Heard on the Street: Reliance, HSBC

Smart Traders Cut a Neat Profit on Reliance Speculation

Stock traders, who were gearing up for a subdued close on Friday, were caught by surprise in the last hour of trading after benchmark indices suddenly rebounded, helping erase losses and post marginal gains.

The bounce was led by Reliance stocks — belonging to Mukesh and Anil Ambani — which spurted a little after 2 pm on rumours there would be a joint press conference by the two brothers later on Friday.

By the time the word had spread around that this was just speculation, the smart operators, who had spread such rumours, had already cut their positions to take home a neat profit.

Termination Sans Notice for Contractual Staff of HSBC Unit

It is a bad start to the New Year for the 136 contractual employees of HSBC’s domestic retail broking arm, whose contracts were terminated on December 30, 2011.

The employees, who were on the payroll of HR consultancy firm Ma Foi, were mostly part of the clerical staff and did not include analysts or relationship managers.

A person familiar with the development said these employees were not given any notice before the termination. When contacted, an HSBC spokesperson said: “Our contract with Ma Foi has expired and beyond that we would not want to comment.”

Ma Foi Randstad MD & CEO E Balaji said: “We cannot make any comments on individual contracts.”