Sebi has on Friday communicated its approval to the introduction of the revised carryforward system by the Calcutta Stock Exchange (CSE). The president of CSE, Kamal Parekh, told reporters here that mock trials for badla will commence from next week. He informed that the clearance implies that the exchange would continue to fulfil prerequisites like a proper surveillance mechanism, an online margin system and compliance with the ground rules laid down by Sebi for the revised carryforward system.

UTI Bank, SIB issues to open soon: The public issues of The South Indian Bank and UTI Bank are hitting the market in September and as a result investors can compare the two issues and take a prudent investment decision. While SIB is offering the shares at Rs 32, UTI Bank has priced the shares at Rs 21 which looks attractive. However, UTI has a very low EPS of Rs 1.5 as on March 31, 1998. UTI Bank enjoys the backing of the mutual fund behemoth UTI, SIB does not haveany identifiable promoter.ITC Ltd lead rally, index up two per cent: Huge short-covering by speculators and large-scale purchases by domestic financial institutions on Friday pushed up the stock prices closing with widespread gains at the Delhi Stock Exchange. Stock brokers said judgement by Central Excise and Gold Appelate Tribunal (CEGAT) ordering recalculation of ITC's excise liability on a new formula in Rs 803.78 crore excise evasion case and waiving off peanlities mainly triggered fresh buying spree.

Share prices rally on MSE: Share prices forged ahead in the stock market on Friday becuase of sustained bull support and short covering by market players to square up on the last day of the current week. Info tech shares were quoted lower on heavy profit-taking coupled with absence of buying support at higher levels. The MSE share price index rose by 43.62 points to close at 3365.01 as against the previous day's close of 3321.39 points.

Calcutta stocks rise on speculative demand andshort covering: The new account trading was marked by a continous rising trend on the Calcutta Stock Exchange on Friday due to speculative demand and shortcovering by domestic funds for squaring up their positions as well as foreign investor institutions support. With fresh rise of pivotals the CSE-40 share index closed at 1666.58 points - the highest and lowest being at 1670.95 points and 1642.00 points.

Singapore to develop rules against share manipulation: Singapore is drafting rules to prevent manipulation of share prices in the stock exchange, and may consider special powers for monetary authorities to overrule listings on the bourse, deputy prime minister Lee Hsien Loong said on Friday. The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) has ordered the bourse officials "to propose rules to prevent over concentration" of shares offered publicly prior to a company's listing, Lee told parliament. Malaysian stocks close up 16.1 per cent Malaysian share prices shot up 16.1 per cent on Friday on localinstitutional support a day after the expulsion of ousted deputy premier Anwar Ibrahim from the ruling party. The Kuala Lumpur Stock Exchange index gained 50.37 points to close at 363.44 in heavy trade, but dealers said the gains were largely artificial and designed to camouflage any impression of political instability.

Tokyo stocks down 1.5 per cent on concern about unstable global market: Japanese share prices closed 1.5 per cent lower on Friday as concerns about corporate earnings and global financial markets dampened sentiment, brokers said. The key Nikkei stock average of the Tokyo Stock Exchange fell 218.33 points to end the session at 14,042.91. The Topix index of all issues on the first section closed down 19.30 points at 1,094.47. Volume was an estimated 430 million shares against 376 million shares the previous day.

Hong Kong shares rise 2.3 per cent on bargain hunting: Hong Kong share prices rose 2.3 per cent on Friday after recouping earlier losses on bargain hunting, despiteovernight falls on Wall Street, dealers said. ``It looks that small investors are in the market for oversold stocks, said Alex Tang, research head at Core-Pacific Yamaichi International. The key Hang Seng index gained 169.88 points to close at 7,488.47.

South Korean shares close marginally down: South Korean share prices ended Friday a fractional 0.2 per cent lower with early gains on foreign investor interest and futures-led buying off set by later profit-taking, dealers said. The Korea Stock Exchange composite index ended 0.56 points down at 314.22, off a low of 314.06 and a high of 318.73. Volume was 72.6 million shares worth 354.3 billion won (262 million dollars).

Shanghai B shares close 6.2 per cent higher: Shanghai's B shares, nominally reserved for foreign investors, closed 6.2 per cent higher on Friday on speculative interest in low-liners and energy stocks, analysts said. Ther Shanghai Stocks Exchange's B share index rose 1.88 points to close at 32.11 points while the A share indexof locally-traded stocks finished 19.05 points, or 1.6 per cent, higher at 1,243.13 points.

Taiwan share prices to rebound: Taiwan share prices are set to rebound in the week ahead on government measures to bail out the ailing bourse, but shaky global markets threaten to limit the upturn, dealers said. Over the week to Friday, the Taiwan Stock Exchange weighted price index dropped 260.62 points or 3.9 per cent to settle at 6,463.15, after a 6.7 per cent drop in the previous week.

Jakarta shares down 2.8 per cent: Indonesian shares on on Friday closed 2.8 per cent lower on regional market weakness and the absence of positive local leads, dealers said. "The global market was grim. People are now worried of a global recession and every little thing that happened now would have such negative impact," an analyst with a regional brokerage said. The Jakarta Stock Exchange composite index was down 9.232 points at 325. 556. Turnover totalled 453.4 million shares worth 310.322 billion rupiah (28. 5million dollars).

Singapore shares close 0.9 per cent lower on Malaysia worries: Singapore share prices closed 0.9 per cent lower on Friday, as banking stocks languished on prevailing concerns over their Malaysian exposure despite a surge in Kuala Lumpur. The benchmark Straits Times Index fell 7.66 points to 805.04. The broader All-Singapore index fell 1.89 points to 253.20 as trading on Malaysian shares traded over the counter was suspended.