Sensex declines by 49 pts on weak global cues

Sensex declines by 49 pts on weak global cues
Mumbai, Nov 24 (PTI) The Bombay Stock Exchange benchmark Sensex today fell by 49 points as investors booked profits before the expiry of current month contract in the derivatives segment amid weak Asian trend.

Sensex down 68 pts; Nifty falls below 5,100 pts
Mumbai, Nov 24 (PTI) The Bombay Stock Exchange benchmark Sensex today lost over 68 points in opening trade as funds and retail investors preferred to book profits amid weak Asian markets.

Sensex down 68 points, Nifty falls below 5,100 points
The Sensex today lost over 68 points in opening trade as funds and retail investors preferred to book profits amid weak Asian markets.

Led by RIL Sensex gains 158 points
Mumbai, Nov 23 (PTI) The Bombay Stock Exchange benchmark Sensex today rose by 158 points on sustained buying by funds in heavy-weight stocks led by Reliance Industries.


Sensex weak in early trades
The Sensex opened in the green at the day's high of 17,230 on the back of strong cues from US markets. However, subdued cues from the Asian markets has led the index into the red to a low of 17,111 - down 119 points from the day's high.

Reliance Power Bonus Shares Offer - u get 3 for every 5 u have

In a bid to reduce losses to shareholders after a dismal listing at India's stock exchanges, Anil Ambani-promoted Reliance Power Ltd Sunday announced issue of bonus shares in the ratio 3:5, which means that the company will issue three free shares for every five shares held.

However, RPL said no bonus shares were issued to the promoters of the company. After the bonus issue, the effective cost of a share to retail investors has dropped to Rs.269 against the retail issue price of Rs.430.

For institutional investors, the corresponding figure is Rs.281 against the issue price of Rs.450 Shares of RPL closed at Rs.416.85 at the close of trading Friday on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE). Despite drawing record subscriptions during it initial public offering (IPO), the first day of listing Feb 11 on BSE saw the Reliance scrip close at Rs.372, a huge decline over the issue price of Rs.450, after listing at Rs.547 at the bourse. This had created huge resentment and disappointment among investors, who had overwhelmingly subscribed to the IPO, as many of them expected the scrip to debut higher at around Rs.750-850 a share.

The IPO had attracted more than five million bids from all categories of domestic and international investors with aggregate commitment of over Rs.7.5 trillion ($189 billion) against the issue size of Rs.115.60 billion ($2.91 billion).

Reliance Power is currently developing 12 power projects in the country with a total planned installed capacity of 28,000 MW. This is among the largest portfolios of power generation assets under development.

Future Capital IPO price set at Rs.765

Future Capital Holdings Ltd said on Thursday it has set a price of 765 rupees a share for its initial public offer (IPO).

Future Capital will raise around 4.91 billion rupees by selling 6.4 million shares.

Future capital is the financial services arm of the diversified Future Group, which promotes top retailer Pantaloon Retail India Ltd.

Future Capital IPO oversubscribed 132 times.

Post IPO, the equity shares are proposed to be listed on the Bombay Stock Exchange and the National Stock Exchange.

CARE signs MOU with Corporation Bank

Promoted by Banks and Financial Institutions, CARE is engaged in providing credit rating, financial and advisory services to various entities in the corporate and financial sectors in India.

Credit Analysis & REsearch Limited (CARE), a premier credit rating agency, signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Corporation Bank.

Promoted by Banks and Financial Institutions, CARE is engaged in providing credit rating, financial and advisory services to various entities in the corporate and financial sectors in India.

Corporation Bank is a Public Sector Bank and offers financial services which are of great value to its customers.

This MoU will enable Corporation Bank in ensuring compliance with the guidelines of the New Capital Adequacy Framework (Basel-II) announced by Reserve Bank of India. Under these guidelines, the capital requirement for a corporate exposure is based on the credit rating assigned by the recognized rating agencies such as CARE.

As per the MoU, Corporation Bank may advise its clients to approach CARE for getting their facilities with the Bank rated. The clients of the bank will benefit from the rating exercise at a discounted rate. All these ratings will be carried out after obtaining mandates from the Bank’s clients/prospective clients.

Corporation Bank will be benefited with the objective and independent assessment of borrower’s credit quality. Further, the sharing of CARE’s analytical insights on various industries and evolving economic environment will help the bank in strategizing its lending decisions.

The customers of Corporation Bank classified as Small Scale Industries (SSI) will benefit from “NSIC–CARE Performance and Credit Rating” at a subsidised fee. This rating product, offered under the Performance and Credit Rating Scheme for SSIs adopted by the Ministry of Small Scale Industries of the Government of India is meant especially for the sector.

Also under the terms of the MOU, the rating requirements of Corporation Bank’s small and medium size customers that are not classified / registered as an SSI unit will be addressed under “CARE SME Rating”.

Source: (IndiaPRwire.com)

UTI Asset Management Company Limited files DRHP with the SEBI

UTI Asset Management Company Limited (the “Company”), a leading provider of asset management services in India catering to a diverse group of individual and institutional investors through a wide variety of equity and debt funds, has filed the Draft Red Herring Prospectus (“DRHP”) with the Securities and Exchange Board of India (“SEBI”) to enter the capital market soon with an Initial Public Offering of 48,500,000 equity shares of Rs 10 each (“Equity Shares”) through an Offer for Sale by the Selling Shareholders for cash at a price to be decided through a 100% Book-Building Process (the “Offer”). Its four sponsors and the Selling Shareholders are the State Bank of India, Life Insurance Corporation of India, Punjab National Bank and Bank of Baroda (which are all controlled by the Government of India).

The Offer also comprises a reservation of not less than 485,000 Equity Shares for subscription by eligible employees and the Offer to the public of 48,015,000 Equity Shares (the “Net Offer”). The Equity Shares are proposed to be listed on the National Stock Exchange of India Ltd. and the Bombay Stock Exchange Ltd.

Of the total Net Offer, not less than 50% shall be available for allocation on a proportionate basis to Qualified Institutional Buyers, out of which 5% shall be available for allocation on a proportionate basis to Mutual Funds only. Further, not less than 15% of the Net Offer will be available for allocation on a proportionate basis to Non-Institutional Bidders and not less than 35% of the Net Offer will be available for allocation on a proportionate basis to Retail Individual Bidders.

The Company and its predecessor, the Unit Trust of India have been active in the asset management industry in India for more than 40 years, after having established the first mutual fund in India. It has a national footprint with representatives in 455 of India's 604 districts, with an extensive network of 79 UTI Financial Centres, independent financial advisors, banks and other distributors, as well as offices overseas.

The Company, along with its subsidiaries, manages domestic mutual funds, as well as provides portfolio management services and manages overseas funds, venture capital and private equity funds. Its total assets under management ("AUM") equalled Rs 495,418 million, as of September 30, 2007. Based on the AUM in the domestic mutual funds as of December 31, 2007, it is the second largest mutual fund provider in India, according to the Association of Mutual Funds in India (“AMFI”). The Company believes that it has the largest client base among mutual fund providers in India, with approximately 8.1 million client accounts. It has a high concentration of equity and balanced/hybrid funds; and had the second highest market share for equity funds (10.0%) and the highest market share for balanced/hybrid funds (41.9%) in India, as of November 30, 2007. Its income and liquid funds, on a combined basis, had the fourth highest market share (7.1%), according to Value Research.

The Company currently manages 76 domestic equity, balanced/hybrid, income and liquid mutual funds. Its domestic funds had AUM of Rs 450,026 million, as of September 30, 2007, constituting approximately 9.4% of the total AUM invested in mutual funds in India and making it the third largest fund provider, according to AMFI.

The Company’s AUM for domestic mutual funds increased from Rs 138,967 million as of January 31, 2003, to Rs 450,026 million as of September 30, 2007, representing a compound annual growth rate of 28.6%. The Company also provides portfolio management services to approximately 320 clients. It has been recently selected as one of three asset managers to provide portfolio management services to the National Investment Fund. In addition, it has been selected by the Pension Fund Regulatory Development Authority as one of three asset managers to manage funds under a new pension scheme of the Government of India. It manages offshore and foreign institutional investor funds (including a co-branded fund with Shinsei Bank of Japan), as well as venture capital and private equity funds. As of September 30, 2007, its portfolio management, overseas, venture capital and private equity funds had total AUM of Rs 45,392 million.

The Global Co-ordinators and Book Running Lead Managers (“GCBRLMs”) to the Offer are JM Financial Consultants Private Limited, Citigroup Global Markets India Private Limited and Enam Securities Private Limited. The Book Running Lead Managers (“BRLMs”) to the Offer are Goldman Sachs (India) Securities Private Limited, UBS Securities India Private Limited, ICICI Securities Limited, SBI Capital Markets Limited and CLSA India Limited.

- End -

Note

UTI Asset Management Company Limited is proposing, subject to market conditions and other considerations, a public issue of its equity shares and has filed its Draft Red Herring Prospectus (“DRHP”) with the Securities & Exchange Board of India (“SEBI”). The DRHP is available on the website of SEBI at www.sebi.gov.in and on websites of the respective GCBRLMs at www.jmfinancial.in, www.citibank.co.in and www.enam.com; and the respective websites of the BRLMs at www.gs.com/country_pages/india, www.ibb.ubs.com/Corporates/indianipo, www.icicisecurities.com, www.sbicaps.com and www.india.clsa.com.

This press release does not constitute or form part of any offer or invitation to sell or issue, or any solicitation of any offer to purchase or subscribe for, any equity shares, nor shall it or any part of it nor the fact of its distribution form the basis of, or be relied on in connection with, any contract or investment decision. Any potential investor should note that investment in equity shares involves a high degree of risk. For details, potential investors should refer to the DRHP filed with the SEBI including the section titled “Risk Factors”. The Equity Shares of the Company have not been and will not be registered under the U.S. Securities Act 1933, as amended or any state securities laws in the United States. This announcement has been prepared for publication in India and may not be released in the United States. This announcement does not constitute an offer of securities for sale in any jurisdiction, including the United States, and any securities described in this announcement may not be offered or sold in the United States, except pursuant to an exemption from, or in a transaction not subject to, the registration requirements of the U.S. Securities Act.

Source : indiaprwire.com

Air India IPO likely in second half of 2008

Air India IPO


New Delhi, Jan 11 The government is considering divesting its stake in national carrier Air India through an initial public offering (IPO) in the second half of 2008.

This was stated by Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel Friday on the sidelines of a press conference to launch India's first civil aviation exhibition, India Aviation 2008.

"We may consider issuing an IPO in the second half of this year," he told reporters, noting the divestment may be in the range of 10-15 percent of the shareholding.

Patel said he would also be meeting Finance Minister P. Chidambaram to discuss reduction in excise and custom duty on aviation turbine fuel (ATF).

He said states could make their "taxation" policy more "reasonable", by reducing their levy on ATF, which will directly affect ticket prices.

India's aviation growth will be through Indian state governments and smaller cities, rather than the central government or metropolitan cities, he added.

"I am in favour of bringing in the states. They themselves can be the drivers of growth," Patel said.

While he was confident about the airports in Bangalore and Hyderabad becoming operational this year, he had a "little doubt" about the supporting infrastructure like road connectivity, being ready on time.

"I want to make 2008 the year of the helicopter and sea planes," said Patel, adding that it was a mystery as to why these two sectors had not received any attention.

"Why can't we build a heliport in Delhi and Mumbai without bickering?" he asked.

He pointed out that a small nation like Maldives had 30-40 seaplanes, while India, with it long coastline, did not have a single one.

Announcing India Aviation 2008, Patel said that it would be the first international exhibition of its kind in India on the Indian civil aviation sector. The expo will be held between Oct 15 and 18, 2008.

Indian share market scale new heights

New Delhi, Jan 4 The Key Indian stock market shares zipped to their highest-ever levels Friday on the back of some active buying across several counters and renewed interest ahead of a mega initial offering by Reliance Power.

In the process, the sensitive index (Sensex) of the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) rose to a historic intra-day peak of 20,762.80 points, before ending the day at 20,686.89 - also a record close for the barometer index.

At Friday's closing level, the 30-share index had gained 341.69 points, or 1.68 percent, against the previous day's close at 20,345.20, data with the exchange showed.

The gainers and losers among Sensex stocks, however, were evenly matched, with 16 logging advances, and the remaining 14 ending with losses. At a broader level, 1,470 shares declined, 1,437 advanced and 17 remained unchanged.

The broader 50-share S&P CNX Nifty of the National Stock Exchange (NSE) was also up 1.55 percent at 6,274.30 points after scaling an all-time peak of 6,300.05 points against the previous close of 6,178.55.

Consumer durable stocks were the flavour of Friday, with the specific index for such stocks at the BSE registering a 2.56 percent jump, followed by a rise of 2.31 percent in the oil and gas index.

The index for power was also up on account of the interest generated by the upcoming public issue by Reliance Power, owned by Anil Dhirubhai Ambani-led Reliance Energy.

While banking stocks also moved by 2.01 percent, those for automobiles declined 0.73 percent. IT stocks also went down by 1.02 percent and healthcare by 0.07 percent.

Reliance Power IPO Price band Rs 405 to Rs 450

Each share of Reliance Power has been priced at Rs 405 at the lower end and Rs 450 at the upper end of the band. The company plans to offer the retail investors or those applying for Rs 1 lakh, a 5 per cent discount.

Reliance Power IPO would raise between Rs 10,500 crore to Rs 11,700 crore with the sale of 26 crore shares in the public offer.

Rating agency Crisil assigned an above average 4-on-5 rating to the proposed initial public offer of Reliance Power.

Bankers to the Reliance Power initial public offering issue include ABN Amro Rothschild, Deutsche Bank AG, Enam Securities Pvt., ICICI Securities Ltd., JM Financial Consultants Pvt., JPMorgan Chase & Co., Kotak Mahindra Capital Co. and UBS AG.

MCX IPO - Multi Commodity Exchange of India initial public offering

As per ET News today - The largest commodity futures bourse in the country - Multi Commodity Exchange of India (MCX) - is all set to hit the primary market with an initial public offering (IPO).

The commodity exchange is likely to announce its long-awaited IPO within a week. Sources said, MCX would sell 10% stake, through a mix of fresh shares and an offer for sale, to raise around Rs 500-600 crore.

According to sources, fresh shares will contribute the majority of the offering while the offer for sale will account for 2-3%. An offer for sale refers to the sale of promoter's existing equity to the public. The bourse has been valued at around $1.2-1.3 billion.

The issue is being managed by DSP Merrill Lynch, Kotak Securities and Enam Financial.

MCX has been mulling over listing on local bourses for the past two years. Sources said, IPO would provide many of its Indian and foreign investors an exit route. Around 24% of MCX is owned by foreign investors. While Fidelity holds 9%, Merrill Lynch and Citi own 5% each. The other investors include US-based Passport Capital (3%) and the UK-based fund GLG (2%). >>> Read More

Just in - MCX Denies IPO Plan

As per Reuters -The Multi Commodity Exchange of India Ltd (MCX) has no immediate plans to enter the market with an initial public offering, a top company official told Reuters.

“No, there are no immediate plans of this nature. The newspapers may have had some sort of a misunderstanding. It is not true,” Joseph Massey, deputy managing director, MCX, said over the telephone. >> Read Source

Eicher Motors signs JV with Volvo

Swedish giant Volvo bought into Eicher Motors Ltd (EML) and would invest $350 million in a new subsidiary that the two companies would set up.

Volvo and Eicher signed a Letter of Intent on Monday for a joint venture, with an enterprise value of $506 million, that will be a step-down company of EML. Eicher will transfer its commercial vehicles, components and engineering design services business to the new joint venture.

Meanwhile, Shares of Eicher Motors fell sharply on Monday soon after it announced a joint venture with AB Volvo as a step-down subsidiary. The share closed at Rs 477.30, down 12.49 per cent or Rs 68.15. It touched a 52-week high of Rs 599 before the announcement was made. The low for the day was Rs 442.30. Traded volume was 10,52,119 shares.

Silverline Technologies relisted on BSE

Dec. 7, 2007 - Silverline Technologies got re-listed on BSE on Thursday after its trading was suspended from November 13 in order to give effect to the reduction of capital and de-merger of its animation division.

The Rs 10-stock shot up to Rs 220 and finally closed at Rs 160.50, marking a 1,141 per cent gain over the last closing price of Rs 13 on the exchange. About 33-lakh shares changed hands.

Silverline Technologies has demerged its animation division into a separate unit. The new entity, Silverline Animation Technologies, will be listed on the BSE in two weeks. The equity of the new company has been valued at Rs 12 crore which is 4% of the parent company.

The animation company expects revenues of Rs 20-25 crore by the end of the first year. By 2010, the company is planning reach Rs 100 crore in sales.

The Rs 10-stock shot up to Rs 220 and finally closed at Rs 160.50, marking a 1,141 per cent gain over the last closing price of Rs 13 on the exchange. About 33-lakh shares changed hands.

Source Sify and DNA India

Check status of Edelweiss IPO allotment

Edelweiss Capital Limited IPO was oversubscribed by around 110.96 times (retail 17.2171 times).Edelweiss IPO Allotment Status is ready and you can check it here - Edelweiss IPO allotment

eClerx Services Ltd IPO Price band

The price band for eClerx Services Limited has been fixed at Rs 270 and Rs 315.

eClerx Services Limited, a provider of data analytics and customised process solutions to global enterprise clients from its offshore delivery centres in India, proposes to enter the capital markets with an initial public offering of equity shares of Rs 10 each through a 100 per cent book building proces

This Issue has been graded by CRISIL Limited and has been assigned the "IPO Grade 3/5" indicating average fundamentals, through its letter dated October 29, 2007.


The eClerx Services Limited IPO closes for subscription by investors on Friday - December 7, 2007.

The Equity Shares offered through this public issue are proposed to be listed on the Bombay Stock Exchange Limited ("BSE") and the National Stock Exchange of India Limited ("NSE").

Karvy Computershare Pvt Limited is the registrar to the issue. JM Financial Consultants Pvt Ltd and Edelweiss Capital Ltd are the book running lead managers to the issue.

Source : The Hindu

Mundra Port and Special Economic Zone Ltd shares listed today

Effective from November 27, 2007, the equity shares of Mundra Port and Special Economic Zone Ltd (Scrip Code: 532921) are listed and admitted to dealings on the Exchange in the list of 'B1' Group Securities.

Mundra Port and Special Economic Zone Ltd opened at Rs 770 on the NSE, up 75 per cent from its initial public offer price of Rs 440. On the Bombay Stock Exchange, it opened at Rs 1,100. The stock rules the chart with a turnover of 1767 crore.

The BSE benchmark Sensex on Tuesday fell by 184 points in the initial five minutes of trade on selling by funds due to renewed credit concerns in the global market.

Sensex Gains over 300 points

Just after the bell, the benchmark sensitive index (Sensex) of the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) was up 318 points at 18,844.- The 30-share index, which had lost nearly 76 points yesterday, shot up by 331.42 points to 18,857.74 in the first five minutes of trade.

The broader S&P CNX Nifty of the National Stock Exchange (NSE) was up 103 points at 5,623.

Gains in the Sensex Index were led by Larsen & Toubro Ltd, Reliance Industries Ltd and Icici Bank Ltd. Strong optimism among investors and firm Asian markets in current trades have helped the Indian market remain positive. The market may take a break from consecutive six-session losses. It had already witnessed a smart pullback towards Thursday's close, which is likely to help the sentiment turn positive.

However, foreign institutional investors (FIIs) remained net sellers of equities in the domestic market. On Thursday, US markets were closed due to the Thanksgiving holiday.

Sensex sheds 87 points

Mumbai, Nov 16 Sustained selling of stocks on the benchmark sensitive index (Sensex) of the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) led to a nearly 0.44 percent drop Friday.

Sensex shut shop at 19,698.36 points, down by 86.53 points.

The broader S&P CNX Nifty of the National Stock Exchange ended at 5,906.85 points, marginally down by 5.25 points or 0.09 percent.

After Thursday's loss of 144 points, the Sensex resumed 182 points lower at 19,603 but recovered by midmorning.

The major contributors to this recovery were public-sector oil refineries and oil marketing companies, which flared up on expectations of better gross refinery margins.

However, selling in select frontline stocks saw the Sensex zigzag between positive and negative territories for the better part of the day.

Indian markets continued to show their resilience and outperformed their Asian peers, which closed with deep cuts. Hang Seng ended down over four percent, followed by Nikkie down by two percent.

Among the sectoral indices, the BSE FMCG index flared up by 4.31 percent, the BSE capital goods index surged 2.61 percent, the BSE oil & gas index added 1.33 percent and the BSE auto index gained 0.66 percent.

Other sectoral indices were down around 0.5-1 percent each.

The BSE mid-cap and small-cap indices continued to outperform the market. The BSE mid-cap was plotting at 8,512.38 points, gaining 98.29 points or 1.17 percent. The small-cap index closed at 10,380.73, gaining 153.07 points or 1.50 percent.

The top gainers on the Sensex were ITC Ltd, which advanced 8.17 percent to Rs.205.15, Grasim moved up 5.87 percent plotting at Rs.3,831.45 and Dr. Reddy's scaled up 3.39 percent to Rs.620.35.

The top losers on the Sensex were Hindalco down 5.52 percent to Rs.203.80, Larsen & Toubro slid down 2.88 percent to Rs.4,375.85 and Ranbaxy was down 2.82 percent to Rs.411.70.

SBI MF plans a second equity-linked savings scheme

SBI Mutual Fund will launch a second equity-linked savings scheme called SBI Tax Advantage Fund Series-1. The asset management company had filed a draft prospectus with the Securities and Exchange Board of India last month.

“The assets under management (AUM) of our Magnum Taxgain scheme have grown quite big, so we decided to come out with a second ELSS,” said Syed Shahabuddin, the managing director and CEO of SBI Mutual Fund.

The AUM under the dividend option of Magnum Taxgain is Rs 3,022.75 crore and under the growth option it is Rs 145.79 crore.

Magnum Taxgain’s total AUM is the largest among all schemes of SBI Mutual Fund.

The scheme’s AUM was Rs 969.40 crore at the end of October last year. It has grown rapidly since then.

SBI Mutual Fund’s total AUM stood at Rs 26,593.57 crore as on October 30 this year against Rs 23,738.68 crore on September 30. >>Read More

Source - The Telegraph

Origin of the word "SENSEX"

It stands for passion, ambition, prosperity, foresight and risk. Hovering around 20,000, Sensex is one of the hottest Indian brands. Little did Deepak Mohoni know that his coinage Sensex would assume so much significance in the times to come.

An IIT and IIM pass-out, Mr Mohoni is the CEO of TrendwatchIndia and humbly admits that it was for reasons of clear simplicity that he abbreviated the word that went on to become a sensation. “I had to type two words for writing sensitive index. So for ease, I christened it Sensex for my columns in 1989,” says Mr Mohoni whose columns used to appear in publications.

While many feel that brand Sensex may be hottest brand these days, hotter even than any cricketer or film personality, until the mid 1990, no one except Mr Mohoni used the word Sensex....>> More

Source : Economic Times Nov. 8

Markets Positive today - Sensex rises over 200 pts

Nov. 7 - Indian markets opened on a strong note Wednesday on the back of strong cues from the global markets. Broad based buying was witnessed in early trade led by metal, capital good and power stocks.

Gains in the Sensex Index were led by Larsen & Toubro Ltd, Reliance Industries Ltd and Oil & Natural Gas Corp Ltd.Reliance Natural Resources Ltd, which rose 16.45 rupees to 195.00 rupees.

Among the top losers were Infosys down by 4.74 percent at Rs.1,764, Tatapower down by 4.72 percent at Rs.1,291 and Satyam Comp down 3.99 percent plotting at Rs.433.

Asian markets were trading higher. Hong Kong's Hang Seng surged 1.26 percent or 370.54 points to 29,808.67, Japan's Nikkei advanced 0.43 percent or 69.17 points to 16,318.80, Taiwan's Taiwan Weighted gained one percent or 92.78 points at 9,385.58, Singapore's Straits Times was up 0.47 percent or 17.26 points at 3,700.36 and South Korea's Seoul Composite gained 0.94 percent or 19.24 points at 2,073.48.

The Dow rose 117.54 points or 0.87 percent, to 13,660.94. The Standard & Poor's 500 index rose 18.10 points, or 1.20 percent, to 1,520.27, and the Nasdaq composite index rose 30 points or 1.07 percent, to 2,825.18. US indices bounced back in a late session rally on Tuesday helped by energy sector gains. While the Dow Jones advanced by 118 points to 13,661, the Nasdaq added 30 points to close at 2,825.

Stock market crash in Pakistan

Lawyers in different cities of Pakistan Monday staged violent protests against the imposition of emergency and removal of judges, while the Karachi stock exchange plummeted amid rumours that President Pervez Musharraf had been put under house arrest.

In the capital, there was an undeclared curfew around the Supreme Court (SC) building, parliament house, presidency, prime minister's secretariat and the diplomatic enclave where several foreign missions are located.

The entire leadership of opposition parties except for the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) remained under house arrest or were sent to different jails. PPP chief Benazir Bhutto, who had been in power-sharing talks with President Pervez Musharraf, was conspicuous by her silence. Unconfirmed reports said she was in Islamabad and held a meeting with Musharraf.

About 200 lawyers tried to stage a protest near the SC building but they were baton-charged and many of them were arrested. Hundreds of lawyers are already under house arrest or detained in police stations. They include Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry and about 60 other judges of the Supreme Court (SC) and four high courts. Human rights activists have also been detained.

The judges of the Supreme Court who had refused allegiance to Musharraf by refusing to take a new oath under the Provisional Constitutional Order (PCO) Saturday tried to reach the SC building Monday but were stopped by policemen at the exit points of the judges' colony.

President Musharraf in his capacity as chief of the army staff imposed emergency in the country Saturday and issued the PCO under which he authorised himself to amend the constitution.

He also issued two ordinances curbing media freedom and restricting activities of the electronic and print media.

Lahore saw the most violent protests by lawyers Monday, where police baton-charged their rally and also fired tear-gas shells. Reports said that many of the lawyers were arrested.

Some of the lawyers succeeded in getting into the Lahore High Court building and threw flower petals on rooms of the judges who have not taken oath under the PCO.

Because of complete ban on electronic media, citizens were depending on hearsay and SMS services. Mobile telephone companies offering news service also remained closed without giving any reason.

"We have closed our news service for the time being," a Mobilink customer services representative told IANS while similar statements were given by other cellular companies.

"When truth is not available rumours do take place," Country Director for Internews, Adnan Rehmat, told IANS while commenting on rumours around the country that Musharraf had been arrested and vice chief of army staff General Ashfaq Kiani had taken over.

The rumour had a huge impact on Pakistan's major stock index, which plunged Monday afternoon as a result. Investors in the Karachi Stock Exchange (KSE) dumped shares, pulling the KSE-100 index down by 4.7 percent to 13,265 at 2 p.m.

However, spokesman for Inter Services Public Relations Maj-Gen Arshad Waheed was quick to dispel the rumour, saying: "Some unscrupulous elements were spreading these rumours that are baseless and unwarranted."

In Karachi, no lawyer was allowed to enter the Sindh High Court building and several leading lawyers including the president of the Sindh Bar Association were arrested. Those arrested included Sindh chief justice Sabihuddin Ahmed's son, who refused to take oath under PCO.

Reports said Justice Ahmed tried to leave his house for the court but was not allowed to go out by the police. He, however, said in a statement that he was still chief justice of the Sindh High Court and all steps being taken under the garb of emergency were illegal.

"Police beat us ruthlessly when we came to the Sindh High Court building in the morning and arrested a few dozen of our colleagues," lawyer Akhtar Hussain said.

Reports from other major cities like Peshawar, Quetta, Multan and Faisalabad said that lawyers in these cities protested against the emergency and demanded immediate restoration of all judges of the Supreme Court and high courts.