Daga joins CSE board: Sebi has approved the list of public nominees on the CSE board for 1998-99. The list includes five previous nominees - BIkash Kali Basu, Ramesh Maheswari, Kanchan Kumar Dhar, Dipankar Chatterjee and Bhaskar Banerjee. The new public representative to join the board this year is UTI executive director Brij Gopal Daga. He replaces P K Saraf who completed his term this year. The three government nominees on the CSE board are Vijay Ranjan, executive director of Sebi, C L Pai of CLB and S S Ahuja, chairman, Tea Board.

Sebi suspends merchant banker: The Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) has suspended Brilliant Industries Ltd from carrying on operations as a merchant banker for a period of one month from August 13. The company's certificate of registration has been suspended for its failure to fulfil devolvement obligations in the issue of Vinsari Fruitech Ltd, a Sebi press release said.

Sebi suspends broker: Sebi has suspended Anjan Kejriwal of Magadh Stock Exchange, for a period of three months with effect from September 1, for irregularities in issuing contract notes, non-maintenance of books of accounts, not reporting off-market transactions, non-maintenance of separate client bank account, delay in payment to the clients, non-payment of Sebi turnover fees and non-fulfilment of capital adequacy requirement.

Nifty gains 12 points: Share prices spurted further on the National Stock Exchange (NSE) due to increased buying by financial institutions (FIs) and domestic funds on the last day of the current settlement. FIs bought shares worth Rs 1704.75 lakh and sold shares worth Rs 585.73 lakh. Reflecting the trend, the S&P CNX Nifty rose smartly by 12.10 and closed at 871.90 as against the previous close of 859.80. About 63 securities hit their price bands; 567 securities advanced, 394 declined and 77 held steady.

DSE index up 8 points: Frenzied purchases by domestic funds and speculators lifted equity prices for the second straight day at the Delhi Stock Exchange (DSE) as the markets responded favourably to the improved political scene as well as the stable rupee. The DSE sensitive index ended 8.52 points higher at 671.69 points. While foreign funds accumulated stocks of multi-nationals and software computer companies, domestic funds made sizeable purchases at pharma, telecom and a few other strong fundamental company stocks.

Select shares gain on MSE: Equity values closed with modest gains at the Chennai Stock Exchange (MSE) on active buying support while some index-scrips lost ground. Domestic and foreign funds made selective purchases, while there was some short-covering. The MSE share price index moved in a narrow range of 3418.50-3403.39 settled at 3403.39 points as against the previous day's close of 3408.74 points, netting a loss of 5.35 points. ITC further firmed up by Rs 10.60 to Rs 619.40, while Reliance edged up by Rs 1.30 to Rs 115.65.

CSE index rises marginally: A fair recovery trend was in evidence on the Calcutta Stock Exchange as some of the key counters encountered fresh support from domestic and foreign financial institutions, pushing their values upwards. The bulls extended their holdings in some counters while profit taking emerged in others, which pruned part of their recent gains. With the rising trend in pivotals, the CSE 40-share index rose to a high of 1658.43 points before closing at 1655.22 points and the lowest of the day was 1647.43 points.

Trades worth Rs 215.37 cr on WDM: The wholesale debt market segment of the National Stock Exchange (NSE) witnessed trades worth Rs 215.37 crore on Tuesday. The zero coupon Govt Bond maturing in 2000 (III installment) was traded for Rs 25 crore at a weighted yield of 11.31 per cent. The 364 day T-Bill maturing on October 9, 1998 was traded for Rs 30 crore at a weighted yield of 11.00 per cent. Repo trades worth Rs 25 crore were traded at repo rates of 8.25 per cent for the current fortnight and 14.90-15.00 per cent for the next fortnight.

All markets closed today: All principal markets including the Mumbai Stock Exchange (BSE), National Stock Exchange (NSE), Chennai Stock Exchange (MSE), Ahmedabad Stock Exchange, Over-the-Counter Exchange of India (OTCEI), bullion, oilseeds, forex, sugar, metals, grains, cotton, pulses and spices will remain closed today on account of `Ganesh Chaturthi'. Sugar and cotton markets will be closed on Thursday (August 27) as well.

Nikkei up 1.4%: Japanese share prices gained 1.4 per cent in on short-covering. The Nikkei stock average rose 206.69 points to end the morning session at 15,195.05. Some investors covered short positions after the index shed more than 300 points on Monday, while others looked for bargains encouraged by Monday's gains on Wall Street and major European markets. Brokers said selling pressure is expected to grow strong at 15,300-15,400 points.

Hang Seng down sharply: Hong Kong stocks opened 1.5 per cent lower on Tuesday as the market awaited further government intervention. The key Hang Seng Index opened down 118.67 points at 7,726.81 points. The three month interbank offered rate eased slightly to 11.75 percent from 12 percent, still too high to offer stock investors any incentive, dealers said.

Seoul ends 1.6% up: South Korean share prices closed 1.6 per cent higher on a rebound led by bluechips as sentiment improved over the strong yen. The Korea Stock Exchange main index closed the morning up 4.94 points at 310. 09, off a high of 310.97. Trading volume totalled 33.9 million shares worth 190.1 billion won (US $ 146.2 million). Advancers outnumbered decliners 486 to 206, with 104 stocks unchanged. The benchmark corporate bond yield was unchanged at 12.80 per cent.

(Due to technical reasons we are unable to print the top five gainers and losers on BSE. The inconvenience is regretted.)