The Allahabad high court, Lucknow bench, has directed Sebi to "spell out" the "criteria" adopted by it for nomination of three persons as public representatives on the board of stock exchanges. Justice AN Gupta also directed Sebi to submit the rationale for calling a panel of names from the concerned stock exchange against the quota for public nominees. The notice is returnable in four weeks' time.

Dealings resume in 7 scrips: Dealings in the equity shares of the following companies resumed on the BSE on Monday: Allianz Capital & Management Services, Crystal Audio, Essar Oil, KR Steel Union, Mideast Integrated Steels, Modi Xerox and Sandur Manganese & Iron Ores.

BSE imposes margins on 7 scrips:BSE has decided to impose special margins on the following scrips with effect from Monday: Bell South (Rs 10), Cyberspace Info (Rs 13), Himachal Futuristic (Rs 8), Nucleus Software (Rs 5), Pertech Computers (Rs 3), Ram Informat (Rs 4) and SilverlineIndustries (Rs 15).

No-delivery period for BoB extended:The sub-committee of the market operations committee of the BSE has decided to extend the no-delivery period for Bank of Baroda and Tata Infotech only in the demat segment up to the settlement ending July 23 and June 25 respectively. The committee's decision, which was based on the suggestions put forth by NSDL, was taken on June 17.

SEBI panel meet: The SEBI-appointed employees' stock option committee discussed the need for companies to disclose stock options made by them in their account statements. Various other issues discussed in the meeting include mandatory shareholder approval and the role stock options would play in triggering the takeover code.

Mahadev Corp's dismal redressal rate: Mahadev Corporation has the lowest redressal rate of 7 per cent, with the company resolving only 157 complaints against a total of 2,332 received against it up to June 15, a Sebi release said on Monday. Motorol India comes second with aredressal rate of 16.33 per cent. NEPC Agro Foods and Western Paques (I) are the other companies included in the list of 20 companies whose redressal rate is less than 40 per cent and whose pending complaints are greater than 1000.

Morgan Stanley net income up 45%: Morgan Stanley Dean Witter & Co has reported a net income of $854 million for the second final quarter ended May 31, 1998, up 45 per cent over the corresponding period in the previous year. Diluted earnings per share stood at $1.37 ($0.94). Net revenues for the second quarter were a record $4,599 million, a 31 per cent increase over the previous year.

Nifty Index drops 33 points: Share prices opened on a distinctly weak note, slid further during mid-session and recovered partially towards the close of trading on the NSE on Monday. The NSE 50-share Index fell by 33.05 points to close at 880.20 points. The Mid-cap Index crashed by 51.40 points to 1,209.20 points. The total turnover stood at Rs 792.98 crore.

MSE Index drops 96points: Lacklustre trading forced equities down with fag-end buying support failing to prop up share prices. The MSE Share Price Index fell by 95.54 points to close at 3,654.02. Satyam Computer dropped by Rs 31.80 to Rs 286.55, Reliance by Rs 8.35 to Rs 135.65 and SBI by Rs 5.50 to Rs 199.35. DSQ Software slid by Rs 17.45 to Rs 157.50 and Silverline by Rs 5.85 to Rs 54.20.

DSE Index loses 12 points: Equities suffered another setback at the Delhi Stock Exchange on Monday following nervous offloading by foreign funds and domestic speculators before late buying by domestic funds trimmed most of the earlier losses. Brokers said Monday's selling was mainly triggered by the rating downgrade. They also attributed the selling to the fall in the rupee. The DSE Sensitive Index ended at 681.33 points, down 12.48 points over the last closing.

OTCEI Index up slightly: Equities showed a moderate rise on good investor support at the OTCEI on Monday. The OTCEI Composite Index opened at 114.10, touched ahigh of 114.57 and closed at 114.45 points, up 0.35 point over the previous close.

Skindia Index loses 4.92%: The Skindia GDR Index decreased by 4.92 per cent from 630.51 to 599.46 on June 19. The Skindia GDR Index p/e ratio was 14.06 on June 19 compared with 14.78 on June 18. The top gainer was Dr Reddy's Labs which quoted at $14.50 ($13.50). Losers included Arvind Mills, Telco and Videocon International which moved down to $1.00 ($1.20), $3.70 ($4.25) and $1.25 ($1.40) respectively.

HK stocks close sharply down: Hong Kong stocks suffered a heavy setback on Monday, closing sharply lower after a Group of Seven meeting failed to soothe concerns about Japan's ailing economy, leaving the yen floundering against the US dollar. The Hang Seng Index tumbled 387.70 points, or 4.51 per cent, to close at 8,204.21 points after sliding to a low of 8,180.04 during the session. Turnover was HK $5.65 billion compared with HK $6.44 billion last Friday.

Call rates end at 7.5%: The overnight callmoney rates opened at 7.50-8 per cent on Monday and touched a high of 8.75 per cent owing to a huge demand for funds. "There was a huge demand for funds even at higher levels by banks coupled with less supply," dealers said. The call rates fell to close at 7.25-7.50 per cent.

Rupee touches new low: The rupee fell to its historic low of 42.85 against the dollar on Monday as the Moody's downgrade affected the forex market. The rupee opened at 42.33/38, compared with its previous close of 42.17/22, and soon weakened to 42.50. At this level SBI sold dollars in small amounts, dealers said. Later, as the dollar demand rose, the SBI stayed away and the rupee weakened to its intra-day low of 42.85.

Silver, gold move up: Both the precious metals rose sharply on Monday. Silver ready of .999 fineness rose by Rs 40 to close at Rs 7,900. Raw silver of .916 fineness improved by Rs 35 to Rs 7,775. Standard gold flared up by Rs 50 to Rs 4,275 while 22-carat gold finished at Rs 3,955 (Rs 3,910).

Castoroil flares up: Castor oil prices shot up on Monday due to heavy enquiries from shippers for meeting export commitments, dealers said. Castor oil commercial shot up by Rs 7 to Rs 324. Castorseeds ready rose by Rs 33 to Rs 1,459.