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NTPC can intervene in RILRNRL case: Power MinistryThe Power Ministry has given a goahead for NTPC to intervene in the RILRNRL case, the power secretary said. \"It is now up to NTPC to decide whether to intervene in the RILRNRL case,\" he said.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 31 Jul 2009 | 9:35 am Total reports 54-pct quarterly profit drops on oil priceFrench oil giant Total said on Friday that its second-quarter net profit fell 54 percent from the figure 12 months earlier to 1.7 billion euros (2.38 billion dollars) as crude prices tumbled.Source: Hindustan Times News Feeds 'Business' | 31 Jul 2009 | 6:57 am Infosys first to get CISF men; induction today!Software giant Infosys will become the first private sector firm to get the security cover from Central Industrial Security Force, with over 100 personnel to be formally inducted on Friday at its facility in Bangalore.Source: Zee News : Business | 31 Jul 2009 | 6:34 am Stanchart may buy RBS India, China retail ops: Report!Standard Chartered is set to buy Royal Bank of Scotland`s retail and small and medium enterprises operations in India, China and Malaysia for about USD 250 million, an Indian financial daily said on Friday.Source: Zee News : Business | 31 Jul 2009 | 6:34 am Americans ready to buy Indian, Chinese cars: Survey!Americans are ready to buy cars from India and China, a survey in the US has revealed.Source: Zee News : Business | 31 Jul 2009 | 6:34 am Japanese unemployment hits six-year high!Japan`s jobless rate hit a six-year high of 5.4 percent in June and deflation deepened as Asia`s biggest economy wrestled with the fallout from its worst recession in decades, data showed Friday.Source: Zee News : Business | 31 Jul 2009 | 6:34 am EGoM on 3G telephony may meet today!The Empowered Group of Ministers on 3G spectrum are likely to hold their first meeting on Friday under the chairmanship of Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee.Source: Zee News : Business | 31 Jul 2009 | 6:34 am DLF net profit down 79 percent in first quarter !Realty major DLF Friday reported a 79 percent drop in its net profit to Rs 396 crore for the quarter ended June 30 from Rs 1,863.97 crore in the same quarter, the previous fiscal.Source: Zee News : Business | 31 Jul 2009 | 6:34 am How many jobs lost in April-June: Labour bureau report today!Results of the third survey of the labour bureau for the April-June quarter, assessing the impact of economic slowdown on employment, is expected to be released on Friday.Source: Zee News : Business | 31 Jul 2009 | 6:34 am Sensex rises to highest since June `08!Sensex surged by over 2% to the highest since June 2008 on Friday on increased capital inflows.Source: Zee News : Business | 31 Jul 2009 | 6:34 am Toyota launches New Camry luxury sedan in IndiaToyota, the world’s largest car maker, on Friday launched the New Camry, the new variant of the luxury sedan, in India, looking at an yearly sales of 500 units of this model.Source: Hindustan Times News Feeds 'Business' | 31 Jul 2009 | 6:06 am China July new loans drop below 500 bln yuan: reportNew loans issued by Chinese banks in July are expected to not exceed 500 billion yuan (73.2 billion dollars), less than a third of that lent in June, state media reported on Friday.Source: Hindustan Times News Feeds 'Business' | 31 Jul 2009 | 5:17 am Eventual plan to take mgmt control of Great Offshore: ABGD Datar, CFO of ABG Shipyard, said that their stake in Great Offshore has gone up to 8%. He said that the open offer price for great offshore has been revised to Rs 450 per share. However, he refused to comment if Punj Lloyd was a seller in the block deal.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 31 Jul 2009 | 5:07 am Weak monsoon rains threaten India's growthIndia's weak monsoon has begun to worry economists and policy makers, who fear it could drag down the nation's resurgent economic growth.Source: Hindustan Times News Feeds 'Business' | 31 Jul 2009 | 4:27 am Reliance Capital Q1 net down 56 pctReuters - Three months ended June 30 (versus the same period a year earlier, in billion rupees unless stated)Source: Reuters: Money News | 31 Jul 2009 | 4:25 am INTERVIEW - India gold demand seen picking up from Aug - WGCMUMBAI (Reuters) - India's gold demand may pick up from August as consumers flush with cash and pent up demand are seen boosting sales, potentially salvaging an almost 50 percent sales drop, a World Gold Council (WGC) official said.Source: Reuters: Money News | 31 Jul 2009 | 4:23 am SBI Life appoints new managing director & CEOThe new managing director and chief executive officer, Mahadev Nagendra Rao will be succeeding US Roy who retired on July 31.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 31 Jul 2009 | 4:20 am Americans ready to buy Indian, Chinese cars: SurveyResults of the survey called 'Opportunity for Chinese and Indian Brands in the USA' shows that 15 per cent of the new car buyers in the US say they would consider purchasing their next vehicle from China, and 11 per cent would consider buying a car from India.Source: Hindustan Times News Feeds 'Business' | 31 Jul 2009 | 4:19 am Govt moves bill to up LIC's equity, dividend payoutNEW DELHI (Reuters) - The federal government on Friday moved a bill in parliament to raise the capital base of state-run Life Insurance Corp and enable it to pay up to 10 percent dividend to the government.Source: Reuters: Money News | 31 Jul 2009 | 4:18 am Toyota to launch Fortuner SUV in India on Aug 24 - Business Standard
Source: Business - Google News | 31 Jul 2009 | 4:17 am Takeda swings back to profit but sales lacklustreTOKYO (Reuters) - Takeda Pharmaceutical Co, Japan's biggest drugmaker, swung back to profit in April-June, recovering after costly acquisitions, but sales for new and mainstay drugs were lacklustre.Source: Reuters: Money News | 31 Jul 2009 | 4:17 am US Congress wants say on Wall Street payCongress wants to give the government a direct role in deciding how much executives on Wall Street are paid, after the biggest US banks accepted billions in taxpayer money and still managed to distribute $1 million bonuses to thousands of employees.Source: Hindustan Times News Feeds 'Business' | 31 Jul 2009 | 4:11 am BA sees no upturn, pledges more cost cuttingLONDON (Reuters) - British Airways said on Friday it saw no improvement in bleak trading conditions and vowed to continue to cut costs, rounding off another miserable week for Europe's airlines.Source: Reuters: Money News | 31 Jul 2009 | 4:09 am BSE Sensex provisionally rises 2 pctMUMBAI (Reuters) – The BSE Sensex provisionally rose 2 percent on Friday, as hopes for a global economic recovery were revived by a set of solid corporate results overseas that boosted markets across Asia following a Wall Street rally overnight.Source: Reuters: Money News | 31 Jul 2009 | 4:07 am Sensex holding on to gains - Times of India
Source: Business - Google News | 31 Jul 2009 | 4:05 am Close: Global rally lifts markets by almost 2%Mumbai: Indian shares rose 1.83% on Friday, as hopes for a global economic recovery were revived by a set of solid corporate results overseas that boosted markets across Asia following a Wall Street rally overnight. The 30-share BSE index ended up 282.35 points up at 15,694 points, with 22 stocks gaining. The 50-share NSE index closed up 65 points at 4,636.45. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 31 Jul 2009 | 4:02 am Sensex holding on to gains Indian markets were holding on to their gains Friday afternoon, with a key index ruling 273 points up from its previous close.Source: India Business News | Business News - Times of India | 31 Jul 2009 | 4:01 am South Indian Bank finalising pact with Qatar bankKerala-based South Indian Bank (SIB) is close to signing a partnership agreement with a major commercial bank in Qatar, a senior SIB official said Friday.Source: IndiaeNews.com: Business News | 31 Jul 2009 | 4:00 am Mutual funds wary of valuations, see stocks up in three monthsMumbai: Money managers may not raise their stock exposure significantly on valuation concerns but see the benchmark index rising in the next three months given ample global liquidity, a Reuters poll shows. Six out of the seven fund houses who responded to the Reuters Asset Allocation Poll conducted between 22 July and 30 July said they plan to either retain or cut equity stakes. Three of them said Indian shares were overvalued after surging more than 90% from 2009-low hit in early March, while others found it fairly valued. All but one fund house expect the index to climb up to 10% in three months. “It all depends on global liquidity,” said Jayesh Shroff, a fund manager at SBI Funds Management. The “world is too volatile still. We are changing every three months,” he added. Foreign portfolio investors, key to India’s share market performance, have invested about $7 billion in 2009, powering a near 60% surge in the benchmark 30-share index. The re-election of a Congress party lead coalition government with a decisive mandate and signs of economic recovery on back of government stimulus has helped sentiment. Financials, Auto in Favour But six firms said they will not cut cash levels in equity funds, given a sharp rally in shares, and rejig their portfolios in favour of relatively liquid large-cap shares from sectors such as auto, consumers, energy and financial services. “It’s a period when we are not fully convinced that earnings are going to come through,” said I V Subramaniam, chief investment officer of Quantum Advisors Pvt Ltd, adding he saw selective opportunities in the financial sector. Five of the seven poll respondents said they would raise exposure to financials in three months, boosting exposure to the most preferred sector of Indian funds industry which controlled 18% of diversified funds equity investments in June. Four fund houses said they would raise bets on energy firms on hopes government might allow oil firms to charge market rates for their products and sell stakes in state-run firms. A majority is also looking to buy auto and consumers shares given the resilience shown by them even in a slowing economy. Motorcycle maker Hero Honda Motors beat forecasts with an 83% rise in June quarter profit, while top carmaker Maruti Suzuki reported an unexpected 25% jump in net profit. India’s top cigarette maker ITC Ltd beat market forecasts with a 17.4% rise in net profit for the June quarter. Bond fund managers are likely to maintain or cut their portfolio maturity fearing redemptions in longer-maturity fixed income funds on concerns a $90 billion government borrowing programme in 2009-10 will raise bond yields. Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 31 Jul 2009 | 3:56 am Close: Global rally lifts markets by almost 2%Mumbai: Indian shares rose 1.83% on Friday, as hopes for a global economic recovery were revived by a set of solid corporate results overseas that boosted markets across Asia following a Wall Street rally overnight. The 30-share BSE index ended up 282.35 points up at 15,694 points, with 22 stocks gaining. The 50-share NSE index closed up 65 points at 4,636.45. Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 31 Jul 2009 | 3:55 am Bell says not bidding for $1 bn India helicopter dealNew Delhi: Bell Helicopters, a unit of US-based Textron company said on Friday it will not participate in a bid to supply 22 attack helicopters to India’s air force in a deal worth more than $1 billion. In May, India invited bids to five vendors, including Bell, Boeing Co and Eurocopter, a subsidiary of European aerospace and defence group EADS for the helicopter deal. “We were planning to offer our AH-1Z Cobra to the air force, but since it is still undergoing an operational evaluation, we have decided not to participate,” a Bell official said in New Delhi. Boeing, keen to offer its Apache AH-64 helicopters, said on Friday that it was still internally reviewing the tender details issued by the government before taking a final decision. India is looking to spend more than $30 billion over the next five years to modernise its defence systems. But its plans to overhaul and replace its fleet of military helicopters amid growing security risks in the region, especially after last November’s Mumbai attacks, has been dogged with pullouts and cancellation of tenders. Last June, India asked seven international companies to submit bids for supplying 22 attack helicopters, but the government cancelled that tender this March, saying the bidders did not meet requirements. A fresh tender was issued in May. India relies on an ageing fleet of Russian MI-25 and MI-35 helicopter gunships designed by Russia’s Mil. In 2007, India scrapped advanced talks with Eurocopter to supply 197 lightweight Fennec military helicopters worth $600 million after complaints about the bidding process. Eurocopter is a sister company to Airbus, the world’s largest civil jet maker, also owned by EADS. Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 31 Jul 2009 | 3:50 am Indian rupee largely steady in line with local stx - Reuters India
Source: Business - Google News | 31 Jul 2009 | 3:32 am Hindalco Q1 net seen down 11% at Rs 4126 cr - Moneycontrol.com
Source: Business - Google News | 31 Jul 2009 | 3:32 am Tube Investments seeks partner for Chinese unitBicycle and engineering product manufacturer Tube Investments (TI) is looking at various options, including tying up with a new company, to save its loss-making Chinese unit.Source: IndiaeNews.com: Business News | 31 Jul 2009 | 3:31 am Bharti shares fall 3 pct on MTN deal worries - Reuters India
Source: Business - Google News | 31 Jul 2009 | 3:25 am Toyota launches New Camry luxury sedan in IndiaToyota, the world's largest car maker, today launched the New Camry, the new variant of the luxury sedan, in India.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 31 Jul 2009 | 3:20 am Govt extends duty-free raw and white sugar imports - Reuters India
Source: Business - Google News | 31 Jul 2009 | 3:19 am Govt may give incentives to services sector in FTPThe government is considering extending incentives to the services sector, battling demand recession in Western economies, in the Foreign Trade Policy to be unveiled next month.Source: India Business News | Business News - Times of India | 31 Jul 2009 | 3:03 am Coimbatore Company creates 'confidence' in South AmericaThe name of a small but confident company from Coimbatore in Tamil Nadu has inspired confidence among Latin American clients in Peru, Ecuador, the Dominican Republic and Argentina, who have given it orders worth $500,000 for textile machinery. And this, perhaps, is only the beginning.Source: Hindustan Times News Feeds 'Business' | 31 Jul 2009 | 3:01 am Sensex surges over 310 points, touches year's highThe BSE benchmark index Sensex surged by over 310 points to the highest in this year at 15,698 pts in early trade today on increased capital inflows by foreign funds on the back of impressive corporate earnings amid firming global cues.Source: Hindustan Times News Feeds 'Business' | 31 Jul 2009 | 3:01 am ICICI Bank sees huge potential in infrastructure financeICICI Bank sees a huge opportunity in project and infrastructure finance and mortgage lending, according to its Executive Director, Mr Sonjoy Chatterjee.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 31 Jul 2009 | 2:53 am Can India take a leaf out of Europe?The Empowered Group of Ministers which meets on Friday to decide on the 3G policy would do well to examine the experience of other countries with such auctions.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 31 Jul 2009 | 2:48 am Boeing rolls out P-8A Poseidon; India to be the first buyerIndia has ordered eight P-8Is, a derivative of the American version, the first of which Boeing will deliver within 48 months of the contract being signed.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 31 Jul 2009 | 2:45 am MSYahoo deal will offer better search experienceMicrosoft Corporation and Yahoo!s 10year pact will create a significant competitive alternative in search, according to a top Microsoft India official.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 31 Jul 2009 | 2:44 am iPhone vulnerable to hacker attacks: researchersSecurity experts have uncovered flaws in Apple Inc's iPhone that they said hackers can exploit to take control of the popular device, using the tactic for identity theft and other crimes.Source: Hindustan Times News Feeds 'Business' | 31 Jul 2009 | 2:36 am Transporters not to run old vehicles in Kolkata from SaturdayWith the Supreme Court refusing to stay a Calcutta High Court order banning commercial vehicles over 15 years old from Kolkata, transport operators Friday decided to keep all such vehicles off the roads from Saturday.Source: IndiaeNews.com: Business News | 31 Jul 2009 | 2:30 am Sensex holding on to gainsIndian equities markets were holding on to their gains Friday afternoon, with a key index ruling 273 points up from its previous close.Source: IndiaeNews.com: Business News | 31 Jul 2009 | 2:30 am DLF Q1 net plunges, sees better days aheadNEW DELHI (Reuters) - DLF Ltd, India's top real estate firm, reported a 79 percent drop in quarterly net profit on lower sales but said calm was returning after the sector was hit by sluggish demand and a crash in prices.Source: Reuters: Money News | 31 Jul 2009 | 2:22 am SBI rallies 5% on surge in net profit - Business Standard
Source: Business - Google News | 31 Jul 2009 | 2:21 am US becomes Citigroup's biggest shareholderOne hundred ninety-seven years, one month and 14 days after its founding, Citigroup Inc has given a roughly 34 percent stake to U.S. taxpayers.Source: Hindustan Times News Feeds 'Business' | 31 Jul 2009 | 2:17 am BSNL hopes to get $207 mln in a year from tower-sharing deals - Reuters
Source: Business - Google News | 31 Jul 2009 | 2:13 am Duty-free import of raw sugar allowed till Mar 2010: PawarThe government on Friday allowed duty-free import of raw sugar without export obligation for further eight months to augment availability of the sweetener in the domestic market.Source: India Business News | Business News - Times of India | 31 Jul 2009 | 2:03 am Group of ministers on 3G meets later FridayThe high-powered ministerial group, set up to decide on issues related with the auction of frequency spectrum for third generation telecom services, is scheduled to meet here for the first time later Friday.Source: IndiaeNews.com: Business News | 31 Jul 2009 | 2:00 am Markets fizz on earnings but Japan deflation hauntsSINGAPORE (Reuters) - Japan unveiled a record deflation figure on Friday, complicating the outlook for global recovery just as stockmarkets racked up their best performance in months, driven by better corporate results and economic data.Source: Reuters: Money News | 31 Jul 2009 | 1:54 am Govt extends duty-free raw and white sugar importsNew Delhi: India has extended its scheme to allow duty-free raw sugar imports until March and white sugar imports up to November, agriculture minister Sharad Pawar said on Friday, confirming what sources said earlier this week. The move is likely to prop up already high sugar futures prices in New York and London on prospects of large imports by the world’s top consumer of the sweetener. India has seen sugarcane planted area contract for the second successive season due to low cane prices last year, and weak monsoon rains since June are also hampering production. In February India allowed mills to import tax-free raw sugar with a condition that an equal quantity of whites should be exported within three years. In April the government waived the requirement that imports of raw sugar had to be re-exported up to 31 July, and asked state-run trading firms State Trading Corp of India Ltd, MMTC Ltd and PEC to import up to 1 million tonnes of whites before 31 July. Pawar said his government had also allowed private firms and more state-run firms, which he did not name, to import whites at zero duty. He added that raw sugar imports, earlier allowed only by mills, would now be opened to private trade also. “It is expected that with these decisions, domestic availability of sugar could get further augmented and sugar prices in the country would remain at reasonable levels,” he told parliament. Even as sugarcanes shortages mount, sugar production in India, the world’s top consumer and the biggest producer after Brazil, is expected to fall substantially. Pawar said India was expected to produce 15.0-15.5 million tonnes of sugar in the year to September, down from 26.3 million tonnes a year ago. Ajeet Kumar, an analyst in India, said the decision was unlikely to ease domestic prices. Analysts said local prices were unlikely to fall as international prices were high. Front-month London white sugar futures are at around $494 a tonne, just $5 off a record high hit in 2006. “Prices will come down only when the government announces extra subsidies on imports or LIFFE prices will come under $400 per tonne, that seems impossible in near to medium term,” Ajeet Kumar, research analyst at SMC Global Securities, said. Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 31 Jul 2009 | 1:45 am Michelin posts euro122 mn H1 loss on high costsParis: French tire maker Michelin on Friday posted a net loss of $122 million ($172 million) in the first half as car- and truckmakers slashed production and as the company incurred costs for restructuring. The quarterly loss compared to net profit of euro430 million a year earlier. Revenues fell 13.4% to euro7.13 billion. Chief executive officer Michel Rollier said Michelin has introduced short-time working hours in several countries to deal with the downturn in sales. He said inventories have returned to “more normal levels” but “not to the extent that we can talk about a real upturn.” Like auto makers Renault SA and PSA Peugeot Citroen, Michelin, which is based in Clermont-Ferrand, France, aims to generate positive free cash flow at the year end to help it ride out the crisis. In the first half Michelin generated euro575 million in free cash flow, compared with a negative euro445 million a year earlier after a euro580 million reduction in inventory. Michelin said markets for car and light truck tires showed signs of stabilizing in the second quarter, particularly in countries where governments introduced “cash-for-clunkers” schemes. But the collapse in demand for truck tires that began in the autumn in Europe and North America has spread to all markets “and shows no sign of abating,” the company said. Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 31 Jul 2009 | 1:42 am Indians have the highest trust in businessTrust in business is recovering significantly in some of the world's largest markets with India and China most positive about business and the US rebounding from 10-year lows, according to a new survey.Source: India Business News | Business News - Times of India | 31 Jul 2009 | 1:34 am India’s life insurance industry hit by slowdown: ministerNew Delhi: Slowdown in the economy has trimmed growth in premium income of Indian insurers in FY09, a junior finance minister said in a written reply to Parliament on Friday. Namo Narain Meena said the total premium income of market leader Life Insurance Corp grew 4.45% to Rs1.56 trillion in FY09, lower than the 17.19% expansion seen in 2007-08. The overall premium income of all the life insurers stood at Rs2.24 trillion at the end of FY09, compared with Rs2.01 trillion in the previous year. “In the year 2008-09, the pace of growth in the insurance sector has slowed down which may be a result of the economic slowdown during the period,” Meena said. Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 31 Jul 2009 | 1:30 am Gold futures flat on rupee, crudeMumbai: India gold futures were flat on Friday as support from rising crude oil was offset by a strong rupee locally, with invetsors awaiting US GDP data due later in the day for direction, analysts said. The most-active August contract was 0.05% lower at Rs14,702 per 10 grams at 11:40am. Oil extended gains well above $67 a barrel, after a 5.7% jump in the previous session on US data and earnings which renewed hopes of an economic recovery and drove up equity and commodities markets. Gold is considered as a safe hedge against inflation. The Indian rupee strengthened as a firm start in the sharemarket raised expectations for more capital inflows, and weakness in the dollar versus majors overseas also underpinned sentiment. A strong rupee makes the dollar quoted asset cheaper. A Reuters poll of economists gave a median forecast of a 1.5% contraction in the US economy in the second quarter. Gold may be very range-bound and may hover between Rs14,500-14,900, said Vikas Vaid, assiatant vice-president with Asit C Mehta Commodity Services. Gold may trade in the range of Rs14,650-14,820, said Aditya Agarwal, a technical analyst with Way 2 Wealth Securities. Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 31 Jul 2009 | 1:26 am Infosys receives CISF cover at Bangalore Campus - India Infoline.com
Source: Business - Google News | 31 Jul 2009 | 1:24 am British Airways posts Q1 operating lossLondon: British Airways PLC warned there was “no visible signs of improvement” in the recession-hit airline industry as it posted a record £94 million ($155.5 million) loss for the first quarter on Friday, despite noting a seasonal uptick for the summer. BA said it would continue to focus on stripping costs out of the business as consumer demand for flights remains weak, reporting that its efforts so far have resulted in a 6.6% reduction in operating costs since October. The airline is seeking to slash some 3,700 jobs from its 40,000-strong work force and freeze pay for several years. It has also taken 5% of its winter flight capacity out of service and even dropped meals on short-haul flights as it struggles to cope with the adverse economic climate. The first quarter operating loss is the first time since BA was privatized in 1987 that it has recorded a deficit at the beginning of the fiscal year, which is usually the second strongest earnings period after the summer peak — the airline earned a £35 million profit in the same period a year ago. Revenue in the current first quarter fell 12% to £1.98 billion, from £2.25 billion. The airline did not provide net profit details in Friday’s trading update. With the operating loss and revenue flagged up by the carrier ahead of the announcement, BA stock received a boost from the positive news on costs and a reduction in its debt, opening up 1.3% at 136 pence. Chief executive Willie Walsh said that while traffic volumes were down, they had stabilized during the quarter and showed some signs of improvement for the peak summer months. However, he added that yields, or average fares per mile (kilometer), “remain volatile,” leaving the airline wary of providing revenue guidance for the full year. Yields dropped 9.7% in the first quarter and Walsh said he expected a greater fall in the second quarter. “Trading conditions continue to be very challenging ... and no visible signs of improvement,” he said. Other carriers have also succumbed to the market downturn, with Air France-KLM reporting a 20.5% fall in first quarter revenue to €5.2 billion and Lufthansa posting an almost 20% drop to the same level on Thursday. Even the normally more robust budget carrier Ryanair Holdings PLC spooked the market earlier this week by scaling back its full-year profit forecasts to the bottom end of its forecast range of £173 millionto £259 million. Walsh has been one of the most pessimistic airline industry executives about the sector, warning that BA is in a “fight for survival” and that the carrier’s key first- and business-class traffic may never fully recover. He said Friday that while BA’s efforts to cut costs were bearing fruit, “with revenue still weak, there is much more to be done,” suggesting the savings plan would last years. His plans to slash 3,700 ground staff and cabin crew positions have met with resistance from unions. BA recently called in a government-backed mediator in an attempt to reach a deal and avoid crippling strike action. Walsh said Friday that both sides are currently in a “cooling off” period with talks halted. The carrier’s engineers and pilots have accepted a separate deal. In other cost-saving measures, BA has stripped capacity out of its flying schedule, with plans to park 22 aircraft over the winter. It has also extended its planned delivery of six new superjumbo Airbus A380 aircraft by an average of five months. A second round of delivery of six more aircraft will be delayed by an average of two years. Walsh declined to comment on the status of talks with Boeing Co. over the 24 Boeing 787 jets it ordered in 2007, following a report he was seeking to renegotiate installment payments. “Talks are ongoing and confidential,” he told reporters on a conference call. In more positive news, BA said it expected its full year fuel bill to be between £450 million and £500 million lower. It also said that its debt had fallen slightly to £2.3 billion. Walsh also played down reports that BA is planning to gearing up to sell control of the trans-Atlantic premium subsidiary Openskies, which last week dropped its service between Amsterdam and New York, leaving just one route between Paris and New York. Wals told reporters he had nothing to add to existing public comment by the airline that it is “reviewing all aspects of its activities.” Source: Home - Livemint.com | 31 Jul 2009 | 1:24 am Sensex extends gains, up 1.75%Indian markets extended its morning gains and was ruling 1.75% up from its last closing figure, even as its Asian peers continued to trade in the green.Source: India Business News | Business News - Times of India | 31 Jul 2009 | 1:21 am Piramal bets big on R&D; to invest Rs 200 cr in next 2 yearsNew Delhi: Betting big on developing new drugs, Piramal Life Sciences (PSL), the R&D arm of Piramal Healthcare said it would pump in Rs200 crore in the next 2 years on research projects. The company has lined up huge investments for developing new drugs and Rs200 crore would be a part of it. “We must have spent Rs1,000 crore already on R&D. Its a gamble...” Piramal Healthcare director Strategic Alliances Swati Piramal told the agency. PSL is a hived-off arm of Piramal healthcare and is working on 14 molecules which are in various stages of development. Piramal said, on an average the development of every molecule requires an investment of around $100 million. By inference, developing 14 molecules would require funding in the region of $1.4 billion (around Rs 7,000 crore) spread over a 12-13 year period. To a query on the sources of funding, she said, “the company is hopeful that one of its molecule may hit the market by 2011-12 bringing in some milestone payments, which would be further reinvested in R&D.” Of the 14 molecules that are in various stages of development, 8 have entered the clinical stage. “Out of the eight molecules, one indicated for head and neck cancer is currently undergoing stage II clinical trials in five different locations,” Piramal said. She said, however, “I have high expectations from the molecule that is indicated for treating diabetes and was recently invited to make oral presentation to an American association.“ PSL is working on four major therapeutic areas- cancers, diabetics and metabolic disorders, inflammatory disorders and infections. To a question whether there were offers from investors to hedge the risk, she said, “yes, they were willing to buy my whole company, but at a pittance. They won’t pay much now.” She added that at this stage multinationals are not willing to pay much and once the molecule crosses phase II clinical stage the valuation will go up and the company may get better returns. Asked for the worst case scenario, she said, “We would lose all our savings. That’s what has happened to thousands of biotech companies that doesn’t exist any more.” Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 31 Jul 2009 | 1:19 am India to be first buyer of Boeing's P-8A PoseidonBoeing on Friday rolled out its first 'P-8A Poseidon', claiming it to be the world's most advanced multi-mission maritime patrol and reconnaissance aircraft, with the Company saying that India would be its first buyer country.Source: India Business News | Business News - Times of India | 31 Jul 2009 | 1:13 am Myanmar delays Suu Kyi verdict to 11 AugustYangon: A Myanmar court on Friday postponed the verdict in the high-profile trial of opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi to 11 August, her lawyer said. Suu Kyi, a Nobel peace prize winner who has spent 14 of the past 20 years in detention, is charged under Section 22 of a law protecting the state from “subversive elements”. A guilty verdict had been widely expected on Friday. “The judge adjourned the trial until 11 August. He didn’t elaborate on the reason why,” lawyer Nyan Win told Reuters. A diplomatic source who attended the proceedings said the verdict was delayed “because of the need to interpret legal terms relating to the 1974 constitution”. The charges stem from a bizarre incident in May when an American intruder, John Yettaw, swam across Inya lake to Suu Kyi’s home, where he stayed uninvited for two days. Prosecutors said this breached the terms of her house arrest. Yettaw told the court in May he had been “sent by God” to warn Suu Kyi she was going to be assassinated. Nyan Win said Suu Kyi was cheerful during Friday’s brief court session and had told him the adjournment was “typical”. Benjamin Zawacki, a Myanmar specialist for Amnesty International, said the repeated adjournments were orchestrated by the junta to make the court appear fair and impartial. “It’s very suspicious since most courts wouldn’t take this long,” he said. “We knew the verdict was decided long ago. This is clearly political and not legal.” Guilty Verdict Expected Suu Kyi’s legal team has argued that she should be acquitted because the law she is charged under was part of the 1974 constitution, which is no longer in use. The prosecution, however, says the charges are relevant because the 1974 constitution was still in force when Suu Kyi’s latest period of house arrest commenced in 2003. The courts routinely favour the military junta, which has ruled Myanmar with an iron hand since a 1962 coup. Verdicts were also postponed for Yettaw and two women who live with Suu Kyi and who face charges similar to hers. Suu Kyi faces five years in prison if found guilty. Yettaw is charged with immigration offences and for the municipal violation of swimming in a non-swimming area. Myanmar could improve ties with the United States, which has long imposed sanctions on Myanmar, if it released Suu Kyi, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said at a regional security forum earlier this month in Thailand. But neither Western sanctions nor a strategy of engagement by Myanmar’s neighbours in Southeast Asia has achieved much over the years. Burma occupies a strategic place between Asian powers India and China and both have been reluctant to apply pressure on the generals. In Washington on Thursday, President Barack Obama and his Philippine counterpart, Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, voiced concern about Myanmar’s human rights record. Opponents of Myanmar’s military government say the trial is an attempt to keep Suu Kyi in detention before and during elections next year, which they say will be a sham intended to legitimise the regime. Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 31 Jul 2009 | 1:09 am Low-cost insulin pump highlights tech transfer gapsBangalore: Bipin Nair is learning. The dean of the school of biotechnology at Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham in Kollam, Kerala has been in the science domain for at least 25 years. Now, he’s busy learning about technology transfer as he tries to take an insulin pump to the market.  Marketing edge: Bipin Nair of Amrita University is struggling to get a licensee who can keep the price low in bringing the device to the market. Nair is discovering that this isn’t easy. He has to reconcile research, business imperatives, and an institutional value system that insists that costs be kept low. Nair’s group at Amrita has developed an insulin pump, which could sell for one-tenth of the prices of existing devices that are currently imported in India and sold for between $4,000 (around Rs1.94 lakh) and $8,000. Inspired by the sweeping adoption of mobile phones, Nair’s team has designed the gadget to be more user friendly. “Most other pumps are only splash-resistant; we are close to being water-resistant,” says Nair, who returned to India in 2005 after a decade-long stint in the US, to set up a biotech institute that is also one of the core biomed technology centres of the department of science and technology, or DST. An insulin pump is a pager-like device that supplies a slow and steady insulin stream to the body of diabetics. The basic model doesn’t measure the sugar level but high-end models have in-built sensors that measure the glucose level and pump insulin accordingly. Even as Nair drives his team to develop the advanced micro-electro-mechanical system-based version of the pump, and even disposable ones, Nair is “struggling” to get a licensee who can keep the price low in bringing the device to the market. He thinks the prevailing price is high due to a monopolistic market. According to market research firm MindBranch, insulin pump makers Disetronic and MiniMed control 70% of the insulin pump market globally. Then, Nair also has to worry about the technology being bought out by multinationals which don’t necessarily productize competitive technology. Click here to listen to Shrikumar Suryanarayan of the Association of Biotechnology Led Enterprises, talk about why India’s medical devices industry is still in nascent stages -- and what needs to happen for it to take off. “This is the story of this sector (medical devices) in this country but Nair shouldn’t be rigid on pricing,” says H. Vijaykumar, chief executive for Sidd Life Sciences Pvt. Ltd in Chennai, a company that makes three out of a pipeline of about 15 products used in open heart surgeries. “If companies get high competitive edge on the cost of manufacturing, then they would be attracted as multinationals will keep adding features on their existing products and play the superiority game as this sector has very long marketing gestation.” Vijaykumar has been there, done that. Prior to joining Sidd, he was part of the team that developed India’s first artificial heart valve at Sree Chitra Tirunal Institute of Medical Sciences and Technology at Thiruvananthapuram that has been in use for about 15 years. The technology for the valve, which costs at least one-third of the imported ones, has been licensed to Bangalore-based TTK Healthcare for large-scale commercialization. The Indian medical devices industry, worth about Rs15,000 crore according to the newly-formed Association of Indian Medical Device Industry, or AIMED, is dominated by imports. It’s a territory left almost unexplored by Indian companies. One of the reasons, also leading to the chicken-and-egg syndrome, is a lack of regulation. The revised guidelines of Central Drugs Standard Control Organization (CDSCO), which took four years in making and will govern the medical devices in a phased manner, is now open for comments. It’ll probably take six to eight months to become law, says the industry. “There is no interim guideline so the CDSCO is not issuing manufacturing licences and we are losing business,” said Rajiv Nath, principal forum coordinator of AIMED and joint managing director of Hindustan Syringes and Medical Devices. In the recent past, CDSCO has issued 700 licences for imports but only 45 for manufacturing, he added. Nair, who developed the pump under a generous DST grant, has had to run from pillar to post before he finally discovered that the insulin pump is not covered under the lean list of products under CDSCO —the product could just be produced and marketed. But he is following the European CE marking (a European Union certifying standard) guidelines. “We’d better be safe than sorry; in the past some insulin pumps have been recalled from the market due to functional defects,” he notes, even as some of his innovations, such as the duel microprocessor control and the complementary software, offer better control of insulin delivery in the device. Experts say long-term view of policies is needed so that start-ups—where, traditionally, most new technologies get invented—don’t get wiped out. The current attitude of granting licences to only large entities setting up big plants will ruin this sector, says Nath. On the other hand, there’s a danger of disruption to the distribution model as it has happened in the West, Europe particularly, says Nath, where a changing marketing landscape has led manufacturers to directly sell to large hospitals. “In a large, diversified market like India, the role of distributors is important.” On their part, funding agencies have increased their support for research and development, including the ongoing Stanford-India Biodesign Project at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences in New Delhi, but industry will be attracted only when the regulatory environment improves. “India will have 45 million diabetics by 2020. Even if a fraction of that population uses the insulin pump, which is increasingly being recommended not only for type I but type II diabetics as well, there’s at least Rs500 crore market out there,” says Nair. seema.s@livemint.com Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 31 Jul 2009 | 1:08 am Asia stocks hit 11-month high, recovery strengthensHong Kong: Asian stocks pushed higher on Friday and were poised to score double-digit gains in July as investors keep pouring funds on bets the region’s growth engine will lead the global economy out of recession. South Korea’s benchmark KOSPI index hit a one-year high and Japan’s Nikkei average rose to a 10-month peak as upbeat corporate earnings reports around the world have been viewed as more evidence that companies are coping well and poised to benefit from any recovery. Shares of Sony Corp jumped 6.4% after it posted a smaller-than-expected loss the previous day, even as shares of Nintendo Co slid after saying quarterly profits fell due to slowing demand for its popular Wii game console. South Korea offered more evidence of the Asia’s strengthening recovery, lifting the won to a 9-1/2-month high. Industrial production jumped 5.7% in June, more than twice as fast as expected and a sixth straight monthly increase. “Earnings for the April-June quarter have been stronger than expected and there has been a fair number of upward forecast revisions, all of which is improving sentiment and keeping the market supported,” said Yumi Nishimura, deputy general manager in the investment advisory section at Daiwa Securities SMBC in Tokyo. Market players are looking ahead to US data on the economy’s performance in the second quarter, due later in the day. Some economists believe it could mark the end of the sharp contraction as signs point to growth resuming in the second half of the year. Oil prices extended gains along with other commodities, giving a boost to energy shares such as Sinopec Corp. The dollar and government bonds lost ground as investors turned to risky assets, such as higher-yielding currencies and equities. Foreign investors are favouring emerging markets and Asia in a big way, with inflows into Asian equity funds excluding Japan totalling $1.6 billion in the week ending on Wednesday - the biggest inflow among emerging market groups. Much of that money is being pulled out of money market funds. Japan has also seen revived foreign buying of stocks. Data from the Ministry of Finance showed that foreign equity purchases last week were the biggest in three months. A monthly Reuters asset allocation poll found that leading global funds have boosted their holdings of stocks back to the highest levels since the collapse of Lehman Brothers while cutting cash holdings to the lowest until May 2007. The MSCI index of Asia-Pacific stocks outside Japan rose 1.7% to reach an 11-month high and the highest level since just before the collapse of US investment bank Lehman Brothers. For July, the MSCI benchmark for Asia was up 12%, scoring its fourth double-digit gain in the past five months on China’s economic rebound. This year’s elections in Indonesia and India have also been seen as spurring investor-friendly reforms and haves parked big gains in those markets. The Shanghai Composite Index climbed 2% and was up slightly on the week, erasing Wednesday’s 5 percent sell-off, a slide that raised worries that the nearly 90% bull run in Chinese shares could start to reverse. Even the worries that China and some parts of Asia were in the early stages of stock and property bubbles has done little to stem the move higher. Credit markets have also been on a tear higher. The iTraxx index of spreads on high-grade companies in Asia ex-Japan has shrunk 54 basis points this month to 132.5 basis points, the lowest since mid-2008 as investors have favoured corporate debt. The dollar slipped as funds moved out of the safe-haven US currency. The dollar index dropped 0.5% to 78.932 and retreated back near a seven-month low hit earlier in the week. The euro climbed 0.5% to $1.4138, and the dollar dipped 0.4% to yen95.21. Japanese government bonds fell further as stocks continued their run higher. The benchmark 10-year yield rose 3 basis points to 1.415% to a one-month high, with yields up 6.5 basis points on the month. US crude oil prices were up 82 cents to $67.76 a barrel, while gold gained $6 an ounce to $939.10. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 31 Jul 2009 | 1:03 am Loss-hit Air India cancels 5 Boeing orders: ReportIndian flagship carrier Air India, struggling with massive losses, has cancelled orders for five Boeing 777 planes, a report said on Friday.Source: India Business News | Business News - Times of India | 31 Jul 2009 | 1:02 am Sensex extends gains, up 1.75 percentA key index of the Indian equities markets extended its morning gains Friday and was ruling 1.75 percent up from its last closing figure, even as its Asian peers continued to trade in the green.Source: IndiaeNews.com: Business News | 31 Jul 2009 | 1:02 am Delhiites to switch off lights to save power FridayMany parts of the capital are expected to go dark as the clock strikes 8.30 p.m. Friday with Delhiites planning to voluntarily switch off non-essential lights for one hour to save power.Source: IndiaeNews.com: Business News | 31 Jul 2009 | 1:01 am Relief package soon for services exports industry: MinisterThe government is looking at a relief package to exporters of services, who contribute over 40 percent to India's total export basket, in the foreign trade policy to be announced in August, Commerce Minister Anand Sharma said Friday.Source: IndiaeNews.com: Business News | 31 Jul 2009 | 1:00 am Vedanta Q1 EBITDA halves as price falls hit revenueLONDON (Reuters) - India-focused metals group Vedanta Resources said on Friday that first-quarter core earnings had more than halved after a sharp decline in metals prices.Source: Reuters: Money News | 31 Jul 2009 | 12:54 am Rupee gains on inflow hopes as shares riseMumbai: The Indian rupee strengthened on Friday as a firm start in the sharemarket raised expectations for more capital inflows, and weakness in the dollar versus majors overseas also underpinned sentiment. At 10:10am, the partially convertible rupee was at 48.17/18 per dollar, 0.4% above its close of 48.35/36 on Thursday, when the unit dropped as low as 48.58, its weakest since 22 July. “There are inflows today, all major custodian banks are selling dollars, but the rupee is unlikely to move up very fast as state-run banks are buying, probably for oil companies,” a senior dealer with a foreign bank said. “It’s likely to trade in a 48.10-48.30 range today, unless there are very significant inflows,” he added. Oil is India’s biggest import and refiners are the largest buyers of dollars in the local currency market. Demand for dollars tends to peak at month-end when payments for imports are generally made. Shares rose 2% in early trade, tracking stronger Asian peers and a Wall Street rally after a set of solid corporate results overseas revived hopes for a global economic recovery. Foreign funds have bought a net $7.1 billion worth of shares this year, following net sales of more than $13 billion in 2008. Dealers suspected inflows from the Adani Power initial public offer (IPO), which were seen on Thursday, would likely continue on the last day of the offer. The IPO opened on 28 July. One-month offshore non-deliverable forward contracts were quoting at 48.19/29, steady with the onshore spot rate. The dollar slipped on Friday as growing hopes for a global recovery prompted investors to pick up riskier assets such as stocks, pushing up higher-yielding currencies. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 31 Jul 2009 | 12:35 am DLF net profit down 79 percent in first quarterRealty major DLF Friday reported a 79 percent drop in its net profit to Rs.396 crore for the quarter ended June 30 from Rs.1,863.97 crore in the same quarter, the previous fiscal.Source: IndiaeNews.com: Business News | 31 Jul 2009 | 12:30 am Life insurance industry hit by slowdown, says ministerNew Delhi: Slowdown in the economy has trimmed growth in premium income of Indian insurers in FY09, Union minister of state for finance Namo Narain Meena said in a written reply to Parliament on Friday. The minister said the total premium income of market leader Life Insurance Corp grew 4.45% to Rs1.56 trillion in FY09, lower than the 17.19% expansion seen in 2007-08. The overall premium income of all the life insurers stood at Rs2.24 trillion at the end of FY09, compared with Rs2.01 trillion in the previous year. “In the year 2008-09, the pace of growth in the insurance sector has slowed down which may be a result of the economic slowdown during the period,” Meena said. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 31 Jul 2009 | 12:30 am Non-life PSU insurers park funds in G-Secs, bank CDsBangalore, July 30 To secure their investments, non-life insurers have moved back to government securities and public sector bank certificates of depositsSource: Business Line - Home Page | 31 Jul 2009 | 12:00 am SBI net rises 42% in Q1The country’s largest bank State Bank of India has posted a 42 per cent rise in net profit at Rs 2,330 crore for the first quarter ended June 30, aided by a robust growth in ‘other income’. The bank had reported a net profit ofSource: Business Line - Home Page | 31 Jul 2009 | 12:00 am Ambani gas case: Apex court to fix date for final hearingNew Delhi, July 30 The Supreme Court on Thursday indicated that it would decide on September 1 the date of final hearing of the cross-appeals filed by both Ambani group firms, as also a petition by the Centre against a Bombay High Court orderSource: Business Line - Home Page | 31 Jul 2009 | 12:00 am L&T Finance not looking at equity listing for nowL&T Finance Ltd (LTF), a non-banking finance company, is not looking at a listing of its equity shares for now, its Chairman, Mr Y.M. Deosthalee, has said.Source: Business Line - Home Page | 31 Jul 2009 | 12:00 am SAIL profit drops 28% on lower prices, higher input costsNew Delhi, July 30 Steel Authority of India Ltd (SAIL) on Thursday reported a 27.7 per cent drop in its net profit at Rs 1,326.09 crore for the first quarter ended June 30, 2009, compared with Rs 1,835.19 crore in the same period of last year.Source: Business Line - Home Page | 31 Jul 2009 | 12:00 am Day Trading GuideBuy DLF in dips with tight stop at Rs 389. Initiate fresh long-position if ICICI Bank surpasses Rs 774 and SBI climbs above Rs 1750, with tight stop-loss. Fresh long position can beSource: Business Line - Home Page | 31 Jul 2009 | 12:00 am ICSA India (Rs 187.35): BuyWe recommend a buy in ICSA India from a short-term perspective. It is evident from the charts that the stock was in a medium-term downtrend from a June high of Rs 214 to a July low of Rs 138. The band between Rs 138 and Rs 150 is a key long-termSource: Business Line - Home Page | 31 Jul 2009 | 12:00 am Overseas borrowing gets easier for India IncThe credit squeeze in the overseas markets, especially for India Inc, appears to be easing. Not just the bluechip corporates, even mid-size and small Indian companies are now able to mop up foreign currency resources in view of the positiveSource: Business Line - Home Page | 31 Jul 2009 | 12:00 am Inflation rate falls for 7th straight week to 1.54%New Delhi, July 30 The annual Wholesale Price Index fell for a seventh straight week, declining 1.54 per cent in the week to July 18 after falling 1.17 per cent on a year-on-year basis in the previous week, the Government said on Thursday.Source: Business Line - Home Page | 31 Jul 2009 | 12:00 am Govt to probe ‘some’ violation of norms in rice exportsNew Delhi, July 30 The Government today refuted allegations of a “scam” in the export of non-basmati rice to African countries even while assuring the agitated Opposition members that it would examine some cases where the State-ownedSource: Business Line - Home Page | 31 Jul 2009 | 12:00 am MetLife posts $1.4 bn quarterly net lossNew York: MetLife, the largest US life insurer, posted a quarterly net loss of $1.4 billion on Thursday, as investment losses took their toll. But the New York-based insurer’s operating earnings, which excluded the investment losses, were better than expected, helped by stronger premium and fee income. Its shares rose about 1.3% in after-hours trading. MetLife’s net loss was equal to $1.74 a share, compared with a profit of $915 million, or $1.26 a share, a year ago. The loss included after-tax realized losses of $2.6 billion — $1.8 billion of which stemmed from losses on derivatives. Derivatives are a type of structured investment tied to the value of underlying assets. MetLife’s derivatives losses largely stemmed from improvement in the company’s own credit spreads, hitting the valuation of its insurance liabilities by about $1 billion. It also recorded some losses on derivatives used to hedge interest rates and foreign-currency fluctuations. MetLife said the writedowns were consistent with its expectations. “I did not expect such a huge net loss,” said Alan Rambaldini, an analyst with Morningstar in Chicago. Still, MetLife’s operating results were “pretty consistent,” said Rambaldini. “There were slow, steady incremental steps, but full recovery really depends on how the (broader) markets react,” he added. Life insurers such as MetLife and its next-biggest rival, Prudential Financial, which reports earnings next week, have been particularly susceptible to recent turmoil in the credit markets. The industry as a whole holds trillions of dollars of investments, and is one of America’s biggest commercial real estate investors. Excluding the losses, MetLife’s operating earnings were $723 million, or 88 cents a share, compared with $887 million, or $1.22 a share, in the year-ago period. Analysts on average expected MetLife to post operating earnings of 68 cents a share, according to Reuters Estimates. Premiums, fees and other revenue rose 6% to $8.4 billion. But net investment income fell 10% to $3.9 billion. MetLife, like some of its rivals, said it had reduced its holding of short-term investments by $21.3 billion, opting to put more cash into longer-term, higher-yielding assets. Retirement Planning MetLife said its annuities business saw a 43% increase in deposits in the quarter, stemming from a record $4.5 billion in variable annuity deposits. Life insurers are seeing increased demand for annuities as Americans begin to deploy cash more actively into retirement investments. Variable annuities are much like mutual fund investments, except they include features such as a guaranteed stream of retirement income. But MetLife’s strong balance sheet is helping it stand out against rivals. “MetLife, unlike some of the other companies, is benefiting from a ‘flight to quality,´” said Morningstar’s Rambaldini. Unlike half a dozen of its peers, MetLife never asked to be included in TARP, a federal funding program originally intended for banks, instead tapping capital markets when it needed to bolster capital. The company’s net worth, or the book value of its equity, rose about 18% in the quarter to roughly $25 billion. Shares closed up 4% at $33.57 on Thursday and were up 1.3% at $34 in after-hours trading. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 30 Jul 2009 | 11:52 pm Earnings reports extend market’s big July rallyNew York: Stocks added to an already impressive run as another round of earnings reports gave investors new reasons to be optimistic about the economy. The Dow Jones industrial average rose 84 points on Thursday and the Nasdaq composite index traded above 2,000 for the first time since October. According to preliminary calculations, the Dow rose 83.74, or 0.9%, to 9,154.46 after being up as much as 176 points. The Standard & Poor’s 500 index rose 11.60, or 1.2%, to 986.75. It rose to nearly 997 during the day. It hasn’t traded above 1,000 since November. The Nasdaq advanced 16.54, or 0.9%, to 1,984.30. It rose to nearly 2,010 in morning trading, its first move above 2,000 since 3 October. The index is up 56% from its low of 1,269 in March. The latest reports struck on a theme that has played out for weeks: Times are tough but companies aren’t doing as badly as had been feared. Many have chopped costs to produce profits well beyond the market’s modest expectations. With one day to go, the Dow is up 8.4% this month, its strongest July since 1989, when it gained 9%. A much-anticipated report on the overall output of the economy is sure to drive the market’s direction on Friday. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 30 Jul 2009 | 11:17 pm Sensex surges over 310 points to a year's highThe Bombay Stock Exchange benchmark index Sensex surged by over 310 points to the highest in this year in early trade today.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 30 Jul 2009 | 11:13 pm Sensex surges over 310 points to a year's highSensex surged by over 310 points to the highest in this year in early trade on increased capital inflows by foreign funds on the back of impressive corporate earnings.Source: India Business News | Business News - Times of India | 30 Jul 2009 | 11:05 pm Sensex opens in green, takes cue from global marketsA key index of the Indian equities markets opened in the green Friday taking cues from its Asian peers and a good showing by the US markets Thursday. It was ruling 255 points up about five minutes into trade.Source: IndiaeNews.com: Business News | 30 Jul 2009 | 11:00 pm Rupee rises by 13 paise to $48.21 in early tradeThe Indian rupee strengthened by 13 paise in early trade on expectations of fund inflows and weakness in the US currency against other Asian currencies.Source: India Business News | Business News - Times of India | 30 Jul 2009 | 10:34 pm U.S. auto "clunker" program limit, new funding soughtWASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. government's $1 billion "cash for clunkers" auto sales incentive program reached its funding limit unexpectedly after an avalanche of business exhausted its funds, an Obama administration official said late Thursday.Source: Reuters: Money News | 30 Jul 2009 | 10:20 pm Oil rises above $67 on renewed economic recovery hopesBy * Oil extends 5.7 pct rise above $67 on bullish jobless data * But oil still headed for first monthly fall since January * Japan’s Nikkei hits 10-month high;markets eyes Q2 U.S. GDP Singapore: Oil extended gains above $67 a barrel on Friday, after a 5.7% jump in the previous session on US data and earnings which renewed hopes of an economic recovery and drove up equity and commodities markets. But the latest jump merely erased Wednesday’s hefty losses on rising US crude inventories and falling refinery utilisation, with oil heading for its first monthly percentage fall since January of around 4%. US light crude for September delivery rose 26 cents to $67.20 a barrel by 0304 GMT, having settled up $3.59, or 5.67% at $66.94, its biggest one-day gain since 9 April. London Brent crude gained 20 cents to $70.31. “Short-term fundamentals are weak but prices are moving up on expectations of an economic recovery. The market is driven by the medium and longer-term outlook,” said Tony Nunan, risk manager at Tokyo-based Mitsubishi Corp. Markets rose on Thursday on government data showing the number of US workers staying on jobless rolls fell to the lowest in three months last week, while the four-week moving average for new claims dropped by 8,250 to 559,000 — the lowest level since late January. Support also came from data showing euro zone economic sentiment increased in July to its highest level in eight months, helping to lift European equities to their highest close in nearly nine months. Asian stocks markets extended gains on Friday, with Japan’s Nikkei average rising 1.4% to hit a 10-month high while stocks outside of Japan were up 1.15%. Thursday’s 5.7% jump came on the heels of Wednesday’s 5.8% loss stemming from a 5.1 million barrels build in US crude inventories and a 1.2% point fall in refinery utilisation, and traders said volatility would remain high. “We continue to anticipate an unusually tough trading environment in which price follow-through in either direction is unlikely to be sustained by more than 10% or much more than 1 or 2 weeks,” said Jim Ritterbusch, president of US energy adviser Ritterbusch and Associates. Historical volatility rose to its highest level since May this week but implied volatility is more subdued at around 45%, well off early-July peaks. This suggests the options market is feeling more at ease with oil’s recent $60-$70 range, even though the swings within it are more pronounced. The market will be keeping its eyes trained on advance US second-quarter GDP figures, to be released at 1230 GMT, for further signs of an economic recovery. US President Barack Obama braced the country for more bad economic news on Thursday, saying the figures would show the economy contracted and job losses were still a “huge” problem. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 30 Jul 2009 | 9:57 pm Disney profit beats Wall Street, shares slideLos Angeles: Walt Disney Co posted a 26% plunge in quarterly earnings on Thursday, underlining the continuing effects of the recession on advertising and consumer spending, but beat Wall Street forecasts by a hair. Disney shares slid by as much as 3.5% before changing direction to recover all their losses in after-hours trading. Investors dumped shares after the No. 1 US entertainment company missed revenue expectations and met its earnings target mainly through cost-cutting, Caris & Co analyst David Miller said. “It looks like it was a cost-driven quarter,” Miller added. Disney chief executive Bob Iger told analysts on a conference call that the company sees, “signs of economic stabilization, but the pace and strength of the recovery remain uncertain.” Disney’s two profit powerhouses, its cable networks and theme parks, seemed to have stopped a free-fall in sales for a second quarter, but have not yet turned a corner to return to growth. Net income in the fiscal third quarter, ended 27 June, was $954 million, or 51 cents per share, compared with $1.3 billion, or 66 cents a share, in the year-ago third quarter. Excluding certain items, Disney had a profit of 52 cents a share compared with analysts’ average expectation of 51 cents, according to Reuters Estimates. Third-quarter revenue fell 7% to $8.59 billion from a year ago and lagged the $8.84 billion expected on average by analysts, according to Reuters Estimates. “There were not a lot of surprises. Nothing stands out of the ordinary or anything that people would not be braced for,” Edward Jones analyst Robin Diedrich said. “In terms of cable networks, they’re doing pretty good and we expected them to do a little better than some of the others (media companies). The broadcasting was, not surprisingly, more difficult,” Diedrich said. ‘A TURN IN THE STOCK MARKET´ Operating profit slid 13% at Media Networks, with a stronger performance by sports network ESPN and other cable networks masking weaker ad sales and ratings, coupled with higher programming costs, at the ABC broadcast network. A deferral of affiliate revenue, fewer National Basketball League games and continued weakness in several major ad categories hit ESPN’s revenue and profit in the quarter. Quarterly ad revenues at ESPN, adjusted for the missing games, were down about 10% compared with last year’s third quarter, Disney chief financial officer Tom Staggs said. Staggs said Disney was still in the midst of upfront advertising sales and was “comfortable” with the prices ABC was commanding. The network expects to sell less upfront inventory this year, as some major ad buyers are sitting on the sidelines, but believes it is well positioned for spot sales later in the quarter, Staggs said. Miller said Staggs assessment was “pretty universal so far in terms of what we heard from peer media companies in this earnings period. “There is a turn in the stock market, but no change in core business yet.” Deep hotel and ticket discounts at Disney’s domestic theme parks pulled in visitors, raising attendance by 3%, but sliced revenue by 9% and profits by 19%. Fourth quarter bookings were running 7% behind last year when an extra week in the fiscal quarter was excluded, Staggs said. The Disney executives declined to say whether the discounts would be discontinued, as planned, this fall. Disney Studios turned to a loss and saw revenue drop by 12% on weak DVD sales and TV distribution and on a less popular release slate, including “Bedtime Stories,” “Tales of A Shopaholic” and “Bolt,” compared with 2008’s “National Treasure 2” and “Enchanted.” A dismal retail environment and the loss of royalties from Disney Stores North America, which Disney reacquired last year, coupled with lower licensing royalties drove down Consumer Products revenue by 10% and profits by 37% in the quarter. Disney’s Interactive Media Segment cut its prior year quarterly loss on lower costs, but weaker sales of its games cut revenues by 20%. The entertainment and media conglomerate’s shares were flat in after-hours trading after closing at $26.22 on the New York Stock Exchange. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 30 Jul 2009 | 9:34 pm DLF Q1 net plunges, sees better days aheadNew Delhi: DLF Ltd, India’s top real estate firm, reported a 79% drop in quarterly net profit on lower sales but said calm was returning after the sector was hit by sluggish demand and a crash in prices. New Delhi-based DLF said consolidated net profit fell to Rs3.96 billion ($82 million) in its fiscal first-quarter ended June from Rs18.64 billion a year earlier. Revenue fell 55% from a year earlier to Rs17.46 billion, the company said in a statement late on Thursday. “The economy on the whole has been showing signs of recovery, and activity in real estate sector has picked up suitably,” DLF vice chairman Rajiv Singh said in a statement. While down sharply from a year earlier, DLF’s fiscal first-quarter net profit was more than double the Rs1.59 billion it reported in the fourth quarter of 2008/09 financial year that ended in March. “The construction activity has gained momentum and response to new launches has been encouraging. Going forward, we expect the scenario to improve further,” Singh said. Ahead of the results, shares in DLF, valued at about $14 billion, closed 1% higher at Rs402.10 on Thursday. The shares have risen about 43% this year, compared with a rise of nearly 60% in the main index. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 30 Jul 2009 | 9:15 pm Anil Ambani: A bogey is being raised To bail out RIL - Economic Times
Source: Business - Google News | 30 Jul 2009 | 9:06 pm Have put in corrective measures at Mandideep plant: LupinVineeta Gupta, Group President and CEO, Lupin, said the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has become vigilant in investigations and inspections of facilities under pressure from the US government. She said they have met the US FDA officials facetoface on issues concerning Mandideep.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 30 Jul 2009 | 2:36 pm Cost controls burnish airline metricsAt 75-76% load factor, it is technically impossible to make money (at today's yield).Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 30 Jul 2009 | 1:57 pm VCs gun for Google wannabesA host of start-ups are fighting it out on the local turf across platforms -- online, voice, SMS and of course print.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 30 Jul 2009 | 1:55 pm DLF sales and profit crashDLF Ltd, the largest real estate developer in the country, reported a year-on-year decline of about 79% in net profit for the quarter ended June.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 30 Jul 2009 | 1:52 pm Telcos wring hands as cancer bogey brings down signal towersOperators are grouping up to start a campaign to convince people that mobile telephony is safe.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 30 Jul 2009 | 1:49 pm Tata Steel asked to shut down coke oven batteryThe Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) has asked Tata Steel to shut down its coke oven battery at the flagship Jamshedpur steel plant.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 30 Jul 2009 | 1:48 pm Essar Shipping debt sails in choppy credit martCo close to tying up Rs 2,460 cr debt for three plans; major expansion plans on.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 30 Jul 2009 | 1:46 pm Apex court declines RNRLs plea for Sept 1 settlementAnil Ambanis hopes for an early resolution of his two-year-old dispute with elder brother Mukesh Ambanis Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) over the price of gas from the Krishna Godavari (K-G) basin faded today, with the Supreme Court turning down his Reliance Natural Resource Ltds appeal to take up the case for final hearing on September 1.??The date was originally set for the court to decide when to start the final hearing on cross-appeals submitted by RIL and RNRL lastSource: Business Standard | Front Page Headlines | 30 Jul 2009 | 1:21 pm A bogey is being raised to bail out RIL The legal battle between RIL & RNRL over supply of gas from the KG basin has taken on political overtones. Anil Ambani speaks to TOI about the controversy.Source: India Business News | Business News - Times of India | 30 Jul 2009 | 1:04 pm Europe plays 'blue card' to bridge skill gapThe EU adopts an immigrant work permit but it is unlikely to surpass the US green card in appeal.Source: Business Standard | Front Page Headlines | 30 Jul 2009 | 12:47 pm A-I gets govt nod for wage revisionsMajor progress has been made in Air Indias attempts to cut costs, with the Committee of Secretaries (CoS) giving its board permission to rework wage agreements and the airlines dozen-odd unions adopting a more accommodating stance on the issue.Source: Business Standard | Front Page Headlines | 30 Jul 2009 | 12:44 pm Working for their bread and butter, literally: BritanniaVinita Bali said, \"We could expect to see growth anywhere between 912% for the entire market and within that our challenge is going to be how we grow ahead of the market.\"Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 30 Jul 2009 | 10:52 am Taro calls shareholder meet over financialsNew Delhi: Israeli drug maker Taro Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd, which was dragged to an Israeli court by majority owner Sun Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd for not disclosing financial details with shareholders for the last three years, has decided to conduct a shareholder meeting. The move follows a letter from one of Taro’s large institutional investors Franklin Templeton Investments over the audit of Taro’s financial statements. In a filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on Tuesday, Taro Pharma said it intends to call an extraordinary general meeting of shareholders shortly, when it will update shareholders on the progress of the audits. Taro had neither conducted a meeting of shareholders nor published financial annual reports since 2005. The company’s last available annual report on its website is for the year ended December 2005. “A disclosure of financial statements by Taro would be a significant help for Sun Pharma to defeat Taro’s claims that Sun has undervalued the company in a 2007 share purchase agreement,” said a person tracking the legal battle between Sun Pharma and Taro over an unilaterally terminated acquisition deal. In its SEC filing, Taro’s stated that Franklin Templeton had expressed concern over the delay in issuing its audited financial statements for 2006-2008 and that it had requested it to convene a shareholders’ meeting. Sun Pharma, which has acquired a 36% stake in Taro, had last year filed a lawsuit in an Israeli court seeking an order instructing Taro to conduct shareholders meeting to share its audited financial details. A decision on the plea is still awaited. Sun Pharma had in May 2007 agreed to buy Taro for $454 million. But, after a year, Taro unilaterally terminated the agreement alleging that the deal was at discounted valuation. Since then, Sun Pharma has been fighting a legal battle to force the Israeli company to honour the deal. A tender offer issued by Sun Pharma to US-listed Taro shareholders is also pending due to the ongoing law suits. Source: World Business - Livemint.com | 30 Jul 2009 | 10:43 am Jet Airways owes Service Tax Department Rs260crJet Airways owes Rs 260 crores to the service tax department. Mint\'s PR Sanjai reports that no service tax had been paid on import of services for the past three years. Jet has now been asked to pay Rs 247.47 crore as tax for FY06FY08, with interest.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 30 Jul 2009 | 5:19 am Ambani case: Govt to modify SLP; SC to hear plea on Sep 1RIL and the government support RNRL plea for an early hearing, reports CNBCTV18. The Supreme Court said it will consider the plea and has asked parties to come back on September 1. Mahesh Agarwal, Counsel for RNRL, said the government has taken back its SLP for amendment.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 30 Jul 2009 | 4:57 am Ambani gas case to come up for mentioning in SC todayThe government counsel has said that the government supported an early hearing of RILRNRL case and the matter will come up for mentioning in the Supreme Court today, Mr Mohan Parasaran the Additional solicitor general and the lead attorney on behalf of the government in this case told CNBCTV18 this fact.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 30 Jul 2009 | 3:32 am
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