Finance minister Yashwant Sinha's attempt to enable investors abroad to trade in Indian stock markets through terminals set up abroad by Indian brokers has hit a roadblock owing to almost unaffordable charges. A broker would need to pay about Rs 40 lakh per annum as fee for an international private leased circuit connectivity for a 64 kbps line, which would make the entire exercise of opening up a trading terminal abroad economically unviable considering the falling rates of brokerage.

Canpep-93 to go open-ended:

Canbank Mutual Fund has decided to convert Canpep '93, its 10-year equity-linked savings scheme, into an open-end fund. The fund is likely to go open-end this month and offer fresh units for subscription. The trend of launching open-end ELSS or converting existing tax savers is catching up with mutual funds.

SWIL rights issue opens on March 13:

SWIL's rights issue aggregating Rs 62.41 crore, which was kept in abeyance for almost a yeardue to depressed market conditions, is finally opening on March 13, 1999. The company's copper smelter project is now expected to begin commercial production by the end of March 1999.

Motorol tops BSE complaints list:

BSE has registered maximum number of complaints against Motorol (India). About 88 complaints have been filed against this company during February taking the total complaints to 567. The number of complaints filed against Pentafour Products, Vatsa Corporation and Padmini Polymers has also risen substantially. Interestingly, on BSE, the number of complaints filed against Videocon Intl has fallen to 18 whereas it tops the complaints list on NSE.

Goldman Sachs stock offering vote set for March 8:

A plan for an IPO of The Goldman Sachs Group has been unanimously endorsed by the firm's management committee and sub mitted to its partners for consideration and vote on March 8, the Wall Street firm said on Wednesday. If the plan is approved by the partners of the US investmentbank, a registration statement containing details of the offering was expected to be filed in the following week.

Ban rally percolates to smaller stocks:

The rally in leading bank stocks has percolated to small and medium size banks. After receiving a severe drubbing on the bourses during the last few months, these stocks have shot up from seven per cent to as high as 64 per cent in the past few trading sessions.