The scrip opened on a strong note and later touched an all-time high of Rs 1,160, up over 8 per cent compared to the previous close.

Shares of the Noel Tata-led company closed 5.50 per cent higher at Rs 1,131.05 on BSE.

Reliance Capital Trustee purchased 3,86,582 shares through a rights subscription on August 31.

The shares of the company were bought by Reliance Capital Asset Management through various mutual fund series, including Reliance Equity Linked Saving Fund Series-I, Reliance Dual Advantage Fixed Tenure, Reliance Equity Opportunities Fund and Reliance Tax Saver Elss Fund.

“Retail is a growing area in India and the investment is positive. Trent is a reasonably priced company, compared to other big retailers,” Anand Rathi Financial Services Senior Vice-President Retail D D Sharma said.

Witnessing a similar performance on the National Stock Exchange, the scrip settled at Rs 1,140, up 6.23 per cent from previous close.

In terms of volume, over 5.2 lakh shares of the company changed hands on both the bourses.

Meanwhile, Reliance Capital saw a jump of 0.99 per cent on BSE, to close the trade at Rs 783.
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The representatives of the two companies, as well as their top executives, were in touch with SEBI over the issue and were examining the documents, sources said.

No comments could be obtained from an ADAG spokesperson. In an order last month, SEBI had sought a personal hearing on September 3, today of RNRL and R-Infra as well as five top executives Anil Ambani, Chairman of both the companies, RInfra’s Vice Chairman Satish Seth and directors J P Chalsani, S C Gupta and Lalit Jalan.

In the order dated August 2, SEBI had also given the two companies and the five executives another chance to respond to showcause notices sent to them by the market regulator in June in relation to the case.

As Anil and other officials of the two companies did not respond to the showcause notices sent to them by the market regulator on June 7 and another notice on July 21, SEBI gave them a fresh chance to reply to the notices by August 27 and appear before it on September 3.

The notices were issued to the companies as well as these executives “in the matters of dealings by Reliance Natural Resources Ltd and Reliance Infrastructure Ltd.”

Hearing the case on August 2, a SEBI bench headed by Member M S Sahoo had noted that though the two companies had sought inspection of documents and postponement of hearing, there was no appearance on behalf of the executives.

While SEBI had earlier provided an opportunity to these executives to inspect documents, they did not avail of it, the market regulator had said.

Expressing confidence that the matter would be resolved suitably, an ADAG spokesperson had said at that time: “The matter is sub-judice. Reliance Infrastructure Ltd, Reliance Natural Resources Ltd and the concerned individual directors will comply with the due process of SEBI.”
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The company at its annual general meeting held have received an approval from the shareholders to raise up to Rs 500 crore through qualified institutional placement, Reliance MediaWorks said in a filing to the Bombay Stock Exchange.

“A shareholders’ approval is mandatory – and has been taken in advance, in case we propose to place a QIP anytime in this year,” the company said in a statement.

Last year, the company had passed a similar enabling resolution for QIP placement upto 25 per cent of the issued and paid up capital.

Besides, the shareholders have also approved the appointment of Anil Sekhri and Gautam Doshi and Ajay Prasad as Director on the board of the company.

Shares of Reliance MediaWorks today settled at Rs 190.30 on the BSE, down 1.30 per cent from the previous close.
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Although cautious about the market outlook in the next three months, Kela told PTI that he was highly bullish in the longer term.

Kela will be taking over as the Chief Investment Strategist at Anil Ambani group’s financial services arm Reliance Capital from September 21, following his elevation from Head of Equities at Reliance Mutual Fund currently.

“I am bullish about the stock market’s performance in the medium to long term and expect the Sensex may even go beyond 30,000 level in the next 3-5 years. FII inflows are also expected to be robust in the long term,” Kela said.

A surge in Sensex to over 30,000 level, from near 18,000 points currently, would mean close to 100 per cent rise in the next 3-5 years.

However, he is bearish about the short term and thinks the stock market may be impacted if FIIs start selling amid uncertainty in global markets.

Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) have poured in as much as Rs 11, 447.60 crore so far in August, according to data available on the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) website.

With improving global economic conditions, the FII investments have been robust this year with their total inflows close to Rs 60,000 crore so far in 2010.

The BSE benchmark index Sensex had settled at below the 18,000 mark at 17,998.41 down 227 points on Friday last week.

From January to August, the Sensex has been moving mostly in the range of 16,000-17,000 levels, though it had touched its highest level of 18,475 points for the first time since February 2008 on August 19.

Asked if Indian equities at present were overvalued as compared to their peers in BRIC (Brazil, Russia and China and India), Kela said, “foreign investors are still bullish on Indian stocks as they are still under owned by them as compared to Chinese equities.”

With his new responsibilities, Kela would play a crucial role in expanding Reliance Capital’s businesses, mentoring portfolio managers and providing strategic inputs and guidance on investments across the RCAP group of firms.
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Shares of Reliance Communications (Rcom) tanked 4.64 per cent to a month low of Rs 160.30 on the Bombay Stock Exchange.

Witnessing a similar downtrend on the National Stock Exchange, the scrip fell to Rs 159.70, down 4.99 per cent from previous close.

“The telecom sector is already reeling under pressure due to the additional 3G cost burden, and the results of RCom have also been disappointing. So, the counter is just reacting to poor numbers,” SMC Global Vice-President Rajesh Jain said.

Meanwhile, the broader gauge Sensex was trading flat at 18,168.06 points.

The ADAG firm on Friday last week reported a 84.67 per cent fall in its consolidated net profit at Rs 250.89 crore for the April-June quarter this year due to high foreign exchange provisioning.
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The regulator had also issued show-cause notices to the two companies, which have responded to them. The notices were issued on June 7, but were not in the public domain.

In addition to Mr Ambani, chairman and managing director, Reliance Infra, and chairman, RNRL, other ADAG officials who Sebi says have not responded to its notices include Satish Seth, executive vice-chairman, Reliance Infrastructure; SC Gupta, director, Reliance Infrastructure; JP Chalasani, director, Reliance Infrastructure; and Lalit Jalan, whole-time director, Reliance Infrastructure.

Last year, regulators and government agencies had investigated dealings by Pluri Emerging Companies, an obscure foreign institutional investor (FII) that purchased participatory notes, or PNs, with stocks like RNRL and Reliance Infra as the underlying. PNs are instruments that allow offshore entities to trade in Indian stocks.

What drew the attention of the regulators was the money trail: Pluri had bought the PNs from Hythe Securities, which in turn had bought them from Barclays Bank.

At that point, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) was probing Pluri for a series of allegedly fraudulent transactions, involving the siphoning of funds from the UBS London branch accounts of two ADAG firms, and the use of these funds to buy shares in India.

Sebi has also pulled up SocGen, the French financial services group, and Barclays, a British bank, in connection with its dealings with Pluri. Both have been barred from issuing fresh PNs because their records were not in order.

The money in the UBS London accounts were foreign loans, or external commercial borrowings, by ADAG firms.

The Sebi release recounts the regulator’s interactions with the ADAG companies and their officials since June 7. “The noticees were served the show-cause notices (SCNs) dated June 7, 2010, on June 9, 2010. Vide the said SCNs, they were offered opportunity of inspection and advised to reply to the SCNs within 21 days from the date of receipt, that is, by June 30, 2010. Neither did they inspect the documents nor did they file any reply on merit. Vide letter dated July 21, 2010, an opportunity of personal hearing was offered to them”.

Reliance Infrastructure did not respond in detail to a set of questions from ET beyond saying the matter was sub-judice. “The matter is sub-judice. Reliance Infrastructure, Reliance Natural Resources and the concerned individual directors will comply with the due process of Sebi and are confident of a suitable resolution of the matter, as legally advised.”
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Reliance Natural Resources stock fell more than 28 per cent.

By 9:06 a.m. (0336 GMT), shares in Reliance Power were trading up 4.6 percent at 183.25 rupees after having risen to a high of 189.80. Reliance Natural Resources was down 25.3 per cent at RS 47.60 in a positive market. Reliance Natural Resources shareholders will receive one Reliance Power share for every four they hold, the firms, both controlled by billionaire Anil Ambani, said.
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Reliance Communications (RCom) rose 1.92 per cent to a high of Rs 196 on the Bombay Stock Exchange. The scrip was trading at Rs 194.15, up 0.96 per cent at 0930 hrs.

Yesterday, the board of RCom had approved the proposal for the acquisition of Digicable without disclosing the deal value.

Meanwhile, the BSE benchmark Sensex was also in the green, trading higher by 76 points, or 0.43 cent, to 17,585.33.

On the National Stock Exchange, RCom climbed to Rs 194, up 0.91 per cent.

According to sources, the deal would create an entity valued at an estimated $1 billion (over Rs 4,500 crore), and the Anil Ambani Group would hold about 60 per cent stake in it.

The acquisition comes within days of RCom announcing the merger of its telecom tower business Reliance Infratel with GTL Infrastructure in a Rs 50,000-crore deal.
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The failure of the de-merger scheme also exposes RIL to the prospect of being wound up, said Ram Jethmalani, counsel for RNRL, while arguing before the three-member bench that is hearing the high-profile Krishna-Godavari gas dispute case.

“This will not be in the interests of millions of RIL shareholders,” the counsel told the bench of Chief Justice K.G. Balakrishnan, Justice B. Sudershan Reddy and Justice P. Sathasivam.

“Under Section 392 of the Companies Act, if the scheme is not implemented, as envisaged, Anil Ambani is entitled to be reinstated in RIL board with full powers as existed before the July 27, 2004 board resolution.”

Prior to that, Anil Ambani was vice chairman, managing director and on the board of RIL.

The senior counsel said since Anil’s elder brother Mukesh is chairman of the company and its “alter ego” now, neither he nor the company were entitled to take the position that the family reorganisation pact was not known and take exemption from its liabilities.

He said the RIL board resolution of July 27, 2004, virtually stripped Anil Ambani of all powers, status, honour and dignity while giving complete control to Mukesh Ambani. “This was the source of both anger and humiliation for Anil Ambani,” he said.

Accordingly, RIL cannot claim that the family business reorganisation pact brokered by Kokilaben, the widow of the empire’s founder Dhirubhai Ambani, between her two feuding sons, is not binding on the company.

“The court has the power to supervise the scheme (of de-merger) which definitely ensures all hurdles are removed in the proper implementation of the scheme, particular those arising from dishonest conduct.”

The three-member bench has been hearing the dispute over the supply of 28 million units of gas for 17 years at $2.34 per unit to Anil Ambani-led RNRL from the gas fields off the Andhra Pradesh coast, awarded to Mukesh Ambani’s RIL.

The price, tenure and quantity were based on the 2005 family pact, but RIL subsequently said it could only sell the gas for $4.20 per unit, as this was the price, the company claimed, fixed by the government.

The Bombay High Court had earlier ruled in RNRL’s favour.
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As a result, RComm made an “under-payment of licence fee” of Rs 315.9 crore in 2006-07 and 2007-08, notes the audit report, a copy of which is in FE’s possession. The reason given by RComm to explain the discrepancy between the wireless revenue reported to shareholders and that disclosed to Trai “is not correct or complete”, the audit by Parakh & Company states.

For its part, RComm has denied any wrongdoing and described the contents of the audit report as the handiwork of “corporate rivals”. DoT officials confirmed receipt of the report, but said they are yet to examine it.
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