2010 NEWS AND UPDATES ON THE INDIAN STOCK MARKETS

1. Coal India Ltd, India’s largest coal producing company, received a good subscription on India’s largest IPO. The company raised more than Rs 15,000 crore through the IPO with an issue price fixed at Rs 245 a share. The scrip saw a spectacular listing as well.

2. Indian bourses introduced extended trading house starting business at 9.00am IST instead of 9.55am IST since January 4^th 2010.

3. The fees currently charged by PMS (Portfolio Management Service) finally caught the eye of SEBI and it has come out with a “high water mark” principle which means that if the portfolio values tanks then the fees will not be charged till all losses have been compensated for. PMS will have to give an illustration on fees charged when the portfolio value increases by 10 per cent, decreases by 10 per cent, or remains unchanged.

4. In 2005, SEBI raised the amount of money retail investors could dump in initial public offers (IPOs) and follow-on public offers (FPOs) from Rs 50,000 to Rs 1,00,000/-. That was jacked upto Rs 2,00,000/- in October 2010.

5. SEBI gave its approval in Q4 2010 to brokers to introduce mobile trading. This will allow investors to place buy and sell orders through their cell phones using a software that is loaded onto their phones.

6. SEBI made it mandatory beginning May 2010 for companies to list their shares within 12 days of issue closure against the 22 that they used to get earlier.

7. Foreign investment in the Indian stock market crossed the magic Rs 1 trillion mark ($22 billion) for the first time in history.

8. In order to check share price manipulation and attract more investors, the government made it mandatory in June 2010 for listed companies to raise public shareholding to 25%, with at least 5% dilution a year.

9. The BSE Sensex closed above 20000 for the first time this year on Sep 21, 2010. The last time it crossed this magical mark was on January 15, 2008.

10. National Spot Exchange Ltd (NSEL) launched e-Silver, a medium of investing in silver through Exchange Traded Funds.