Volume Shocker: Nitin Fire Protection Industries

The stock has gained 117% so far in 2012, as compared to 13% rise in the Sensex

Nitin Fire Protection Industries has soared 17% to Rs 59 on the back of over three-fold jump in trading volume in trade today. A combined 1.92 million shares have already changed hands on the counter till noon deals, as against an average of around 450,000 shares that were traded daily in the past two weeks. The stock opened at Rs 50.80 and hit a high of Rs 59.40 so far on the National Stock Exchange.

The stock has been outperforming the market by surging 117% so far in 2012 on the Bombay Stock Exchange, compared to 13% rise in the benchmark Sensex.

The board of directors at its meeting held on May 29, 2012 has proposed the fund raising through various means like qualified institutions placement to qualified institutional buyers, preferential allotment/right issue, FCCB/GDR/ warrants and/or any such manner or way board may deem fit.

The company is engaged in the manufacturing of portable fire fighting equipment and has tie-ups with leading international players in fire alarm and security systems such as AirSense Technology Limited, U.K., for smoke detection equipments.

Goldman Sachs cuts OMCs to 'sell'

Goldman Sachs turns negative on Indian oil marketing companies, says any diesel price hike would "only reduce the losses in the near term, without any major positive impact on the profitability." Adds "high" interest costs also weigh.

Goldman downgrades Indian Oil Corp and Hindustan Petroleum Corp to "sell" from "neutral" and Bharat Petroleum Corp to "neutral" from "buy."

Investment bank says government-owned upstream companies are better placed then downstream ones because of more "stable" cash flows and "attractive valuations."

Goldman says retains Oil & Natural Gas Corp with a "buy" rating and upgrades Oil India to "neutral" from "sell".

Turning to gas sector, Goldman says it expects the gap between supply and demand to widen due to production declines at KG-D6 blocks, leading to further imports of LNG.

Upgrades Gujarat State Petronet to "buy" from "neutral" on "attractive" valuations and "likely positive surprise" on regulated transmission tariffs.

Goldman maintains "buy" rating on Cairn India citing "high oil leverage and best production growth profile among peers."

Lastly, Goldman maintains "buy" ratings on Reliance Industries and Essar Oil as it expects refining margins to improve during H2 2012.

Bajaj Group stocks turn ex-dividend, Bajaj Auto down 2%

Shares of Bajaj Group companies such as Bajaj Auto, Bajaj Finserv, Bajaj Holdings and Investment and Bajaj Finance are trading lower by 1-4% on turning ex-dividend today.

The register of members & share transfer books of Bajaj Auto and Bajaj Holdings and Investment will remain closed from July 07, 2012 to July 18, 2012, and of Bajaj Finserv and Bajaj Finance from July 07, 2012 to July 17, 2012 (both days inclusive) for the purpose of payment of dividend and AGM, according to information filed by these companies to the stock exchanges.

India’s second largest two-wheeler maker Bajaj Auto is trading lower by 2% at Rs 1,550 on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE). The stock has opened at Rs 1,552 and hit a low of Rs 1,543 so far.

The board of Bajaj Auto at its meeting held on May 17, 2012 has recommended a dividend of Rs 45 per share (450%) for the financial year 2011-12.

Bajaj Finance, Bajaj Holdings and Investment and Bajaj Finserv are trading down by 2-4% on the BSE.

Bajaj Finance has recommended dividend of Rs 12 per share (120%), Bajaj Holdings and Investment declared a dividend of Rs 25 per share (250%), while Bajaj Finserv announced a dividend of Rs 1.50 per share (30%) for the fiscal 2011-12

KEC International gains on Rs 795-cr new orders

KEC International is trading higher by 6% at Rs 62 after the company said it has bagged orders worth Rs 795 crore across its transmission and power system segments in domestic and international markets.

“In the transmission business, the company secured two orders worth Rs 546 crore from Power Grid Corp and one project worth Rs 54 crore from Sri Lanka's Ceylon Electricity Board,” the RPG Group, engineering and construction firm said in a filing.

The company has also bagged three orders worth Rs 195 crore from Kenya Power and Lighting Company for setting up substations and underground cables on turnkey basis, it added.

The stock opened at Rs 59.90 and touched high of Rs 62.70 on the National Stock Exchange. Total 331,305 shares have already changed hands on the counter in morning deals, as against an average of less than 500,000 shares that were traded daily in past two weeks on the NSE and BSE.

SKS Microfinance up 6% on hopes of easing micro-lending norms

SKS Microfinance is trading higher by 6% at Rs 72.80 on reports that the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) may relax some of the norms pertaining to microfinance institutions.

“The norms related to net worth, capital adequacy and provisioning needs of microfinance institutions (MFI) will be relaxed in phases to help troubled micro-lenders,” the report suggests quoting Dr D. Subbarao, Governor, RBI.

The stock opened at Rs 69 and hit a high of Rs 73 on the National Stock Exchange. A combined 673,055 shares have already changed hands on the counter in morning deals, as against an average around 800,000 shares that were traded daily in past two weeks.