Tata Steel in Fortune Global 500 list for first time, Mkts end off highs

Tata Steel makes it to Fortune Global 500 list for first time

Steel major Tata Steel has for the first time made it to the prestigious Fortune Global 500 list of the world's largest corporations, a company statement said on Wednesday. The company ranks 231 in terms of revenue, the statement said. Interestingly, Fortune magazine in its July 21, 2008 issue, had for the first time included Tata Steel in its Global 500 list but the company was ranked 315th in terms of revenue. This ranking was, however, based on the company's total revenues in the first three quarters of the current fiscal and the last quarter of the previous fiscal. Following the announcement of the company's annual results, Fortune has re-ranked Tata Steel. In a clarification on its website, Fortune has said: "Tata Steel's revenue for fiscal year end March 31, 2008 -- released by the company after the Global 500 publication deadline -- was $32.8 billion. Had the information been available, the company would have placed 231 on the list. The company ranked 315th in the listing, based on revenue for the four quarters ended Dec. 31, 2007, of $25.7 billion."

The Tata Steel registered the biggest year-on-year increase in revenues - a 353.2 percent change - among all the companies on the list. Tata Steel, flagship of the Tata Group's 98 operating companies in seven business sectors, was set up in 1907 as Asia's first and India's largest integrated private sector steel producer. It is now the world's 5th largest steelmaker in terms of revenues. With the recent acquisition of Corus, the combined enterprise has a total crude steel production capacity of around 30 million tonnes with over 82,000 employees working in 27 countries on four continents. Fortune Global 500 is an annual list compiled and published by Fortune magazine owned by the world's largest media group the United States-based AOL Time Warner. The list ranks the world's largest companies in terms of gross revenues. Global retail giant Wal-Mart Stores heads the 2008 list maintaining its number one rank that it had earned last year as well. Seven Indian companies, including Tata Steel, presently figure on the list. They are: public sector oil major Indian Oil ranked 116th, private sector conglomerate Reliance India Ltd ranked 207th, public sector oil major Bharat Petroleum ranked 287th, public sector oil major Hindustan Petroleum ranked 290th, public sector oil and gas major ONGC ranked 335th and public sector bank State Bank of India ranked 380th. Interestingly, except for public sector Oil India which has the highest rank among Indian companies, both the private sector companies finding a place in the list - Reliance Industries and Tata Steel - are ranked above the other four Indian companies in the list who are all public sector entities. This reflects the kind of change that has been taking place in the Indian corporate sector over the last 17 years ever since economic reforms were introduced. Before 1991, no Indian private sector company had ever been included in the prestigious Fortune Global 500 list.

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Rally fizzles as investors take to profit booking
It was a case of an intra-day reversal on Wednesday as stocks erased almost all gains after a spectacular rally gave way to profit booking. Overnight, the US Federal Reserve kept key interest rates unchanged and signaled at no further rate hikes in the near term, which sparked a rally across global markets, and India was no exception. Indices got off to a firm start and clocked handsome gains across the board. Expectations that retreating crude prices would ease inflationary concerns and take the pressure off rising interest rates saw investors flocking to interest rate sensitive stocks. Oil prices slid to a three-month low of around $118 a barrel from a record high above $147 in mid-July. However, the rally took a U-turn as sellers stepped in and did damage as they chose to book profits across the board, especially in the recent gainers - banking, auto and realty pack. But market analysts feel profit booking was anticipated given the sharp run-up over the last few days. "Indices have risen nearly 22 per cent from the lows and profit booking was expected at these levels since it had neared key resistance levels of 15500 and 4650. This is likely to continue for a couple of days," said Hitesh Sheth, head of research at Prabhudas Lilladher.

Bombay Stock Exchange's Sensex settled 112.47 points or 0.75 per cent higher at 15,073.54. The index slid from a high of 15,422.82 to low of 15,263.65 intra day. National Stock Exchange's Nifty was up 0.33 per cent or 14.70 points to 4517.55 after touching a high of 4615.90. The low was 4506.25.

"A gap-up opening on the Nifty left an unfilled bearish gap between 4524 and 4557, which was filled on its way down. On Thursday, if 4465 on the Nifty sustains, then it can be concluded that the fall witnessed today was just to fill that bearish gap. In that case, the market will continue its upmove," said Bharat Dalal, fund manager at Dawnay Day AV Financial Services. Investors dumped shares in the midcap and smallcap space with BSE Midcap Index ending just 0.02 per cent higher while the BSE Smallcap Index sagged 0.68 per cent. Biggest Sensex gainers were Maruti Suzuki (6.25%), Tata Motors (4.31%), Bharati Airtel (3.59%), ACC (3.48%), Tata Consulting Services (3.32%) and BHEL (3.21%). Tata Steel (-4.48%), Tata Power (-3.65%), State Bank of India (-3.49%), Reliance Infrastructure (-3.11%) and HDFC (-2.82%) were the losers in the 30-share index. Steel counters declined for a second straight session on fears the steel ministry would not allow them to raise prices after an agreed 3-month freeze lapse on August 8. As the day progressed, market breadth weakened and finally turned negative with 1,444 declines and 1,266 advances on BSE.

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Source: ET