming multiple expansion.

Apple was also edged higher after Credit Suisse upgraded the stock to "outperform" and upped its price target. The firm said the revision was based on "sustainable iPhone volume base" and earnings momentum. In a separate development, a patent filed by Apple was published in which outlines the company?s detailed plans to develop a sports camera system controlled by phone or watch. GoPro , which creates durable cameras, tumbled more than 12%.
MetLife MET) was 1.3% on news the largest life insurer in the U.S. will file a lawsuit against federal regulators in a challenge to their "too-big-to-fail" designation. The company said the tougher oversight would make its offerings more expensive with little benefit to its fiscal stability.
Philips fell 1.9% following a warning that full-year earnings will be reduced by about 225 million euros. The Netherlands-based medical equipment company said the hit was due to legal charges and the impact of foreign exchange.

Data emerging from Europe was weak.  Wholesale prices in Germany and Consumer prices in Greece were lower, which made the case for the ECB to pump money into the eurozone economy at its next meeting on Jan. 22.

Stock Europe 600 closed sharply higher, on such expectations. This hope also contributed to the higher open in the U.S. The yield on the 10-year, which moves inversely to prices, ticked down 2 basis points to 1.90%.

Gold prices trimmed their earlier gains and were flat at $1,232.2 an ounce. The British pound slid against the dollar after inflation fell to a 14-year low. The dollar index gained.

Time to move back into Gold : Marc Faber

Gold has absorbed its fair share of the commodities-market blows in recent years, but now is the time to move back into the precious metal, according to superbear Marc Faber.
Though Faber would like to short the central banks, there is no way he can do it. The only logical move, according to Faber, is to go long gold, silver and platinum.

Gold has tanked 35% since reaching an all-time high just above $1,900 an ounce in September 2011, making it one of the worst performing assets in recent years. In 2014, it lost 1.5%, following a 28% slide in 2013. So far in 2015, however, investors have taken a liking of the metal, with the front-month contract up 4.1%, outpacing gains for even a solidly performing dollar.

Marc Faber, author of the investment letter `Gloom Boom Doom Report?, was speaking at the Soci?t? G?n?rale?s global strategy presentation in London on Tuesday.