Most major Asian stock markets have opened the day on a firm note with stock markets in China (up 3%) and Hong Kong (up 1.3%) leading with substantial gains. The Indian share markets have also opened the day on a firm note. Stocks in the realty and metal space are leading the gains. However, information technology stocks are trading weak.
The Sensex today is up by around 79 points (0.4%), while the NSE-Nifty is up by around 19 points (0.3%). Mid and small cap stocks are also trading in the green with the BSE Mid Cap and BSE Small Cap indices up by around 0.6% each. The rupee is trading at Rs 54.54 to the US dollar.
Food stocks have opened the week on a positive note with Ruchi Soya Industries, Agro Tech Foods and GlaxoSmithKline Consumer Healthcare leading the pack of gainers. As per a leading financial daily, UK-based GlaxoSmithKline Plc is set to acquire 31.8% stake in its Indian subsidiary GSK Consumer Healthcare. The open offer will commence on January 17, 2013 and end on January 30, 2013. The UK-based parent firm would buy the shares of the Indian consumer healthcare business at Rs 3,900 per share. This would take the potential total value of the transaction to about Rs 52.2 bn. It must be note that last month the parent company had put forth an offer to raise its stake in the Indian subsidiary to up to 75%. As of September 30, 2012, the foreign promoter held 43.2% stake in GSK Consumer Healthcare.
Bank stocks have also opened the day on a firm note with Punjab National Bank (PNB), Bank of India and Axis Bank trading in the green. As per a leading financial daily, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has set up a supervisory college each for state-run State Bank of India (SBI) and private sector lender ICICI Bank. The aim of the supervisory college is to deal with supervisory issues concerning these banks as well as to establish a cooperation mechanism for cross-border supervision. The reason for choosing these two banks for the supervisory college is the fact that both these banks have significant cross-border presence. While SBI will have nine host country supervisors, ICICI Bank will have seven of them. It is worth noting that SBI, which is the largest bank in India, has the largest number of foreign officers among Indian banks. ICICI Bank also has a sizeable presence abroad. As per the central bank, supervisory colleges have evolved across the world as a vital component of effective supervisory oversight of an international banking group.
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