BSE, NSE to open trade at 9 am from today

It's a new year and a new timing for stock market traders and investors in India. And if one were to go by broker sentiment, not a very happy one.

The country's key exchanges, the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) and the National Stock Exchange (NSE) will start trading at 9am from today, January 4th 2010. The opening has been advanced by close to an hour - from the earlier 9.55am, but the close will continue to be at 3.30pm.

These new timings follow a very public duel between both exchanges.

The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) in October allowed stock exchanges in India to extend their trading hours to a maximum possible window of trading between 9am and 5pm.

The SEBI move was prompted by a long-standing demand by the stock exchanges for allowing extension of trading hours to capture more trading from international investors, especially from Asian countries like Singapore where exchanges open earlier, Indian time.

However, soon after the regulator gave exchanges the go-ahead, opinion in the stock market fraternity was vertically divided with several brokers and brokerages saying lack of infrastructure could prove a hindrance to extend market hours to the full window of 9am to 5pm.

More trading, more stress: Brokers

Brokers, though, are not too impressed. “Starting the markets early will serve no purpose and the market men and brokers are getting caught in the crossfire between the two exchanges,” said broker Dipan Mehta, a member of both the BSE and NSE. He said the move would serve no purpose but would put more stress on those involved in the stock market.

Trading volumes in the stock market would go up, said Ambareesh Baliga of Karvy Stock Broking, “though it won’t be in the same proportion as the increased time".

Baliga said the move may be aimed at increasing more day-trading and capturing some trades from the Singapore’s SGX Nifty, which opens two-and-a-half hour earlier than Indian time.

“Volumes will increase because a large part of the trade flows from other parts of the world, particularly Asian markets,” said Deven Choksey of KR Choksey Securities. “It would be good as far as fund allocations to India are concerned and we would see some more action coming into the market in the early hours of the day.”

He added that most brokerages had prepared themselves, infrastructure-wise, to a possible shift to 9am.

Vinay Agarwal, Executive Director of Angel Broking, said the move could lessen volatility in the markets.

Are we ready?

The revised notice from the exchanges now says that trading hour extension has been postponed by a couple of weeks. According to experts, this by no means prepare them to deal with the technacalities involved in longer trading hours. The banks’ real-time gross settlement (RTGS) system, a funds transfer mechanism where transfer of money takes place from one bank to another on a 'real time' and on 'gross' basis is not in place yet—it starts only at 9.45 am, they say. This will cause disruption in the functioning of the exchanges.

Traders, who, want to make margin payment at 9 am though their banks may face a hitch. However, bankers say this isn’t a major glitch, since brokers can always make the payments via the internet.

However, in all probability, enterprising banks may think of booting their systems earlier.

Moreover, President of broker body AMNI EMC Palaniappan says, brokers’ offices may also not be able to handle the extension of trading hours as of now.

Money Control

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Two billion to watch Burj Dubai ceremony

Dubai: An estimated two billion people around the world are expected to watch live TV coverage of the inauguration of Burj Dubai, the tallest tower in the world.

A close-up coverage of the event using the latest digital High Definition (HD) transmission technology will be done, Dubai Media Incorporated (DMI) managing director and media escort to Dubai's ruler Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Ahmad Al Sheikh said.

Some 400 representatives of local, regional and international media and news agencies will cover the event.

The inauguration of the structure developed by Emaar Properties marks fourth anniversary of the accession day of Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum as the Ruler of Dubai.

Meanwhile, online news site ArabianBusiness.com said the "inauguration of the Burj Dubai, developed by Emaar Properties, (it parent Dubai World is fighting a USD59 billion debit crisis) will feature a spectacular display of sound, light, water and fireworks."

"In its design and engineering, Burj Dubai borrows heavily from local traditions of Dubai and the UAE. The tower design is inspired by the desert flower Hymenocallis," Ahmad Al Matrooshi, managing director, UAE, Emaar Properties said.
Though the final height of the super-scrapper is not known, the 1-billion pound Burj Dubai is at least 2,683 ft from its base to the tip of its spire -equivalent of three-and-a-half Canary Wharf towers or two Empire State Buildings

stacked up.

The Burj Dubai, which is not just the tallest building on the planet but also the world's tallest man-made structure, surpassing even the 2,063-ft KVLY-TV mast in North Dakota, America.

A combination of 10,000 fireworks, light beams, choreographed water displays, and sound and music effects will describe the evolution of the world’s most iconic building.

The 169-floor building passes through different climatic zones as the temperature at the top is up to 10 Celsius cooler than that at the bottom. It has the highest swimming pool in the world, on the 76th floor, and the most elevated place of worship with plans for a mosque on the 158th floor.

However, critics are already dismissing the tower as a gaudy memorial to a lost decade of uncontrolled speculation.

There are 900 studios and one-to-four-bedroom flats and 144 apartments in the Burj Dubai, designed by Giorgio Armani. The tower also houses the Italian designer’s first hotel.

The building has, however, received flak from various sectors. Human rights groups and workers' organisations say the tower has been built using "slave labour", the Sunday Times said, adding construction workers, mainly from India and Pakistan, toiled round the clock for USD 5 a day.

Besides, environmentalists have criticised the building's power consumption. Its air-conditioning system is the equivalent of melting 12,500 tonnes of ice a day, and it will consume millions of gallons of desalinated water in a city that already has the world’s highest per capita carbon footprint.

zee news

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Ruchika case: Rathore to challenge his conviction

New Delhi/ Chandigarh: Former Haryana director general of police SPS Rathore's lawyer and wife Abha Rathore on Monday will challenge his conviction in the Ruchika Girhotra molestation case in court.

In more bad news for Rathore, Union Home Ministry officials will in new Delhi to discuss whether the former DGP can retain his medals or not.

The issue of Rathore's police medals will be taken up by the Medal's Committee of the Home Ministry.

The committee headed by Union Home Secretary GK Pillai will decide on the issue and send its recommendations to President Pratibha Patil.

Rathore, who retired in 2002, was awarded the Police Medal for Meritorious Service in August, 1985. As per rules, the medal can be stripped if in President's view the officer has brought the police force into disrepute.

A showcause has already been served on Rathore for withdrawal of his pension.

The Committee will also revisit the guidelines for awarding and taking away medals.

Meanwhile, the former school principal of Sacred Heart Senior Secondary School where Ruchika was a student when she was molested could be pulled up by the Chandigarh administration for her unwarranted expulsion.

The administration's findings on Ruchika’s expulsion from the Sacred Heart Convent indicate that the teenager was forced to leave school on flimsy grounds and subsequently harassed to death.

Former principal of Sacred Heart Convent Sister Sebastina and the school itself have failed to respond to the administration queries despite numerous summons.

CNN-IBN has exclusive access to an enquiry report of the Chandigarh administration which holds that Sacred Heart Convent guilty of wrongly expelling Ruchika.

The report has concluded that Ruchika, a class 10 student at the time of the incident, was expelled by the school under external pressure.

The report cites 10 documents as evidences to hold Sacred Heart guilty in which the role of Rathore has also been mentioned.

The report will be submitted to the Governor on Monday and a copy will also be forwarded to the Central Board of Secondary Education and all other agencies investigating the case.

"School fee pertaining to her were not deposited continuously for six months during the period of April to September 1990. She was never expelled from the school," claimed Father Thomas, Spokesman for Chandigarh Shimla Diocese, which runs the school.

Ruchika wasn't the only one who failed to pay her fees but Sacred Heart Convent only expelled her.

The enquiry found out that she was expelled was because of external pressure, a finding, which not only jeopardises the school's reputation but which can also hold it guilty in a court of law.

The findings of the enquiry can hold Rathore and Ruchika's school culpable for abetment of suicide, a charge that her friends and family members have been making all along.

"The ground was nothing but the pressure of Rathore because after her expulsion from the school he had presented his case before the Haryana government that the enquiry conducted by RR Singh is biased and the girl involved has been expelled from t5he school on loose morals," pointed put Anand Prakash, father of Ruchika’s friend Aradhna Prakash Gupta.

After a fresh FIR charging Rathore with abetment to suicide and this latest report the question is will Rathore be able to get out of the legal mess this time?

IBN Live

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Headley's ex-wife gives more 26/11 links

Security agencies have been able to get an insight into the personal life of American terror suspect David Headley, with his estranged Moroccan wife telling investigators about connections he had in Mumbai, including with some socialites.

Faiza Outalha, who, the security agencies suspect had carried out reconnaissance of certain installations that were targeted by the Lashker-e-Toiba terrorists in Mumbai on November 26, 2008, told National Investigation Agency (NIA) that she was married to 48-year-old Headley but had a divorce later, official sources said.

The woman flew to Mumbai from Karachi and crossed over through Wagah border into India the second time. She had come for the first time in 2007 and stayed with the terror suspect in Taj Mahal Hotel and later in Oberoi-Trident. Both the hotels were targeted by the terrorists on 26/11.

She again came in May 2008 via Wagah and went straight to Manali where she had her holidays near a Jewish house and later toured other parts of Shimla including Kufri, a well-known tourist destination.

While she claimed that she had since been divorced as Headley was having relations with several women, the investigators also found from her about the terror suspect's relations with some upcoming Bollywood actors, prominent party-hoppers of Mumbai and socialites.

The Moroccan woman informed the NIA sleuths that Headley's activities in the hotel were suspicious and both of them had visited the Chattrapati Shivaji Terminus, a place which saw Lashker terrorists including the lone arrested militant Ajmal Kasab raining bullets on people.

On the basis of her statement, the NIA team has also quizzed an American national in Goa who knew Headley. The US national, who is not (not) a suspect in the case, has been hopping in and out of India and had stayed in Manali and Goa with his Russian girlfriend.

The American, who works as a masseur, has not violated any of the visa rules of the country and he had informed the investigators about Headley's activities in Goa.

Another question bothering the probe agency was how Outalha entered India through Wagah border which is exclusively meant for Indian or Pakistani nationals. The woman is a Moroccan passport holder and could only use the route through special permission from the Pakistani foreign office.

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