Police has launched an investigation and registered criminal case under sections 416, 420, 467, 468 and 471 of IPC following detection of fraudulent encashment of cheques of US 64 repurchase scheme worth Rs 3,90,420 by unidentified persons from March to June 1996. Police said the detection came to notice after an FIR was lodged at Bistupur police station, here, by an investor Balkrishna Taneja yesterday, stating that he and eight others did not get their cheques, valued at Rs 43,380 each, under the US-64 repurchase scheme. Though the UTI office here had intially claimed they have despatched cheques on February 23, 1996 on inquiry it was seen that all cheques worth Rs 3,90,420 were fraudulently encashed by forged signature by unknown persons. Balkrishna alleged that inspite of all correspondence for the last two years UTI had failed to give any satisfactory reply.

Tata MF's net assets up 40%: The Net Assets under management of the Tata Mutual Fund haveincreased substantially by 40 per cent during the first three quarters of the fiscal 1998-99. Net assets under management in the domestic funds have increased to Rs 288.93 crore as on December 31, compared to Rs 205.50 crore as on March 31, 1998. The off-shore fund of Tata mutual fund has total assets of Rs 40 crore, taking the total funds under management to Rs 320 crore.

K-30 likely to go open-ended soon: Kotak Mahindra AMC's first growth scheme, K-30 is likely to go open-end on January 21. The fund will thus be available for continuous sale and repurchase of units. Kotak Mahindra AMC had tapped the market with its maiden offerings, K-30 and a gilts fund, K-Gilt in December, 1998. The funds had closed for subscription on December 21. The first dedicated gilts fund, K-Gilt has already gone open-end and has a current NAV of Rs 10.06.

Six open-end funds beat the Sensex by over 25%: Birla Advantage Fund, Centurian open-end fund and Sun F&C Value Fund are among the six open-ended growth schemeswho have reported returns higher than 25 per cent in the one year to December 31, 1998. This is in total contrast to a 16.5 per cent drop in the BSE Sensex, a 8 per cent fall in Crisil 500, 11.4 per cent in BSE-200 and a 14.34 per cent fall in the Natex (BSE-100).

Thai bourse aims at shift away from financials, says official: The Stock Exchange of Thailand (SET) plans to shift away from banks and financials to attract investment and better reflect the real economy, SET senior vice president Patareeya Benjapolchai said. She said SET's long-term aim was to become one of the most attractive markets in Asia by 2003, with a lower weighting for banks and financial companies necessary to increase stability. A better product mix will not only help limit the volatility of the market but also offer investment alternatives and encourage more companies to come into the market for funds, she said.

NSE stocks decline on profit selling: Share prices turned weak on the last day of the current settlement atthe National Stock Exchange (NSE) here today on profit selling at higher levels coupled with squaring up position and brought down the Nifty by 20.80 points. The S&P CNX Nifty fell by 20.80 to end at 924.10 from the last close of 944.90. CNX Nifty Junior declined by 28.40 to end at 1620.50 from the previous close of 1648.90. S&P CNX Defty ended 17.35 points lower at 753.20 as against the previous close of 770.55. S&P CNX 500 fell by 13.47 to end at 642.39 from yesterday's close of 655.86. CNX Midcap 200 eased by 9.14 to close at 570.37 from the last close of 579.51. The total turnover was at Rs 2,455.75 crore from 856.22 lakh shares and in 2,80,092 trades. Debentures traded value was Rs 58.19 lakh.

DSE ends lower on profit-taking: Stock prices in volatile trading reacted to selling pressure and ended lower on the Delhi Stock Exchange today and closed with widespread losses. The Delhi Stock Exchange Sensitive Index dropped by 17.75 pointgs to close at 703.16 points. Marketmen said announcement ofquarterly working results by Reliance Industries and ITC Ltd which fell well below the market's expectations mainly unnerved the sentiments. They said selling was also extended to infotech stocks despite excellent working results by several companies.

CSE dips on bull unloading, bear pressure: The Calcutta Stock Exchange on Tuesday witnessed an erosion in share values reflecting sustained bull unloading and scattered bear pressure. The behaviour of the market was partly atrributed to squaring up of deals by bull operators ahead of today's settlement at NSE. With financial institutions still preferring to move cautiously, there was little enthusiasm on the part of other buyers to effect new commitments. The turnover was fair and undertone quiet. Reflecting the down trend the CSE-40 share index finished at its lowest level of 1802.46 points, while the day's highest remained at 1836.59 points.

MSE dips 20 points: Software scrips improved further on buying support while others declined on theMadras Stock Exchange today. The MSE share price index dipped by 20.50 to close at 3451.64 against its previous close of 3472.14 points.

Indian GDRs increase by 2.61 per cent: The Skindia GDR Index, representing GDR's of 17 actively traded companies increased by 2.61 per cent from 602.85 to 618.58 on January 18, according to the Skindia GDR index with a base January 3, 1995 equal to 1000. The Skindia GDR Index P/E ratio was 25.67 as compared to 25.19, a Skindia Finance press release said on Tuesday. There were 22 gainers, five losers and 33 unchanged as compared to three gainers, 24 losers and 33 unchanged on January 15. The top gainers of the day were Ranbaxy Labs, VSNL and State Bank of India which were quoted at $10.93, $11.18 and $8.55 as against $10.20, $10.53 and $8.23 respectively as on January 15. The top losers were Raymond Woolen, Ashok Leyland and Indian Rayon which were moved down to $3.25, $3.15 and $2.50 from $3.35, $3.23 and $2.53 respectively.

HK closes lower on futures-ledselling: Hong Kong stocks ended 1.1 per cent lower on Tuesday, dragged down by selling in the futures market. The blue chip Hang Seng Index closed off 112.43 points at 10,290.11 on turn over of 4.31 billion Hong Kong dollars (556 million US).

Bangkok shed 0.3%: Thai shares fell 0.3 per cent in thin trade as investors awaited leads from Wall Street, dealers said. The Stock Exchange of Thailand (SET) composite index closed down 1.16 points at386.45. The SET 50 selected index ended 0.07 points lower at 28.50.