The Cochin Stock Exchange is set to appoint an independent consultant TO chalk out the future plans for the exchange. The exchange held preliminary discussions with consultants Billimoria & Co on the project. The exchange has identified various projects for enhancing its business to Rs 100 crore in a year.

Ministry helps on-line data feed providers:

Timely intervention by the Union finance ministry helped bail out private on-line data feed service providers from facing crucial operational difficulties. These companies lease lines from MTNL to provide live quotes of scrips traded on the BSE and the NSE to their subscribers worldwide.

UTI launches MMMF in Ahmedabad: The Unit Trust of India on Wednesday launched its money market mutual fund in Ahmedabad. This is the third centre that UTI's MMMF will be available from. With collections from Mumbai and Delhi, the corpus currently stands at Rs 45 crore.

Sebi receives 6,324 investor complaints: Sebi has received a total of 6,324 complaints during the second fortnight of July. As per figures available with Sebi, a total of 6,495 complaints were also resolved during the same fortnight. Gujarat Dehyd Foods, Motorol India, Revati Fiscal Services and NEPC Micon are among the companies that have resolved more than 40 per cent of the complaints they have received.

HLL to exchange old share certificates: Hindustan Lever has informed the BSE that it will exchange all the old share certificates of the company issued prior to the merger of the erstwhile Brooke Bond Lipton (I) Ltd with itself with new equity share certificates along with adequate safety features.

BSE members to trade only in fully paid-up BoB shares: The BSE has informed its members to trade only in the Rs 10 fully paid up equity shares of Bank of Baroda under the code of 32134, with effect from August 20 due to the suspension of the partly paid up shares.

Nifty recovers by 17.50 points: Share prices recovered on the first day of the current settlement at the NSE on buying by operators and foreign funds. The NSE-50 index ended at 1,198.20, recovering by 17.50 points over the previous close. The turnover was Rs 1,444.86 crore in 547.36 lakh shares.

MSE index sheds 112 points: Share prices continued to decline on the Madras Stock Exchange on Wednesday following lack of buying support. The MSE share price index tumbled 111.64 points to end at 4,299.23. ACC declined to Rs 1,502.85 from Rs 1,516, Telco by Rs 6.75 to Rs 365.25 and Dr Reddy's Labs by Rs 2.90 to Rs 296.10.

Stocks look up on CSE: Sentiment improved slightly at the Calcutta Stock Exchange on Wednesday with the session witnessing alternate bouts of buying and selling. The CSE-50 share index touched the day's high at 118.97 before closing at 118 points.

HLL leads recovery on DSE: A remarkable recovery in the share price of Hindustan Lever led to a recovery on the Delhi Stock Exchange on Wednesday following buying by foreign and domestic financial institutions. The DSE sensitive index gained 13.28 points to end at 898.12 points. HLL flared up by Rs 80.50 to end at Rs 1,440.50.

Equities end marginally higher on BgSE: Equities staged a marginal recovery on Wednesday at the Bangalore Stock Exchange (BgSE) with the undercurrent was still weak. The turnover was Rs 30.97 crore. SBI, Reliance and L&T closed better at Rs 320.05 (Rs 318.15), Rs 364.60 (Rs 361.55) and Rs 261.95 (Rs 260.10) respectively. Karnataka Bank declined to Rs 73.65 (Rs 74.95).

Skindia skids 1.84%: The Skindia GDR index moved down by 1.84 per cent from 80.77 to 79.28 on August 19. The Skindia GDR index p/e ratio was 20.37 on August 19 compared with 20.78 on August 18. The top losers were ICICI, Gujarat Ambuja and Indian Rayon which moved down to $17.88 ($19.00), $11.00 ($11.38) and $11.13 ($11.50) respectively.

HK stocks close sharply higher:Hong Kong stocks staged a sharp rebound on Wednesday, surging on record turnover after posting heavy losses on Tuesday, as local interbank rates softened and fears about the stability of the Hong Kong dollar faded. The Hang Seng Index soared 378.41 points or 2.44 per cent to 15,855.67. Turnover was HK $36.15 billion, a record.

KL shares end up on buying by funds: Malaysian blue-chips ended sharply higher on Wednesday led by Wall Street's firmer overnight close. Buying by local and foreign institutions saw the the benchmark Kuala Lumpur Stock Exchange Composite Index close up 44.26 points or 5 per cent at 929.57.Call rate eases: The interbank call rate on Wednesday opened weaker at 6.5-7.0 per cent. The rate eased further during the day and most transactions were concluded between 6.0-6.5 per cent, they said. The call rate ended at 5.75-6.25 per cent.

Silver rises, gold steady: Silver prices continued to rise while gold held steady on Wednesday. Ready silver of .999 fineness and raw silver of .916 fineness moved up by Rs 80 each to close at Rs 6,550 and Rs 6,450 respectively. Standard gold and 22-carat gold closed unchanged at Rs 4,500 and Rs 4,160.

Castor down on speculative selling: Castorseed September delivery dropped further by Rs 10/11 to Rs 1,136/1,137 per quintal on continued speculative selling. Groundnut oil moved down by Rs 3 to Rs 362/363 per 10 kg on improved arrivals of 80/100 tonnes coupled with lower than expected seasonal demand.

Cotton steady at improved levels: Cotton prices held steady at the improved level on the local market on Wednesday. In spot deals Bengal-deshi was steady at Rs 1,125/1,160 per maund (37.32 kg), as was Punjab saw-ginned at Rs 1,830/1,900 and F-414 at Rs 2,080/2,100 per maund.

Scarce supply hots up world market in pepper: A scorching rally has sent pepper prices to their highest in a decade and spice traders say supply is so tight that the market could get even hotter. Black pepper prices have soared in recent months to values between $5,000 and $6,000 per tonne from about $2,000 when 1997 began, mainly on a low harvest by India. which is the biggest exporter.

Copyright © 1997 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.