Tuesday's Asia ADR Recap

Stockpickr Staff

Stocks in India were in free fall on Tuesday, with the Sensex Index breaking below the psychologically important 13,000 mark for the first time since April 5, 2007. Far East market players cited a variety of reasons for the panic selling that swept across India, including political uncertainty around the nuclear accord, weak global cues, inflation fears, higher interest rates, surging crude oil prices and large selling from foreign institutional investors and local high-net-worth investors.

"Hedge funds are unwinding positions in a big way. The good company valuations, attractive levels -- everything is being ignored at this point of time, due to the huge redemption pressure faced by them," said Mehul Dedhia, assistant vice president of sales at Sharekhan.

The Bombay Stock Exchange's Sensex Index fell 499.92 points, or 3.71%, to 12,961.68. Here's a look at how some India-based American depositary shares traded in the U.S. on Tuesday.

India's largest automaker Tata Motors(TTM Quote) said it will begin manufacturing of the ultra-cheap Nano minicar at a new factory in the fourth quarter of 2008. The company is building the new manufacturing facility at Singur in the eastern state of West Bengal to produce 250,000 of the world's cheapest car annually. "These manufacturing facilities would be expanded to meet the demand in the domestic and international markets in the future," said Tata Motors Chairman Ratan Tata in the automaker's annual report.

Tata Motors also announced it will raise the price for its commercial vehicles by an average of 3% to make up for rising input costs. American depositary shares of Tata Motors, which trade on the NYSE, fell 4.3% to $9.61.

According to Bloomberg, U.S.-based banking giant Citigroup(C Quote) plans to raise an additional $400 million for investment in Indian roads, ports, power plants and other utilities as part of an investment fund. Citigroup and Mumbai-based financing company Infrastructure Development have previously raised $525 million for the fund that will invest in upgrading India's infrastructure. Shares of Citigroup traded up 2.2% to $17.13 in American trading.

Tata Communications(TCL Quote), an Indian global communications solutions company, announced it will be the first provider to offer private and public Cisco TelePresence rooms to businesses around the world. Telepresene allows users to collaborate and make decisions in high conferencing facilities with superior audio, video and environmental qualities. Shares of Tata Communications finished essentially flat at $17.82.

Leading the Indian ADRs to the downside Tuesday were Rediff.com(REDF Quote), which dove 11% to $6.86; WNS Holdings(WNS Quote), which moved down 5% to $16; Sify Technologies(SIFY Quote), which fell 4.6% to $3.66; and ICICI Bank (IBN Quote), which dropped 4.6% to $27.43.

Be sure to check out the Far East Portfolio at Stockpickr.com every night to find out which stocks in India and China are making big moves and announcing major news.

China Recap

Stocks in mainland China continued to slide on Tuesday after the world's fastest-growing emerging market expanded at its worst pace in almost three years, according to a survey of purchasing managers by the China Federation of Logistics and Purchasing. The purchasing managers index for the manufacturing sector fell to 52.0 in June, vs. 53.3 in May and 59.2 in April, the CFLP said. A reading over 50 indicates an expansion of activity, while anything under 50 suggests contraction.

"Business is turning negative and this may undermine economic growth from the micro level," said Zhang Liqun, an economist with the Development Research Centre, a think tank under China's cabinet.

The Shanghai Composite Index lost 84.50 points, or 3.09%, to 2,651.61. The Shanghai Index is now down over 48% this year, making it the worst performing stock market in the world. Hong Kong's equity markets were closed today due to a public holiday. Here's a look at how some China-based American depositary shares traded in the U.S. on Tuesday.

According to the Shanghai Securities News, China's leading search engine Baidu.com(BIDU Quote) has entered into a mobile search partnership with Finish handset maker Nokia(NOK Quote). The newspaper, run by the official Xinhua News Agency, said Baidu will provide a mobile search platform for Nokia's Widsets service, which has over 4 million subscribers in China and 10 million worldwide. The platform will be preloaded in tens of millions of Nokia mobile phones this year. American depository shares of Baidu, which trade on the Nasdaq, jumped 1.5% to $317.69.

Giant Interactive(GA Quote), a Chinese online gaming company, announced it has inked a deal to acquire redeemable preferred shares that represent a 25% stake in leading Chinese online social networking service provider Five One Network Development, or 51.com, for around $51 million. 51.com has around 120 million registered users as of June 15, 2008, and gets around 31.5 million monthly unique visitors. Shares of Giant Interactive dropped 3.3% to $11.72.

Elsewhere in the Chinese online gaming complex, shares of Sohu.com(SOHU Quote) rose 6.2% to $74.87; NetEase.com(NTES Quote) advanced 1% to $22; and Shana Interactive Entertainment(SNDA Quote) fell 4.7% to $25.85.

Roth Capital Partners initiated coverage on Xinyuan Real Estate(XIN Quote), a fast-growing residential real estate developer with a focus on strategically selected Tier II cities in China, with a buy rating and a $9.50 price target. The firm said the tight real estate market in China favors Xinyuan because it's a publicly traded developer with access to capital to buy cheap land and build up its property portfolios through acquisitions. Shares of Xinyuan traded down 1.9% to $5.95.

Be sure to check out the Far East Portfolio at Stockpickr.com every night to find out which stocks in India and China are making big moves and announcing major news.

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