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Sunflag Iron cautiously optimistic going forwardIn an interview with CNBCTV18, ER Shekhar, Director of Sunflag Iron Steel, spoke about the latest happenings in his company and sector.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 4 Feb 2010 | 8:46 am Expect Rs 1K cr in FY10 sales from watches segment: TitanBhaskar Bhat, Managing Director, Titan, says diamond jewellery currently accounts for 25% of sales. He plans to scale it up to 40%. Tier II and Tier III cities ae growing more rapidly, he sated. \"Growth was high in the last quarter due to the festive and wedding season.\"Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 4 Feb 2010 | 8:34 am Israeli SC bars Sun Pharma from increasing Taro stakeThe Israeli Supreme Court has upheld its earlier injunction barring Indias Sun Pharmaceutical from exercising warrants to purchase additional shares in Israels Taro.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 4 Feb 2010 | 8:29 am Price hike to hurt consumers marginally: Indraprastha GasIn an interview with CNBCTV, Rajesh Ved Vyas, Managing Director of Indraprastha Gas spoke about his outlook for gas prices going forward.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 4 Feb 2010 | 8:20 am Seeing pressure on selling price of CPC: Goa CarbonIn an interview with CNBCTV18, JJ Chabra, Chief Executive Officer, Goa Carbon, speaks about the latest happenings in his company and sector.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 4 Feb 2010 | 8:16 am See signs of discretionary spending in H210: TCSS Mahalingam, CFO and Executive Director, Tata Consultancy Services, says protectionism is an issue.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 4 Feb 2010 | 8:14 am Vodafone says India arm posts 13.8% revenue riseThe Vodafone Group said its revenues from the Indian market grew, albeit at a lower rate compared to the previous quarter, due to a pricing war that offset growth in customer numbers.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 4 Feb 2010 | 8:11 am NASSCOM cuts 201011 IT export forecastSoftware and services exports in the year to March 2011 will be less than earlier expected as the sector\'s growth has not been crankedup enough by the recovering global economy.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 4 Feb 2010 | 7:37 am To derive Rs 500cr rev in current yr: Sabero OrganicsIn an interview with CNBCTV18, Sumit Chuganee, Vice Chairman of Sabero Organics, spoke about his outlook for the company.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 4 Feb 2010 | 7:30 am India`s appetite for coal expected to rise sharplyCoal powers more than half of India\'s electricity plants and demand for the commodity is expected to rise sharply as the thirdlargest Asian economy expands at a fast clip.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 4 Feb 2010 | 7:27 am BSE, NSE to hold special trading on Saturday!Top two stock markets will have a special 90-minute trading session on Saturday, to enable the National Stock Exchange test an upgraded trading system, the NSE and the Bombay Stock Exchange said on their websites.Source: Zee News : Business | 4 Feb 2010 | 7:01 am Toyota faces US, Japan probe on Prius brakes!Toyota faced fresh doubts about braking problems in its prized Prius, with complaints ballooning to about 180 in the US and Japan.Source: Zee News : Business | 4 Feb 2010 | 7:01 am Sensex opens lower by 79 points on global cues!Sensex on Wednesday fell by 79 points in opening trade on selling in metal, capital goods and realty stocks by funds, which took cues from weak global markets.Source: Zee News : Business | 4 Feb 2010 | 7:01 am Seven plead not guilty in USD 52 million Galleon case!Seven traders and lawyers have pleaded not guilty to the USD 52 million insider trading scam, one of the largest in American history, in which Sri Lankan billionaire Raj Rajaratnam is alleged to be the ringleader.Source: Zee News : Business | 4 Feb 2010 | 7:01 am Monster to pay $225 mn for Yahoo`s HotJobs site!Monster Worldwide Inc said on Wednesday that it will buy Yahoo Inc`s HotJobs site for USD 225 million in cash, citing an improving job market.Source: Zee News : Business | 4 Feb 2010 | 7:01 am SC grants bail to PriceWater auditor in Satyam case!The Supreme Court on Thursday granted bail to PriceWaterhouseCoopers auditor Srinivas Talluri who was arrested in Satyam fraud case for allegedly conniving with its founder B Ramalinga Raju and other aides.Source: Zee News : Business | 4 Feb 2010 | 7:01 am Food inflation rises to 17.56%!Food inflation inched up to 17.56 percent for the week ended January 23 on account of rising prices of potato and pulses.Source: Zee News : Business | 4 Feb 2010 | 7:01 am Markets close down 1.6% on weak global cuesMumbai: Indian shares fell 1.6% on Thursday, weighed down losses in world equities. Metals stocks led the drop. The 30-share BSE index ended down 1.64% or 271.10 points at 16,243.36, with only three of its components gaining. The 50-share NSE index closed down 1.7% at 4,845.35 points. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 4 Feb 2010 | 3:02 am FACTBOX - Latest trends and outlook of smartphone makersSEOUL (Reuters) - South Korea's Samsung Electronics Co Ltd aims to treble smartphone shipments this year as the world's second-biggest cellphone maker scrambles to make a mark in the fast-growing smartphone market.Source: Reuters: Money News | 4 Feb 2010 | 3:01 am Air India likely to have Rs 1 200 cr allocation in budget"We expect a Rs 1,200 crore provision for Air India in the budget," Union Civil Aviation Minister, Praful Patel said. On equity infusion into Air India by the government, Patel said that he expected the Rs 800 crore equity infusion process to be completed over the next eight to ten days.Source: HindustanTimes.com - Top Business News Headlines | 4 Feb 2010 | 3:00 am Vodafone raises outlook; India on holdLONDON (Reuters) - Vodafone Group Plc raised its outlook on Thursday after posting third-quarter revenue ahead of forecasts due to cost cuts and an improving picture in Europe. Competition in India however remained fierce.Source: Reuters: Money News | 4 Feb 2010 | 2:57 am Mahindra and Mahindra launches Maximo in Madhya PradeshMaximo which was unveiled in the recent Auto Expo, is the first offering from the company's Chakan facility in Maharashtra.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 4 Feb 2010 | 2:53 am GLOBAL MARKETS - Fiscal worries drive euro lower; stocks slipLONDON (Reuters) - The euro hit a seven-month low against the dollar on Thursday as concerns intensified that Greece's fiscal problems would spread to other highly-indebted euro zone countries, while European stocks followed Asia lower.Source: Reuters: Money News | 4 Feb 2010 | 2:51 am INTERVIEW - GTL to invest 14 bln rupees in green energy servicesMUMBAI (Reuters) - Network services provider GTL Ltd will invest 14 billion rupees in green energy management services for the towers that its unit leases to telecom firms, boosting its revenue, a top official told Reuters on Thursday.Source: Reuters: Money News | 4 Feb 2010 | 2:49 am Dalmia Cement raises stake in OCL India to 45.4 pc - Economic Times
Source: Business - Google News | 4 Feb 2010 | 2:45 am Fuel price cap can't control inflation: Oil secretary - IBNLive.com
Source: Business - Google News | 4 Feb 2010 | 2:43 am Samsung plots smartphone catchup to treble salesSEOUL (Reuters) - Samsung Electronics Co Ltd, the world's No. 2 cellphone maker, aims to treble smartphone shipments and accelerate a strategy to boost software tools in a market dominated by Nokia phones, iPhone and Blackberry.Source: Reuters: Money News | 4 Feb 2010 | 2:41 am Software, BPO exports to touch $50 bn; may grow 15% in FY11New Delhi: The country’s software and business process outsourcing exports are expected to rise 5.5% to touch $50 billion in the current fiscal (2009- 10), industry body Nasscom said on Thursday. wThe estimation is in line with an earlier forecast of 4-7% given by Nasscom. The industry was optimistic to reach the $50 billion milestone export target in the current fiscal. For 2010-11, it hopes that IT and BPO exports should grow at an annual 13-15% to touch $56-57 billion as the slowdown peters out and the world economy recovers boosting demand for outsourcing. The sector’s export growth had been slowing down from 32% five years ago to single digits of late. Releasing the Indian IT-BPO sector performance estimates for FY09-10, Nasscom said “export revenues for the Indian IT- BPO industry are expected to record a growth of 5.5%, to reach $49.7 billion in FY 09-10.” It said as industry emerges stronger from the global economic meltdown to post encouraging results, domestic revenues may also grow by 15-17% in the next fiscal to touch Rs76,100-77,500 crore. For the current fiscal the domestic market is expected to witness 12% growth in FY09-10 to reach Rs66,200 crore. Industry will continue to be a net hirer with direct employment expected to grow by 4% and cross 2.3 million with over 90,000 jobs added in FY09-10, Nasscom President Som Mittal said. Pramod Bhasin, chairman Nasscom and president & CEO, Genpact said “The performance of the industry this year is far stronger than what is reflected through the growth numbers.” He further said the industry has reinvented itself by increasing its cost efficiencies, utilization rates, diversification into new verticals and markets and new business and pricing models. With a renewed value proposition, we look forward to a terrific future with growth estimates of 13-15% in FY11 for the export sector and 15-17% for the India market.“ “It’s a historic moment for the Indian IT-BPO industry as it touches the $50 billion landmark. The growth was led by domestic market buoyed by increased government spending in IT. In addition, new areas such as Engineering Services and Product Development displayed phenomenal momentum clocking a combined revenue of over $ 10 billion,” Mittal said. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 4 Feb 2010 | 2:41 am Air India likely to have Rs 1,200 cr allocation in Budget"We expect a Rs 1,200 crore provision for Air India in the budget," Union civil aviation minister, Praful Patel said today.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 4 Feb 2010 | 2:33 am Toyota's $2 billion recall hit to keep it in the red - Reuters
Source: Business - Google News | 4 Feb 2010 | 2:33 am Sony boosts outlook after first profit in 5 quartersTOKYO (Reuters) - Sony Corp's results offered tangible proof a restructuring at the electronics maker is starting to pay off as it halved its annual loss forecast on a rebound in flat-TV business and cost cuts.Source: Reuters: Money News | 4 Feb 2010 | 2:32 am Air India likely to have Budget allocation of Rs1,200 crAamby Valley (Maharashtra): Air India expects to get an allocation of Rs 1,200 crore in the forthcoming Budget, civil aviation minister Praful Patel said on Thursday. “We expect a Rs1,200-crore provision for Air India in the budget,” Patel told reporters on the sidelines of a function at Amby Valley. Patel said he expected the process of equity infusion of Rs800 crore into the airline by the government to be completed over the next eight to ten days. On Wednesday, Patel had said in Delhi that while the infusion was likely to occur over the next few days, the government wanted Air India to take “extraordinary” measures for its turnaround. “We are moving the Cabinet (for equity infusion of Rs800 crore), a note has already been circulated. I think by next week the Cabinet approval should come,” Patel had said after a meeting of the group of ministers formed to look after the revival of Air India. Further assistance would only be given on achievement of specific revenue enhancement and cost reduction targets by the airline, the minister had said. Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 4 Feb 2010 | 2:28 am Sparks fly as Bollywood, cricket and politics collideMumbai: India’s twin obsessions of cricket and Bollywood are at the heart of a bitter row that has broken out between the country’s top film star and a radical right-wing party in the movie capital Mumbai. The dispute, which has seen the ultra Hindu-nationalist Shiv Sena party threatening to scupper the release of Shah Rukh Khan’s latest blockbuster, has its roots in a diplomatic spat over the Indian Premier League (IPL). No Pakistani player was bought by the eight IPL clubs during an auction last month for this year’s edition of the Twenty20 cricket tournament, despite the Pakistan team being the reigning world champions in the format. The perceived snub triggered widespread protests in Pakistan with effigies of IPL chief Lalit Modi being burnt on the streets of Lahore, condemnation from politicians and threats of boycotts from other Pakistani sports teams. Khan, whose parents were born in what is now Pakistan and who co-owns one of the IPL franchises, the Kolkata Knight Riders, later said he regretted the controversy and supported the inclusion of Pakistani players. “Pakistan is a great neighbour to have. We are great neighbours. They are good neighbours. Let us love each other,” he said. The Shiv Sena, a habitual source of anti-Pakistan rhetoric, reacted furiously to the comments. “Shah Rukh should go to Pakistan if he wants to speak in favour of Pakistani players,” said Shiv Sena leader Anil Parab, who led a demonstration outside Khan’s Mumbai residence. Activists in the party’s power base of Mumbai tore down posters for the Muslim actor’s upcoming film “My Name is Khan” and said they would target any cinema in India showing the movie unless he retracted his remarks. Given the Shiv Sena’s reputation for violence, the threat has been taken seriously by the state government of Maharashtra. “Action will be taken against those who disrupt the screening of the movie. No one will be allowed to take the law into their own hands,” a government statement said. Multiplex owners said they would review security conditions before deciding on the number of screens to devote to the movie, which will be released on 12 February. “We will go ahead with the screening, but we will look at the situation as it develops. If additional security is required, we will take it,” said a spokeswoman for Inox Leisure, which has cinemas in 21 Indian cities. Devang Sampat, senior vice-president of marketing with Cinemax India, which operates 74 theatres in and around Mumbai, said they had yet to decide on screening the film. “It is too early,” Sampat said. The Shiv Sena has a history of run-ins with the Bollywood film industry. In 1998, party activists ransacked theatres showing the lesbian-themed film “Fire” by acclaimed director Deepa Mehta, and a year later they launched a campaign against legendary Muslim Bollywood star Dilip Kumar after he was presented with Pakistan’s highest civilian award. Despite the Shiv Sena threats, Shah Rukh Khan has so far resolutely refused to apologise for backing the participation of Pakistani players in the IPL. “As an Indian I’m not ashamed, guilty or unhappy about what I said, neither am I sorry,” he said during a promotional tour in New York on Tuesday. “You can only say what you believe in and stand by it,” he added, while criticising the stance of the Shiv Sena as “unhealthy, undemocratic and insensitive.” In “My Name is Khan,” the star actor plays an autistic Muslim man living in San Francisco who falls in love with a Hindu woman. The impact of the 11 September, 2001 attacks on the relationship is one of the film’s main themes. Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 4 Feb 2010 | 2:26 am Air One to offer services between Amby Valley, Mumbai, DelhiSahara has invested Rs80 crore in the private airport which has been opened for commercial use for the first time.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 4 Feb 2010 | 2:25 am Food inflation rises to 17.56%The wholesale price-based food inflation was 17.40% in the previous week.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 4 Feb 2010 | 2:20 am Unilever beats forecasts as turnaround continuesLondon: Consumer goods group Unilever Plc/NV beat forecasts with a 1.8% rise in fourth-quarter underlying sales on Thursday, as new chief executive Paul Polman pressed ahead with his aim of selling more product at lower prices. Polman’s policy of spending more on marketing and cutting prices to entice cash-strapped shoppers drove growth in sales volumes for a third successive quarter, despite sluggish economies, while falling commodity costs helped push up the group’s profit margins. However, Unilever Plc shares were off 2.1% at £18.93 by 0815 GMT, after the results showed some weakness in the company’s west European business and some concerns that price cuts were deeper than forecast and that a big drive towards innovative new products was missing. “Paul Polman is working hard to address Unilever’s lack of competitiveness ... What is missing is still the better flow of innovation,” said analyst Graham Jones at Panmure Gordon. The Anglo-Dutch group, the world’s third-biggest food and consumer goods group, reported fourth-quarter underlying sales rose 1.8%, better than the consensus market forecast of 1.4%, while underlying sales for the full year were up 3.5%, ahead of the consensus forecast of 3.4%. But West Europe was Unilever’s one region to show annual sales and volumes down as challenging conditions continued in Southern Europe and the weakness of the pound and increases in marketing saw regional profit margins slip. “We will continue to focus on volume growth as the main driver for long term value creation, whilst delivering steady and sustainable year-on-year improvement in operating margins and strong cash flow,” Polman said in a results statement. The maker of Hellmann’s mayonnaise, Omo detergent and Sunsilk shampoo saw underlying volume growth of 2.3% in 2009 which reached 5% in the fourth quarter with this seen across most key categories and countries as it cut prices to reflect the fall in the prices of commodities like edible oils and tea. Polman, who took over at the start of 2009, having previously worked at larger rivals Procter & Gamble and Nestle, has resolved to reignite volume growth after the group relied on price rises for its sales growth in 2008. He expects pressure on consumer spending and heightened competition in 2010 for the maker of Ben & Jerry’s ice cream, Knorr soup and Dove soap but said the group is now faster and more agile as it sells to over 2 billion consumers every day. The results come after U.S. rivals Procter & Gamble and Colgate-Palmolive reported strong growth in the final quarter of 2009, and European rival Henkel posted a strong close of 2009 due to cost cutting. Unilever posted underlying 2009 earnings of €1.33 per share, beating a consensus forecast of €1.29 according to Thomson Reuters. The group will pay a dividend for the fourth quarter of €0.1950 per Dutch-listed Unilever NV shares and 17.04 pence per London-listed share. Unilever Plc shares outperformed the UK market by 8% in 2009 as Polman’s strategy gained favour, but have only traded in line with the FTSE 100 index and the DJ European Food and Beverage index so far this year. Unilever’s European rivals Danone and Nestle are due to report results over the next two weeks. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 4 Feb 2010 | 2:10 am Tax gains help lift Deutsche Bank from record lossesFrankfurt: Deutsche Bank’s quarterly earnings rebounded from record losses, but a one-off tax gain masked weaker investment banking profits as tighter regulations cloud this year’s outlook for itself and European rivals. Shares in Deutsche fell 0.6% but outperformed the banking sector after it reported a 1.3 billion euro ($1.8 billion) net profit in the fourth quarter, beating market forecasts of 770 million euros and dampening speculation about a possible capital increase. Analysts viewed the results as a mixed bag. The bottom-line figure was flattered by a €554 million tax gain and the pretax profit of €397 million in corporate banking and securities showed investment banking was not as strong as in previous quarters. “Pretax profit was clearly weak due to weak trading income,” DZ Bank analyst Matthias Duerr said in a note, adding that a stronger capital base had diminished chances of Deutsche needing a capital increase. Chief executive Josef Ackermann acknowledged that the crisis had rattled the flagship lender. “Looking forward we see a clear trend to recovery and stabilisation of financial markets, although the effects of the recent crisis will take time to work through,” Ackermann said in a statement. Ackermann added that Deutsche was well placed for the challenges and opportunities of 2010, as the bank revealed its tier 1 capital ratio had improved to 12.6% as it prepares to absorb acquisitions such as wealth manager Sal. Oppenheim. Pretax income rose to €756 million in the fourth quarter from a €6.2 billion loss a year earlier and versus analysts’ forecasts of €1.06 billion profit in a Reuters poll. Deutsche was the first major bank to put a figure on the costs of the UK bonus tax, booking a €225 million one-off expense in the latest quarter. The Frankfurt-based lender’s compensation ratio rose to 42.5% from 39.3% in the third quarter. Provisions for credit losses of €560 million in the fourth quarter were below analyst expectations and €591 million a year earlier, but up from €544 million in the third quarter. In 2009 Deutsche Bank posted a pretax profit of €5.2 billion and a net profit of €5 billion, recovering from a pretax loss of €5.7 billion and net loss of €4.8 billion in 2008, Deutsche’s worst year for earnings. However, that was enough for Deutsche to decide to award investors with a higher dividend of €0.75 per share, up from €0.5 in 2008. Exposure to real estate and customer loans ate in to profits at Spanish rival BBVA, while US rival Goldman Sachs posted record profits on the back of an investment banking windfall last month. Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 4 Feb 2010 | 2:09 am Sensex near day's lows; realty, metals slip - Economic Times
Source: Business - Google News | 4 Feb 2010 | 2:08 am Food price index rises to 17.56% from previous 17.40%New Delhi: Annual food inflation picked-up pace for the second consecutive week, strengthening the case for more fiscal steps in the federal budget to tame prices after the central bank tightened monetary policy last week. Analysts said any hike in petrol and diesel prices as suggested by a government panel on Wednesday would further drive broader inflation. High food prices, resulting in part from a poor harvest of summer-sown crops after the worst monsoon in nearly three decades, are spilling into broader inflation, which some economists say could reach double-digits by the end of the fiscal year in March. “If fuel prices are freed, that will lead to increase in fuel, food and wholesale price inflation, though politically I don’t see that happening as of now,” said Bibek Debroy, an economist at Centre for Policy Research, a Delhi-based think tank. The food price index rose 17.56% in the 12 months to 23 January, higher than an annual rise of 17.40% in the previous week, data released on Thursday showed. The fuel index rose to an annual 5.88%, higher than an annual rise of 5.70% in the previous week. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, under pressure over high food prices, has scheduled a meeting of state chief ministers on Saturday to discuss steps to contain prices. The central bank, which raised banks’ cash reserve ratio by a higher-than-expected 75 basis points in its quarterly monetary review on 29 January, lifted its wholesale price index inflation forecast for end-March to 8.5%. It also said it expected inflation to moderate starting in July, assuming a normal monsoon and global oil prices holding at current levels. Finance minister Pranab Mukherjee, who will present his budget for 2010/11 on 26 Febuary, is expected to partially withdraw fiscal stimulus announced last year, while announcing more measures to contain food prices. Policymakers say the government could increase fund allocation for the farm sector, rural infrastructure and tax incentives to the food processing industry to increase supplies in the market. The finance ministry’s chief economic adviser, Kaushik Basu, said last week that inflation was spreading to other sectors, but added that it would not go out of control. India’s economy is expected to expand by 7% in the current fiscal year to end-March, faster than 6.7% last year, helped by a recovering global economy and rapid expansion in domestic industrial output, a Reuters poll showed last month. The economy grew 7.9% in the quarter through September, its fastest in 18 months, while industrial production grew in November at its fastest pace in more than two years at 11.7%. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 4 Feb 2010 | 2:02 am Software industry cuts 2010/11 export f'castNEW DELHI (Reuters) - India's software and services exports in the year to March 2011 will be less than earlier expected as the sector's growth has not been cranked-up enough by the recovering global economy, an industry body said on Thursday.Source: Reuters: Money News | 4 Feb 2010 | 1:57 am Despite recall woes, Toyota raises annual forecastTOKYO (Reuters) - Toyota Motor Corp said its biggest-ever safety recall would cost it up to $2 billion this quarter, but raised its outlook for the financial year ending in March after a forecast-beating third quarter.Source: Reuters: Money News | 4 Feb 2010 | 1:50 am AI likely to have Rs 1200cr allocation in Budget - Times of India
Source: Business - Google News | 4 Feb 2010 | 1:49 am Rupee extends fall tracking stocks; strong dollarMumbai: The Indian rupee extended its fall in afternoon trade on Thursday tracking weak domestic shares and the dollar’s gains versus major currencies overseas. At 2:25pm, the partially convertible rupee was at Rs46.16/17 per dollar, weaker than its previous close of Rs45.97/98. On Wednesday, it rose as high as Rs45.94, its strongest since 21 January. Indian shares were trading lower on Thursday with metals stocks leading the fall as global prices slumped, with weakness in world equities further dampening sentiment. The US dollar was broadly steady on Thursday after blipping higher as the New Zealand dollar tumbled on a jump in unemployment and the Australian dollar slipped on data showing a dip in monthly retail sales. A $1.8-billion share sale in NTPC Ltd, India’s leading power producer, was three-quarters subscribed on its first day, with solid institutional interest offset by an anaemic response from retail investors on Wednesday. Dealers said dollar inflows from this share sale were likely to prevent a sharp fall in the rupee. One-month offshore non-deliverable forward contracts were quoted at Rs46.16/21 little changed from the onshore spot rate. In the currency futures market, the most traded near-month dollar-rupee contracts on the National Stock Exchange and MCX-SX were both quoting at Rs46.1950, with the total traded volume on the two exchanges at about $3.2 billion. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 4 Feb 2010 | 1:48 am Gold buying remains dull; price falls eyedMumbai: India’s wholesale gold buying remained dull on Thursday afternoon as traders awaited a further fall in prices, and a weaker rupee weighed on sentiment, dealers said. “Very few transactions are there in gold today, traders are waiting for much lower bargains, say below $1,100 an ounce,” said a official with a private bullion dealing bank in Mumbai. International gold, which guides the domestic market, was trading $1,105.75/1,106.55 an ounce as against 1,108.85/1,109.65 an ounce in the previous session. “Since market has seen $1,075 levels recently, they are expecting those kind of levels,” said a dealer with a state-run bank. The Indian rupee extended its fall in afternoon trade on Thursday tracking weak domestic shares and the dollar’s gains versus major currencies overseas. A weaker rupee makes the dollar-quoted yellow metal expensive. India imported 35-40 tonnes of gold during 1-27 January, up from 9.8 tonnes in the whole of the same month last year, the head of a trade body and bank dealers said on 27 January. Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 4 Feb 2010 | 1:45 am Gold buying remains dull; price falls eyedMumbai: India’s wholesale gold buying remained dull on Thursday afternoon as traders awaited a further fall in prices, and a weaker rupee weighed on sentiment, dealers said. “Very few transactions are there in gold today, traders are waiting for much lower bargains, say below $1,100 an ounce,” said a official with a private bullion dealing bank in Mumbai. International gold, which guides the domestic market, was trading $1,105.75/1,106.55 an ounce as against 1,108.85/1,109.65 an ounce in the previous session. “Since market has seen $1,075 levels recently, they are expecting those kind of levels,” said a dealer with a state-run bank. The Indian rupee extended its fall in afternoon trade on Thursday tracking weak domestic shares and the dollar’s gains versus major currencies overseas. A weaker rupee makes the dollar-quoted yellow metal expensive. India imported 35-40 tonnes of gold during 1-27 January, up from 9.8 tonnes in the whole of the same month last year, the head of a trade body and bank dealers said on 27 January. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 4 Feb 2010 | 1:45 am AI likely to have Rs 1,200cr allocation in BudgetAir India expects to have a Rs 1,200 crore allocation in the forthcoming budget, a central government minister said.Source: India Business News | Business News - Times of India | 4 Feb 2010 | 1:38 am Shell Q4 profits collapse on weak refining, natgasLONDON (Reuters) - Royal Dutch Shell Plc posted a 75 percent fall in fourth-quarter profits to $1.18 billion, as the oil major was punished for falling output and its strong position in the depressed refining and natural gas businesses.Source: Reuters: Money News | 4 Feb 2010 | 1:34 am Food inflation picks up pace; govt steps seenNEW DELHI (Reuters) - Annual food inflation picked-up pace for the second consecutive week, strengthening the case for more fiscal steps in the federal budget to tame prices after the Reserve Bank tightened monetary policy last week.Source: Reuters: Money News | 4 Feb 2010 | 1:26 am Deutsche Bank beats 2009 profit estimateProvisions for credit losses of 560 million in the fourth quarter were below analyst expectations and 591 million a year earlier.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 4 Feb 2010 | 1:19 am IT-BPO sector exports to touch $50 billion - NDTV.com
Source: Business - Google News | 4 Feb 2010 | 1:17 am Software exports seen growing 5.5% in 09/10: NASSCOMThe sector's export growth had slowed to 16% in 2008-09 from more than 20% in previous years for outsourcing.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 4 Feb 2010 | 1:12 am Hitachi logs third quarter profit on cost cuts, lifts outlookHitachi, General Electric's partner in nuclear power, lifted its outlook to a net loss of 210 billion yen, from a previous forecast of a loss of 230 billion yen for the year to March.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 4 Feb 2010 | 1:10 am Annual food inflation up at 17 56 pcIndia's annual food inflation based on wholesale prices rose to 17.56 percent for the week ended Jan 23 from 17.4 percent the week before, according to official data released on Thursday.Source: HindustanTimes.com - Top Business News Headlines | 4 Feb 2010 | 1:06 am Monster to acquire Yahoo!’s HotJob for $225 mnNew York: Online career and recruiting firm Monster Worldwide has said it will buy Yahoo!’s jobsite HotJob for $225 million in cash. The companies have also entered into a three-year ‘commercial traffic agreement´ in which Monster would become provider of career content on Yahoo!s home page in the US and Canada. The transaction is expected to close during the third quarter of 2010. Monster Worldwide said, “it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire the assets of Yahoo! HotJobs, a leading online recruitment website, from Yahoo! for $225 million in cash,” a statement on Wednesday said. Internet firm Yahoo! has been cutting cost and closing its under performing businesses like the GeoCities Web-hosting site. The company also sold its e-mail technology unit Zimbra to VMware for an undisclosed amount. Yahoo! said it “remains focused on its core businesses and delivering exceptional experiences to users, partners and advertisers.” “Monster will be able to offer its employers a significantly larger pool of candidates across diverse geographies and industries,” the company said. Yahoo! acquired HotJobs in 2002 for $436 million. Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 4 Feb 2010 | 1:06 am Monster to acquire Yahoo!’s HotJob for $225 mnNew York: Online career and recruiting firm Monster Worldwide has said it will buy Yahoo!’s jobsite HotJob for $225 million in cash. The companies have also entered into a three-year ‘commercial traffic agreement´ in which Monster would become provider of career content on Yahoo!s home page in the US and Canada. The transaction is expected to close during the third quarter of 2010. Monster Worldwide said, “it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire the assets of Yahoo! HotJobs, a leading online recruitment website, from Yahoo! for $225 million in cash,” a statement on Wednesday said. Internet firm Yahoo! has been cutting cost and closing its under performing businesses like the GeoCities Web-hosting site. The company also sold its e-mail technology unit Zimbra to VMware for an undisclosed amount. Yahoo! said it “remains focused on its core businesses and delivering exceptional experiences to users, partners and advertisers.” “Monster will be able to offer its employers a significantly larger pool of candidates across diverse geographies and industries,” the company said. Yahoo! acquired HotJobs in 2002 for $436 million. Source: Tech News - Livemint.com | 4 Feb 2010 | 1:06 am Despite recall woes, Toyota raises annual forecastTokyo: Toyota Motor Corp said its biggest-ever safety recall would cost it up to $2 billion this quarter, but raised its outlook for the financial year ending in March after a forecast-beating third quarter. Toyota’s recall of more than 8 million vehicles due to problems with unintended acceleration has punished its share price, dented its reputation and overshadowed what until just two weeks ago had been expected to be an upbeat story of improving earnings. Automakers enjoyed a boost in demand in the latter part of 2009, thanks largely to government incentives designed to spur sales and improving access to credit as the global economy recovered. Toyota was one of the biggest beneficiaries of the US cash-for-clunkers scheme but has faced a firestorm of criticism in recent weeks for its handling of recalls centred there. “There are more doubts about Toyota’s ability to make sure clients are content with the quality of its cars,” said Benedicte Mougeot, fund manager of HSBC GIF Japanese equity fund, in Hong Kong. “Taking into account the increased risk and reduced profitability, we will review our investment.” With less than two months left in the current financial year, Toyota slashed what most analysts had considered an excessively conservative operating loss forecast to ¥20 billion ($220 million) from a predicted ¥350 billion loss. That compares with a ¥38 billion annual loss forecast in a survey of 19 brokerages by Thomson Reuters. Starmine SmartEstimates, which predicts earnings by putting more weight on recent forecasts of top-rated analysts, has Toyota posting an operating profit of ¥26 billion for the year to 31 March, and improving to ¥647 billion next year. Toyota said the new forecasts for this year took into account an estimated ¥100 billion in costs set aside for the recalls and a further ¥70-80 billion in lost sales, based on an expected hit of 100,000 vehicles in sales globally from the recall saga. The figure was in line with analysts’ estimates. Toyota posted an operating profit of ¥189 billion for October-December, easily beating the ¥99 billion yen estimated by Thomson Reuters. It was its strongest profit in six quarters. How Long Will It Last? Investors are now focused on how long and far the recall damage could go, with Toyota’s sales in its most important US market already falling 16% in January — enough to knock it to third place, below Ford Motor Co. Toyota raised its forecast for group global sales to 7.18 million vehicles from 7.03 million for this financial year, and also raised the amount of money it expects to save under emergency profit measures introduced earlier this year to ¥1.59 trillion from ¥1.25 trillion. The big question mark for the new year, starting on 1 April, is how long and how badly sales will be affected as a result of bad publicity and a scarred brand image, as well as the unknown scope of litigation and other costs. “Right now it is difficult to gauge the impact on our sales for next (financial) year,” senior managing director Takahiko Ijichi told a news conference in Tokyo. “But we will do everything we can to regain consumers’ trust to limit any impact.” In what could, however, deal a further blow to Toyota’s quality record, the automaker is now on the hook to deal with dozens of complaints about insufficient braking under certain conditions on the third-generation Prius. In a separate briefing, managing officer Hiroyuki Yokoyama, who oversees quality, said Toyota had reworked a software programme that was causing the anti-lock brake system (ABS) to briefly clash with the regenerative braking on the Prius hybrid under limited circumstances, including on frozen surfaces. Yokoyama said depressing the brakes further would activate normal braking on the car, meaning the glitch was not legally considered a safety hazard. But Toyota will notify drivers of its plans for specific steps in the near future to respond proactively and ease consumers’ minds, he said. He declined to say whether that would exclude an official recall. “This issue shows that we may have fallen short of the standards expected of us by our customers,” Yokoyama said. Shares in Toyota have lost as much as 23%, or $30 billion, in the two weeks since it announced a multi-million-vehicle recall for sticky accelerator pedals in North America, which has spread to most regions in the world. “The problem with its Prius is also very worrying,” said Kazutaka Oshima, chief executive of Rakuten Investment Management in Tokyo. “We are not certain about how Toyota’s damaged reputation will affect its earnings in the future. There are simply too many uncertainties surrounding Toyota at the moment. The best thing to do now is not to hold Toyota shares,” he said. The new Prius, which went on sale in mid-2009, is at present Japan’s top-selling model -—a first for a gasoline-electric car. Toyota’s shares slid to a 10-month low on Thursday after the Obama administration stepped up pressure on the world’s largest carmaker to address a range of safety issues. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 4 Feb 2010 | 1:02 am German carmaker BMW launches new model in IndiaBMW is also aiming to ramp up dealership network in the country from 12 outlets at present to 22 outlets.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 4 Feb 2010 | 1:00 am Vodafone Q3 revenue up 10%London: Telecommunications company Vodafone Group PLC on Thursday reported that revenue rose more than 10% in the third quarter, supported by strong gains in its Asia-Pacific and Middle East operations. For the three months ending 31 December, Vodafone said service revenue fell by 1.2% on a comparable basis, stripping out acquisitions, disposals and currency shifts. Still, the figure was an improvement on the 3% drop in the previous quarter, the company said. Service revenue, which accounts for 93% of the company’s total, includes revenue from voice, messaging, data and fixed-line services. Vodafone did not report earnings in the trading update. Revenue in the company’s third quarter was 11.5 billion pounds ($18.3 billion), compared to 10.5 billion pounds a year earlier. Revenue rose 10.4% in Asia-Pacific and the Middle East on a comparable basis, while European revenue fell 3.2% and Africa-Central Europe was down 0.5%. Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 4 Feb 2010 | 12:59 am Ashok Leyland Rises as Truck Sales Surge Threefold - Bloomberg
Source: Business - Google News | 4 Feb 2010 | 12:53 am New US export strategy eyes AsiaWashington: President Barack Obama will unveil details Thursday of how he plans to double American exports in five years, mainly to rapidly-growing Asia. Obama’s strategy to get US companies to pump out exports is aimed at supporting the creation of two million jobs in America, which is still reeling from double digit unemployment that threatens to dampen its economic recovery. “If we just increased our exports to Asia by a percentage point, by a fraction, it would mean hundreds of thousands, maybe millions of jobs here in the United States. And it’s easily doable,” Obama told Senators from his Democratic party Wednesday. “And that’s why we are going to be putting a much bigger emphasis on export promotion over the next several years,” he said, a day before his commerce secretary, Gary Locke, gives details of the export promotion strategy. Obama announced his export-boosting strategy during last week’s State of the Union address, saying a National Export Initiative would be launched as part of the move. It would “help farmers and small businesses increase their exports, and reform export controls consistent with national security,” he said. China and India are obviously among the top markets to be tapped, officials said. US exports for the first 11 months of last year trundled in at $1.411 trillion compared to $1.827 dollars for the whole of 2008. But despite the deteriorating global economy, exports to the Asia-Pacific region were up more than eight percent in 2008 over the preceding year to $747 billion, figures from the US Trade Representative’s office showed. Agriculture exports to the region were $76 billion, a 30% increase over the previous year, and services exports grew to $187 billion. The Obama administration believes that as a number of key markets around the world recovered more quickly than the United States from recession, exports to these countries will create good American jobs at home. “It’s all about jobs. And if done right, president Obama and I firmly believe that a smart aggressive progressive trade policy of the United States can be a critical part of our overall economic recovery program,” said the president’s top trade official Ron Kirk. Americans who work in export-sector jobs are now paid up to 18% above the average, Kirk’s deputy Demetrios Marantis said. “We know that six million Americans owe their jobs to manufacturing exports, and that agricultural and service export jobs mean paychecks for many more,” he said. Obama could also boost exports if he pushed Congress to endorse free trade agreements that had already been signed under the former Bush administration. “If the president is serious about wanting to use free trade to help create US jobs and bolster the American economy, it is time for him to get off the sidelines and fight for the passage of free trade agreements with Colombia, Panama and South Korea,” said senior Republican lawmaker Ileana Ros-Lehtinen. The Obama administration has been pushing South Korea to give further concessions to US automakers, who have been ailing at home and have struggled. Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 4 Feb 2010 | 12:39 am Advanta India buys US-based sorghum seed firm - Business Standard
Source: Business - Google News | 4 Feb 2010 | 12:35 am US takes new step on India nuclear dealWashington: US President Barack Obama on Wednesday certified that India has placed safeguards on its nuclear facilities, taking another step toward full implementation of a landmark cooperation deal. In a memorandum, Obama confirmed that India has formally agreed to provide access to the UN nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), of its civilian nuclear reactors. Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and former US president George W. Bush signed the deal in 2008 which allows New Delhi to enter civilian nuclear energy markets for the first time in decades despite its nuclear weapons arsenal. The US Congress had insisted that India allows international safeguards as a condition of the deal, since India refuses to sign the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. India gave a list of nuclear reactors to the IAEA, although it says its action is voluntary and does not include military facilities. Obama’s certification clears another hurdle for the agreement to come into force, but more steps remain. “It shows continued progress and gives reason for optimism that final implementation issues can be resolved soon,” said Ted Jones, a director at the US-India Business Council who follows the energy industry. US businesses have complained that despite the promise of the nuclear agreement, they still cannot seal deals in the growing Indian market without resolution of remaining issues. For the deal to take effect, the United States and India need to complete an agreement on nuclear fuel reprocessing and New Delhi needs to approve liability protection for US companies. The nuclear agreement was a milestone in relations between the world’s two largest democracies, which had inconsistent ties during the Cold War when India was non-aligned and sometimes tilted toward the Soviet Union. Obama has eased early worries in India by showing his commitment to expanding relations. He invited Singh for the first official visit to Washington of his presidency. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 4 Feb 2010 | 12:21 am Sony posts first profit in five quarters, ups outlookTo further boost its competitiveness, Sony, which trails Canon Inc in cameras and Samsung Electronics Co in TVs, plans to launch a new content distribution service.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 4 Feb 2010 | 12:16 am SC grants bail to PriceWater auditor in Satyam caseThe Supreme Court today granted bail to PriceWaterhouseCoopers auditor Srinivas Talluri who was arrested in Satyam fraud case for allegedly conniving with its founder B Ramalinga Raju and other aides.Source: HindustanTimes.com - Top Business News Headlines | 4 Feb 2010 | 12:14 am Toyota raises '09/10 global vehicle sales forecastThe figures include sales at truck maker Hino Motors Ltd and compact car maker Daihatsu Motor Co.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 4 Feb 2010 | 12:10 am Food inflation rises to 17.56%Food inflation inched up to 17.56% for the week ended January 23 from 17.40% in the previous week on account of rising prices of potato and pulses.Source: India Business News | Business News - Times of India | 4 Feb 2010 | 12:08 am Google, US intel to team up to fight cyberattacks: reportWashington: US Internet giant Google is enlisting the help of the top US electronic surveillance organization to ward off cyberattacks, The Washington Post reported Thursday. The report emerged amid an ugly spat between Beijing and Google, which has threatened to pull out of the Chinese market over cyberattacks and Web censorship in China. Under an agreement still in the works, the National Security Agency (NSA) would help Google analyze those attacks in a bid to better protect the California-based search company and its users from future intrusions, the Post said, citing cybersecurity experts familiar with the matter. “If a company came to the table and asked for help, I would ask them... ‘What do you know about what transpired in your system? What deficiencies do you think they took advantage of? Tell me a little bit about what it was they did,” a senior defense official told the newspaper. The Post said the NSA was reaching out to other government agencies with roles in defending cyberspace to lend their hand in the Google investigation. The alliance would seek to allow the spy agency to evaluate Google’s hardware and software vulnerabilities as well as estimate the sophistication of its adversary in order to help the firm understand whether it has the right defenses in place. Through the pact, the NSA would also help Google understand how cyberattackers are penetrating its system, while the company would share information on the types of malicious codes found in the attacks without however disclosing related proprietary data. According to industry experts, the intrusions that began in December targeted Google’s source code, the programming language behind its applications, and also targeted over 30 other major technology, defense, energy, financial and media firms. The Internet giant approached the NSA shortly after the attacks, according to the Post, which noted that any such agreement would be the first time Google has engaged in a formal information sharing relationship with the intelligence agency. Director of National Intelligence Dennis Blair told lawmakers on Tuesday that “we cannot protect cyberspace without a coordinated and collaborative effort that incorporates both the US private sector and our international partners.” Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 4 Feb 2010 | 12:07 am Google, US intel to team up to fight cyberattacks: reportWashington: US Internet giant Google is enlisting the help of the top US electronic surveillance organization to ward off cyberattacks, The Washington Post reported Thursday. The report emerged amid an ugly spat between Beijing and Google, which has threatened to pull out of the Chinese market over cyberattacks and Web censorship in China. Under an agreement still in the works, the National Security Agency (NSA) would help Google analyze those attacks in a bid to better protect the California-based search company and its users from future intrusions, the Post said, citing cybersecurity experts familiar with the matter. “If a company came to the table and asked for help, I would ask them... ‘What do you know about what transpired in your system? What deficiencies do you think they took advantage of? Tell me a little bit about what it was they did,” a senior defense official told the newspaper. The Post said the NSA was reaching out to other government agencies with roles in defending cyberspace to lend their hand in the Google investigation. The alliance would seek to allow the spy agency to evaluate Google’s hardware and software vulnerabilities as well as estimate the sophistication of its adversary in order to help the firm understand whether it has the right defenses in place. Through the pact, the NSA would also help Google understand how cyberattackers are penetrating its system, while the company would share information on the types of malicious codes found in the attacks without however disclosing related proprietary data. According to industry experts, the intrusions that began in December targeted Google’s source code, the programming language behind its applications, and also targeted over 30 other major technology, defense, energy, financial and media firms. The Internet giant approached the NSA shortly after the attacks, according to the Post, which noted that any such agreement would be the first time Google has engaged in a formal information sharing relationship with the intelligence agency. Director of National Intelligence Dennis Blair told lawmakers on Tuesday that “we cannot protect cyberspace without a coordinated and collaborative effort that incorporates both the US private sector and our international partners.” Source: Tech News - Livemint.com | 4 Feb 2010 | 12:07 am Asia shares slide; Toyota sinks to 10-month lowSingapore: Lingering concerns about the global economy and a host of negative local factors pushed Asian stocks lower on Thursday, with Toyota hitting a 10-month low on investor concerns over its massive vehicle recall. European stocks were expected to shrug off weakness in Asian and US markets, with investors keenly awaiting rate decisions from the European Central Bank and the Bank of England later in the day. US stock futures were little changed after modest losses on Wall Street overnight, where stocks slipped on a disappointing sales outlook from top global drugmaker Pfizer and on fears of increasing US government regulation in a host of sectors from banking to healthcare that could crimp profits. Shares in Hong Kong fell 1.6%, with sentiment also affected by a tightening of monetary conditions in China as well as concern over tensions between Washington and Beijing. Shanghai shares also fell in morning trade before clawing back early losses. In the latest sign of trouble, Chinese officials reacted coolly on Thursday to a vow by U.S. President Barack Obama to get much tougher with China over the yuan’s exchange rate, which Washington believes is artificially undervalued. Dariusz Kowalczyk, chief investment strategist at SJS Markets in Hong Kong, said both countries had too much at stake to let disputes over the yuan, trade and Taiwan derail ties. “When it comes to market reaction, I doubt it will be major as long as the tension is contained to the political arena,” said Kowalczyk. “I think Beijing will resume gradual appreciation of the renminbi in the second quarter and it will probably defuse the currency tensions to some degree by doing so.” China effectively froze the yuan in July 2008 to help its exporters weather the global economic crisis. Most market analysts expect China to let the yuan start climbing gently again sometime in 2010 since year-on-year export growth has resumed. Asia Pacific stocks outside Japan as measured by MSCI were down 0.8%, with virtually all sectors in the red as traders took profits from recent gains and awaited more concrete signs that the U.S. economic recovery is gaining traction. Data on Wednesday showed signs of a stabilisation in the U.S. job market but only scant growth in its vast services sector, while other reports this week have pointed to a slow but painful recovery for the troubled housing market. Investors are now awaiting the key nonfarm payrolls report on Friday. A Reuters poll of top 20 forecasters estimated 8,000 jobs were added to the economy. Japan’s Nikkei average fell 0.5%, hit by more selling in Toyota Motor Corp, which sank 3.5%. Toyota’s woes worsened after the Obama administration stepped up pressure on the world’s largest carmaker to address a range of safety issues. Its shares have lost more than a fifth of their value since a recent high on 21 January. After the market close Toyota lifted its cautious guidance for the financial year to this March, predicting a sharply smaller operating loss despite its escalating recall troubles. But a company official was unsure of the full impact on 2010/11 earnings. In contrast, Honda Motor Co jumped 2.3% after the automaker, Japan’s second biggest, raised its annual outlook far beyond investor expectations and said it anticipated more growth next financial year. South Korean automakers also rallied on hopes they would pick up market share from Toyota. Hyundai Motor was up 3.6% while Kia Motors gained 2.9%. Resources shares also skidded across the region on lower metals prices. Shanghai copper fell 3% on Thursday while London futures pared a 3.4% slide in the previous session as worries about the impact of tighter monetary policy, particularly in China, continued to unsettle the market. In currency markets, the dollar was broadly steady after blipping higher as the New Zealand dollar tumbled on a jump in unemployment and the Australian dollar slipped on data showing a dip in monthly retail sales. The New Zealand dollar hit a five-month low of $0.6960 after data showed the country’s jobless rate rising to a 10-year high, prompting markets to scale back expectations of an interest rate rise before mid-year. The euro dipped as low as $1.3866 edging close to a seven-month low of $1.3851 hit on trading platform EBS earlier this week. The euro later pared its losses and was steady compared to late US trading on Wednesday at $1.3890. The ECB is widely expected to keep rates unchanged at its meeting on Thursday as financial woes in Greece, Portugal and Spain endanger the currency bloc’s recovery. The Bank of England’s monetary policy meeting will also be in focus on Thursday. The BOE is expected to halt its quantitative easing program, although interest rates are likely to be held at 0.5%. Sterling edged up 0.1% to $1.5912 Oil slipped 28 cents to $76.70 a barrel as rising crude inventories in the U.S. signalled that a rebound in US economic activity was failing to translate into higher demand. Gold prices inched lower to $1,106.80 an ounce as some investors feared a bullish US job report could further boost the dollar, which would undermine bullion’s appeal as a currency hedge. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 4 Feb 2010 | 12:03 am Kirit Parikh panel wants cooking fuel prices raisedDomestic liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) consumers may soon have to pay Rs 100 more for every 14.2-kg cylinder if the report of the expert group on ‘A viable and sustainable system of pricing of petroleum products' headed by Mr Kirit S.Source: Business Line - Home Page | 4 Feb 2010 | 12:00 am IMD upgrades incoming westerly system to ‘active' statusThe India Meteorological Department (IMD) has upgraded the incoming western disturbance to ‘active' status, which is the highest on a scale of one to three (weak, moderate and active) in terms ofSource: Business Line - Home Page | 4 Feb 2010 | 12:00 am Private banks lax on financial inclusion may lose Govt bizPrivate sector banks failing to carry out the financial inclusion mandate, including extending banking services to rural areas, could be ‘de-panelled' from government businesses and projects such as the Corporate Affairs Ministry's MCA-21,Source: Business Line - Home Page | 4 Feb 2010 | 12:00 am Day Trading GuideFresh long position can be initiated if DLF moves above Rs 342, with tight stop-loss. Initiate fresh long position only if ICICI Bank climbs above Rs 850 and SBI surges above Rs 2,016 levels, with stiff stop-loss. As long as Infosys trades aboveSource: Business Line - Home Page | 4 Feb 2010 | 12:00 am Value of trade in agri-commodities doubles on futures exchangesThe value of trade in agri-commodities on the futures exchanges has doubled during April-January 15 period of the current fiscal, while the cumulative value of futures trade increased 50 perSource: Business Line - Home Page | 4 Feb 2010 | 12:00 am GMR may exit sugar to focus on infrastruture bizAfter ferro-alloys, the GMR Group is now said to be considering exiting the sugar business as well with a view to focusing on its core areas of airports, energy, highways and urbanSource: Business Line - Home Page | 4 Feb 2010 | 12:00 am HEG (Rs 354.5): BuyWe recommend a buy in the stock of HEG from a short-term horizon. It is apparent from the charts that the stock has been on a steady long-term uptrend from its March 2009 low of Rs 94, forming higher peaks and troughs. However, in early JanuarySource: Business Line - Home Page | 4 Feb 2010 | 12:00 am Fame's acquisition to help Inox increase number of screensInox Leisure has taken the inorganic route to expand its multiplex footprint across the country by acquiring stake of the promoters of Fame India. The 43.3-per cent stake owned by promoters of Fame India has been sold at a price of around RsSource: Business Line - Home Page | 4 Feb 2010 | 12:00 am NTPC FPO gets maximum bids at Rs 209NTPC's follow-on pubic offering (FPO) was subscribed 0.77 times on its opening day on Wednesday, with most of the bids at Rs 209 aSource: Business Line - Home Page | 4 Feb 2010 | 12:00 am Demand side picture is key to decision on stimulus exitThe Government would do well to know what is happening on the demand side of the economy before taking a final call on a complete fiscal stimulus exit, Mr Pronab Sen, Chief Statistician of India, hasSource: Business Line - Home Page | 4 Feb 2010 | 12:00 am Lenovo quarterly profit rebounds on strong salesBeijing: Lenovo Group, the world’s fourth-largest personal computer maker, reported its second straight quarterly profit on Thursday as a 33% rise in sales drove its recovery from the global downturn. Profit for the three months ending 31 December was $80 million, or 86 cents per share, compared with a $97 million loss for the same period of 2008, said Lenovo, based in Beijing and in Morrisville, North Carolina. Global sales rose to $4.8 billion. Lenovo was hit hard by the global economic crisis, which prompted its corporate customers to slash purchases. The company suffered three losing quarters before rebounding to earn $53 million in the three months ending 30 September. The company, which acquired IBM Corp.’s PC unit in 2005, said its global market share expanded to 9%, its highest to date. “We have achieved our highest-ever global market share for the third straight quarter and notably increased profitability,” CEO Yang Yuanqing said in a statement. “These achievements demonstrated the effectiveness of the strategies we mapped out at the beginning of the year.” Yang said Lenovo plans to aggressively expand in mobile Internet after launching a netbook and a smart phone last month. The company paid $200 million in November to buy back mobile phone assets that it sold earlier to focus on PCs. “In the future, while we continue to expand our PC business, we also want to attack the mobile Internet category to drive growth and capitalize (on) our innovation efforts,” Yang said. Quarterly sales in Lenovo’s home China market soared 45% from a year earlier to $2.3 billion, accounting for 47% of the company’s worldwide total. The company said its China market share rose 2.8 percentage points to 33.5 % despite competition from industry leaders Dell Inc. and Hewlett-Packard Co., which are trying to expand sales to both prosperous cities and the poorer countryside. In mature markets such as the United States and Western Europe, sales rose 13% from a year earlier to $1.7 billion, the company said. In India and other emerging markets, sales rose 52% to $857 million. Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 3 Feb 2010 | 11:58 pm Airbus eyes military, civilian deals in AsiaSingapore: European aerospace giant Airbus is looking to secure military and civilian aircraft deals in Asia, including for the troubled A400M military transporter, executives said on Thursday. Indonesia, which has plans to renew its C-130 transport airplane fleet, is a potential market for the A400M, said Christian Duhain, a vice-president at Airbus parent EADS. John Leahy, chief operating officer for Airbus, told Reuters on the sidelines of the Singapore Airshow that in terms of civilian deals, the company should finalize sales of wide-body A330 passenger jets to Asian customers in the next two weeks. “We are working on a couple of deals right now, but again we are not going to rush to sign it just because of the airshow,” Leahy said. “I have deals in this region for some A330s that we are close to wrapping up... we may have to wait until next week or maybe the week after,” he added without giving further details. The global economic recession resulted in a 3.5% decline in global air travel last year and a 10.1% drop in the volume of airborne cargo, according to the International Air Transport Association (IATA). Although some industry analysts and executives say that a recovery has started, others expect it will take years before airlines start to buy aircraft in large numbers. “I think the industry will stay soft or pretty much in recession in terms of order intakes through 2012,” Leahy said. Military Deals Indonesia is looking to renew two squadrons, or 32 planes, of its Lockheed Martin C-130 military transport planes, the government had said last year. This could be an opportunity for Airbus to sell the Southeast Asian nation the A400M, which can carry twice as much payload, twice the distance compared to the C-130s.. But the plane has run into funding difficulties. Later on Thursday, EADS and the main buyers of the A400M — Britain, France, Germany, Spain, Belgium, Luxembourg and Turkey — will meet in Berlin to resolve a €2.4 billion ($3.4 billion) funding shortfall to complete development of the plane. In Asia, Malaysia has agreed to purchase four A400M planes, with delivery scheduled for 2013. The Indonesian deal is far from certain as competition will be tough and the country, Southeast Asia’s biggest economy, does not have the budget for fresh orders this year. Lockheed Martin is working with the Indonesian government to reduce the number of varieties of the C-130 on its fleet before deciding on a purchase of the newer series of the Hercules, a senior company official told Reuters. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 3 Feb 2010 | 11:57 pm India’s 2009-10 software export growth seen 5.5%New Delhi: India’s software and services exports should rise 5.5% in the year to March 2010 to $49.7 billion, an industry body said on Thursday, in line with an earlier forecast for 4-7% expansion. In the year to March 2011, they should grow an annual 13-15%, with the recovering world economy boosting demand for outsourcing, the National Association of Software and Service Companies said. The sector’s export growth had slowed to 16% in 2008-09 from more than 20% in previous years for outsourcing. Business has been picking up and leading companies such as Tata Consultancy services, Infosys Technologies and Wipro beat quarterly forecasts. Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 3 Feb 2010 | 11:56 pm Food price inflation rises to 17.56% - NDTV.com
Source: Business - Google News | 3 Feb 2010 | 11:44 pm SC grants bail to PriceWater auditor in Satyam caseThe Supreme Court today granted bail to PriceWaterhouseCoopers auditor Srinivas Talluri who was arrested in Satyam fraud case for allegedly conniving with its founder B Ramalinga Raju and other aides.Source: India Business News | Business News - Times of India | 3 Feb 2010 | 11:12 pm Sensex 121 points in the red in morning tradeA benchmark index for Indian equities was ruling in negative terrain Thursday morning and was 121 points lower than its previous close 90 minutes after opening bell.Source: India Business News | Business News - Times of India | 3 Feb 2010 | 10:31 pm Oil stocks surge up to 4 per cent on BSE thumbs up to Parikh reportShares of oil companies today rose up to 4 per cent on the Bombay Stock Exchange after a report by an expert panel which suggested freeing fuel prices. Source: HindustanTimes.com - Top Business News Headlines | 3 Feb 2010 | 10:27 pm Samsung aims to treble smartphone sales in 2010Seoul: South Korea’s Samsung Electronics Co Ltd said on Thursday it aimed to treble smartphone shipments this year to more than 18 million units as the world’s second-biggest cellphone maker scrambles to make a mark in the fast-growing smartphone market. Beefing up smartphone offerings is a key challenge faced this year by Samsung and its home rival LG Electronics Inc, which together account for more than 30% of the overall cellphone market but hold very small pieces of the smartphone market. “There’ll be a big change in our smartphone strategy this year,” Shin Jong-kyun, head of Samsung’s mobile division told reporters. “We plan to strengthen our smartphone business this year by not just improving hardware offerings but also beefing up content, applications, services.” Samsung, which has about 20% of the global mobile phone market but only about 3% of the smartphone market, said it would aggressively promote its own open smartphone platform Bada, which has received little attention from handset vendors and developers since being launched late last year. The focus of the handset market has started to shift to software with Apple and Google entering the market. Traditional mobile phone makers have lost ground to Apple’s iPhone and Blackberry-maker Research in Motion in the lucrative smartphone market. Research house Gartner expects the smartphone market would nearly treble to 525 million units by 2012 from 179 million in 2009. Samsung, which sold 227 million mobile phones last year, said it aimed to grow faster than the broader market by selling about 260-270 million phones this year. Shares in Samsung were unchanged at 777,000 won by 0240 GMT, versus a 0.2% drop in the wider market. Source: World Business - Livemint.com | 3 Feb 2010 | 10:12 pm Samsung aims to treble smartphone sales in 2010Seoul: South Korea’s Samsung Electronics Co Ltd said on Thursday it aimed to treble smartphone shipments this year to more than 18 million units as the world’s second-biggest cellphone maker scrambles to make a mark in the fast-growing smartphone market. Beefing up smartphone offerings is a key challenge faced this year by Samsung and its home rival LG Electronics Inc, which together account for more than 30% of the overall cellphone market but hold very small pieces of the smartphone market. “There’ll be a big change in our smartphone strategy this year,” Shin Jong-kyun, head of Samsung’s mobile division told reporters. “We plan to strengthen our smartphone business this year by not just improving hardware offerings but also beefing up content, applications, services.” Samsung, which has about 20% of the global mobile phone market but only about 3% of the smartphone market, said it would aggressively promote its own open smartphone platform Bada, which has received little attention from handset vendors and developers since being launched late last year. The focus of the handset market has started to shift to software with Apple and Google entering the market. Traditional mobile phone makers have lost ground to Apple’s iPhone and Blackberry-maker Research in Motion in the lucrative smartphone market. Research house Gartner expects the smartphone market would nearly treble to 525 million units by 2012 from 179 million in 2009. Samsung, which sold 227 million mobile phones last year, said it aimed to grow faster than the broader market by selling about 260-270 million phones this year. Shares in Samsung were unchanged at 777,000 won by 0240 GMT, versus a 0.2% drop in the wider market. Source: Tech News - Livemint.com | 3 Feb 2010 | 10:12 pm Sensex 121 points in the red in morning tradeThe Bombay Stock Exchange benchmark Sensex on Thursday fell by 121 points lower than its previous close 90 minutes after opening bell.Source: HindustanTimes.com - Top Business News Headlines | 3 Feb 2010 | 9:57 pm Rupee depreciates by 8 paise against dollar in early tradeThe rupee today depreciated by 8 paise against the US currency in early trade in line with weak stock markets.Source: India Business News | Business News - Times of India | 3 Feb 2010 | 9:52 pm Parikh report effect? Oil stocks surge up to 4% on BSEShares of oil companies today rose up to 4% on BSE, a day after the PM-appointed expert committee headed by Kirit Parikh suggested freeing of petrol and diesel prices and raising LPG rates.Source: India Business News | Business News - Times of India | 3 Feb 2010 | 9:30 pm Toyota recalls 180 865 vehicles in Britain reportsToyota is recalling tens of thousands of cars in Britain amid a mounting crisis over faulty accelerator pedals, media reported on Thursday.Source: HindustanTimes.com - Top Business News Headlines | 3 Feb 2010 | 7:49 pm Get set to pay more for petrol, dieselAn increase of at least Rs 3 a litre in petrol and Re 1 in diesel prices appears very likely around the budget as the government nears the end of its capacity to extend a financial lifeline to state-run oil marketers.Source: India Business News | Business News - Times of India | 3 Feb 2010 | 1:43 pm Sebis clean chit to NSDL in IPO scamSebi has disposed of its interim order directing the NSDL to revamp its mgmt, after some market players cornered shares meant for retail investors in 21 IPOs during 2003-05 by opening many fictitious demat accts.Source: India Business News | Business News - Times of India | 3 Feb 2010 | 1:31 pm AI cabin crew threatens to go on strikeFresh trouble is brewing on cabin crew front in Air India. AI Express had taken over 400 airhostesses and flight attendants on contract in 2005.Source: India Business News | Business News - Times of India | 3 Feb 2010 | 1:27 pm Merc topples BMW in Jan auto salesAfter trailing BMW in 2009, Mercedes Benz India has started 2010 on a high, selling more cars in January than BMW.Source: India Business News | Business News - Times of India | 3 Feb 2010 | 1:25 pm Bankers see huge challenges in next financial yearThe countrys leading bankers are optimistic about the long-term prospects but are unanimous in their opinion that the next financial year will be challenging.Source: Business Standard | Front Page Headlines | 3 Feb 2010 | 11:57 am Hemendra Kothari to buy into ING LifeHemendra Kothari, the former chairman of DSP Merrill Lynch, is set to acquire Ambuja Cements stake in ING Vysya Life Insurance for around Rs 190 crore.Source: Business Standard | Front Page Headlines | 3 Feb 2010 | 11:56 am Raise cooking, auto fuel prices, says Parikh PanelThe Kirit Parikh committee has recommended market-determined pricing for petrol and diesel. It has also recommended linking the price of domestic LPG and kerosene distributed through the Public Distribution System (PDS) to the increase in per capita GDP for urban population and agriculture GDP, respectively.Source: Business Standard | Front Page Headlines | 3 Feb 2010 | 11:53 am Internet nominated for Nobel Peace Prize 2010London: It’s official. The Internet, which has virtually revolutionised the world, has been nominated for the ‘2010 Nobel Peace Prize´.  Bridging borders: Surfers at a cyber cafe in China. Nobel laureate Shirin Ebadi is one of the main endorsers of the nomination. Reuters Premier endorsers of Internet for Nobel Peace Prize nomination include 2003 Nobel laureate Shirin Ebadi and famous Italian surgeon, known for his contributions to breast cancer treatments, Umberto Veronesi. Wired Italy has also launched a dedicated campaign, ‘Internet for Peace´, which will carry on till September 2010, featuring different stories and experiences of those who with the web have tried to do something concrete to promote peace and harmony in the world. “We have to look at the Internet as a huge community where men and women from all over the world and with very different religious views can communicate and sympathise, spreading a new culture centred on collaboration and sharing of knowledge that breaks all barriers. “For this reason, the Internet can be considered the first weapon of mass construction, which we can deploy to destroy hate and conflict and propagate peace and democracy. “What happened in Iran after the latest election and the role the web played in spreading information that would otherwise have been censored, are only the newest examples of how the Internet can become a weapon of global hope,” Riccardo Luna, editor of Wired Italy, said at the launch. Source: Tech News - Livemint.com | 3 Feb 2010 | 11:45 am Toyota president avoids media as vehicle recall risesTokyo: As Toyota Motor Corp.’s recalls spread to at least 7.6 million cars across five continents, president Akio Toyoda’s only public comments on the matter have consisted of an impromptu, 75-second interview with a Japanese broadcaster in Davos, Switzerland. More than a week after the world’s biggest car maker said it would recall vehicles in the US to fix defective gas pedals linked to unintended acceleration, Toyoda, 53, still hasn’t addressed other media. The grandson of Toyota’s founder has left the task to the US sales chief Jim Lentz and to executive vice-president Shinichi Sasaki, who is in charge of quality control. Toyota is a global company, but their way of handling this problem hasn’t been up to global standards, said Yasuhiro Matsumoto, a Shinsei Securities Co. analyst in Tokyo. For the top executive to be invisible when there is a fatal problem for the company gives the impression that he is trying to keep a low profile and hide.  Credibility hit: Toyota president Akio Toyoda. Pressure on the firm rose after the Japanese government said it ordered the auto maker in August to probe its new Prius hybrid, which has not been part of the recalls. Tomohiro Ohsumi / Bloomberg Toyota won’t comment on Toyoda’s whereabouts, citing company security policy, according to spokeswoman Ririko Takeuchi. Last week, the car maker declined to confirm his attendance at the World Economic Forum in Davos, where he said in an unscheduled NHK television network interview on 29 January, “I am deeply sorry that we’re giving cause for concern to customers.” The car maker has received 14 brake-related complaints about the latest Prius model since it was introduced in May, Japan’s Transport Ministry said. Toyota’s Takeuchi declined to say whether the company had begun investigating the complaints. Executive management should be clearly in front to inform customers of actions that are being pursued, said Margaret Key, managing director of public relations company Edelman Japan KK in Tokyo, which specializes in crisis management. This is critical in matters such as product recalls. Toyota executives and public relations staff in the US and Japan clashed last week over who should appear in public to apologize, two people familiar with the matter said, declining to be identified as the discussions were private. Some insisted that Toyoda should make a public statement, and participants in conference calls shouted at each other, one of the people said. US staff were frustrated at a lack of swift action by the parent company, the person said. Mike Michels, a spokesman for Toyota’s US sales unit, said he wasn’t aware of any disputes between company officials in Japan and the US over Toyoda’s role. Information on this recall has been coming mostly out of the US, said Takashi Aoki, who helps manage about $1 billion (Rs4,600 crore) at Mizuho Asset Management Co. in Tokyo. There is definitely a concern about what is going on with Toyota headquarters’ corporate governance. Toyota’s Lentz, who appeared on NBC Universal’s Today show and other US news programmes on 1 February, said dealers will begin fixing accelerator pedals with kits they will receive in the next day or so. The kits include steel plates to prevent pedals from sticking, said John Hanson, a company spokesman. Elkhart, Indiana-based CTS Corp., maker of the original pedals, is delivering modified versions to Toyota’s North American factories, where five assembly lines were shut as the company suspended US sales and production of eight recalled models. Manufacturing will resume 8 February, Lentz said. The recall to fix accelerator pedals includes the top-selling Camry and Corolla models and covers 2.57 million vehicles in the US and Canada, 1.71 million in Europe and 80,000 in China. It also includes 180,000 in Latin America, Africa and the West Asia, Toyota’s Sasaki told reporters on Tuesday in Nagoya, Japan. Separately, the company is recalling 5.35 million vehicles in the US because of floor mats that could jam pedals. Covered vehicles include model years 2004-2009 Prius hybrids, 2007-2010 Lexus ES350, 2006-2010 Lexus IS250 and 2006-2010 Lexus IS350. Toyota has said 2.1 million vehicles are covered by both safety actions. feedback@livemint.com Kae Inoue in Tokyo, Yuki Hagiwara in Nagoya and Margaret Cronin Fisk in Southfield, Michigan, contributed to this story. Source: World Business - Livemint.com | 3 Feb 2010 | 11:01 am AIG s lite bonus plan slammedThe American International Group (AIG) might have agreed to cut employee bonuses by $20 million — according to people with knowledge of the negotiations — but its critics still saw red over the $100 million the company was expected to pay out in bonuses on Wednesday.Source: HindustanTimes.com - Top Business News Headlines | 3 Feb 2010 | 9:56 am Ansal API revives SEZ as IT perks upWith the economy showing strong signs of recovery and the IT sector posting good results, Ansal API has revived its plans to develop a special economic zone (SEZ) for IT services, reports Vivek Sinha.Source: HindustanTimes.com - Top Business News Headlines | 3 Feb 2010 | 9:53 am Govt plans panel to iron out FDI merger issuesTo improve the investment climate in the country, the government is looking at forming a core group to address broader issues pertaining to foreign direct investment, mergers and acquisitions and a host of other matters, reports Mahua Venkatesh.Source: HindustanTimes.com - Top Business News Headlines | 3 Feb 2010 | 9:51 am Stimulus exit on GDP data cueNow that industrial growth has picked up, is it time to roll back the stimulus package announced late in 2008?Source: HindustanTimes.com - Top Business News Headlines | 3 Feb 2010 | 9:50 am L&T builds on new order win - NDTV.com
Source: Business - Google News | 3 Feb 2010 | 4:41 am
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