RedChip Companies Announces Its 2009 Top-Performing Stocks

ORLANDO, Fla., Oct. 26, 2009 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- RedChip Companies, Inc. (http://www.RedChip.com) today announced its top-performing stocks for 2009: L&L International Holdings, Inc.; China Education Alliance, Inc.; India Globalization Capital, Inc.; Longwei Petroleum Investment Holding Ltd.; China Wind Systems, Inc.; China Gengsheng Minerals, Inc.; Alter NRG Corp.; ZAGG Inc.; Aethlon Medical, Inc.; and Royal Standard Minerals Inc. RedChip is an international financial relations and research firm servicing public companies with market caps up to $1 billion. The stock's performance is based on the price of the stock on the date the company engaged RedChip's services.

-- China Education Alliance (NYSE Amex:CEU), a company offering high-quality online and onsite educational and vocational services for student and adults in China, is up 79% post-coverage, moving from $3.20 on May 25, 2009 to $5.74 at market close on October 23, 2009. Average daily volume has increased 2,252% from the month prior to coverage to 335,487 average daily shares traded in the current 30-day period.

-- Longwei Petroleum (OTCBB:LPIH), a profitable diesel, gasoline, fuel oil, and solvent oil distributor operating in China's Shanxi Province, is up 636% post-coverage, moving from $0.28 on April 8, 2009 to $2.06 at market close on October 23, 2009. Average daily volume has increased 998% from the month prior to coverage to 409,447 average daily shares traded in the current 30-day period.

-- L&L International Holding (OTCBB:LLFH), a U.S. publicly traded energy company operating profitable coal mines in China's resource-rich Yunnan Province, is up 515% post-coverage, moving from $0.97 on April 14, 2009 to $5.79 at market close on October 23, 2009. Average daily volume has increased 11,517% from the month prior to coverage to 109,317 average daily shares traded in the current 30-day period.

-- India Globalization Capital (NYSE Amex:IGC), a company developing infrastructure in India and focusing on materials and iron ore production, is up 43% post-coverage, moving from $1.29 on August 19, 2009 to $1.85 at market close on October 23, 2009. Average daily volume has increased 462% from the month prior to coverage to 910,184 average daily shares traded in the current 30-day period.

-- China Wind Systems (OTCBB:CHWY), a China-based manufacturer of rolled rings and other forged products serving wind turbine manufacturers, is up 21% post-coverage, moving from $4.23 (split-adjusted) on August 31, 2009 to $5.10 at market close on October 22, 2009. Average daily volume has increased 64% from the month prior to coverage to 108,795 average daily shares traded in the current 30-day period.

-- China Gengsheng Minerals (OTCBB:CHGS), a China-based manufacturer of mineral-based, heat-resistant and energy-saving monolithic refractories, functional ceramics, fracture proppants and fine-precision abrasives for such industries as steel, oil and solar energy, is up 119% post-coverage, moving from $0.80 on August 31, 2009 to $1.75 at market close on October 23, 2009. Average daily volume has increased 2,894% from the month prior to coverage to 103,524 average daily shares traded in the current 30-day period.

-- ZAGG (OTCBB:ZAGG), a producer of mobile electronics and audio accessories including the patented gadget protector invisibleSHIELD(TM), is up 193% post-coverage, moving from $2.05 on April 3, 2009 to $6.01 at market close on October 23, 2009. Average daily volume has increased 29% from the month prior to coverage to 186,847 average daily shares traded in the current 30-day period.

-- Alter NRG Corporation (TSX: NRG) (Other OTC:ANRGF), an emerging clean, alternative energy company who provides technology and services to facilitate the gasification of coal, household and industrial waste and biomass to produce ethanol and power, is up 163% post-coverage, moving from $0.97 on May 22, 2009 to $2.55 at market close on October 23, 2009. Average daily volume has increased 344% from the month prior to coverage to 14,833 average daily shares traded in the current 30-day period.

-- Aethlon Medical, Inc. (OTCBB:AEMD), a creator and manufacturer of diagnostic and therapeutic filtration devices used to treat infectious diseases and cancer, is up 220% post-coverage, moving from $0.20 on April 3, 2009 to $0.64 at market close on October 23, 2009. Average daily volume has increased 325% from the month prior to coverage to 461,441 average daily shares traded in the current 30-day period.

-- Royal Standard Minerals Inc. (OTCBB:RYSMF), an advanced-stage mining company, is up 121% post-coverage, moving from $0.061 on September 28, 2009 to $0.135 at market close on October 23, 2009. Average daily volume has increased 24% from the month prior to coverage to 186,102 average daily shares traded in the current 30-day period.

Europe, US stocks fall as dollar hits commodities

European and U.S. markets dropped Monday as a rising dollar reversed gains in oil company stocks, and financials slipped after Dutch banking and insurance giant ING announced plans to split in two.

After spending most of the day moderately higher, Britain's FTSE 100 closed down 1 percent to 5,191.74, Germany's DAX fell 1.7 percent to 5,642.16 and France's CAC 40 lost 1.7 percent to 3,744.45.

In early afternoon trading in New York, the Dow Jones industrial average index fell 0.9 percent to 9,883.45, while the Standard & Poor's 500 index lost 0.9 percent to 1,069.37.

Earlier, Asian markets rose, boosted by data showing South Korea's economy grew at its fastest rate in over seven years, underscoring the region's strengthening economic recovery.

In Europe and on Wall Street, oil companies initially strengthened, helped by the price of crude that hit a year-high of $82 a barrel last week. But those gains were largely wiped out as the dollar turned higher against other currencies in late afternoon European trading.

A stronger dollar often means lower oil prices, which in turn hurts the outlook for oil companies.

Banks on both sides of the Atlantic also saw losses after Dutch banking group ING Groep NV said it will split itself in two, spinning off its insurance arm to simplify its business and issuing ⁈llion ($11.3 billion) in new shares to repay state bailout money. Its stock plummeted around 18 percent in Europe and the U.S.

Before the dollar strengthened, trading in Europe was fairly subdued, as investors awaited earnings reports from U.S. companies and others later in the week and U.S. gross domestic product figures on Thursday.

Investors have been hunting for definitive signs of growth in recent weeks and the report on GDP, the broadest measure of the economy's health, would provide the clearest sign yet of how far the economy has bounced back from its depths earlier in the year.

Earnings reports released throughout the week should also provide the insight traders crave. The health of the consumer will be analyzed through the results of companies such as Kellogg Co., Procter & Gamble Co. and Visa Inc. Consumer spending accounts for more than two-thirds of U.S. economic activity.

The energy and insurance industries also will be in focus throughout the week with ConocoPhillips and Exxon Mobil Corp. scheduled to report.

"Shares have lost some direction over recent weeks as investors have started to worry that the gains seen since the first part of the year have got ahead of the economic recovery," said Philip Gillett, sales trader at IG Index.

"We may well see some choppier trading in the days to come, ahead of Thursday's U.S. GDP figures but, barring any surprises here, most investors seem happy to pounce on these sell-offs and pick up stock on the cheap."

Markets in Asia were spurred on after South Korea's central bank said economic growth accelerated to 2.9 percent in the third quarter from the previous quarter _ the fastest growth since the first quarter of 2002.

Asia's fourth-largest economy has been bolstered by government stimulus spending, low interest rates, and a falling won which boosts exports. Massive stimulus spending also played a part in China's economic growth accelerating in the third quarter, according to official figures last week.

"It's a full-fledged recovery in Korea," said David Cohen, chief of Asian forecasting at Action Economics in Singapore. He termed "dramatic" the economy's turnaround from the depths it hit late last year as the financial crisis unfolded.

South Korea's Kospi advanced 1 percent to 1,657.11 and Japan's Nikkei 225 stock average rose 0.8 percent to 10,362.62. Hong Kong's market was closed for a holiday.

China's Shanghai benchmark gained 0.1 percent in choppy trade as investors worried the government might temper its stimulus policies following the acceleration in third quarter growth. Taiwan's market rose 0.3 percent, Singapore's index gained 0.2 percent, and India's Sensex was up 0.6 percent.

Australia bucked the trend with the S&P/ASX 200 index falling 0.6 percent. In Sydney trade, coal miner Felix Resources Ltd. jumped 4 percent after the government approved a takeover by China's Yanzhou Mining Co.

Oil prices fell below $79 a barrel in Europe after last week's jump to $82 a barrel _ a 2009 high. Benchmark crude for December delivery lost $1.96 cents to $78.54 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract fell 69 cents a barrel on Friday.

SCI posts Rs941-crore net profit, pays Rs221-crore dividend to government news

Shipping Corporation of India (SCI), the country's largest shipping company, has reported a net profit of Rs940.7 crore on a turnover of Rs4,564.5 crore for the financial year 2008-09. SCI also allotted bonus shares in the ratio of 1:2 and declared a dividend of 65 per cent on the increased share capital for the financial year.

The company allotted one bonus share each to shareholders for every two shares held, which increased the paid-up share capital of the company to Rs42.35 crore.

The annual general meeting of the company held on 30 September 2009 approved the payment of final dividend of 65 per cent, ie, Rs6.5 per share of face value Rs10 each, on the increased share capital.

SCI chairman and managing director S Hajara handed over a demand draft for a sum of Rs220.54 crore to GK Vasan, minister for shipping, towards final dividend to the government for the financial year 2008-09.

The government holds an equity stake of 80.12 per cent in the Shipping Corporation of India.

SCI, the only Navratna PSU under the ministry of shipping, owns a fleet of 80 vessels of deadweight of 5.4 million tonnes, including 30 crude oil tankers, 10 product tankers, 18 bulk carriers, 10 offshore support vessels, 5 container carriers, 3 chemical carriers, 2 LPG/ ammonia carriers and 2 passenger carriers. In addition, SCI also manages 58 vessels on behalf of ONGC, other government departments and SCI's joint venture companies for LNG transportation. At present, the company has on order 31 ships of 1.8 million deadweight tonnage at various shipyards in India and abroad.

What is synchronized trading?

Synchronized trading is a form of stock manipulation It when someone buys and sells the same stock around the same time in order in increase volume.


When Large quantities of shares are sold by the associates of the promoters of a stock through a set of brokers in NSE and BSE and these shares are bought by the associates at the same time through different set of brokers. It can be alleged that these trades are artificial and synchronized - there was close matching of buy and sell order time, order quantity and order prices. (paraphased from source below)

Why where the brokers warned?

It is a broker's duty to ensure that the broker is not a party to any market manipulation and that the market in which he operates is run on a health and non-manipulative basis. (from source below)

Source(s)http://www.sebi.gov.in/cmorder/jayanthilal.html

RBI moves to contain inflation without hurting growth

Barring the hike in Statutory Liquidity Ratio, the deposits that commercial banks are to park in government securities, the central bank left other key policy rates and ratios unchanged.

Although the one percentage point hike in SLR could suck up over Rs 30,000 crore from the system, the average SLR of banks is already at 27.6 per cent.

"As such the increase in SLR will not impact the liquidity position of the banking system and credit to the private sector," RBI Governor D Subbarao said, releasing the second quarterly review of the Monetary Policy.

Maintaining the easy credit flow to the private sector would help increase economic activity.

RBI retains economic growth projection to six per cent with upward bias for the current fiscal, while upping inflation estimate to 6.5 per cent with upward bias by March end from five per cent earlier.

"As always the Reserve Bank will endeavour to ensure price stability and anchor inflation expectations," the central bank said.

IDBI Bank Executive Director Sushil Munot said the signal is quite clear that RBI does not want to hurt growth, but wants to check inflation. It is nevertheless a signal of reversal of easy monetary policy.

The central bank kept repo-rate at which banks borrow from RBI in exchange of government bonds at 4.75 per cent, reverse-repo at which the apex bank accepts deposits from banks at 3.25 per cent and Cash Reserve Ratio (CRR), the portion of cash banks park with the Reserve Bank, at 5 per cent -- all unchanged.

Taking a cue from RBI's monetary policy stance, banks are unlikely to hike their auto, home and education loans in the near term.

However, credit flow to commercial real estate may be affected as the RBI raised the requirement for banks to keep the money aside while lending to this sector from 0.40 per cent to one per cent.

It means banks will have to keep Re one aside for every Rs 100 lent to commercial real estate against 40 paise now.

"In view of large increase in credit to commercial real estate sector over the last one year and the extent of restructured advances in the sector, it would be prudent to build cushion against likely non-performing assets," Subbarao said.

The GDP growth projection for FY'10 has been pegged at 6 per cent, same as earlier, assuming a modest decline in agriculture production and a faster recovery in industrial production," the RBI said.

On inflation, the RBI said, "the base effect, which resulted in negative WPI-inflation till August, is now expected to work in the reverse direction accentuated by high food prices."

Commercial real estate loans to get costlier

RBI has tightened the screws on bank lending to the real estate sector - a move that did not go down favourably with the stocks of real estate companies. The BSE realty index fell by over six per cent.

All the realty stocks ended in the red. Sensex stock, Unitech plunged 7.5 per cent to Rs 86 after toucing a low of Rs 84. DLF tumbled 6.5 per cent to Rs 402. Omaxe crashed 10 per cent to Rs 107. HDIL tanked 8.6 per cent to Rs 341. Ansal Infrastructure shed 8.5% to Rs 69. Parsvnath, Phoenix Mills, Peninsular Land, Ackruti City and Orbitco slumped 5-7 per cent each.

Last December, real estate developers heaved a sigh of relief when the RBI allowed restructuring of loans up to June 30, 2009 as a part of its stimulus package. Since then, all major companies rescheduled loans worth crores to avoid default. but now, the RBI has had a change of heart.

Today the RBI says, “In view of large increase in credit to the commercial real estate sector over the last one year and the extent of restructured advances, it would be prudent to build cushion against likely NPAs.”

The central bank has concerns on the ability of developers to repay loans even at a later date. So, the provisioning requirement for advances to the sector has been increased from its present 0.4 to 1 per cent. This means the interest cost for developers is set to increase. DLF and Unitech have an average interest cost of about 12 per cent which is set to rise to about 12.75 or 13 per cent.

Developers are yet to get clarity on whether this provisioning will increase on existing bank loans. In fact, in the past six months, very few fresh loans have been sanctioned to real estate companies. So the RBI is sending out a clear signal for banks to be cautious even before the cycle of fresh lending begins

Brokerages point out that RBI's move may trigger a second round of equity funding for listed players. Listed companies have lapped up more than Rs 13000 crore rupees via qualified institutional placements in the past seven months. Some of these funds have been directed towards working capital needs. What’s more, about $ 3 billion is waiting in the wings to be raised via the IPO route by six companies. But for unlisted companies, funding options may be far lesser. for consumers, this move seals all possibilities for a further dip in prices. In fact, it is all set to increase

Sarang Wadhawan, Managing Director, HDIL, said, “You have to understand that the sector was just recovering, this will definitely affect developers in a way that projects which were under execution. Now we will have to increase prices to compensate for this cost that will be incurred, at the same time, affordable housing segment will be hit because of this.”

Even as companies have clocked in good volume in sales over the past two quarters, it remains to be seen whether an imminent price increase will sustain the recent uptick in demand.

Tata Steel India Q2 net down 49.5 pct, lags forecast

MUMBAI, Oct 27 (Reuters) - Tata Steel Ltd (TISC.BO: Quote, Profile, Research), the world's No. 8 steel maker by output, on Tuesday reported a 49.5 percent fall in September quarter profit from its Indian operations, as prices tumbled on the back of the global economic crisis.

The company, which acquired Europe's second-largest steelmaker Corus in 2007, said standalone net profit fell to 9.03 billion rupees ($192 million) for the fiscal second quarter, from 17.88 billion reported a year earlier.

Net sales fell to 56.3 billion rupees from 67.3 billion.

A Reuters poll of 11 analysts had estimated a standalone net profit of 10.2 billion rupees on net sales of 60.67 billion rupees.

Tata Steel bought European steel maker Corus in 2007. The Indian operations account for about a quarter of the group's annual global capacity of 30 million tonnes.

Global steel production has tumbled this year, as demand from key industries such as construction and automotive shrank. But as macroeconomic data improves and inventories deplete, demand is gradually coming back, encouraging steelmakers to restart some idled capacity.

Shares in Tata Steel, valued at about $10.1 billion, fell as much 7.3 percent to 501.35. The shares rose 30.6 percent in the September quarter, outperforming the benchmark index that improved 18.2 percent. ($1=47 rupees) (Reporting by Prashant Mehra; Editing by Jarshad Kakkrakandy)

Kotak Mahindra net surges 86% to Rs 299 cr

Private sector lender Kotak Mahindra Bank today reported 86.22 per cent rise in its net profit at 299.76 crore for the second quarter ended September 30, 2009, over the same period last year.

Total income rose to Rs 2,312.91 crore in the latest quarter ended September 30, 2009, up 25.05 per cent from Rs 1,849.51 crore in the same period corresponding fiscal, Kotak Mahindra Bank said in a filing to the Bombay Stock Exchange(BSE).

On standalone basis, the bank reported a net profit of Rs 125.90 crore for the July-September quarter, jumped over two-folds to Rs 47.86 crore in the same period last fiscal.

Shares of Kotak Mahindra Bank were trading at Rs 764.10 on the BSE, down 2.18 per cent from its previous close.

Rupee ended down at a three-week low against the US dollar

Rupee ended down at a three-week low against the US dollar today because banks bought the greenback noting the decline in local share indices and also to meet importers' month-end dollar demand, dealers said.
The Indian unit ended at 46.9200 rupees compared with 46.6500 per dollar Monday. Rupee swayed in the 46.7700-47.0050 per dollar band intraday today.
"The fall in local shares today triggered some FII outflows today. There was no direct impact of the RBI policy on rupee. Intraday, rupee purely tracked local share," said a dealer with a large UK bank.
Today, the Bombay Stock Exchange's Sensex and the National Stock Exchange's Nifty ended down 2.31% and 2.50%, respectively, on disappointment over the Reserve Bank of India's mid-term monetary policy review for 2009-10
(Apr-Mar).
RBI kept the Repo, Reverse Repo, and Cash Reserve Ratio unchanged as per market expectations, Statutory Liquidity Ratio was hiked to 25%. Gross domestic product growth projection for 2009-10 (Apr-Mar) was kept unchanged
at 6.0% with an upside bias.
RBI also discontinued the refinance windows for banks and foreign exchange swap facility for banks today.
"It (foreign exchange swap facility) was a measure introduced last year when market faced the problem of dollar crunch. Not many banks used it. So it may not have an impact on the forex market," said S. Rajendran, general manager treasury, Union Bank of India.
"Importers were persistently buying dollars in the market today to meet their month-end needs that added to the fall and dragged rupee to the 47 level," said a dealer with a state-owned bank.
Banks also purchased the greenback noting its rise against other Asian currencies, dealers said.
Euro's fall below the $1.5000 mark in the overnight market also added to the Indian units' woes, dealers said.
However, dollar sales from exporters prevented a further decline in the Indian currency, dealers said.
"Exporters had to step in to sell dollars with rupee weakening to 47.00 today. Those exporters who had missed a chance to sell dollars in the past few days, sold it today," said a dealer with a US bank.
Bouts of profit booking also limited the slide in the Indian currency today, dealers said.

Mahindra Renault clarifies on 'Sandero' brand

Hyundai Motor India has taken Mahindra Renault to the Delhi High Court objecting to the latter's plan to launch a compact car in the country with the name 'Sandero' alleging that the rival was trying to cash in on its popular brand Santro with a similar sounding product. They (Mahindra Renault) are planning to launch Sandero, which is very similar sounding to our Santro. Both are hatchbacks and Santro is an established trademark and they are trying to get mileage out of it," a senior Hyundai Motor India (HMIL) official told PTI.

HMIL's plea requests the court not to allow Mahindra Renault to launch the car under the name Sandero, he added.

Neither a call made to Mahindra Renault Chief Executive Officer Nalin Mehta nor an e-mail sent to Mahindra & Mahindra group spokesperson seeking comments on the development got a reply.

'Santro' is HMIL's flagship brand and a total of over 15 lakh units have been sold both in the domestic and the overseas markets since its launch in September 1998.

On the other hand, Mahindra Renault has been struggling to mark its presence in the Indian car market with its sole product Logan failing miserably sparking speculations of a break-up of the joint venture between Mahindra & Mahindra and French auto major Renault.

Market analysts pointed out that the firm desperately needs another product to keep the JV alive.

GMR Energy drags Ministry of Power, REC, PFC to Delhi HC

GMR Energy has filed three petitions against the ministry of power and two PSUs — Rural Electrification Corporation and Power Finance Corporation — which had invited bids from the private sector to set up three transmission projects.

According to the petition, GMR Energy was disqualified on the ground that the formula for calculation of Internal Resource Generation (IRG), one of the criteria for qualification, was not correct.

In its petition filed through law firm Link Legal, GMR submitted before the court that it had sought an opinion from the Institute of Charted Accountants (ICAI) on the issue.

The ICAI said the formula adopted by it for calculation of IRG is correct and acceptable, and in fact, compliant with well-established accounting standards, GMR Energy submitted in the petition.

The company submitted that it was disqualified on a faulty criteria adopted for calculating the IRG and requested the court to stay the tendering process.

Admitting it, a division bench comprising Justice B D Ahmed and Justice Veena Birbal has issued notice to the Centre, REC and PFC directing them to file their replies.The court has listed the matter for next hearing in November.

Buy IDBI Bank, target of Rs 160: RR Financial Consultants

RR Financial Consultants has recommended a buy rating on IDBI Bank with a price target of Rs 160, in its report dated October 1, 2009. The share closed at Rs 125.00, down Rs 2.2, or 1.73%.

"As per other technical indicators, IDBI Bank is trading well above the crossover of 9 & 18 days WMA and 50 days SMA. This indicates the counter is bullish in medium to long term. 14 Days RSI is trading at Rs 73 level, with upward bias. But according to this the counter is already in over bought zone; therefore we may see some correction in prices in the near term. Overall the trend remains positive for the counter. So any dip in price levels from here will be taken as an opportunity to make fresh long position. It is taking strong support at Rs 105 level. Next target is placed at Rs 160," says RR Financial Consultants' report.

SBI has target of Rs 2400: Sukhani

SBI has target of Rs 2400, says Technical Analyst, Sudarshan Sukhani.

Sukhani told CNBC-TV18, "My top picks are primarily midcap PSU banks, that is Bank of India, Bank of Baroda and UCO Bank but that is just a matter of choice. The entire banking universe broadly suggests that outperformance in the times to come, so if you own SBI with you, you really don’t want to get out in a hurry, look for a target of somewhere around Rs 2,400. But you must keep a protective stop that would be somewhere at Rs 2,100 and if the markets and the stocks start slipping below that then you get out and otherwise wait patiently for your targets to come and that applies generally to most other banks.”

Transparency in Trade Details

This will help you in the following ways:

• Receive transaction statements daily
• Confirmation or Verification of trade will be faster with the trade details provided by your broker
• Enhance investment tracking and management of your portfolio
• Infuse transparency
• Build confidence

This initiative by the NSE Investor Protection Fund Trust will go miles to instill transparency and investor’s confidence. Good move in the interest of investors!

There is no such thing as a free gift!

If you are receiving gifts from your friends, there is a price tag attached – not from your friend but from the taxman!

From October 1, 2009, gifts received from non-relatives will be included in the taxable income of individuals and will be taxed at the normal tax bracket. Earlier, only cash gifts over Rs 50,000 were taxed as income in the hands of the recipient individual or HUF.

As per the amendment to provisions of Section 56(2) (vii) introduced by the Finance Act, 2009, the under-mentioned items will also be included in the income of the individual assessees and HUFs if they are received as a gift by them. The same will be brought to tax if the aggregate value of all gifts exceeds Rs. 50,000 in any previous year:

• Land and building
• Shares and securities
• Jewellery
• Archaeological collections
• Drawings
• Paintings
• Sculptures
• Any work of art

Additionally, if you are thrilled at negotiating a deal below the Fair Market Value (FMV), watch out for the tax axe from the Income-tax Assessing Officer (AO). If the purchase consideration is inadequate i.e. substantially lower than the FMV, then it will attract tax. The AO would take the FMV of such a purchase or the differential value of such a purchase, if it exceeds Rs 50,000.

However, provision for taxability of gifts shall NOT apply to any sum of money or any property received

• from any relatives or
• on the occasion of marriage or
• under a will or by way of inheritance

The term ‘relative’ will mean as defined under section 56 of the Income-tax Act, 1961 and not as understood under common parlance.

Further, if you receive any other valuables such as a motor car, electronics, furniture, etc. you will be saved from being taxed and you can continue to enjoy the luxury of receiving any of these gifts even beyond October, 2009.

We believe that such a fiscal measure by the government will bring in more assessees under the tax bracket. However, it would have been more appropriate if the government had a separate exemption limit for each category of asset in the list. For example, incase of land and building, the exemption limit of Rs 50,000 is meaningless; instead it could have been enhanced to say Rs 10 lakh.

Diwali comes early – for the person buying a house!

To brighten up the festive season, some banks have introduced attractive offers on their home and auto loans.

· State Bank of India is offering:

• Home loans of up to Rs 50 lakh at fixed interest rates of 8% p.a. for the 1^st year and 8.5% p.a. for the next 2 years

· IDBI is offering the following from the period October 1 to December 31, 2009:

• Auto loans at 8.5% p.a. (as compared to 12% p.a. previously)
• Home loans less than Rs 30 lakh at reduced floating rate of 8.75% p.a. (from 9% p.a.)
• Home loans between Rs 30 lakh-Rs 50 lakh at reduced floating rate of 9% p.a. (from 9.5% p.a.)
• Home loans above Rs 50 lakh at attractive floating rate of 9.25% p.a. (down from 9.5% p.a.)

· Bank of Rajasthan has slashed home loan rates in an offer valid till December 31, 2009:

• Fixed rate is reduced to 9% p.a. for the 1^st year, and 10% p.a. for the 2^nd and 3^rd year
• Floating rate is cut to 8% p.a. for the 1^st year and 9% p.a. for the 2^nd and 3^rd year

· Punjab National Bank is offering:

• Home loans upto Rs 30 lakh at 8.5% p.a. fixed rate, with a reset clause of 3 years. This offer is valid only till October 31, 2009

· Bank of India, under its Festival Offer valid till October 20, 2009 is offering:

• Home loans upto Rs 10 lakh at 8.5% p.a. for a repayment period of 3 years

Hurry, and make the most of these offers, while they last! However, ensure that you read all the fine print of these offers before subscribing to them.

Buying this hated asset could be the best trade in the market today

Despite continued discussions about fundamental USD weakness, and the fine job the government is doing devaluating our currency, I can't help seeing reasons to buy the USD.

My view does not rely on contradicting the thinking according to which excess liquidity and unbalanced budgets for the government and the consumer lead to weaker currency. But I think that the amount of currency being "retired" with debt not being rolled and the velocity being null is partly countering the excessive printing.

Also, one need also to keep in mind that when it comes to currencies all is relative, and while the Fed and the Treasury department are certainly not acting with a strong USD in mind these days, other countries have embarked on a similar path.

Last but certainly not least, almost everybody is short USD.

TAX HORROR: White House committee to propose national sales tax

From Zero Hedge:

The “Center for American Progress” is the best example of an oxymoronish name that I can think of. This is a “progressive” (socialist) “think tank” (another misleading term) lead by John Podesta, a former Clinton Chief of Staff and Obama adviser.

They are coming out with a report on Wednesday that will recommend that:

[T]he administration should consider a tax on consumption, such as a value-added tax [VAT] system similar to that in use in the European Union