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Won\'t take unilateral decision on price hike: Sunflag SteelIn an interview with CNBCTV18, ER Shekhar, Director, Sunflag Steel Company Ltd spoke about the possibility of a steel price hike going ahead and the company\'s business.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 1 Apr 2010 | 8:44 am Current order book around Rs 3.5 bn: Shiv Vani OilA PE fund backed by Templeton bought a 5.3% stake in Shiv Vani Oil Gas Exploration Services last week. In an interview with CNBCTV18, Rajan Gupta, CFO, Shiv Vani Oil Gas Exploration Services Ltd, spoke about the latest happenings in his company and sector.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 1 Apr 2010 | 8:08 am RBI\'s move to relax NPA norms will help sector: GMRSubba Rao, Group CFO, GMR Infra, said RBI\'s move to relax NPA norms for infra loans will help the sector.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 1 Apr 2010 | 8:00 am K\'taka to transfer land to ArcelorMittal by June: SourcesArcelorMittal\'s investment plans in Karnataka are on in full swing, sources told CNBCTV18. The steel behemoth plans to set up a 6 mtpa plant at a total investment of Rs 60,000 crore in Karnataka.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 1 Apr 2010 | 8:00 am Aban Offshore wins contract for deployment of rigsAban Offshore Ltd said on Thursday it won a contract for deployment of its jackup rig Deep Driller 1\' for a firm period of 1 year and two optional periods of 6 months each.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 1 Apr 2010 | 7:48 am Bharti says consortium launches new undersea cableBharti Airtel said on Thursday an international consortium comprising the leading Indian telecoms firm had launched a undersea cable that directly connects Japan and the west coast of the United States.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 1 Apr 2010 | 7:48 am China factories crank up as demand risesFactories in China and India cranked up production in March and Japanese business morale rose to its highest in more than a year on signs of improving global demand, boosting hopes for a sustainable economic recovery.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 1 Apr 2010 | 7:07 am March sales: How do the nos of auto cos stack up?Auto companies have seen buoyant sales in March. This is what the initial numbers suggest.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 1 Apr 2010 | 6:44 am Clearwater Capitals open offer at Rs 110/sh: Sayaji HotelsClearwater Capital plans to acquire up to 35.04 lakh shrs of Sayaji Hotels. The offer, priced at Rs 110 per share, will remain open from May 20 to June 8.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 1 Apr 2010 | 6:09 am Larsen, RollsRoyce in nuclear energy pactIndian engineering and construction firm Larsen Toubro said on Thursday it had signed a preliminary agreement with British power system firm RollsRoyce to explore opportunities in nuclear power.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 1 Apr 2010 | 5:39 am HMIL registers 27.3% growth in March - NDTV.com
Source: Business - Google News | 1 Apr 2010 | 4:12 am ICICI Venture to invest in insurance firm - Moneycontrol.com
Source: Business - Google News | 1 Apr 2010 | 3:55 am Indian car sales show strong annual growthIndia's carmakers today said sales for the financial year ended March were robust, as demand improved due to government stimulus packages, cheap loans and new model launches.Source: HindustanTimes.com - Top Business News Headlines | 1 Apr 2010 | 3:50 am Reliance not renewing Iran crude import deal - sourcesDUBAI/NEW DELHI (Reuters) - Reliance Industries will not renew a contract to import crude oil from Iran for financial year 2010, two sources familiar with the supply deal said on Thursday.Source: Reuters: Money News | 1 Apr 2010 | 3:49 am RBI sets rule for project loan transparency - Moneycontrol.com
Source: Business - Google News | 1 Apr 2010 | 3:40 am Maruti Suzuki sells over a million vehicles in 2009-10 - Sify
Source: Business - Google News | 1 Apr 2010 | 3:36 am BSE Sensex rises 1 pct on firm world stocksMUMBAI (Reuters) – The BSE Sensex extended gains to 1 percent on Thursday afternoon, helped by a rally in world stocks. Reliance Industries and Infosys Technologies led the gains.Source: Reuters: Money News | 1 Apr 2010 | 3:34 am Govt may defer subsidised food price hike - sourceNEW DELHI (Reuters) – The government may keep on hold plans to raise prices of subsidised food grains for welfare schemes to cut its subsidy bill, unwilling to take an unpopular step when inflation remains high, a government source said on Thursday.Source: Reuters: Money News | 1 Apr 2010 | 3:31 am Nifty nears 5300; Bharti, HUL, ONGC underperform - Moneycontrol.com
Source: Business - Google News | 1 Apr 2010 | 3:29 am Prices, lifestyle to hit Indian sugar demand this yearNEW DELHI (Reuters) - The Indian consumer has a famously sweet tooth, but that may not stop demand in the world's top sugar user flatlining this year even as global prices plummet.Source: Reuters: Money News | 1 Apr 2010 | 3:15 am Hyundai Motor India Limited registers 27.3% growth in MarchFor the quarter ending Jan-March 2010, HMIL registered a positive 33.5% growth, with total sales of 1,62,273.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 1 Apr 2010 | 3:09 am Food, fuel prices up; RBI action seenNew Delhi: India’s fuel inflation quickened in late-March and food prices climbed, making a double-digit headline inflation a near certainty, which could prompt the Reserve bank of India (RBI) to increase rates for the second time in as many months in April. The fuel price index rose 12.75% in the 12 months to 20 March, higher than an annual rise of 12.68% in the previous week, data showed on Thursday. Fuel costs have risen following a hike in domestic fuel prices and an upswing in world crude prices. The food price index rose an annual 16.35% in the same period, above the previous week’s reading of 16.22%. The RBI last week underscored the need to curb inflationary pressures fuelled by increased capacity utilisation and rising energy and commodity prices, reflecting a shift in its focus to contain the headline inflation that is close to 10%. Markets have already priced in another rate hike of at least 25 basis points in April, after the central bank surprised the market last month with a quarter point rate rise citing rising inflation pressures. Traders expect federal bond yields, which crossed 8% in March before retreating, to touch an over 18-month-high of 8.5% in the coming weeks on rate hike expectations and federal borrowing concerns. The latest Reuters poll shows analysts expect rates to go up by another 100 basis points between now and end-December. Headline inflation, which was initially driven by high food prices, is now getting a push from other segments. Inflation in manufacturing accelerated to 7.4% in February from 6.5 in January, a sign that inflation is fast becoming a demand-driven problem. The government’s decision to raise motor fuel prices in major cities from Thursday to rein in fiscal deficit is likely to further stoke inflationary pressures. Rising inflation has sparked street protests and opposition-led walkouts in Parliament, putting pressure on the Congress-led ruling coalition to find an effective and durable solution. India’s top policy panel said in a report last month the country should aim for an average wholesale price inflation of around 5% and price stability was crucial for economic growth to benefit the broader population. India, the world’s second fastest growing economy, is expected to grow 8.5% in the current fiscal year and 9% in the next. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 1 Apr 2010 | 2:57 am ICICI Venture to invest Rs120-cr in Star HealthMumbai: Private equity firm, ICICI Venture, on Thursday said that it plans to invest Rs120 crore in Star Health and Allied Insurance Company, marking the first private equity deal in the Indian health insurance sector. For ICICI Venture, a subsidiary of ICICI Bank, this would be the maiden investment from its new $500 million PE fund India Advantage Fund Series 3, a press release issued here stated. Star Health is a Chennai-headquartered company headed by V Jagannathan, which has garnered a gross premium of around $200 million in the current fiscal. “We believe that the Indian health insurance market is poised for an exciting future given the low penetration levels witnessed historically despite a clear underlying consumer need. We believe that Star and its visionary management team led by Mr Jagannathan is currently best-positioned to tap this opportunity,” ICICI Venture Managing director & CEO, Vishakha Mulye, said. Star Health is promoted by shareholders of the ETA Ascon group (a Middle-East-based conglomerate) and Oman Insurance Company, a subsidiary of the UAE-based Mashreq Bank. The Indian health insurance industry has grown at an annual rate of over 35% since the opening up of the sector in 2000 but the market continues to be significantly under-penetrated in comparison with other countries. Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 1 Apr 2010 | 2:46 am ‘Govt may defer subsidized food price hike’New Delhi: India may keep on hold plans to raise prices of subsidised food grains for welfare schemes to cut its subsidy bill, unwilling to take an unpopular step when inflation remains high, a government source said on Thursday. The senior food ministry official, who did not wish to be identified, told Reuters the proposal was before the Union cabinet and “seems to be put in abeyance for the moment”. He was responding to a report in the Times of India newspaper the government would defer at least till May plans to raise prices of grain sold to over 115 million low-income families the government specifies as above the poverty line. The government also gives grains to 62.5 million poor families at further lower prices. The Congress party-led coalition government, which needs broad parliamentary support for landmark legislations such as the Nuclear Liability Bill, has faced tough opposition on high food prices. Its allies too have expressed disquiet. The current parliament session, which is in recess till 15 April ends in May. India has said it plans to reduce its subsidies progressively to help bring down its large fiscal deficit and a top adviser has said food prices for welfare schemes should be raised to keep costs at budgeted levels. The country will spend Rs55,600 crore ($12.4 billion) on food subsidies in 2010-11 that began on Thursday, a decline of under 1% from the previous year. This, and other subsidies on fuel and fertilisers, will keep the fiscal deficit at 5.5% of GDP for the year. The government has been unsuccessfully trying for years to raise prices of grains sold and media reports have said the hike could be as much as 80%. Wheat is currently sold at Rs6.1 a kilogram and rice at Rs8.3 to “above poverty line” families. These prices have not been revised since 2002 but procurement costs have risen. Food inflation has eased in recent weeks as the new harvest come to markets, but at 16.35% in late March, remains high, prompting street protests. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 1 Apr 2010 | 2:43 am Now, more interest on your savings account! - Moneycontrol.com
Source: Business - Google News | 1 Apr 2010 | 2:40 am L&T, Rolls-Royce in pact for LWR technologyMumbai: Engineering major Larsen & Toubro and the UK’s power systems firm Rolls Royce have inked a memorandum of understanding to address the need for light water reactors (LWR) in India and abroad. LWR technology is in use in over 60% of the civil nuclear power plants operating worldwide. The companies have agreed to collaborate on areas, including nuclear instrumentation and controls, engineered products and systems, reactor components, engineering services, in-service reactor support and waste management, a release issued here said today. The agreement between Rolls-Royce and L&T follows the recent bilateral Civil Nuclear Co-operation Declaration by the Indian and UK Governments, which enables industries of both the country to engage in civil nuclear commerce, the release said. “The agreement brings together rich experience and will effectively leverage strengths of both the companies to tap rapidly emerging opportunities in India, UK and rest of the world,” L&T’s senior executive vice-president and board member, MV Kotwal, said. Co-operation with L&T for instrumentation and controls will form the first operational phase of this relationship to bridge the gap in the existing supply-chain in support of India’s ambitious new build program,“ it said. “India is a key strategic market for Rolls-Royce and I am very pleased that we are working with Larsen & Toubro,” Rolls-Royce, president(Nuclear), Lawrie Haynes, said. L&T is a $8.5-billion engineering and construction company and Rolls-Royce is a global power systems firm. Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 1 Apr 2010 | 2:39 am ICICI Venture to invest Rs 120-cr in Star HealthPrivate equity firm, ICICI Venture, said that it plans to invest Rs 120 crore in Star Health and Allied Insurance Company, marking the first private equity deals in the Indian health insurance sector. Source: HindustanTimes.com - Top Business News Headlines | 1 Apr 2010 | 2:37 am L&T, Rolls-Royce in pact for LWR technologyLarsen & Toubro (L&T) and Rolls Royce have inked an MoU for co-operation to effectively address the project need for light water reactors (LWR) in India and overseas. Source: HindustanTimes.com - Top Business News Headlines | 1 Apr 2010 | 2:28 am Government willing to discuss nuclear billNew Delhi:Government is willing to discuss and rework a crucial nuclear liability bill, party leaders said on Thursday, a move that will further delay entry of US firms into the country’s $150 billion nuclear market. In a significant setback last month, the government backed off from introducing the bill in parliament after opposition parties protested over the limited liability energy firms would face in case of industrial accidents. While the coalition government, led by the Congress party, has a majority in the lower house, it needs the support of the Hindu-nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to secure approval of the bill in the upper house of parliament. “We have an open mind. If there are deficiencies in the bill, we can discuss them,” Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, quoted by the Hindustan Times newspaper, said late on Wednesday. “We will present the bill in parliament after which it should go to a standing committee where all differences can be resolved.” The opposition has accused the government of failing to engage sufficiently in discussion over key legislation, bringing several bills to a standstill. The new approach suggests the Congress party is changing its approach. Congress leaders said they were probably facing a long delay before the bill is passed as a parliamentary standing committee, with opposition lawmakers among its members, could propose further amendments. “Nothing can be done in a hurry and without consensus,” Manish Tiwari, a senior Congress leader, told Reuters. “The prime minister has clearly said: ‘Let a Standing Committee scrutinise the bill.´” Deal Ends Nuclear Isolation A 2008 US deal ended the nuclear isolation into which India was thrust by its 1974 atomic test. It also gave India access to US technology and fuel, while also opening up the global nuclear market to India. Ratifying the Civil Liability for Nuclear Damage Bill is imperative for private US firms reluctant to do business in India without legislation that underwrites their compensation liability in the case of industrial accidents. Opposition parties say the bill favours private players as it seeks to put a maximum liability of about $450 million on the state-run reactor operator without placing any compensation burden on private suppliers and contractors. “If he (the prime minister) is willing to discuss the bill, we will talk,” Prakash Javdekar, a senior BJP leader, told Reuters. “But the bill in the present form cannot be passed in parliament.” Opposition leaders says the liability of a US operator under US legislation is $12.5 billion — 23 time s higher than the liability fixed for an Indian operator. Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 1 Apr 2010 | 2:24 am BHEL profit surges 36.6 pc to Rs 4,287 cr in FY'10State-run Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd (BHEL) on Thursday reported a jump of 36.61 per cent in its net profit to Rs 4,287 crore for financial year 2009-10. Source: HindustanTimes.com - Top Business News Headlines | 1 Apr 2010 | 2:19 am India kicks off world’s biggest head countNew Delhi: India kicked off the national census of its billion-plus population Thursday with a 2.5 million strong army of census-takers fanning out across the country to conduct what has been billed the world’s largest administrative exercise. The census, conducted every 10 years, has a new element this year with the collection of biometric data in which every citizen over the age of 15 will be photographed and fingerprinted, information that will form the base of a new National Population Register of the country’s 1.2 billion population. “It is for the first time in human history that an attempt is being made to identify, count, enumerate and record and eventually issue an identity card to 1.2 billion people,” home minister P Chidambaram said. So far, India has not had a system of issuing a national identity number or card to its citizens. The collection of biometric data using a combination of fingerprint and facial identification will be linked with another massive exercise launched last year to ensure that every Indian gets assigned a single identity number. President Pratibha Patil marked the start of the 11-month exercise Thursday at her pink sandstone presidential palace, which became the first household to be listed for the first phase of the census known as ’houselisting.’ Over the next six months, census-takers, or ‘enumerators,’ will travel across more than 630,000 villages and over 5,000 cities in the country to visit every structure that serves as a home to put together a national data base. From skyscrapers to tin shanties, census takers will note details such as the availability of drinking water and electricity, and the type of construction material used for a comprehensive picture of housing stock in India. The census-takers also plan to include millions of homeless people who sleep on railway platforms, under bridges and in parks. Census-takers are typically government officials, school teachers or other local officials who go home-to-home collecting data on the size of families, marital status, education and work information. For the first time, they also will count bank account holders and cell phone users. While China, the world’s most populous country, also counts its population, its census is carried out by various agencies, including Communist Party units, commune leaders and factory heads, unlike the New Delhi-based Registrar and Census Commission that carries out India’s count. India’s census will face a special challenge from left-wing extremists active in 20 of the country’s 28 states who have stepped up a campaign of violent attacks on government officials. The census-takers plan to finish their work by February 2011. The information will be used for government policymaking, planning and budget allocations. This will be India’s 15th census being held without interruption at the turn of every decade. Census operations in India were started in 1872 by British colonial rulers. Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 1 Apr 2010 | 2:14 am Food inflation rises to 16.35 percent - Sify
Source: Business - Google News | 1 Apr 2010 | 2:06 am Hyundai records highest domestic sales at 31,501 units for MarchNew Delhi: The country’s second largest carmaker Hyundai Motor India on Thursday reported its highest ever domestic sales at 31,501 units and posted a jump of 27.26% over the same month a year ago. The company had sold 24,754 units in the domestic market in March 2009, Hyundai Motor India Ltd (HMIL) said in a statement. The domestic sales of the company is the highest since 1998, when HMIL launched its flagship small car Santro, it added. The company’s total sales soared by 19.23% to 55,035 units against 46,159 units in the year-ago period. Exports of the company grew 9.95% to 23,534 units from 21,405 units in the year-ago period, the statement said. In its A2 segment (Santro, i10, i20 and Getz Prime), the company sold 50,715 units, while in the A3 (Accent and Verna) sales were at 4,276 units. The A5 segment (Sonata Transform) of HMIL witnessed sales of 44 units, while its SUV Tucson received no buyer during the month. For the entire 2009-10 financial year, HMIL registered 20.79% jump in its total sales at 6,00,588 units against 4,97,206 units in the previous fiscal. “As we close the financial year, it is reassuring to see the market retain its buoyancy, which was triggered by the government’s timely announcement of the stimulus package and the consequent reduction in interest rates for car finance,” HMIL director (marketing and sales) Arvind Saxena said. These factors positively affected the market and kept demand high over the last year, he added. Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 1 Apr 2010 | 2:04 am US Treasury Secy to meet PM, Pranab, Montek on India visit - Business Standard
Source: Business - Google News | 1 Apr 2010 | 2:01 am Pfizer paid $35 mln to doctors over 6 monthsNEW YORK (Reuters) - Pfizer Inc on Wednesday said it paid $35 million to some 4,500 doctors and researchers from July through December 2009 for a variety of services, including speaking fees, expert advice and work on clinical trials of its medicines.Source: Reuters: Money News | 1 Apr 2010 | 1:59 am Bharti says consortium launches new undersea cableBharti Airtel said an international consortium comprising the leading Indian telecoms firm had launched a undersea cable that directly connects Japan and the west coast of the United States.Source: HindustanTimes.com - Top Business News Headlines | 1 Apr 2010 | 1:57 am BHEL aims $10-$11 bln turnover by FY12MUMBAI (Reuters) - India's top power equipment maker Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd is aiming for a turnover of $10 billion to $11 billion by 2011/2012 on strong demand from the power generation sector, the company said on Thursday.Source: Reuters: Money News | 1 Apr 2010 | 1:50 am Bhel aims $10-$11 bn turnover by FY12Mumbai: India’s top power equipment maker Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd is aiming for a turnover of $10 billion to $11 billion by 2011-2012 on strong demand from the power generation sector, the company said on Thursday. It also said it would raise its capacity to deliver power to 20,000 megawatts by March 2012 from 15,000 megawatts now. The company, which recorded a 37% rise in provisional net profit to Rs4,287 crore ($955 million) for 2009-10, said it had an outstanding order book of 143,800 crore. Its provisional turnover for fiscal 2010 was $7.6 billion, a rise of 21.5% from year-ago. At 0728 GMT shares in Bhel were trading up 0.6% at Rs2,400.10 while the main index was also up 0.6%. Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 1 Apr 2010 | 1:28 am TVS Motor reports 24 pc sales growth in March - The Hindu
Source: Business - Google News | 1 Apr 2010 | 1:24 am Food inflation rises to 16.35%The rise in food prices is mainly driven by pulses, which became dearer by 31.55%. Milk prices rose by 18.74% on the yearly basis.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 1 Apr 2010 | 1:18 am Food inflation rises to 16.35%Food inflation rose marginally to 16.35% for the week ended March 20 mainly on account of high prices of pulses and milk.Source: India Business News | Business News - Times of India | 1 Apr 2010 | 1:10 am US economy is getting stronger faster than predicted: GeithnerThe US economy, which is hit by one of the worst crisis after the Great Depression, is coming back stronger and faster than predicted, the US Treasury Secretary, Timothy Geithner, has said. Source: HindustanTimes.com - Top Business News Headlines | 1 Apr 2010 | 1:02 am Suzuki Motorcycle India sales jump 76 pc in MarchTwo-wheeler maker Suzuki Motorcycle India on Thursday reported a jump of 76.13 per cent in its sales in March at 21,752 units, on the back of good response to its new products. Source: HindustanTimes.com - Top Business News Headlines | 1 Apr 2010 | 12:56 am Fuel, food prices up; RBI action seenNEW DELHI (Reuters) - India's fuel inflation quickened in late-March and food prices climbed, making a double-digit headline inflation a near certainty, which could prompt the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to increase rates for the second time in as many months in April.Source: Reuters: Money News | 1 Apr 2010 | 12:49 am Food price index up 16.35 pct y/y March 20: GovtFood price index rose 16.35 per cent in the 12 months to March 20, while the fuel index was up 12.75 per cent, government data showed today.Source: HindustanTimes.com - Top Business News Headlines | 1 Apr 2010 | 12:42 am TVS Motor reports 24% sales growth in MarchThe company said the recently launched metal bodied scooterette TVS Wego would be rolled out in phases across the country over the next two months.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 1 Apr 2010 | 12:37 am Wockhardt’s deal to sell nutrition biz to Abbott called offNew Delhi: Debt-ridden pharma firm Wockhardt on Thursday said its estimated Rs650-crore deal to sell nutritional business to global health company Abbott has been terminated, eight months after announcing an agreement. Wockhardt, in a statement, said that the company and Abbott have “jointly decided to terminate the nutritional business agreement signed by them in July 2009.” The company, however, did not specify the reasons for terminating the deal. Wockhardt’s nutrition category comprises brands like Farex, Dexolac, Nusobee infant formulas and Protinex. In July 2009, Wockhardt had announced an agreement with global health firm Abbott to sell off its nutrition businesses as it looked to raise funds to repay debt. While the value of the deal was not officially announced, it was estimated to be worth around $130 million or about Rs650 crore. Wockhardt, which is facing debts to the tune of Rs3,700 crore, had announced plans to raise Rs790 crore through divestment of its non-core business by 2015 as part of its CDR programme. Shares of Wockhardt were trading at Rs 142.60 on BSE, up 2.81% from previous close. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 1 Apr 2010 | 12:37 am TVS Motor reports 24 per cent sales growth in March 2010Two-wheeler manufacturer TVS Motor reported a 24 per cent growth in March 2010."Cumulative growth for April 2009-March 2010 stood at 15 per cent, where the manufacturer sold 15.21 lakh units against 13.25 lakh units last year", the company said.Source: HindustanTimes.com - Top Business News Headlines | 1 Apr 2010 | 12:31 am Asian stocks hit 11-week high; technology leadsHong Kong: Asian stocks rose to an 11-week high on Thursday as China’s manufacturing industry picked up and foreign buying boosted the technology-heavy markets of Taiwan and South Korea. The Nikkei average rose to a new 18-month closing high half with the yen’s recent downtrend boosting exporters. Traders predicted more gains for the benchmark in the new quarter in spite of signs of strains on technical charts. China’s manufacturing data is expected to boost European shares. STOXX Europe 50 futures, Germany’s DAX futures and France’s CAC-40 futures were up 0.6 to 0.9%. The dollar was steady against the yen compared to late US trading on Wednesday at ¥93.47, having touched a three-month high of ¥93.65 earlier in the day. MSCI’s Asia-Pacific ex-Japan index was up 1.1%, after hitting its highest since mid-January. This marks a solid start to the second quarter after the benchmark gained 1.5% in Jan-Mar The Thomson Reuters index for regional shares was up 1.4%. Analysts say Asia was merely in catch-up mode. Technology and consumer durables stocks were the big gainers as foreigners bought stocks that have underperformed this year. “Our markets have underperformed and I think it is premature to worry about too much money coming into the region,” said Geoff Lewis, head of investment services at JP Morgan Asset Management. Compared with Asian shares, world stocks measured in the MSCI All-Country World Index were up 2.7% in the first quarter, while emerging market shares were up 2%. The mood among investors was boosted by two business surveys which showed China’s manufacturing moved up a gear in March as orders climbed, pointing to brisk first-quarter GDP growth. HSBC’s China Purchasing Managers’ Index, or PMI, showed first-quarter manufacturing output expanded at the briskest clip in the survey’s six-year history. The official purchasing managers’ index rose to 55.1 in March from 52.0 in February, beating the market consensus of 54.5. The technology-dominated markets of Taiwan and South Korea were among the leading performers with foreign buying boosting the stock markets in Seoul and Taipei because of earnings expectations. “Foreign investors coming in now seem to be long-term funds. Normally they had been more defensive players, but their more active buying is actually lifting the broader market,” said Choi Kwang-hyeok, a market analyst at Hanwha Securities. Funds tracker EPFR Global said investor appetite for exposure to emerging markets took global emerging markets equity fund flows to a 10-week high and flows into emerging bond funds to their second best week ever in the period to March 24. The stock market benchmarks in Taiwan and South Korea closed at a 10-week high. Although the data released in China triggered expectations of 11% plus growth in the first quarter which could lead to tightening by authorities, those fears were kept in check by comments from the central bank reaffirming its monetary stance. In a statement released a day after the quarterly meeting of its monetary policy committee, the People’s Bank of China vowed to maintain appropriate credit growth which took stocks in Shanghai and Hong Kong to their highest in over two months. The Shanghai Composite index was up 1.1% while in Hong Kong the China Enterprises Index of top locally listed mainland Chinese stocks was up 1.8% at 12,618. Goldman Sachs has forecast more gains for the China Enterprise benchmark with a target of 15,000 or 20% above the current level. “We sense that Chinese equities have fallen off investors’ radars somewhat, positioning is light, and sentiment is, at best, skeptical, making us all the more keen to get involved,” a report said while highlighting robust economic growth and “undemanding” price-earnings multiples. Materials also received a boost from M&A activity in Australia’s sizzling commodities sector. Australia’s Lihir Gold surged by a third to a two-year high after rejecting a takeover offer from the country’s top gold miner, Newcrest Mining. The deal followed a bid on Wednesday for Macarthur Coal from Peabody Energy, which was also rejected. In southeast Asia, strong foreign buying lifted stock markets in the two biggest economies. Thailand’s benchmark stock market index hit a 21-month high while Indonesia’s benchmark index was up 1.8% within sight of the record high hit on Jan. 14, 2008. Investors are awaiting non-farm payrolls data due in the United States on Good Friday, a holiday for most markets. Analysts polled by Reuters forecast a 190,000 job gain in March payrolls, which would be the second monthly increase since the recession began in December 2007. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 1 Apr 2010 | 12:27 am Maruti sales jump 11% in March; crosses 1 mn mark in FY10New Delhi: India’s largest car maker Maruti Suzuki India on Thursday reported a growth of 11.04% in its total sales in March at 95,123 units, boosted by the best ever monthly export figures. The company had sold 85,669 units during the same month last year, Maruti Suzuki India (MSI) said in a statement. It also reported a rise of 28.55% in its annual sales during the 2009-10 fiscal at 10,18,365 units, as against 7,92,167 units during the previous fiscal, helped by a spate of new launches and product refreshments. This was also the first time ever that an Indian car maker had crossed the one million units mark for sales in a single year. In March, MSI sold 79,530 units in the domestic market compared to 73,855 units in the same month of 2009, registering an increase of 7.68%. Exports surged by 31.99% to 15,593 units from 11,814 units in the year-ago period, it added. This is the highest ever monthly export by the car maker, breaking the previous record of 14,847 units achieved in August 2009, the company said. However, sales of the company’s once bread-and-butter model M800 fell by 13.66% at 2,430 units compared to 2,762 units in March 2009, it added. Incidentally, the car — the oldest model from MSI’s portfolio — is being phased out from 13 cities from today in line with the new emission norms which have come into effect. The A2 segment (comprising Alto, WagonR, Estilo, Swift, A-Star and Ritz) also witnessed a fall of 1.18% in sales during March at 54,763 units compared to 55,415 units in the same month a year ago. In the A3 segment, sales (consisting of SX4 and DZiRE) increased by 21.61% in March to 10,453 units compared with 8,595 units in the same period a year ago, MSI said. Sales of C segment (Omni, Versa and Eeco) jumped by 80.62% at 10,875 units, as against 6,021 units in March 2009. MSI’s total passenger car sales rose 8.82% at 78,853 units in March as against 72,461 units in the same month in 2009, it added. During 2009-10, MSI created history by becoming the first car company in India to produce over a million units in a financial year. It achieved the feat on 23 March, when the one millionth vehicle, a Swift, was rolled out from its Manesar facility. Subsequently, it crossed the one million sales mark on 30 March. The company said a spate of new launches and product refreshments helped it clock the good performance. They included the Ritz, the new Grand Vitara, the new Estilo with K-Series engine, new SX4 with VVT engine and SXR with automatic transmission and the Eeco. During the fiscal, MSI registered a growth of 20.58% in domestic sales at 8,70,790 units, as against 7,22,144 units sold in 2008-09. The A2 segment grew by 23.82% during the year to 6,33,190 units compared to 5,11,396 units in 2008-09. The A3 segment registered a 30.80% rise to 99,315 units as against 75,928 units in the previous fiscal, MSI said. Exports surged over two-fold to reach 1,47,575 units during 2009-10, as against 70,023 units in the previous fiscal. It was primarily driven by the company’s flagship export model A-Star which clocked a figure of 1.27 lakh units in overseas sales. MSI also announced plans to expand its capacity to 12.5 lakh units by 2012. In March, it had announced investment to the tune of Rs1,700 crore to increase the capacity of its Maneasr plant by 2.5 lakh units. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 1 Apr 2010 | 12:27 am Larsen, Rolls-Royce in nuclear energy pact - Moneycontrol.com
Source: Business - Google News | 1 Apr 2010 | 12:20 am Prime Minister launches free primary education planNEW DELHI (Reuters) - India's prime minister promised on Thursday to launch a guarantee of free elementary education, in a fresh sign the government was focusing on big-ticket programmes to consolidate its rural and poor voters.Source: Reuters: Money News | 1 Apr 2010 | 12:14 am PM launches free primary education planNew Delhi: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh promised on Thursday to launch a guarantee of free elementary education, in a fresh sign the government was focusing on big-ticket programmes to consolidate its rural and poor voters. The implementation of the law comes days after Sonia Gandhi was named the chair of a top policy panel that would advise the government on social programmes. It also comes at a time when the government has been forced to defer crucial legislation such as the Nuclear Liability Bill with a resurgent opposition and unwilling allies target it over inflation and other economic woes. Singh pledged in a speech on national television that financial constraints would not hold up the scheme, which is estimated to cost Rs1.7 trillion ($38 billion) over five years. The majority of funding will come from the states, the rest from the Centre and the private sector. The plan is not expected to affect the central deficit. Singh, who rose from a poor rural family to earn a doctorate in economics from Cambridge, recountered his childhood when he walked miles to school and studied under kerosene lamps. “I am what I am today because of education. I want every Indian child, girl and boy, to be so touched by the light of education. I want every Indian to dream of a better future and live that dream,” Singh said. Under the act, children aged six to 14 will be sent to schools that will have at least one trained teacher per 30 students. Eight million children of those ages are still out of school, despite India spending 3% of its annual budget on school education and building elementary schools in most villages. The country has improved its literacy rates to over 64% of its 1.2 billion population but studies have shown many students can just barely read or write, and most state-run schools have inadequate facilities and untrained teachers. Goldman Sachs counts the lack of quality education as one of the 10 factors holding India back from rapid economic growth that can push the nearly 300 million poor out of poverty. The Congress party was returned to power in 2009 on the back of pro-poor schemes such as one that guaranteed rural families 100 days of work in a year, but was short of the one-half mark. Coalition partners give the government a majority in Parliament, but this strength was tested when two allies pulled out over differences over a Bill to reserve legislative positions for women. “For the first time the Congress is being conscious that it has only 206 (seats) in a house of 543,” Kuldip Nayar, a veteran political commentator, said. “Since the government at the moment is not enjoying very good prestige, they’re trying to pick up some themes which will give them some credit. The PM saying this no doubt makes it important, but it is one of the several steps to retrieve the ground it has lost.” Unicef, Unesco and the International Labour Organisation welcomed the act, saying it would help the world achieve the Millennium Development Goal of universal primary education. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 1 Apr 2010 | 12:13 am Markets start new quarter positively; techs upMumbai: Indian shares started the new quarter on an upbeat note and were trading 0.4% higher on Thursday, mirroring the gains in their Asian peers, with export-led software companies leading the charge. IT bellwether Infosys Technologies, which will report its earnings on 13 April, along with rivals Tata Consultancy Services and Wipro gained more than 1%. “Pricing is stable. The demand scenario is improving,” said Apurva Shah, vice-president and head of research at brokerage Prabhudas Lilladher, adding that he had a positive view on the sector. Shah said the positives will offset the impact from an appreciating rupee to an extent. By 11:41am, the 30-share BSE Index was trading up 0.39% at 17,595.48 points, with two-thirds of its components gaining. The 50-share NSE index was up 0.4% at 5,271.05 points. The benchmark had gained 0.4% in the March quarter, its fifth straight quarterly rise. “We are entering the new quarter with lot of optimism. Fourth-quarter results and earnings are likely to be robust,” said Deven Choksey, managing director and CEO of KR Choksey Shares. Corporate advance tax numbers have led to expectations of robust earnings. Five of the nine respondents to a Reuters Asset Allocation Poll said Sensex could rise further in the next three months. Energy major Reliance Industries, which has the highest weight on the Sensex, rose 1.1% to Rs1,085.90. Auto shares were mixed. There were expectations of strong sales numbers for March, but a hike in fuel prices weighed. Late on Thursday, a government official said India will raise the prices of petrol by 1.1% in major cities that will migrate to Euro IV-compliant fuel. Top vehicle maker Tata Motors raced 0.9%, while top utility vehicle maker Mahindra and Mahindra dipped 2.3%. Top carmaker Maruti Suzuki shed 1.5% despite registering 11% increase in March sales. Utility Reliance Infrastructure, which also has interests in engineering and construction, rose 1.6% to Rs1,014.50 after it said its founders raised their stake to 43% from 38% by investing more than Rs1,821 crore. In the broader market, gainers were more than thrice the number of losers in a volume of 183 million shares. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 1 Apr 2010 | 12:01 am Day Trading GuideThe near-term outlook remains negative for Infosys as long as it trades below Rs 2,635. We recommend a sell in this stock with stop at RsSource: Business Line - Home Page | 1 Apr 2010 | 12:00 am Subsidised sale of wheat, rice by Govt inevitableStorage and logistics issues threaten the Government's inventory management of foodgrains. On behalf of the Centre, the Food Corporation of India (FCI) is holding humungous quantities of rice and wheat even as a new wheat crop is staring us inSource: Business Line - Home Page | 1 Apr 2010 | 12:00 am Exports continue to rise in FebruaryThe country's exports continued to be on a growth streak for the fourth month in a row, to touch $16.09 billion in February 2010, registering a 34.7 per cent increase over $ 11.94 billion recorded in same month last year. This has prompted theSource: Business Line - Home Page | 1 Apr 2010 | 12:00 am A docile quarter for stock marketsUnlike the action-packed December 2009 quarter, the recently concluded three-month period between January and March 2010 has been relatively tame at the stock markets with the BSE Sensex and the S & P CNX Nifty closing on a flatSource: Business Line - Home Page | 1 Apr 2010 | 12:00 am Will entry of foreign varsities worsen faculty shortage or spur competition?Would the proposed Foreign Educational Institution Bill accentuate the shortage of technical faculty, creating a short-term competition for research staff? Or would it be a shot in the arm for trainedSource: Business Line - Home Page | 1 Apr 2010 | 12:00 am Ericsson wins $1.3-b deal from BhartiBharti Airtel has awarded a $1.3-billion contract to Swedish telecom equipment major Ericsson for expanding and upgrading its mobile network in 15 circles. Last month, Bharti had given a $700-million contract to Nokia Siemens for expandingSource: Business Line - Home Page | 1 Apr 2010 | 12:00 am Rupee gains against euro tooIf the weak dollar is a worry for exporters, switching to euro is no solaceSource: Business Line - Home Page | 1 Apr 2010 | 12:00 am Kolte-Patil Developers (Rs 55.9): BuyInvestors with short-term trading perspective can buy the stock of Kolte-Patil Developers. The stock is in an intermediate-term uptrend since last March. Following a short-lived correction last June, the stock has been moving sideways with anSource: Business Line - Home Page | 1 Apr 2010 | 12:00 am For the aam aadmi, costs go up againCome April and life may become more difficult for the Great Indian middle class or the aam aadmi. This, despite the worst of food inflation being over and prices of most essentials, including wheat, pulses, sugar and edible oils, headingSource: Business Line - Home Page | 1 Apr 2010 | 12:00 am Brand Airtel will be taken to Africa, says KohliIn April 2007 when Mr Sunil Mittal relinquished his operational responsibilities in Bharti Airtel, he had passed on the baton to Mr Manoj Kohli, to head the company's telecom business. Exactly three years later, after having taken Bharti AirtelSource: Business Line - Home Page | 1 Apr 2010 | 12:00 am Shares give best returns in FY10The 2009-10 fiscal saw an economic revival in the country after the global financial crisis of the previous year.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 31 Mar 2010 | 11:58 pm US to accept H-1B visa applications from ThursdayWashington: The US would start accepting petitions from Thursday for the H-1B visa applications, the most sought after work visa by Indian IT professionals, for the fiscal 2011 without any cutoff date as in the past. As mandated by the US Congress, the fiscal year cap (numerical limitation on H-1B petitions) for 2011, begining 1 October, 2010, is 65,000. Additionally, the first 20,000 H-1B petitions filed on behalf of individuals who have earned a US master’s degree or higher are exempt from the H-1B cap. The US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has not announced any cutoff date for accepting the visa petitions; as was the practice till the year before when the US agency used to receive applications several times the number mandated by the Congress and had to resort to computerised draw of lots to identify successful applicants. “USCIS will monitor the number of petitions received and will notify the public of the date on which USCIS received the necessary number of petitions to meet the H-1B cap,” an official media release said. Even as there is signs of revival of US economy, but the continued high unemployment rate is likely to result in much longer time to fill up the pool of 65,000 H-1B visas for 2011 could, similar to last year’s scenario in which the number of petitions for 2010 H-1Bs didn’t get near the cap until December 2009. “If needed, USCIS will randomly select the number of petitions required to reach the numerical limit from the petitions received on the final receipt date. USCIS will reject cap-subject petitions that are not selected, as well as those received after the final receipt date,” it said. The USCIS said petitions for new H-1B employment are exempt from the annual cap if the beneficiaries will work at institutions of higher education or related or affiliated nonprofit entities, nonprofit research organisations or governmental research organisations. Petitions filed on behalf of beneficiaries who will work only in Guam or the Commonwealth of the Northern Marianas Islands are exempt from the cap until 31 December, 2014. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 31 Mar 2010 | 11:54 pm Maruti first auto firm in India to sell million cars in a yearIndo-Japanese automobile giant Maruti Suzuki has become the first company in India to sell over a million passenger cars during a fiscal year, with as many as 1,018,365 vehicles rolling out of its showrooms during 2009-10. Source: HindustanTimes.com - Top Business News Headlines | 31 Mar 2010 | 11:52 pm US to accept H-1B visa applications from todayThe US would start accepting petitions from today for the H-1B visa applications, the most sought after work visa by Indian IT professionals, for the fiscal 2011 without any cutoff date as in the past.Source: India Business News | Business News - Times of India | 31 Mar 2010 | 11:50 pm TVS Motor posts 24% sales growth in MarchChennai: Two-wheeler manufacturer TVS Motor on Thursday reported a 24% growth in March this year. The company registered sales of 1.46 lakh units in the month compared to 1.18 lakh units in the same month last year, TVS Motor Company said in a statement here. Cumulative growth for April 2009-March 2010 stood at 15%, where the manufacturer sold 15.21 lakh units as against 13.25 lakh units in the same period the previous year, it said. Three-wheeler sales increased 25% in March this year with sales of 1.26 lakh units against 1.01 lakh in the same month previous year. In the scooterette segment, the company saw a 50% growth recording 28,504 units as against 19,054 units in the same month last year. Sales of motorcycles in March 2010 also grew by 7%, with 64,120 units being sold, compared to 59,796 units in the same month previous year. TVS registered a 23% growth in exports registering sales of 20,067 units against 16,340 units in March last year. Three-wheeler exports also saw an increase, with sales of 2,431 units against 650 units in March 2009. The company said the recently launched metal bodied scooterette TVS Wego would be rolled out in phases across the country over the next two months. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 31 Mar 2010 | 11:34 pm India's trade deficit set to narrowIndia's exports had declined by as much as 40% during the peak of the global economic turmoil, but came back into positive territory in November, thanks to a 'low base' effect and global recovery.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 31 Mar 2010 | 11:17 pm Apollo Tyres raises tyre prices by 2-4%: officialMumbai: Apollo Tyres Ltd has raised product prices across categories by 2-4 % to offset the surge in cost of rubber, a senior official said on Thursday. “This is with effect from today, the quantum would vary acoss product lines,” Chief Financial Officer Sunam Sarkar told Reuters over the telephone adding that the hikes are effective from Thursday. Spot price of the most traded RSS-4 (ribbed smoked sheet) rubber has hit a record high of Rs15,650 in Kottayam, Kerala, as per data compiled by the Rubber Board. Natural rubber makes up over 40% of the total cost of a tyre. Sarkar said a further round of price increase was required in coming months to combat the surge in costs. Rival JK Tyre and Industries Ltd is also planning a price increase in the near term, A.S. Mehta, its director marketing, said. “We have not yet revised. But we have to very soon,” he said. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 31 Mar 2010 | 11:11 pm Manufacturing PMI snaps 3-month rise in MarchMUMBAI (Reuters) - India's manufacturing growth slowed down in March, dropping from a 20-month-record in February, as mounting cost pressures took a toll on expansion in output, a survey showed.Source: Reuters: Money News | 31 Mar 2010 | 11:05 pm Job anxiety hits Wall StreetNew York: US stocks fell on Wednesday as a report showing a surprising drop in private- sector employment stoked concerns about the health of the labor market two days before the government’s key jobs data. Wall Street took a one-two punch from ADP Employer Services data showing US private-sector employers unexpectedly cut jobs in March and a separate report that showed US Midwest business activity expanded less than expected last month. The news was a setback for investors anxious for more evidence that the economic recovery is gaining strength and led investors to lock in profits in strong-performing sectors, such as consumer discretionary shares, which rose more than 10% for the quarter. The ADP report “is not a good sign. We want to see some job growth,” said Sasha Kostadinov, portfolio manager at Shaker Investments in Cleveland. “Friday’s jobs data is going to be a big number because people are starting to get anxious to see some growth.” Even so, the benchmark S&P 500 racked up its fourth straight quarterly advance. Analysts expect the second quarter to get off on solid footing if the upcoming earnings season proves stronger than expected. The session’s laggards included this quarter’s best performers such as Boeing Co, which fell 1.3% on Wednesday to $72.61, and consumer discretionary stocks, with Home Depot off 1.04 percent at $32.35, and Macy’s Inc, down 1.6% at $21.77. The Dow Jones industrial average dropped 50.79 points, or 0.47%, to close at 10,856.63. The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index shed 3.84 points, or 0.33%, to 1,169.43. The Nasdaq Composite Index fell 12.73 points, or 0.53%, to end at 2,397.96. RESEARCH IN MOTION DROPS LATE Technology shares, which have also underpinned the market’s run-up, sold off as well. After the bell, Research In Motion shares fell 7.4% to $68.50 after the BlackBerry maker posted quarterly results that lagged expectations. The stock had ended at $73.97 on Nasdaq, down 1.3% ahead of the earnings report. The Chicago Purchasing Managers Index showed business activity in the U.S. Midwest slipped to 58.8 in March -- falling short of economists’ consensus forecast. Investors were looking to the ADP report for insight into the coming March non-farm payroll number, which will be released on Good Friday, when the U.S. stock market will be closed. The median projection from the 20 economists who have forecast payrolls most accurately over the past year predicts 200,000 jobs were created in March -- slightly above the 190,000 median forecast from a broader sample of 82 economists -- according to a Reuters poll. Boeing, a big manufacturer, was a top drag on the Dow. But it remained the Dow’s best-performing stock so far this year, up about 34.1%. 3M Co, off 0.8% at $83.57, was the Dow’s second-worst drag behind Boeing. On Nasdaq, shares of Microsoft Corp declined 1.6% to $29.2875, while Apple Inc dropped 0.4% to $235.00, pausing after a string of record closes for the iPhone maker in recent days. A legal ruling in U.S. oil giant Chevron’s favor drove the Dow component’s stock up 0.7% to $75.83, which helped limit the Dow’s decline and prompted investors to buy some energy-related shares. A jump in oil’s price above $83 a barrel to its highest close since October 2008 also helped the energy sector. President Barack Obama’s announcement of a broad expansion of offshore oil and gas drilling also gave investors a reason to scoop up energy shares, with oil drillers like Apache Corp up 1.8% at $101.50. The S&P 500 is up 72.9% from the March 2009 bottom. For the first quarter, and for the year as well, the Dow is up 4.1%, while the S&P 500 is up 4.9%, and Nasdaq is up 5.7%. For the month of March alone, the Dow advanced 5.1%, the S&P 500 rose 5.9% and the Nasdaq climbed 7.1%. This rally has spurred some investors to trim some of their stock bets, however. Investors pulled $926 million from domestic stock funds in the week ending March 24, the first drawdown since the week ended March 3, according to the Investment Company Institute. About 8.47 billion shares traded on the New York Stock Exchange, the American Stock Exchange and Nasdaq, below last year’s estimated daily average of 9.65 billion. Declining stocks beat advancers on the New York Stock Exchange by a ratio of about 3 to 2, while on the Nasdaq, about eight stocks fell for every five stocks that rose. Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 31 Mar 2010 | 10:54 pm India-US talks to focus on markets, infrastructureWashington: US Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner will launch a new bilateral economic dialogue with India with a focus on macroeconomic stability, financial markets and infrastructure financing, a senior US Treasury official said on Wednesday. The official, who will join Geithner in a delegation to India next week that will also include Federal Reserve vice chairman Donald Kohn, said rebalancing the global economy will be a part of the discussions. He declined to comment when asked if the United States was trying to recruit India as an ally in its push for more global currency flexibility. “We don’t have a specific wish list, we certainly have views,” the official told a news briefing. “We are eager to see India continuing along its path of reform, continuing on a path of contributing to global macro stability, continuing to open its markets. These are all areas where continued success would bring great dividends, not just to the people of India, but the people of the United States.” Geithner will launch the bilateral talks during an 6-7 April visit to Delhi and Mumbai, where he will meet with Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, finance minister Pranab Mukherjee and deputy chairman of Planning Commission Montek Singh Ahluwalia. The talks which include a main session including Geithner and Mukherjee and smaller meetings among other officials, were first announced during Prime Minister Singh’s visit to Washington last November. More Limited than China Dialogue The discussions complement a strategic dialogue program that the United States shares with China, but will be more limited in scope. The Treasury official said the discussions will not tackle specific trade barriers and trade policy between the two countries and will not contain a strategic diplomatic component, as the US-China strategic and economic dialogue gained last year. For example, there are no discussions planned on the issue of a bilateral civilian nuclear energy pact, the official said. There will be significant focus on identifying opportunities for US firms to export to India and participating in India’s infrastructure development, the official said. The two sides will also discuss infrastructure financing, with the Treasury offering expertise in helping India develop a municipal bond market, and India sharing experience in private-sector infrastructure development. The discussions also will cover progress made by each country towards achieving economic recovery and financial stability including rebalancing the global economy. “India’s part of the G20 group of countries engaged in important discussions on rebalancing the global economy. and certainly we will be discussing some of the issues in that context,” he said. The chief economic adviser in India’s finance ministry, Kaushik Basu, told Reuters earlier this month that India was unlikely to put follow the US lead in putting pressure on China to revalue its yuan, which critics say is undervalued and gives China an unfair export advantage. Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 31 Mar 2010 | 10:33 pm Sensex opens higher by 125 points on Asian cuesThe wide-based National Stock Exchange index Nifty moved up by 36.40 points, or 0.69%, to 5,285.50 points.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 31 Mar 2010 | 10:27 pm Sensex opens higher by 125 pts on Asian cuesThe Bombay Stock Exchange benchmark Sensex rose by over 125 points, or 0.71 per cent, in opening trade on buying by funds after firm global cues.Source: India Business News | Business News - Times of India | 31 Mar 2010 | 10:12 pm Torrent Pharma now billion dollar companyThe tribute couldn't have been better for Torrent group founder late UN Mehta, who passed away on the same day in 1999.Source: India Business News | Business News - Times of India | 31 Mar 2010 | 4:53 pm Tower firms go solar to save on diesel & sootGTL solar-enables 5,000 towers. Players used to buy two billion litres of diesel every year.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 31 Mar 2010 | 4:15 pm Supply deluge = hotel room rates look cappedThe supply, spread over 92 hotels, is about 15% of the total hotel inventory of approximately 100,000 rooms in India.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 31 Mar 2010 | 4:12 pm Welspun group to raise $150-200 m via private investorsTo sell stake in unlisted firm that is setting up steel and power projects.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 31 Mar 2010 | 4:09 pm IAF lands on Unitech in SantacruzCourt to decide fate of realtor's first development in Mumbai.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 31 Mar 2010 | 4:08 pm Karthik’s 69 powers Delhi to a massive win over RajasthanNew Delhi: Dinesh Karthik blasted a 38-ball 69 and the home side bowlers then wreaked havoc as a resurgent Delhi Daredevils steamrolled Rajasthan Royals by 67 runs in their return leg Indian Premier League match on Wednesday night. Karthik clobbered six fours and four sixes and added 79 runs off 50 balls with Gautam Gambhir (43) to power Delhi to 188 for six first. The home side then returned to shoot out Rajasthan for 121 in 17.4 overs to clinch their third win on the trot which catapulted them to the second place in the points table.  Delhi Daredevils’ Dinesh Karthik plays a shot during the IPL3 match against Rajasthan Royals at the Ferozshah Kotla stadium in New Delhi on Wednesday. Manvendra Vashist/PTI Chasing 189 to win, Rajasthan never looked to be in the chase as they lost two wickets -- opener Michael Lumb (0) and Faiz Faisal (0) -- in the first over itself and by 4.1 overs were further reduced to 31 for four. Rajasthan’s chase was hit by Maharoof, who was drafted in the team in place of injured Dirk Nannes, in the first over as he dismissed Lumb, courtesy a stunning catch by David Warner, and trapped Faisal in front of wicket to reduce the visitors to one for two. Naman Ojha (27) showed some spark with four fours and a six but fizzled out in the fourth over off Amit Mishra. Abhishek Jhunjhunwala (2) was also run out in the next over to further dent their chances.  Paras Dogra (20) and Sumit Narwal (12) were the other contributors for the visitors. Brief Score Delhi Daredevils: 188 for 6 in 20 overs. Rajasthan Royals: 121 all out in 17.4 overs (Nama Ojha 27, Yusuf Pathan 24; Amit Mishra 3/25. Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 31 Mar 2010 | 1:45 pm Vijay, Raina script Chennai’s victory over BangaloreChennai: Murali Vijay struck a blistering 78 upfront and Suresh Raina chipped in with a crucial unbeaten 44 down the order as Chennai Super Kings beat Royal Challengers Bangalore by five wickets to keep alive their semifinal hopes in the Indian Premier League match on Wednesday. Opting to bat, Bangalore rode on a 49-ball 52 from South African Jacques Kallis to post a competitive 161 for four, but the hosts overhauled the target with one over to spare at the floodlit M. Chidambaram Stadium.  Chennai Super Kings’ S Raina in action during the IPL T20 match against Royal Challengers Bangalore at MAC Stadium in Chennai on Wednesday. R Senthil Kumar / PTI Chasing the 162-run target, Chennai were off to a good start with the openers Vijay and Matthew Hayden raising 61 runs before a Anil Kumble googly trapped the Australian in the seventh over. Hayden could contribute only 12 before hosts suffered their first loss, but it was Vijay who attacked the Bangalore bowlers from the very beginning and his aggression had the Bangalore bowlers clueless. Englishman Kevin Pietersen claimed Vijay just after the strategic break in the 11th over but by then the right-hander had set the tone for his team.  But Raina held his nerve to clinch the issue in company of C. Ganapathy with one over to spare. For Bangalore, Steyn took one wicket for 20 runs, while Kumble scalped one for 16. Earlier, Kallis helped Bangalore post the 162-run target. Kallis, who struck seven fours during his innings, got good support from Virat Kohli (34 off 24) as the duo added 63 runs for the third wicket before the latter fell to Chennai spinner Shadab Jakati in the 16th over. Kohli cracked three fours and a huge six during his stay in the middle. Pietersen (32 not out off 14 balls) and Australian Cameron White (21 not out off 13 balls) -- both playing their first IPL III matches -- were the other main contributors. Bangalore suffered an early loss in the third over when opener Manish Pandey (5) fell prey to paceman Thilan Thushara. Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 31 Mar 2010 | 1:45 pm Oilcos hike price of jet fuel by 1.4%For the third consecutive fortnight, state-owned oil retailers raised aviation turbine (ATF) or jet fuel prices, this time by 1.4%, in line with firming global rates.Source: India Business News | Business News - Times of India | 31 Mar 2010 | 1:43 pm Investors double money in 09-10Investors on Dalal Street have doubled their money during the financial year just ended while the BSE sensex gained 81% to its Wednesday close at 17,528 and the broad-based NSE nifty index was up 74% to 5,249.Source: India Business News | Business News - Times of India | 31 Mar 2010 | 1:40 pm Hero Honda offers 4000% dividendCountry's top bike maker Hero Honda on Tuesday declared a special dividend of 4000% or Rs 80 per equity share of Rs 2 each.Source: India Business News | Business News - Times of India | 31 Mar 2010 | 1:40 pm Finally, Harley to cruise on Indian roads from JuneIconic bike maker Harley-Davidson of US is all set to begin operations in India and will start bookings for its cruisers from the middle of April.Source: India Business News | Business News - Times of India | 31 Mar 2010 | 1:38 pm Bharti stock gains after Zain dealA day after Sunil Mittal-led Bharti Airtel announced a $9-billion all-cash deal to buy out Zain's African assets, the stock reversed its usual bearish trend and ended marginally higher.Source: India Business News | Business News - Times of India | 31 Mar 2010 | 1:37 pm U.S.-India talks to focus on markets, infrastructureWASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner will open a new bilateral economic dialogue with India with a focus on macroeconomic stability, financial markets and infrastructure financing, a senior U.S. Treasury official said on Wednesday.Source: Reuters: Money News | 31 Mar 2010 | 1:37 pm End of the road for Maruti 800The small car that changed the way Indians drove and helped put the Indian automobile market into the global big league will stop rolling out of showrooms in major cities from today.Source: India Business News | Business News - Times of India | 31 Mar 2010 | 1:36 pm Over 110 nations back Copenhagen climate dealMore than 110 nations, including top greenhouse gas emitters led by China and the United States, back the non-binding Copenhagen Accord for combating climate change, according to a first formal UN list on Wednesday.Source: Business Standard | Front Page Headlines | 31 Mar 2010 | 1:02 pm New twist in bid for SpicejetMaran makes conditional offer to buy WL Ross.Source: Business Standard | Front Page Headlines | 31 Mar 2010 | 12:49 pm China is least of Google’s woes as Microsoft-like slowdown loomsSan Francisco: Its feud with the Chinese government may be the least of Google Inc.’s worries as the online search leader contends with slowing growth, regulatory scrutiny and a shift in ad spending. While California-based Google has the biggest share of online search at home and in western Europe it has been leapfrogged by social network Facebook Inc. as the most popular US website. Google’s ventures in mobile, video and display ads have failed to match the success of search, and regulators may thwart efforts to expand through acquisitions. As sales gains diminish, some investors are concerned that Google has begun to resemble Microsoft Corp., which generates billions of dollars in cash from its mature flagship business but has struggled to conquer new markets. Google’s sales increased 9% last year after doubling in 2005.  Nosedived: Google’s headquarters in Mountain View, California. Google shares, which doubled last year, have dropped 8.6% in 2010, the sixth biggest decline among the 75 technology stocks in the S&P 500 Index. Ryan Anson/Bloomberg Last week, after a two-month dispute with China over censorship issues, Google shut its mainland Chinese search engine and redirected users to its Hong Kong site. Google was second in the Chinese search market, behind Baidu Inc. Google shares, which doubled last year, have dropped 8.6% in 2010, the sixth biggest decline among the 75 technology stocks in the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index. The stock is 24% below its peak of more than $740 in 2007. Google spokeswoman Jane Penner declined to comment. One of Google’s biggest challenges comes from Palo Alto, California-based Facebook. This month, Facebook surpassed Google as the most visited website in the US, accounting for more weekly visits than Google.com, according to the research group Hitwise. Facebook’s gains at Google’s expense weren’t lost on Levi Strauss and Co. The closely held maker of blue jeans and Dockers pants is advertising on Facebook this year for the first time, while its budget for search, Google’s mainstay, is staying about the same as last year, said Megan O’Connor, director of digital marketing. Earlier this month, the San Francisco-based company sponsored events at the South by Southwest music festival in Austin, Texas. Levi advertised across Facebook for two weeks leading up to the event, targeting 18 to 34-year-olds who identified themselves as music fans, O’Connor said. “We are looking at social as a new place for us to spend.” The same goes for advertisers such as Starbucks Corp. and JetBlue Airways Corp. “We provide a platform for marketeers to create an authentic, two-way connection with their customers that has not been possible at scale before,” Facebook spokesman Brandon McCormick said. To catch up in social media, Google added a social-networking feature called Buzz to its Gmail email, letting users share photos, comments and clips from its YouTube site. The site drew criticism over privacy, prompting Google to scale back some of Buzz’s features. Google, with almost $25 billion in cash and marketable securities, also bought Aardvark, a site that lets users pose questions and receive answers online. And its Orkut social network has gained wide followings in India and Brazil. Even with rising competition, Google will benefit as advertisers shift spending to the Internet, where consumers are spending more time, said Jeff Donlon, an analyst at Manning and Napier Advisors Inc. Google will keep making improvements to search and display, allowing advertisers to get a higher return on their investment, said Donlon, whose firm manages more than $25 billion and owns about one million Google shares. Google has also made headway in efforts to expand into mobile and display advertising, where rival Yahoo! Inc. took an early lead. In mobile, Google is taking on Apple Inc.’s iPhone with its Android operating system. Some 6.8 million Android-powered phones were sold in 2009, accounting for 3.9% of the global market, according to researcher Gartner Inc. Most analysts remain bullish on Google. Of analysts surveyed by Bloomberg, 32 have buy ratings, eight rate it a hold, and none recommends that investors sell the stock. By contrast, 15 analysts rate Yahoo a buy, 21 have it as a hold, and one has a sell. To bolster mobile advertising, Google announced plans in November to buy AdMob Inc. for $750 million. The US mobile-ad market may more than triple to as much as $3 billion by 2013, according to a Sanford C. Bernstein and Co. report last year. “They need to show how they’re going to monetize things like Android, where they seem to be taking good mobile market share,” said Richard Parower, manager of the $533 million Seligman Global Technology Fund at J.W. Seligman & Co. in New York, which holds Google stock. “How can they turn that into operating profits?” Google spent $4.9 billion on YouTube and DoubleClick in 2008 to increase sales of ads in videos and help customers create and measure Web advertising campaigns. Source: World Business - Livemint.com | 31 Mar 2010 | 12:00 pm Petrol, diesel rates to go up by Rs 0.50/litre from tonight!Petrol and diesel prices will go up by 50 paise a litre from tonight in 13 big cities, including Delhi and Mumbai, where cleaner Euro-IV grade fuel will be supplied from Thursday, a government official said.Source: Zee News : Business | 31 Mar 2010 | 6:40 am Govt delays mobile number portability to end-June!The government has further delayed the introduction of mobile number portability to end-June, it said on Tuesday, as operators need to be ready for it by upgrading their networks.Source: Zee News : Business | 31 Mar 2010 | 6:40 am Some Yahoo email accounts hacked in China, TaiwanBeijing/ San Francisco: Yahoo email accounts of some journalists and other users whose work relates to China were compromised in an attack discovered this week, days after Google announced it would move its Chinese-language search services out of China due to censorship concerns. Some journalists in China and Taiwan found they were unable to access their accounts beginning 25 March, among them Kathleen McLaughlin, a freelance journalist in Beijing. Her access was restored on Wednesday, she told Reuters. Andrew Jacobs of the New York Times in Beijing said his Yahoo Plus account had been set, without his knowledge, to forward to another, unknown, account. In late 2009 and early this year, several human rights activists and journalists whose work related to China had similarly discovered their Gmail accounts had been set to forward to unfamiliar addresses, without their knowledge. Google cited the Gmail attacks in January, when it announced a hacking attack on it and more than 20 other firms. Google cited those attacks and censorship concerns in its decision to move its Chinese-language search services last week to Hong Kong. Google said on 31 March it had identified cyber attacks aimed at silencing opposition to a Vietnamese government-led bauxite mining project involving a major Chinese firm. It said the attacks were similar to those at the heart of the company’s friction with Beijing. Yahoo did not comment on the nature of the attacks on its accounts, or whether they were co-ordinated or isolated incidents. “Yahoo! condemns all cyber attacks regardless of origin or purpose,” spokeswoman Dana Lengkeek said in an email response to a Reuters query. “We are committed to protecting user security and privacy and we take appropriate action in the event of any kind of breach.” Google’s announcement of the hacking attacks drew unprecendented outside attention to cyber-security and China’s Internet controls, used to limit discussion of topics deemed sensitive or threatening to “social stability”. China’s control of the Internet and media has intensified under the current leadership and reflect a lack of understanding of the Chinese public, said Hao Xiaoming, a China media expert at Wee Kim Wee School of Communication and Information in Singapore. “China is going back rather than going forward in terms of information and control. That reflects the lack of confidence in the (current) Chinese leaders,” Hao said. “China’s Internet has become a controlled Internet, an internal Internet rather than linked internationally. It defeats the whole purpose.” SPORADIC DISRUPTION On Tuesday, Internet users in mainland China were sporadically unable to conduct searches through Google’s portal in Hong Kong, a disruption that Google attributed to changes in China’s Internet filtering configuration. It said it did not know whether the stoppage was a technical glitch or a deliberate move in confrontations over Internet censorship. China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology gave no immediately reply to a request for comment on the disruption. Google said it was monitoring the situation but it appeared the access problem had been resolved. Access has been patchy since Google shifted to Hong Kong, underscoring the vulnerability of Google’s business in the world’s most populous country. Very few of the other firms mentioned by Google in January as having been affected by the attack have identified themselves. A source at the time told Reuters that Yahoo knew it had been a target of attacks and discussed them with Google before Google went public. Yahoo said at the time that it was “aligned” with Google’s position, a statement that its Chinese partner, e-commerce giant Alibaba Group, called “reckless”. Unlike Google, Yahoo keeps some of its email servers in China. It was criticed by the US Congress when it released to Chinese authorities information relating to the account of Shi Tao, a Chinese journalist who was then sentenced to 10 years in jail for revealing state secrets. Source: Tech News - Livemint.com | 31 Mar 2010 | 4:37 am Sony to sell liquid crystal display plant to KyoceraTokyo: Sony is to sell a Japanese factory that makes small liquid crystal displays to manufacturer Kyocera as it restructures in a bid to improve profitability after the global slump, the firms said on 31 March. Subsidiary Sony Mobile Display Corp. will sell the plant in Yasu, Western Japan, to Kyocera, with existing employment contracts assigned to Kyocera and employees transferred June 1, when the takeover commences. Sony bought the factory in 2005 for 118.5 billion yen ($200 million) from Taiwan’s Chi Mei Optoelectronics, according to Dow Jones Newswires. The price for the sale to Kyocera was not immediately known, but a statement from Sony said it had incurred a “loss on the fixed assets” as a result of the transaction. It added that “no material impact is anticipated on Sony’s consolidated financial results forecast for the current fiscal year”. Sony has been undergoing major restructuring -- including slashing jobs, selling facilities and turning to suppliers for parts -- after losing an estimated 70-95 billion yen due to falling demand amid the financial crisis. The electronics giant said the Kyocera deal would not affect its planned acquisition of “certain business assets” of Epson Imaging Device Corporation at its Tottori plant, also in Western Japan, due to be completed on 1 April. Source: Tech News - Livemint.com | 31 Mar 2010 | 3:17 am
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