The Financial Post reports in its Wednesday edition that TD Securities has trimmed its target on Niko Resources by more than 50 per cent after India's government postponed a key decision on domestic gas pricing. The Post's John Shmuel writes in the Trading Desk column that Niko has oil and gas exploration operations across Southeast Asia and has said planned development projects in India are dependent on what the country's new government decides with regard to natural gas pricing. TD analysts say: "We continue to assume that the still relatively new Indian government under Prime Minister Narendra Modi will eventually approve a significant increase in gas prices, but it appears that our previously optimistic assumptions have not been met. ... Therefore, we are lowering our expectations for a potential increase in gas prices." The analysts note their net-asset-value targets for Niko are very sensitive to natural gas prices, so they have lowered their target on Niko's stock to $3.50 from $7.50 a share. They continue, however, to recommend the stock as a speculative buy. A decision on natural gas prices was supposed to be made by the Indian government as of Tuesday, that was delayed this week to Nov. 15 instead.
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