MARKET EYE-Exide down on insurance diversification; Citi downgrades

* Shares in Exide Industries fall 1.3 percent after
Dutch banking and insurance group ING said it was
selling its 26 percent stake in an Indian insurance venture to
local partner Exide.
* Besides buying ING's 26 percent in ING Vysya, Exide said it
would buy 24 percent from two other private Indian investors -
Enam Group and Hemendra Kothari Group - for a total of about 5.5
billion rupees ($102 million).
* Citigroup downgrades Exide to "sell" from "buy" and cuts its
target price to 118 rupees from 149 rupees on the news.
* The bank says the acquisition of the insurance stake is
"completely unrelated" to its core business and is also
"loss-making", thus requiring additional incremental funding.
* Citigroup adds Exide "is unlikely to find a purchaser" for the
stake in the insurance unit.

(abhishek.vishnoi@thomsonreuters.com /;
abhishek.vishnoi.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net)