Positives for today and for the days to come:

1. Selan Exploration Ltd is coming up with a buy back of its shares at a price not exceeding Rs.230 from 23rd January, 2009. This is independent of the present price of Crude Oil. The fall in crude price is doing miracle to the Indian and US economies, as both the countries import huge amount of crude. Since the fall in crude prices is now almost 5 times (from all time highs) on the downside, the saving of foreign exchance by the Indian Goverment could be mammoth which would give huge cushion to the OIL POOL ACCOUNT. Moreover, with the inflation falling, India is set to grow at massive pace in the next few years.

2. ENERGY: Nuclear Power Corp. is planning to raise 500 bln rupees through tax free bonds to realise its target of 22,000 mega watts by 2022.

3. OIL & GAS: India and Syria signed a pact to enhance bilateral cooperation, including setting up of JVs in the oil and gas sector, mainly in the upstream division. The OPEC is trying to bring stability in global crude oil prices.

4. RELIANCE CAPITAL has got an approval from the National Housing Bank for setting up a housing finance company; has also received RBI’s nod to set up an NBFC.

5. STEEL: Ispat, Essar and JSW, which cut production in October citing low demand, havenow either resumed full-scale operations, or are increasing their production levels dueto pick-up in demand.

Among the tree JSW Steel Ltd at Rs.210--Rs.212, looks good.

6. RIL-RNRL: RIL counsel Harish Salve tld Bombay HC that the company had agreed to supply gas to Reliance Energy for its Dadri plant, and not to another group company RNRL. Salve said RIL hasn't refused a "bankable agreement" to supply gas for Dadri.

7. INFOSYS will not be materially impacted by the bankruptcy filing by its customer Nortel as the telephone equipment maker contributes only 0.5 percent of the sales.

However, SASKEN and TECH MAHINDRA may be impacted by Nortel filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.

TCS to report its Dec-08 earnings today. It is expected to report a net profit of Rs.1520.20 crore on estimated sales of Rs.7525 crore. The top three IT companies Infosys, TCS and Wipro to attract buying interest after the Satyam Computer issue.

8. ONGC: Sri Lankan govt is keen to give an exploration block in the offshore Mannar basin to co on nomination basis and is even ready to renegotiate the signature bonus. ONGC signed MOU with Arrow Energy for co-operation in coal-bed methane sector. According to the MoU, the two companies would jointly participate in exploration and production of CBM blocks in India and abroad.

9. Though the Reliance management has denied the rumours in the markets, the current market prices are still attractive which may result in further value buying in stocks like RIL, RCOM and Reliance Capital. The govt is seeking ways for fast solution in the gas dispute between RIL and NTPC, RNRL. The govt may permission RIL to sell gas to the power and fertilizer companies. This will keep the power and fertilizers stocks in limelight.

10. RIL: Promoters' stake has gone up to 49.03% end-Dec from 44.8% end-Sept. Just see who are smart investors.......

11. Government has announced 100% FDI in facsimile which in positive for media stocks like TV Today, Mid-day and Deccan Chronicle.

12. ESSAR OIL is renegotiating machinery orders placed with vendors for expanding its refinery capacity. This renegotiation comes in the wake of a sharp decline in steel prices, which has brought down the cost of making equipment.

13. TELECOM: Chip giant Intel is keen to fund Indian companies bidding for wireless broadband spectrum, expected to be auctioned over the next few months.

14. CHENNAI PETROLEUM would invest Rs 3500 Cr to expand its diesel production capacity by 1 mln tn by end-2011.

15. BHEL which has been keen on picking up equity stake in super critical projects, has signed JV agreement with Karnataka Power Corp for the same.