MARKET UPDATE

* RELIANCE IND : raises its offer to acquire LyondellBasel from $12bn to $13.5bn

* JINDAL STEEL & POWER : sold 2.77% stake in Rockland Richfields.. Earlier this
mth co had for 2nd time matched offer of China's Meijin Energy to acquire co

* STRIDES ARCOLAB : announces major licencing & supply deal with Pfizer for 40
patent free medicines mostly in cancer therapy in the US mkts

* DR REDDYs : Transgene Biotek enters into licencing & tech trf agreement with
co for outlicensing of technology for mfg of Orilistat used in obesity mgt

* MTNL : merger talks with BSNL back on to boost profitability of the cos

* KALPATARU POWER : Bags 2 orders worth Rs 2.5bn in TamilNadu & Algeria

* BGR ENERGY : to invest Rs 400mn to mfg heat recovery systems in tie up with
an US based co

* LANCO INFRA : set to enter solar power biz early nxt fiscal to generate, mfg
& supply equipment

* UTTAM GALVA : in talks with ArcelorMittal to build a 1mn tonne steel plant

* MARUTI : to decide on px hikes for its cars by end Jan on incr material costs

* PSL : co is augmenting its manufacturing capacity by 300k metric tonnes (20%),
to meet demand fm the oil and gas and water treatment sectors

* L&T/TATA STEEL : jointly set up a container handling facility in Orissa to tap
demand for containerized cargo in the eastern part of the country

* ASHOK LEYLAND : Dec mthl sales rise 164% @ 6,099 units

* SASKEN TECH : Nortel Networks sells 2.2% stake in the Co

* BGR ENERGY : tiesup technical collaboration with Noter/Eirksen USA for Heat
Recovery Steam Generators

Corporate News – Industry trends

* The empowered committee of state finance ministers has virtually
trashed the Thirteenth Finance Commission taskforce’s Goods and
Services Tax report. They question the methodology applied by the
committee to arrive at the 12% revenue neutral rate (BS)

* Karnataka has rolled out a red carpet welcome to the world's largest
steel maker, ArcelorMittal, which would like to invest Rs 300bn for
setting up a six-million-tonne-a-year integrated steel plant in the State
(BL)

* The Indian Railways has offered container train operators an
assured transit time service for a premium of 10% over the normal
rates. In case the Railways is not able to meet the promised time, it
will not charge the 10% premium (BL)

* The life insurance industry posted a loss of Rs 48.7bn in the
financial year 2008-09, as against a loss of Rs 34.1bn in 2007-08,
according to data released by the IRDA in its annual report (BL)

* The Bangalore-based Strides Arcolab has announced a major
licensing and supply deal with Pfizer by which the world's largest drug
maker would source 40 patent-free medicines, mostly cancer
therapies, for sale in the US (BL)

* Kalpataru Power Transmission has secured two orders totalling
over Rs 2.5bn from Sonelgaz, Algeria, and the Tamil Nadu Electricity
Board. Kalpataru has signed an Rs 1bn contract with the Algerian
company for the construction of 220 kV transmission lines of 100 km
and also a 60 kV line of 120 km (BL)

* India’s largest coal producer Coal India Ltd is set to disinvest 10% of
the government’s stake and offer a share in the company to persons
losing land to its projects (BS)

* Ashok Leyland sold 6,099 units in December 2009 compared with
2,307 units in the same month of the previous year an increase of
164% (BS)

* Hero Honda will launch 8-10 models next year’; Next year, we would
be gunning for a performance that’s similar to the one we have had
this year. With such a low penetration in the market, there are great
opportunities. We have to look for growth. But our focus has largely
been on the commuter segment (BS)

* The power ministry has asked the petroleum ministry to place a
proposal before the empowered group of ministers (EGoM) to allot 12
mscmd of gas from the KG-D6 block to state-run NTPC at US$2.34 per
mBtu (BS)

* Kishore Biyani’s Future Group has shelved its plan to set up
standalone stores for retailing electrical and lighting products to
conserve cash, according to a company executive (BS)

Economic/Regulatory development

* Food inflation eased slightly at 18.22% for the week ended
December 26, but there was little respite for the common man as
prices of pulses and cereals were still ruling high (BS)

* The Ministry of Finance has assured the Planning Commission of at
least 15% increase in gross budgetary support (GBS) for 2010-11,
over the 2009-10 budget estimates (BS)

Market keeps on fluctuating following no regular pattern. This morning all the major indexes sensex, nifty, bank nifty opened on a positive note.Stocks which are among market top performers are good from trading point of view as they are more likely to help in earning desired returns.