Heard on the street
The decision to suspend futures trade in the commodity has hit investors, hedgers and speculators, who were long on the commodity.
By ET Bureau |
Sugar futures ban hits NCDEX volumes
A day after commodities exchange regulator FMC barred new contracts in sugar till December and suspended the initiation of fresh position in running contracts, the front month contract on NCDEX hit an intra-day low of Rs 2,215, before closing at Rs 2,266 a quintal (100 kg), down Rs 41 over the previous close. The decision to suspend futures trade in the commodity has hit investors, hedgers and speculators, who were long on the commodity.
That an exit from the commodity is under way, said a broker, was proven by a substantial reduction in open interest, the outstanding buy-sell position, in the front month contract. ���This suspension has led to irrevocable damage to the agri-commodities market. Hedgers will shy away in future as nobody expected such a regressive move, particularly since the recent relisting of wheat after a two-year ban,��� he said.
There was significant interest in shares of Karnataka-based sugar firm from some domestic mutual funds on Tuesday, just before the FMC ban on sugar futures on the same day. Grapevine has it that one of the domestic mutual funds, which witnessed a flight of its top employees, including a star fund manager recently, bought close to 50-lakh shares at a ���discount���. As per rumour mills, this fund house recently had asked this star fund manager to leave because of some bets gone awry.
Novartis may revise open offer price for Indian arm
Talk of Swiss pharma giant Novartis AG planning to revise its open offer price for shares of its local subsidiary, Novartis India, refuses to die despite the group���s denials in the past. The parent company is believed to be looking at the possibility of increasing the offer price to Rs 425-450, sources close to the development told ET.
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This is almost Rs 75-100 higher than its earlier offer price of Rs 351 per share. Earlier, a Novartis International AG spokesperson told ET that the company had no plans to increase the open offer since ���the offer was made at a significant premium to the last-traded price and the monthly average.��� Novartis is looking to acquire an additional stake of up to approximately 39% through this open offer, taking its overall stake to almost 90%, from its current level of 50.9%. Contributed by Ram N Sahgal, Apurv Gupta & Nina Mehta
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