[Grapevine] For Sep 4, 1998

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________Summary_______________________
(Details below)

News:
 - 111-year term for serial chain snatcher
 - Power tariff hike
 - 3 cos accept Centre's order on carry bags 
 - No comments on CJ's statement, says Joshi 
 - Lok Tantrik Congress to float units in Maharashtra 
 - Cong govt was bad, Sena-BJP is worse: Hazare 
 - Vsnl Set to Enter Indian Domestic TELECOM Market
 - India to Test Longer-Range Agni Missile Soon -PTI
 - Three of family run over by train in Mumbai central
 - Seven gangsters nabbed, guns seized
 

Market Summary:
 - Rise on short covering, buying by funds


________News_______________________
(From various news agencies)
  
   
 111-year term for serial chain snatcher
   The additional metropolitan magistrate of a Mumbai court has given a
   historic sentence of 111 years' life imprisonment and fine of Rs
   37,000 to a taxi driver guilty of snatching 37 mangalsutras in 1997.
   The man has been sentenced to three years of imprisonment and fined Rs
   1,000 for each act of snatching.


 Power tariff hike
   Electricity bills in Mumbai are likely to go up with the Tata Electric
   Company(TEC) considering a power tariff increase. A decision on the
   quantum of increase will be likely taken within the next month.
  
  
  
 3 cos accept Centre's order on carry bags 
   Responding quickly to the Central government notification to
   manufacturers of plastic carry bags that the thickness of these
   bags should be increased at least four fold, three companies in
   the field today publicly announced their decision to follow the
   directives.At a meeting of the All India Plastic Manufacturers'
   Association called this evening to discuss the implications of
   this notification representatives of Kant and Company, Radiant
   Plastruders India Ltd., and Rajesh Plastics declared that they
   would manufacture plastic bags over 20 microns in thickness
   from tomorrow. 



 No comments on CJ's statement, says Joshi 
   Maharashtra Chief Minister Manohar Joshi today refused to
   comment on the observations of Mumbai High Court Chief Justice
   M B Shah that Maharashtra is the worst administered state. "I
   have read the remarks of the Chief Justice in the newspapers. I
   do not want to comment on them," Joshi said.
   


 Lok Tantrik Congress to float units in Maharashtra 
   The Lok Tantrik Congress (LTC), which has tied up with the
   Bharatiya Janata Party in Uttar Pradesh, will float its Mumbai
   unit next week, LTC vice-president and Rajya Sabha member A H
   Rizvi announced today. "As per the decision taken by LTC
   president Naresh Agarwal, we will launch our party's Mumbai
   unit next week and the state unit in the third week of
   September. In the coming weeks, we will make our presence felt
   in the metropolis," Rizvi said. 


 Cong govt was bad, Sena-BJP is worse: Hazare 
   The Congress party and the saffron alliance in the state has
   come in for ridicule from anti-corruption crusader Anna Hazare
   for the "cancerous corruption engulfing every part of the
   administration." During Congress regime, corruption had
   surpassed all limits, eventually leading to its ouster, he
   said. However, its successor, the Sena-BJP government, has
   attained newer heights in corruption, Hazare said at a Rotary
   Club function here. "If the Congress was a graduate in
   corruption, the Sena-BJP combine has secured a Ph.D.," he
   quipped.



 Vsnl Set to Enter Indian Domestic TELECOM Market
   India's international carrier Videsh Sanchar Nigam
   Ltd. (VSNL) is all set to enter the domestic telecom services
   market, which until now has been the domain of the Department
   of Telecommunication (DoT), the government's telecom arm. 
   
   The R5,200 crore (about $1 billion) company has already signed
   memoranda of understanding (MoU) with local agents in four
   cities: Chandigarh in the north Indian state of Punjab, Sachin
   and Surat in the western coastal state of Gujarat, and Indore in
   Madhya Pradesh of central India. These proposed alliances will
   focus primarily on international leased circuits for data
   connectivity, Internet connections, and other value-added
   services. 
   
   Meanwhile, it has floated a tender for a joint venture partner for
   its regional hub project. The proposed project envisages India as a
   regional hub for data and telecom traffic. It plans to link up a
   trans-Eurasian cable to South Asian countries like Sri Lanka,
   Bangladesh, Pakistan and Myanmmar. A final decision is still
   awaited. 


 India to Test Longer-Range Agni Missile Soon -PTI
   India will test-fire a longer-range version of its Agni 
   ballistic missile soon, Defence Minister George Fernandes told 
   Press Trust of India (PTI). 
   "Test-firing of Agni II is inevitable... it will be done soon but no
   date has yet been finalised," Fernandes was quoted on Friday as
   saying in a wide-ranging interview. 
   
   Last month India cleared plans for development of the second
   phase of the intermediate-range missile, the first version of
   which was last tested in February 1994. 
   
   Fernandes declined to give PTI details about the new version's
   specifications, but said it would use "state-of-the-art
   technologies developed indigenously." 
   
   PTI said the aim was to develop a missile with double the range of
   the original version's 1,500 km (940 miles) and which could
   deliver both conventional and nuclear weapons. 
   
   Agni, part of India's indigenous missile development programme,
   is seen as a potential deterrent to the country's nuclear-armed
   neighbour to the north, China. India's arch-rival Pakistan also
   has an active missile development programme. 
   
   After the last of three Agni launches-- one of which failed --
   lawmakers accused successive governments of mothballing the
   project under Western pressure. 
   
   Fernandes said India has started to develop a sea-launched
   missile called Sagarika, but gave no details. 
   
   Last April New Delhi and Moscow denied a report in the New
   York Times that Russia had been helping India build the
   Sagarika ballistic missile for three years. 
   
   The report, which cited U.S. administration officials, had said the
   Sagarika would have a range of nearly 200 miles (320 km) and be
   capable of striking deep inside Pakistan with a nuclear warhead
   from submerged submarines. 
   
   Fernandes told PTI a decision on the command and control
   system for nuclear weapons would be taken after a National
   Security Council taskforce report is complete. 
   
   He said India was developing anti-missile defence systems, but it
   would take time to equip the army with gun-locating radars,
   snow scooters and other equipment for Siachen glacier. 
   
   "Orders have been placed and what could be bought from the
   shelf has been obtained," he said. 
   
   Fernandes said he had called a meeting of senior officials for
   September 7 to discuss the situation in Kashmir's Siachen
   Glacier, a high-altitude no-man's-land that Indian and
   Pakistani troops are fighting to control. 
   
   He said plans were being made to build roads in difficult terrain
   along the glacier to cut spending on air-drops and the regular use
   of helicopters. 
   
   Fernandes said India needed another aircraft carrier following
   the decommissioning of INS Vikrant last year. 
   
   He said India had decided to build its own air defence ship, a
   smaller version of an aircraft carrier, and referred to "the offer
   made by Russia to sell 'Admiral Gorshkov."' 
   
   Interfax news agency said in July that Russia, which has
   traditionally good ties with India dating back to Soviet times,
   planned to sell the carrier of its Northern Fleet to India for about
   two billion dollars. 




 Three of family run over by train in Mumbai central
   A mother and her two teenage daughters were run over by a train while
   they were crossing the tracks at Mumbai Central. The mother and her
   daughters were to go to Loni by a mail train. They started for Mumbai
   Central from Borivli where they lived. The trains were delayed friends
   of the family told newsmen. At Mumbai Central, however, instead of
   using the overhead bridge they decided to jump from the train onto the
   tracks and cross over. Just then, another train passed by killing all
   three on the spot.


 Seven gangsters nabbed, guns seized
   Seven gangsters have been arrested by the city crime branch in its
   continuing action against members of the organised criminal syndicates
   operating in Mumbai. Choppers and guns were seized from them.

   

      
________Financial News_______________
        
        
 Rise on short covering, buying by funds
	
		
    Mumbai--Sep 4--Stocks ended higher as traders covered short positions
ahead of today's end of the weekly trading account on the Bombay Stock
Exchange (BSE) and amid buying support by local and foreign funds in index
stocks, dealers said.

    The Bombay Stock Exchange's (BSE) Sensex provisionally closed at
2975.04, up 56.15 points from Thursday's close. The NSE50 provisionally
closed at 865.60, up 19.15 points.
    Although sentiment is weak on continuing turmoil in Russia and global
markets, buying by foreign funds in early trade and by local funds later
prompted traders to cover short positions.
    "Many traders had gone excessively short on the troubles in Russia and
falls in most global markets," one dealer said.
    "But foreigners haven't been selling as aggressively as was expected
earlier, and some aggressive buying support triggered a rush by shorts to
cover positions," he said.
    Sentiment was also up following a government tribunal waiving penalties
on ITC in a case relating to alleged evasion of excise duties worth 8.04
billion rupees by the tobacco major, dealers said.

    Below is a summary of market moves today:
    * Foreigners were said to have sold software stocks and bought index
    stocks
    * They were said to sell Pentafour Software, Infosys, NIIT and Software
    Solutions, and bought Reliance, Mahindra and Mahindra, BHEL, Telco and
    Hindalco
    * Local funds were said to have bought BSES, Larsen and Toubro, MTNL,
    State Bank, Telco and ACC

PROVISIONAL CLOSES
Bombay Stock Exchange:        :    National Stock Exchange:
Sensex: 2975.04, up 56.15     :    NSE50 (Nifty): 865.60, up 19.15
BSE100: n/a                   :    Mid-Cap      : n/a
VITAL STATISTICS
BSE Sensitive Index closings    : NSE50 closings
High: 4630.54 (Sep 12, 1994)    : High: 1292.95 (Aug 6, 1997)
Jan 1, 1998 close: 3694.62      : Jan 1, 1998 close: 1081.20
1998 High: 4280.96 (Apr 21)     : 1998 High: 1212.75 (Apr 21)
1998 Low : 2838.99 (Aug 19)     : 1998 Low : 830.15 (Aug 24)

------------------------STORY AT 0556 GMT---------------------------------

India Stocks: Rise early on speculators' short covering
    By Pankaj Aher, Bridge News
    Mumbai--Sep 4--Indian stocks rose in early trade as speculators covered
short positions on the last day of the current weekly trading account on
the Bombay Stock Exchange, dealers said.

    At 1050 local time (0500 GM), the Bombay Stock Exchange's (BSE) Sensex
was at 2942.03, up 23.14 points from Thursday's close but down from an
earlier high of 2948.45. The NSE50 is at 856.35, up 9.90 points from
Thursday but down from 858.50 earlier today.
    Several traders who had gone short earlier in the week and Thursday as
well are now covering their short positions, dealers said.
    "In fact, some of them are going long now," one dealer said.
    The stabilization in global stock values has stemmed further sales,
dealers said.
    Shares of cigarette-maker ITC Ltd. are significantly up on hopes that a
panel of the finance ministry will accept ITC's plea to waive an interest
penalty amounting to 750-800 million rupees relating to an excise duty
evasion case, later today.
    Dealers said they expect the Sensex to close higher today, but were
divided on how much higher.
    "The market should go up from here," a dealer at Kotak Securities said.
"I am very bullish."
    He said he also expects the Sensex to rise further on the back of
buying by local funds and small support from foreign funds as well.
    But other dealers said they expect some unwinding of long positions to
also hit the market later in the day and that could trim current gains.
    (42.56 rupees--US $1)  




	

	
___________________________________________________________
               This is the Mumbai Grapevine 
___________________________________________________________

	
        
________Forex_______________

As of Sep 4, 2:30 PM IST: 
1 US$ = Rs. 42.46 (+0.06)



________Weather_______________
(From CNN)


Current weather conditions   6 p.m. (local), Sep. 4          
mostly cloudy      
Temp: 30 C, 86 F      
Rel. Humidity: 69%               
Wind: NW at 11 kph(7 mph)        


 Four-day forecast             
Fri.        showers        HIGH    30 C  86 F        LOW    24 C  76 F              
Sat.        rain        HIGH    30 C  86 F        LOW    25 C  77 F              
Sun.        cloudy        HIGH    31 C  88 F        LOW    27 C  81 F              
Mon.        showers        HIGH    30 C  87 F        LOW    26 C  80 F      



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