Supreme Court gives Sahara more time to refund investors !!!

In a partial relief to Sahara, the Supreme Court on Wednesday gave the Subrata Roy-led group more time to refund money to its bond investors. SC asked Sahara to deposit Rs 5,120 crore upfront to the Securities & Exchange Board of India (SEBI), and pay the remainder in two instalments in January and February. Stating that Sahara has to repay Rs 17,400 crore with 15% interest in three instalments. SC told SEBI to take action if the group defaults on repayment. On Monday, a bench, headed by Chief Justice Altamas Kabir, had made several adverse comments about the "conduct" and "intentions" of the company for failing to meet the November 30, 2012, deadline to pay the amount to Sebi which was to route it to investors. On Tuesday, when the bench reconvened, Sahara counsel Gopal Subramanium sought time till the afternoon to enable him to firm up his statement to court. Since the bench was on ly sitting in the forenoon on Tuesday, CJI Kabir adjourned the hearing till Wednesday. Sahara has been claiming to Sebi that all the money has been invested in its Amby Valley projects in 63 cities. It has also been claiming that it has paid off most of its small-time investors and only a balance of Rs 5,000 crore was left to be paid. Sahara has been denying any wrongdoing and has been insisting that it had offered the money to Sebi and accompanying papers about its investors, but Sebi has been refusing to accept it. It first approached the SAT to direct the market regulator to receive the Rs 5,000 crore and moved the SC after the Tribunal turned it away. A different bench had in a August 31 order asked two Sahara firms to pay the Rs 17,400 crore with interest to Sebi within three months. Sebi moved a contempt application before that bench when Sahara did not pay up, but the bench refused to act on it and directed Sebi to proceed against Sahara and implement the court order.

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Global & local cues that will impact Nifty today

The US markets finished modestly lower across the board with the Dow and S&P 500 snapping a three-day winning streak, weighed by a weaker-than-expected manufacturing report, even as there are new details of a counter-offer from house republicans to avert the fiscal cliff. The CBOE VIX closed above 16. The European markets closed off their best levels following weak manufacturing data from US, however news that Spain had formally requested an EU bailout for its banks helped limit losses. Spain formally requested a bailout for its struggling banks to be disbursed on December 12. Asian markets are trading weak. China's Shanghai Composite slipped 0.30% or 5.83 points at 1,953.93. Hong Kong's Hang Seng was down 0.36% or 78.49 points at 21,689.36. Japan's Nikkei was down 0.12% or 11.28 points at 9,446.90. Singapore's Straits Times shed 0.29% or 8.96 points at 3,056.78. South Korea's Seoul Composite fell 0.46% or 8.99 points at 1,931.03. Taiwan's Taiwan Weighted was down 0.77% or 58.50 points at 7,541.41. Back home, the Nifty closed 9 points lower to 5,870.

Nifty Impact:Parliament's winter session resumes

Parliament will resume today after no-show last week over the FDI storm. Voting of FDI in retail will take place in both houses this week. Parliamentary affairs minister is confident that all the important bills of the finance ministry will be passed in this session. In its bid to attract more foreign inflows the government has hiked the FII cap debt limit by USD 10 billion. Two new windows of USD 5 billion have been created in government-securities and corporate bonds. The ECB cap remains unchanged. The US markets ended narrowly mixed in lackluster trading on the final day of November, as investors were reluctant to make big bets ahead of the weekend amid ongoing fiscal cliff discussions. For the week, Dow rose 0.12%, S&P 500 rose 0.50% and Nasdaq rallied 1.46%. The CBOE volatility index finished near 16. The European markets ended mixed in choppy trading as German lawmakers approved a plan to ease the conditions on bailout loans to Greece and amid ongoing discussions over the US budget European Central Bank president Mario Draghi said that the eurozone crisis is far from over. Addressing top financial officials in Paris today, Draghi said that eurozone countries must tighten budgets and forge a banking union to leave behind the fairy world that allowed problems to grow. Asian markets were subdued in morning trade today. Meanwhile, China's November official services PMI inched up to 55.6 from 55.5 in October. At 7: 46 am (IST), Asian markets were trading higher. China's Shanghai Composite was up 0.19% or 3.83 points at 1,983.95. Hong Kong's Hang Seng advanced 0.47% or 104.33 points at 22,134.72. Japan's Nikkei gained 0.80% or 75.16 points at 9,521.17. Singapore's Straits Times rose 0.44% or 13.38 points at 3,083.33. South Korea's Seoul Composite was up 0.36% or 7.04 points at 1,939.94. Taiwan's Taiwan Weighted added 0.40% or 30.23 points at 7,610.40. Back home, it was a firm session for our markets on Friday. The Nifty gained 55 points to close at 5,879.

India's July-Sept GDP growth seen at 5.4%

India's economy probably expanded near its slowest pace in three years in the quarter to September, according to a Reuters poll, suggesting little signs of an early turnaround, despite reform steps taken by the government to lure back investors. Gross domestic product rose 5.4 percent year-on-year in the July-September period, slightly lower than the 5.5 percent increase in the previous quarter, and only just above the three-year low of 5.3 percent in the quarter to end-March, the median consensus of 39 consensus showed. Forecasts ranged from 5.0 percent to 6.2 percent. Asia's third-largest economy is growing faster than many other countries, but the pace is way below the 9 percent growth that the government has targeted to provide jobs for a booming young population. Data on factory activity showed slowing global demand hurt exports and falling investments weighed on the manufacturing sector, which has been the biggest drag on overall growth in the quarter to September. The next monetary policy review is due in December.