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Glenmark to launch Prasugrel in IndiaGlenmark to launch Prasugrel, an antiplatelet drug, in India, reports CNBCTV18. The drug has an estimated market size of Rs 300 crore in India.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 29 Apr 2010 | 8:37 am Balrampur Chini 2009/10 output up 10%Balrampur Chini Mills\' 2009/10 sugar output from cane rose 10% but falling prices will put pressure on profitability in coming quarters, a senior company official said on Thursday.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 29 Apr 2010 | 6:29 am Cement prices in south set to decline further: SourcesCement prices in the south are set to decline further, reports CNBCTV18, quoting sources. Companies have not yet reduced billing rates.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 29 Apr 2010 | 6:08 am India 2009/10 gold imports at 739 tonnes: MMTCIndia had imported 739 tonnes of gold in 2009/10 financial year that ended in March, the country\'s biggest importer of the precious metal told reporters late on WednesdaySource: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 29 Apr 2010 | 5:43 am Finmin may give Rs 12K cr add\'l cash subsidy to oil cosFinance ministry may partly consider the subsidy demand made by the the oil ministry. Sources told CNBCTV18 that finmin may give Rs 12,000 crore addistional cash subsidy to oil marketing companies.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 29 Apr 2010 | 5:12 am $140m QIP to fund nonauto foray: Bharat ForgeBharat Forge will invest the proceeds from its recent QIP for a foray into nonautomotive segment and capital goods initiatives, Chairman Baba Kalyani said today.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 29 Apr 2010 | 4:55 am SEBI moves Supreme Court over ULIP matter: SourcesCNBCTV18 learns from sources that SEBI has moved the Supreme Court in the ULIP matter. The petition, which was prompted by a spate of public interest litigations (PILs) was filed the petition on April 28th and SEBI has sought the clubbing of all PILs.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 29 Apr 2010 | 4:30 am AstraZeneca sues nine cos over Crestor genericAstraZeneca has sued nine companies over Crestor generic, reports CNBCTV18. It has sued Aurobindo Pharma, Glenmark, and Sun Pharma among Indian companies.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 29 Apr 2010 | 4:26 am Tata, Actis to bid for $2 bln India road projects - Reuters
Source: Business - Google News | 29 Apr 2010 | 4:03 am MRF sees costs eroding margins; eyes healthy salesPrices of natural rubber, a key commodity for tyre makers, had hit a record high of Rs16,950 earlier in April. They are currently at Rs16,800.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 29 Apr 2010 | 3:55 am Hexaware Tech CEO sees deal pipeline improvingThe company earlier forecast revenue of $52-53 million for the second quarter ending June, 1-3% lower than a year ago.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 29 Apr 2010 | 3:53 am Nokia to launch X2 phoneTop mobile phone maker Nokia is set to launch a new phone called the X2, photos posted on the firm's Web site showed.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 29 Apr 2010 | 3:52 am Acer to sell new smartphones after HP-Palm dealTaipei: Acer Inc, the world’s No.2 PC vendor, plans to introduce four new smartphone models later this year to help boost profits, a day after rival HP set its sights in the fast-growing smartphone market. As the global economy shows more signs of recovery, Acer also said on Thursday it expects new laptop PCs to drive its profit margins higher after posting a 62 percent rise in first-quarter earnings. “Competitive advantage of new products can help us boost profitability from the third quarter,” Acer chairman J.T. Wang told an investor conference even though smartphones make up only a very small amount of Acer’s sales now. Analysts say Asian technology firms vying for a bigger share of the hot smartphone market now face an uphill battle after the world’s top PC maker Hewlett-Packard snapped up Palm. But Acer also sees growth in its traditional PC market, forecasting 30 percent annual growth in global laptop shipments over the next two years, though some analysts say a shortage of key components remains a concern and could hurt PC makers’ margins in the coming months. “Its second quarter margin might be affected but the impact should be limited,” said Yuanta Securities analyst Vincent Chen, referring to rising prices of key parts such as memory chips. “Acer has scale and knows how to control costs very well, and third-quarter sales might be growing faster,” Chen said. PC sales typically grow into the third quarter thanks to back-to-school and pre-Christmas demand. Acer, one of the few internationally recognisable Taiwan computer brands, booked a net profit of T$3.29 billion ($105 million) in January-March, versus T$2.03 billion a year ago and T$3.52 billion in the fourth quarter of 2009. First-quarter operating profit margin rose to 2.7 percent from 2.2 percent the same period a year ago. The profit was largely in line with a consensus forecast of T$3.23 billion made by Thomson Reuters. “Q1 was quite good and we’ve seen PC demand coming back very strong,” Acer CEO Gianfranco Lanci told the same conference. For Acer, getting bigger is a survival issue: Acer acquired PC rivals Gateway and Packard-Bell over the past few years, dramatically expanding its footprint in the US. Global personal computer shipments rose sharply in the first quarter, according to industry estimates released earlier this month, as businesses finally began to spend again on technology equipment. Fast-growing Acer had a 13.6% share in the global PC market in the first quarter, while No.1 HP grabbed nearly 20% in the same period, according to IDC. Acer’s results came after the Taipei stock market closed on Thursday. The stock fell 1.35%, larger than the main TAIEX’s 0.34% drop. The stock hit a two-month high in mid-March but has headed south since then amid worries over rising parts prices. Source: Tech News - Livemint.com | 29 Apr 2010 | 3:44 am Sensex up 100 pts; Unitech, Tata Motors, Rel Power surge - Moneycontrol.com
Source: Business - Google News | 29 Apr 2010 | 3:39 am ArcelorMittal hopes to start work on India projects this yearNRI billionaire L N Mittal-led ArcelorMittal today said that it expects to start work on its India projects worth Rs 1 lakh crore later this year.Source: HindustanTimes.com - Top Business News Headlines | 29 Apr 2010 | 3:39 am Andhra Bank Q4 net up 19 pc to Rs 240 cr - Economic Times
Source: Business - Google News | 29 Apr 2010 | 3:38 am Euro steady, Greek yields ease on bailout hope - Reuters
Source: Business - Google News | 29 Apr 2010 | 3:34 am Glass ceiling, a barrier to career, says reportNew Delhi: Corporate and government jobs attract India’s working women the most while many serving females believe that glass ceiling stagnates their career graph, according to a new study by ‘Absolutdata’. A glass ceiling is a situation where a qualified woman fails to climb higher at work due to discriminatory policies within the organization. The study, which was conducted among a group of 686 female respondents between 18 and 55, found that personal aspirations, academic stream and family concerns play a major role in determining the nature of a woman’s career. Job security being an important factor, many women preferred to be engaged in full time employment rather than part time or freelancing, the research said. Interestingly, 78% of the respondents wanted flexible timings in their full time job while 58% were fine with fixed timings. Corporate jobs seem to the preferred option with 58% of the women preferred to be employed in the corporate sector while 57% favoured government jobs. Even though information technology is touted as a male bastion, the study discovered that 29% of the respondents chose it while 28% were satisfied with teaching. Engineering and theatre were sampled as the last choice, the survey said. The research said women are far from being equal to men in workplaces as 58% of the respondents felt inequalities still exist apart from promotion and pay differences. Sakshi, (name changed) a senior manager in a topnotch bank said, “No matter how much I put efforts but at the end of the day being a women I don’t get appraised like my male colleagues do.” Majority of the respondents also complained about the threat of sexual harassment, the report said, making things more difficult for the working women. One of the respondents working with an advertising agency, who wished to remain anonymous, said, “Sexual exploitation is rampant for working women. I have heard many stories about my friends being asked to compromise on moral grounds to get appraisals.” Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 29 Apr 2010 | 3:34 am Great Eastern Shipping to sell product carrierGreat Eastern Shipping Co Ltd said on Thursday it has signed an agreement to sell a product carrier, which will be delivered to the buyers in the first quarter of FY11.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 29 Apr 2010 | 3:32 am Obama urges swift passage of financial reformWASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama welcomed a U.S. Senate vote on Wednesday opening the way to debate on a Wall Street regulatory overhaul and said he hoped it would lead to swift passage of a reform bill.Source: Reuters: Money News | 29 Apr 2010 | 3:32 am Food inflation to decline in coming months: Mukherjee - Oneindia
Source: Business - Google News | 29 Apr 2010 | 3:27 am Zee Ent sets 1-for-71 share swap ratio for 9X buyMUMBAI (Reuters) - Television broadcaster Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd on Thursday said its board had approved buying INX Media Pvt Ltd's 9X general news channel by issuing one Zee share for every 71 INX shares.Source: Reuters: Money News | 29 Apr 2010 | 3:27 am India ban on cotton exports hit Pakistani textile industryISLAMABAD (Reuters) - An Indian ban on cotton exports has forced Pakistani buyers to look for alternative supplies, traders said on Thursday, and caused prices to soar and endanger the prospects of the country's key textile industry.Source: Reuters: Money News | 29 Apr 2010 | 3:15 am SJVNL IPO subscribed 23 pc - Economic Times
Source: Business - Google News | 29 Apr 2010 | 3:13 am An identity for all: India ID project fights dust, doubtMUMBAI (Reuters) - As India gears up to build the largest biometric database in the world with the aim of providing most of its 1.2 billion citizens a Unique Identification (UID), perhaps the biggest challenge is smudged fingerprints.Source: Reuters: Money News | 29 Apr 2010 | 3:09 am ArcelorMittal sees sharp recovery after Q1 dipBRUSSELS (Reuters) - ArcelorMittal, the world's largest steelmaker, forecast a sharp recovery in demand and prices in the second quarter after its core earnings in the first three months of the year missed expectations.Source: Reuters: Money News | 29 Apr 2010 | 3:09 am $60 bln Greek debt vanish and it's not what you thinkVIENNA/ZURICH (Reuters) - Swiss banks' exposure to Greece dropped to $3.6 billion from $64 billion in the three months to December, and this time it's not wayward Greek statisticians' fault.Source: Reuters: Money News | 29 Apr 2010 | 2:56 am Gold demand stays weak; falls eyedMumbai: India gold traders stayed away from entering into fresh deals for a third day on Thursday as prices traded above the psychological level of Rs17,000 mark and as they sought lower prices, dealers said. “Last two days demand was dull... even today I did less quantity,” said a dealer with a state-run bank in Mumbai. International gold, which guides the domestic market, was trading $1,169.35/1,170.35 an ounce as against the previous close of $1,164.45/1,166.45 an ounce. “There are previously placed orders below $1,150,” said another dealer with a private bank. Gold edged up, following a surge in the previous session, to its highest this year as a knee-jerk reaction to rising concerns about European sovereign debt gave way to hope a resolution may soon be reached. Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 29 Apr 2010 | 2:46 am UltraTech to buy Dubai's ETA Star CementMUMBAI (Reuters) - UltraTech Cement said on Thursday it would acquire Dubai-based ETA Star Cement Co for an enterprise value of $380 million, giving it direct access to markets in the Middle East and Bangladesh.Source: Reuters: Money News | 29 Apr 2010 | 2:42 am Hindustan Media Ventures plans to raise Rs 300 cr through IPOHindustan Media Ventures Ltd, publisher of the Hindi daily Hindustan, today said it will raise Rs 300 through an initial pubic offer to fund its expansion programmes.Source: HindustanTimes.com - Top Business News Headlines | 29 Apr 2010 | 2:36 am UltraTech to buy Dubai’s ETA Star CementMumbai: UltraTech Cement said on Thursday it would acquire Dubai-based ETA Star Cement Co for an enterprise value of $380 million, giving it direct access to markets in west Asia and Bangladesh. UltraTech, which is set to become India’s biggest cement producer with 49 million tonnes when it gets regulatory approval to absorb the cement business of a group firm, said it would have management control of ETA Star. It did not specify how much equity it would buy nor the cost, but said the deal would be funded by a mix of debt and internal accruals. “The acquisition is in line with our long-term strategy of expanding our global presence across businesses and consistent with our vision of taking India to the world,” Kumar Mangalam Birla, chairman of Aditya Birla Group that controls the firm, said in a statement. ETA Star’s manufacturing facilities include a 2.3 million tonnes a year clinker plant and 2.1 million tonnes grinding plant, both in the United Arab Emirates, a 0.4-million-tonne grinding plant in Bahrain and a 0.5-million-tonne grinding plant in Bangladesh. UltraTech said the transaction was likely to be completed by the end of the June quarter, and would be accretive to its earnings per share. The company has been awaiting court approval to take over the cement operations of Grasim Industries Ltd, a diversified group company. Its main rivals in the 270-million-tonne capacity Indian market, the world’s second-largest, are Holcim controlled ACC and Ambuja Cements. Earlier, UltraTech posted a 26% fall in quarterly profit, lagging market forecasts and pushing down its shares as higher input costs and lower realisations took toll. UltraTech reported January-March profit slipped to Rs228 crore, on net sales of Rs1,910 crore. UltraTech shares, valued by the market at $3 billion, were down 4.5% at Rs1,026 rupees at 1.30 p.m., in a firm Mumbai market. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 29 Apr 2010 | 2:35 am Hexaware Tech CEO sees deal pipeline improving - Reuters India
Source: Business - Google News | 29 Apr 2010 | 2:32 am Food inflation eases; fuel prices continue to riseNEW DELHI (Reuters) - India's annual food price inflation eased in mid-April, but fuel price inflation quickened maintaining an upside pressure on the wholesale price index that could prompt further monetary tightening by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI).Source: Reuters: Money News | 29 Apr 2010 | 2:22 am MindTree to launch Androidbased phone in FY11Midsized Indian IT services firm MindTree Ltd on Wednesday said it will develop a 3G smartphone based on Google Inc\'s Android platform, and expects to launch the product in the second half of FY11.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 29 Apr 2010 | 2:22 am LIC Housing aims at 40% loan growth in FY11Mortgage lender LIC Housing Finance plans to borrow 200 billion rupees to meet its disbursement target of 40% in 2010/11, a top official said on Wednesday.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 29 Apr 2010 | 2:22 am Food inflation up 16.61% yoy - Economic Times
Source: Business - Google News | 29 Apr 2010 | 2:14 am Barclays cuts 250 positions in IndiaThe bank said it was increasing its focus on corporate and investment banking, wealth management, and serving the fast-growing so-called mass affluent segment in India.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 29 Apr 2010 | 2:12 am See robust growth in LCV, MHCV segment: Eicher Motors - Moneycontrol.com
Source: Business - Google News | 29 Apr 2010 | 2:10 am Apple may charge $1 million to display mobile adsApple's new advertising platform for the iPhone and iPad -- dubbed iAd -- marks Apple's first foray into a small but growing market.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 29 Apr 2010 | 2:08 am Patni Computer evaluating 2-3 companies for buys: CFO"M&A is a very integral part of the business. We want to fill our portfolio gap. We want to extend our coverage." its chief financial officer said on Thursday.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 29 Apr 2010 | 2:05 am Oil steady above $83 as market shrugs off downgradesSingapore: Oil was steady above $83 on Thursday as energy markets shrugged off credit rating downgrades for southern European countries, encouraged by signs that US demand will improve this summer. Standard & Poor’s on Wednesday cut Spain’s rating one notch a day after lowering Greece to junk status and downgrading Portugal, boosting concerns of spreading sovereign credit risk. But the Federal Reserve left interest rates near zero and gave an upbeat assessment of the US economy. Crude was also getting support from expectations that gasoline use in the United States will accelerate during the driving season between late May and early September. Demand in the world’s top gasoline consumer jumped 3.1% in the past four weeks from a year earlier, causing an unexpected drop in gasoline stockpiles last week, government statistics showed on Wednesday. “The market is too optimistic about the whole situation,” said Clarence Chu, an energy trader at Hudson Capital Energy in Singapore, adding that its resilience to the European debt crisis was “quite bullish”. “People saw all the downgrades coming since a month ago, but oil is still quite strong,” Chu said. “If you look at the charts for the past week or so, it seems like the market is quite comfortable around the $84 level.” U.S. crude for June delivery shed 14 cents to $83.08 a barrel by 0632 GMT, after climbing almost 1% on Wednesday, boosted by rising stock markets. Prices are about $4 lower than an 18-month high above $87 reached on April 6. For a technical chart on U.S. crude prices, see: http://graphics.thomsonreuters.com/gfx/WT_20102904084607.jpg ICE Brent crude for June slid 16 cents to $86, keeping a $3 premium to front-month U.S. crude after stockpiles at the Cushing, Oklahoma, delivery point for West Texas Intermediate crude climbed for a sixth consecutive week. Total U.S. crude stockpiles rose by 1.9 million barrels in the week to April 23, the Energy Information Administration said on Wednesday, more than a forecast 1-million-barrel increase. An oil glut in the US Midwest is creating distortions in oil futures markets. The front-month WTI contract, which usually trades at a premium to ICE Brent, this week has reached its biggest discount against the European benchmark in eight months. “The US (oil) market is full of contradictions and dislocations at the moment,” said Barclays Capital analysts headed by Paul Horsnell in a weekly note, describing it as “a combination of pockets of tightness and pockets of surplus”. Barclays said, “In short, the overall crude inventory surplus is still falling, but it has become entirely concentrated in just one region of the country.” Abundant supplies in the Midwest are also increasing incentives to stock more oil by depressing the value of prompt crude relative to contracts for later delivery. This market structure, known as contango, has shown discounts of about $2.50 for the front month WTI contract to the second month in the past two days. But total US crude inventories have been rising by less than the seasonal norm, according to Barclays. And gasoline stocks fell by 1.2 million barrels last week, compared with estimates for an 800,000 barrel gain. “The inventory report is not as bearish,” Chu said. “There is a surprise draw in gasoline.” Distillates including heating oil and diesel rose by a larger-than-expected 2.9 million barrels, while the country’s total oil demand climbed 1% from a year earlier, according to the EIA. “The driving season in the US is going to be a big indication of whether demand is actually recovering,” Chu said. The oil market was paying little attention to currency moves on Thursday, when the dollar weakened by about 0.1% against a basket of currencies as the euro recovered from one-year lows a day earlier. Europe continued to haggle over a bailout package for Greece. The euro was beaten on Wednesday as Germany balked at the aid plan, but recovered in late U.S. trade on reports the rescue may be much bigger than anticipated and spread over several years. Oil traders were also following the debate over US financial regulation in Congress. A three-day US Senate standoff over efforts to overhaul financial regulation ended on Wednesday as Republicans dropped efforts to block a Democratic bill in exchange for a handful of concessions. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 29 Apr 2010 | 2:02 am UK bank Barclays cuts 250 positions in IndiaBritish lender Barclays has cut 250 jobs in India, while another 50 to 55 staff have been reassigned or resigned from the bank in recent weeks, a corporate spokesman said.Source: India Business News | Business News - Times of India | 29 Apr 2010 | 1:42 am Food inflation falls to 16.61 pcFood inflation fell sharply by over 100 basis points to 16.61 per cent for the week ended April 17 on lower prices of fruits and vegetables.Source: HindustanTimes.com - Top Business News Headlines | 29 Apr 2010 | 1:39 am Unilever volume growth drive brings Q1 payoffLondon: Consumer goods giant Unilever’s drive to increase volume growth paid off for the fourth quarter in a row as it beat forecasts with a rise in underlying sales, with a boost from strong emerging market growth. Chief executive Paul Polman has been cutting prices and increasing marketing, and despite a sluggish recovery and tough competition he is still looking to continue pushing up volumes and increasing profit margins this year. Emerging markets shone, with Asia/Africa/Eastern Europe sales growing 7.6% and Latin America up more than 10%. Anglo Dutch company Unilever has the largest exposure to these markets amongst its rivals as they account for half of its sales and profits. “We see some early signs of economic recovery but economies remain sluggish and competition remains intensive, and we face a tougher environment for the rest of the year,” Finance Director Jean Marc Huet told a conference call on the results. He warned of rising commodity costs in the second half of 2010 with tea, milk and crude oil all increasing, but said Unilever was still sticking to its forecast for commodity price inflation of 2 to 3% this year. The world’s third-biggest food and consumer goods group and maker of Ben & Jerry’s ice cream, Knorr soup and Dove soap reported an underlying first-quarter sales rise of 4.1%, beating a consensus of 3.2% in a Reuters poll of 10 analysts and 3.5% growth in 2009. “Unilever has come in with a strong set of figures which demonstrates that recovery is on track,” said analyst Sara Welford at brokers Citi. Volumes Up Unilever shares were up 2.9% to £19.71 by 0740 GMT. It has underperformed the FTSE 100 index and the DJ European Food and Beverage index by 6% this year. Unilever said quarterly volumes rose 7.6%, after price cuts of 3.3%, beating 5.2% consensus in the Reuters poll and reflecting the strong growth seen from rivals Nestle and Danone. Unilever’s 4.1% increase in sales was behind Nestle’s 6.5% rise and Danone’s 7%, but Unilever’s volume growth of 7.6% beat Nestle’s 4.8% after Unilever cut prices last year to become more competitive. The group’s western Europe business had sluggish growth of just 0.2%, held back by tough trading in southern Europe, but volumes grew 4% helped by new products like Dove for Men, Magnum Gold ice-creams and Knorr stockpot. Unilever’s underlying quarterly earnings rose 32% to €0.34 per share, beating a consensus forecast of €0.32 collated by ThomsonReuters I/B/E/S, while operating margins rose 60 percentage basis points to 15.2% helped by on-going cost cutting and lower commodity costs. It proposed a quarterly dividend of €0.208 per share. US rivals Procter & Gamble and Colgate-Palmolive will report quarterly results later on Thursday, and European rival Henkel reports next week. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 29 Apr 2010 | 1:35 am Barclays cuts 250 jobs in IndiaMumbai: British lender Barclays has cut 250 jobs in India, while another 50 to 55 staff have been reassigned or resigned from the bank in recent weeks, a corporate spokesman said on Thursday. The job cuts, a large number of them in the collections team, follow two rounds of layoffs at the bank last year totalling about 240 people, said the spokesman, who declined to be identified by name. After the job losses Barclays still employs more than 5,000 people in India across its businesses including retail, corporate and investment banking, and its technology centre, the bank said in a statement. The bank said it was increasing its focus on corporate and investment banking, wealth management, and serving the fast-growing so-called mass affluent segment in India. Barclays said earlier this year it would target larger local companies and the local operations of multinationals in India, Pakistan, Russia and the United Arab Emirates, scaling back retail operations in those countries. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 29 Apr 2010 | 1:20 am Barclays cuts 250 jobs in IndiaMumbai: British lender Barclays has cut 250 jobs in India, while another 50 to 55 staff have been reassigned or resigned from the bank in recent weeks, a corporate spokesman said on Thursday. The job cuts, a large number of them in the collections team, follow two rounds of layoffs at the bank last year totalling about 240 people, said the spokesman, who declined to be identified by name. After the job losses Barclays still employs more than 5,000 people in India across its businesses including retail, corporate and investment banking, and its technology centre, the bank said in a statement. The bank said it was increasing its focus on corporate and investment banking, wealth management, and serving the fast-growing so-called mass affluent segment in India. Barclays said earlier this year it would target larger local companies and the local operations of multinationals in India, Pakistan, Russia and the United Arab Emirates, scaling back retail operations in those countries. Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 29 Apr 2010 | 1:20 am Strong capital inflows put Asian economies at overheating risk: IMFShanghai: The International Monetary Fund (IMF) warned on Thursday that Asian economies were at risk of overheating as strong capital inflows fan inflationary pressures and raise the risk of damaging bubbles. The IMF urged Asian leaders to return to “more normal” monetary policies after the global financial crisis, and increase the flexibility of their exchange rates to counter speculative funds flowing into their economies. “For China, like in other economies in the region, the risk is to ensure that the boom we see in asset flows does not, like in the past, lead to a cycle of boom and bust,” Anoop Singh, director of the IMF’s Asia-Pacific department, told a news conference. In its latest report on the regional outlook, the IMF said brighter economic growth prospects and widening interest rate differentials with developed economies “are likely to attract more capital to the region.” “This could lead to overheating in some economies and increase their vulnerability to credit and asset price booms with the risk of subsequent abrupt reversals,” the report said. The IMF raised its growth forecasts for Asia to 7.1% for both 2010 and 2011, higher than its prediction last week when it estimated Asian economies would expand an average 6.9% this year and 7.0% next. But the Fund warned export-driven Asia remained vulnerable to a slower-than-expected recovery in the West, and urged governments to reduce their reliance on overseas shipments and boost domestic consumption. “It will be important to implement reforms that boost the productivity and the competitiveness of the services sector,” IMF senior economist Olaf Unteroberdoerster told reporters. The IMF said Asian policymakers need to safeguard against the build-up of imbalances in asset and housing markets caused by “excess liquidity”, and one way to do this was to adopt more flexible exchange rates. “Letting the exchange rate appreciate can forestall short-term inflows,” the Fund said, without specifically referring to China. “Without more currency appreciation, the pressure to sterilize the impact on money supply will continue.” But stronger currencies alone were not going to rebalance the economies in China and other countries in the region, said Singh. Governments needed to reduce household “precautionary savings” and very high corporate savings in China and elsewhere. “It’s very important that this package of measures is not viewed as based on one policy, which is the exchange rate,” Singh said. The IMF said last week a stronger yuan was “essential” for both the Chinese and world economies, heaping more pressure on Beijing to revalue the currency, which has been effectively pegged at 6.8 to the US dollar since mid-2008. Critics say the policy has given Chinese manufacturers an unfair advantage by making their exports cheaper. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 29 Apr 2010 | 1:18 am India 3G auctions to close in 2 days - telco minNEW DELHI (Reuters) - India's third-generation (3G) spectrum auction will be completed in "one or two" days, telecoms minister Andimuthu Raja told parliament on Thursday.Source: Reuters: Money News | 29 Apr 2010 | 1:09 am Sebi, Irda differ on legal modalities over UlipsNew Delhi: Contrary to their earlier stand to move court jointly for settling the issue of control over Ulips, differences have surfaced between insurance regulator Irda and market watchdog Sebi on the legal recourse. Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (Irda) said that it wanted to seek a legal mandate jointly with Sebi, but the market regulator had reservations. “Sebi has written a letter to us, that according to their legal counsel, the joint application is not valid in this (Ulip) case under section 90 of Civil Procedure Court,” Irda chairman J Harinarayan told PTI from Hyderabad. According to sources, a renowned lawyer had suggested the regulators filed a case under section 90, as they were not adversaries fighting each other but only required a legal clarification over jurisdiction. Under section 90 “if any person agrees in writing to state a case for the opinion of the court, then the court shall try and determine the same in the manner prescribed.” When asked whether Irda would again approach the government, he said it could be one of the options. However, Sebi chairman CB Bhave refused to comment on the issue, when contacted. The high voltage dispute between Sebi and Irda arose when the market regulator banned 14 life insurers, including those belonging to SBI and Reliance Anil Ambani Group, from raising any further money from Ulips unless they are registered with the market watchdog. However, Irda asked insurers to ignore the order and continue doing business as usual. After the two conflicting orders, the matter reached the Finance Ministry, where the two watchdogs agreed to jointly seek a legally binding mandate from an “appropriate” court. Till then, status quo ante was restored. Following government directive, Sebi allowed insurers to raise money from existing Ulips, but banned new launches under the scheme. Sebi has been contending that Ulips, which have an investment content, should fall under its purview, while Irda says as Ulips are an insurance product they are the subject matter of the insurance regulator. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 29 Apr 2010 | 1:08 am 3G auction procedure is transparent: A RajaThe e-auction began on April 9 and will continue till such time that demand equals supply, he said adding the award of spectrum was being done transparently and fairly.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 29 Apr 2010 | 1:05 am Rupee steady on stocks; month-end demand caps riseMumbai: The Indian rupee continued to trade largely steady in afternoon trade on Thursday as modest gains in domestic shares and other regional peers helped, but month-end dollar demand from refiners capped the upside. At 12:25pm, the partially convertible rupee was at Rs44.58/59 per dollar, stronger than 44.64/65 at close on Wednesday, when it had hit an intra-day low of Rs44.7650, its lowest since 5 April. Indian shares were trading up 0.5% with Reliance Industries and Housing Development Finance Corp leading the rise, taking cues from overnight gains on Wall Street. Most Asian currencies rose versus the dollar. Oil is India’s biggest import and refiners are the largest buyers of dollars in the local currency market with demand tending to peak at the end of each month, when they are required to make payments for imports. 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 Rs44.69, with the total traded volume on the two exchanges at about $2.6 billion. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 29 Apr 2010 | 1:03 am Food inflation falls to 16.61%Food inflation fell sharply by over 100 basis points to 16.61% for the week ended April 17 on lower prices of fruits and vegetables.Source: India Business News | Business News - Times of India | 29 Apr 2010 | 1:02 am UK bank Barclays cuts 250 positions in IndiaMUMBAI (Reuters) - British lender Barclays has cut 250 jobs in India, while another 50 to 55 staff have been reassigned or resigned from the bank in recent weeks, a corporate spokesman said on Thursday.Source: Reuters: Money News | 29 Apr 2010 | 12:50 am 3G auction to be over in couple of days: Raja"The auction of 3G spectrum will be over in a couple of days. It is being conducted in a completely transparent manner," Telecom Minister A Raja said during question hour in the Rajya Sabha. Source: HindustanTimes.com - Top Business News Headlines | 29 Apr 2010 | 12:47 am 3G auctions to close in 2 days: RajaNew Delhi: The auction of third-generation (3G) spectrum is likely to be completed in next 1 or 2 days, Union telecom minister A Raja informed the Rajya Sabha on Thursday. “The auction is being held successfully....it will be completed in one or two days,” he said during Question Hour. The e-auction began on 9 April and will continue till such time that demand equals supply, he said adding the award of spectrum was being done transparently and fairly. Nine mobile telephony firms including Bharti, Vodafone, Reliance and Tatas are in the fray for 3-4 slots of 3G spectrum that allows subscribers to download hi-speed data and stream videos on mobile telephones. Radio waves are being auctioned across 22 circles. “Procedure followed in allocation of (3G) spectrum is fully transparent .... everything is transparent,” he said insisting that the process followed was open to any scrutiny. The available spectrum was put on the Department of Telecommunication’s website before the auction, he said. Raja had earlier this week stated that the government may garner around Rs50,000-Rs 55,000 crore by selling 3G airwaves and Broadband Wireless Access (BWA) spectrum through auction. “The revenue from 3G auction alone may cross Rs40,000 crore. Revenues from 3G and BWA spectrum put together may touch Rs50,000-55,000 crore,” he had stated this week. At end of 16th day of auction on Wednesday, pan-India 3G mobile licence price reached Rs8,914 crore. Demand was on par with supply for just three circles: Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh and Rajasthan, while only Tamil Nadu and Kolkata received excess bids. The successful bidders would be allotted air waves in September after the spectrum is vacated by the defence forces. Raja on Friday informed the upper House that there were various bands available and are classified as 1G, 2G, 3G, 4G and possibly 5G. While 1G frequency is used by security agencies like defence forces and police, 2G is used by mobile telephone operators. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 29 Apr 2010 | 12:47 am Patni Computer evaluating 2-3 cos for buys: CFOMumbai: Indian software services firm Patni Computer Systems Ltd is evaluating two to three companies in Europe and Asia Pacific for acquisitions, its chief financial officer said on Thursday. “There are 2-3 companies we are evaluating at this point in time. There were two companies we evaluated last quarter, did not like the fit and so passed on,” Surjeet Singh told Reuters in an interview. “M&A is a very integral part of the business. We want to fill our portfolio gap. We want to extend our coverage.” The valuation expectations from target companies had gone up because of the current buoyancy in the market conditions, he said. “Our sweet spot would be companies with revenue of $75 million to $250 million,” he said. Patni has almost $500 million in cash, which would be used to fund any buys, Singh added. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 29 Apr 2010 | 12:35 am Food inflation eases; fuel prices continue to riseNew Delhi: India’s annual food price inflation eased in mid-April, but fuel price inflation quickened maintaining an upside pressure on the wholesale price index that could prompt further monetary tightening by the Reserve Bank of India. The food price index rose 16.61% in the 12 months to 17 April, lower than an annual rise of 17.65% in the previous week, government data showed on Thursday. The fuel price index rose an annual 12.69%, marginally higher than the previous week’s reading of 12.45%. Top policymakers including Union finance minister Pranab Mukherjee have said this week that there were clear indications that food price inflation was softening on forecasts of a good winter crop harvest and a normal monsoon this year, which in turn would cool down the headline inflation. “I don’t think the RBI will hold back on rates even if food and fuel (prices) peak because manufacturing inflation is still a big worry and inflation is out of the comfort zone,” said N R Bhanumurthy, professor at New Delhi-based think-tank National Institute of Public Finance and Policy. Wholesale price inflation in March touched a 17-month high of 9.9%, prompting the RBI to raise rates in April for the second time in as many months. RBI governor Duvvuri Subbarao said rising prices for food, fuel and wages have made inflation more of a generalised and demand-side problem. Much of the country’s inflationary pressures were initially on the supply-side as a result of the 2009 monsoon failure that pushed up food prices. But summer monsoon is likely to be normal this year, with rainfall expected to be 98% of the long-term average, the government said last Friday. The RBI has forecast the headline inflation to ease to 5.5% at end-March 2011 on normal monsoon. Optimism Saumitra Chaudhuri, a member of the Planning Commission, told Reuters on Wednesday headline inflation has peaked and April inflation could be below 9%. However, analysts were not convinced inflation would ease off so soon and called the projection too optimistic. Government officials, keen to keep the economic growth on track, have said inflationary pressures were waning and have played down the need for aggressive monetary tightening. However, price indicators have mostly belied such an optimism. Headline inflation numbers have been consistently higher than the official forecasts. The wholesale price inflation vaulted above the RBI’s end-March 2010 inflation forecast of 8.5% in January and hovered near the 10% mark in the following two months. Also the inflation figures for the previous months have seen sharp upward revisions. Although food price inflation has eased from its peak of 20% in December, it is still near 17%. Last week, the central bank raised its key interest rates and bank reserve requirements by 25 basis points each and signalled further rises as it battles to rein in a build-up in inflationary expectations. The Congress-led ruling coalition is under pressure to stem rising inflation, which is seen hurting the poor. The government on Tuesday survived a trial of strength in Parliament demanded by opposition parties against an unpopular hike in fuel and fertilizer prices which they said stoked inflation. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 29 Apr 2010 | 12:28 am Auto cos may soon lose import tariff protectionThe Commerce Secretary, Dr Rahul Khullar, has warned the automobile and auto ancillary industry in India that it cannot continue to hide behind high import tariffs for long. This suggests that the sector should get ready for lower importSource: Business Line - Home Page | 29 Apr 2010 | 12:00 am Falling tariffs dent Bharti Airtel's Q4 netHeightened competition and declining tariffs have caused Bharti Airtel's profit to fall 8 per cent to Rs 2,055 crore during the fourth quarter ended March 31, 2010 compared to Rs 2,239 crore in the corresponding quarter lastSource: Business Line - Home Page | 29 Apr 2010 | 12:00 am Govt bans import of Chinese telecom equipmentThe Government has officially told mobile operators not to import any equipment manufactured by Chinese vendors, including Huawei and ZTE.Source: Business Line - Home Page | 29 Apr 2010 | 12:00 am AT&T exits Tech MahindraThe US telecommunications major AT&T has exited Tech Mahindra by divesting its seven per cent holding in the company for Rs 655Source: Business Line - Home Page | 29 Apr 2010 | 12:00 am Day Trading GuideSource: Business Line - Home Page | 29 Apr 2010 | 12:00 am Germany under pressure to approve Greek bailoutHaving the eyes of the world on them is something the International Monetary Fund Managing Director, Mr Dominique Strauss-Kahn, and the European Central Bank President, Mr Jean-Claude Trichet, are accustomed to, though rarely has it been withSource: Business Line - Home Page | 29 Apr 2010 | 12:00 am NSE to offer F&O trading on Gold BeESBenchmark Asset Management Company's gold Exchange Traded Fund (ETF) – GoldBeES – will be traded in the derivatives segment of the NSE from AprilSource: Business Line - Home Page | 29 Apr 2010 | 12:00 am Fiat-Chrysler look to India for sourcing componentsSource: Business Line - Home Page | 29 Apr 2010 | 12:00 am Chambal Fertilisers and Chemicals (Rs 63.8): SellWe recommend a ‘sell' in the stock of Chambal Fertilisers and Chemicals from a short-term trading perspective. The stock is in a medium-term correction from the peak of Rs 74.2 recorded on February 19. The counter-trend rally from March 16Source: Business Line - Home Page | 29 Apr 2010 | 12:00 am Tara Health Foods: InvestInvestors who have a high risk appetite may consider subscribing to Tara Health Foods' initial publicSource: Business Line - Home Page | 29 Apr 2010 | 12:00 am Siemens lifts FY09-10 outlook after solid Q2Munich: German industrial conglomerate Siemens raised its profit outlook on the back of cost cuts and strong recovery of products sensitive to economic swings. Europe’s biggest engineering group said on Thursday it expected total profit sectors -- or operating profit of all three core businesses -- to be “more than” €7.5 billion ($9.99 billion) for the fiscal year to September 2010 versus 7.47 billion the year earlier. Its original forecast was €6.0-6.5 billion before any restructuring and one-offs. The revised forecast was in line with the average forecast of €7.68 billion in a Reuters poll of analysts. Siemens disclosed its second-quarter to March operating profit rose 16% to €2.14 billion, taking the first-half figure to €4.39 billion. The second-quarter figure was well above the average forecast of €1.97 billion in a Reuters poll. Siemens said in March its second-quarter operating profit and new orders would weaken from the first quarter despite a brighter outlook for its core business, and that it was benefiting from cost cuts to absorb an economic slump. Most analysts had predicted the world’s biggest producer of industrial robotics would lift its guidance after the company stunned the markets in January with strong fiscal first-quarter results. Siemens’ range of products, from turbines and fast trains to hearing aids and lightbulbs, makes it a bellwether of the euro zone’s largest economy. Rivals have also published positive results, helped by a strong recovery among original equipment makers as well as building and infrastructure investment in China and other emerging markets. French electronic engineering group Schneider Electric reported a forecast-beating 2.3% rise in first-quarter sales and left its outlook for 2010 unchanged, forecasting an EBITA margin of around 14% before restructuring costs. Source: World Business - Livemint.com | 28 Apr 2010 | 11:22 pm Sensex recovers 99 points in opening tradeThe wide-based National Stock Exchange's Nifty rose 28.05 points, or 0.53%, to 5,243.50 points.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 28 Apr 2010 | 11:18 pm SEBI moves Supreme Court over ULIP matter: Sources - Moneycontrol.com
Source: Business - Google News | 28 Apr 2010 | 11:06 pm Rupee gains 8 paise against dollar in early tradeThe Indian rupee appreciated by 8 paise against the dollar in early trade today largely on the back of fresh capital inflows by foreign funds into equities.Source: India Business News | Business News - Times of India | 28 Apr 2010 | 10:54 pm ICICI 45th most valuable brand in world: BrandZ Top 100India's leading private sector lender ICICI Bank has been ranked 45 among the 100 most valuable brands in the world, a list that has been topped by Google.Source: India Business News | Business News - Times of India | 28 Apr 2010 | 10:42 pm Sensex recovers 99 pts in opening tradeThe Bombay Stock Exchange benchmark Sensex recovered by 99 points in the opening trade as funds pumped in more money on expectations of good corporate earnings.Source: HindustanTimes.com - Top Business News Headlines | 28 Apr 2010 | 10:36 pm US eyes two more suspects in ‘covert’ Galleon probeNew York: Federal prosecutors are continuing “covert investigations” of two people in the Galleon hedge fund insider trade case, according to a court document made public on Wednesday. The disclosure raises the prospect of additional arrests in a case described by prosecutors as the biggest probe of illegal insider trading involving hedge funds in the United States. Twenty-one traders, lawyers and executives including Galleon hedge fund founder Raj Rajaratnam, were arrested and charged last October and November with conspiracy. Separately on Wednesday, Rajaratnam’s lawyers indicated in a court document that they are preparing a broad attack on the government’s wiretap evidence, which they want to suppress from the trial scheduled for October. Information on the investigation came to light in a decision by US district judge Richard Holwell who is presiding over the criminal case of Rajaratnam and principal co-defendant Danielle Chiesi, a former trader at New Castle Funds LLC. Holwell denied a motion by Rajaratnam to obtain access to unredacted interviews that federal agents conducted with a cooperating witness, Roomy Khan, a former trader and associate of the hedge fund founder. Some of the information redacted by federal prosecutors “related to ongoing covert investigations involving two individuals occasionally mentioned in the Khan documents,” according to the decision. The identity of the two people was not published. It is not clear if those are the only covert investigations still underway in the Galleon investigation. A spokeswoman for Manhattan US attorney Preet Bharara declined to comment. Nine of the 21 charged have been indicted, 11 have pleaded guilty and one is at large. Eight people, some of them Rajaratnam’s former friends and business associates or onetime Galleon employees, have signed cooperation agreements with prosecutors and may be called upon to testify at trial. One of the names redacted from court documents as a source for one of the charges in the Rajaratnam indictment relates to trading in Akamai Technologies Inc. Akamai Chief Executive Officer Paul Sagan told Reuters on Wednesday that an employee linked to the case was no longer working for Akamai. “The employee in question was not an executive,” Sagan said in an interview following the company’s earnings announcement. He declined to give further details, other than to say the company had finished its own investigation and would continue to cooperate with authorities. Rajaratnam’s defence team, which faces a 7 May deadline to submit legal arguments to ask Holwell to suppress thousands of recordings from trial, said it “intends to present several distinct arguments” in its brief. “These arguments raise legal issues requiring comprehensive analysis arising out of the unprecedented nature of this case, which will require Your Honor to rule on the legality of the government’s first-ever use of wiretaps in connection with an insider trading investigation -- an offense for which Congress has not authorized the use of wire surveillance,” said a letter to the judge by lawyer John Dowd. Typically, wiretaps are used in investigations of organized crime figures, not white-collar criminal probes. Rajaratnam and Chiesi are scheduled to go on trial before Holwell on 25 October. Both have pleaded not guilty to charges of conspiracy and securities fraud in stock trades that allegedly made them a total of $49 million in illicit profits. In the broad case, prosecutors alleged that defendants traded based on confidential information in shares of mostly technology companies including Google Inc, Sun MicroSystems Inc, Advanced Micro Devices Inc, International Business Machines Corp, Intel Corp and Akamai. The case is USA v Raj Rajaratnam and Danielle Chiesi, US district court for the southern district of New York, No. 09-01184. Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 28 Apr 2010 | 10:08 pm Sensex up 79.04 points in early tradeA benchmark index for Indian equities Thursday was ruling 0.45% higher than its previous close during opening trade.Source: India Business News | Business News - Times of India | 28 Apr 2010 | 9:54 pm Goldman to tap ICICI's Sonjoy Chatterjee as India co-CEOSonjoy Chatterjee will be named co-CEO at Goldman Sachs in India, alongside Brooks Entwistle, who has headed the bank's operations in the country since January 2006.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 28 Apr 2010 | 9:20 pm HP to buy Palm to step in the smartphone arenaSan Francisco: Hewlett-Packard Co announced a $1.2 billion deal to buy Palm Inc , betting it can resuscitate the struggling smartphone maker to compete with the likes of Apple Inc and RIM. Analysts say 2010’s third-largest US tech acquisition grants Palm’s devices global production and distribution reach while launching the world’s top PC maker into a tech arena experiencing blistering growth. The news on Wednesday surprised many on Wall Street, since much of the long-running takeover speculation surrounding Palm had shifted in recent weeks to focus on potential Asian bidders, such as China’s Lenovo. An early pioneer in handheld devices, Palm once dominated the market but has since been surpassed by Apple’s iPhone and Research in Motion’s BlackBerry. Palm put out a new mobile operating system, the well-reviewed webOS, last year but even that has been overshadowed by Google Inc’s Android software. In a sign of Palm’s struggles, the money-losing company headed by Jon Rubinstein -- an ex-Apple executive famous for developing the iPod -- slashed revenue expectations for the current quarter. It said slow product sales have led to low order volumes from carriers. “If you saw the guidance Palm just put out, it was clear they had to sell,” said Phil Cusick, analyst at Macquarie Research. “Given how quickly Palm’s business was falling off and how fast their cash was going out the door, they’re lucky to get what they got.” Shares of Palm, 30% owned by Elevation Partners, jumped 27% to $5.88, above HP’s $5.70 cash offer. Some investors could be betting on a higher bid, while others could be covering short positions on the heavily shorted stock, analysts said.. HP said the deal for Palm, which both boards have approved, valued the company at $1.2 billion including debt. Based on Palm’s latest filing, the deal values Palm’s 167.892 million shares outstanding at $957 million. Analysts said HP has deep pockets to invest in Palm, can expand its carrier relationships and negotiate better component pricing from existing suppliers. “PC companies don’t need cellphone-type margins to make the model work; they can be much more price-aggressive in capturing share and will certainly drive margins down for everyone else,” said Avi Cohen at Avian Securities. Bank of America Merrill Lynch advised HP, while Goldman Sachs advised Palm. HP’s foray into the fiercely contested smartphone arena, while it may not immediately threaten Apple, and Research in Motion’s BlackBerry, may increase pressure on Nokia, Motorola and other device manufacturers now battling to expand their market share. “Nokia will be one of the most affected players,” said IDC analyst Francisco Jeronimo. Because of a “wrong portfolio and lack of carrier support, Nokia never moved from its eighth position...in the smartphone segment. This deal puts also pressure on Motorola and HTC.” Others, however, were more skeptical about HP’s ability to turn around Palm, whose Pre and Pixi phones have withered in the face of fierce competition. “If HP wants to have a global role in the mobile space, spending $1.2 bln in Palm is not the way. Palm has no brand outside the US, and it has no distribution outside the U.S.” said John Strand, chief executive of Strand Consult. “To pay $1.2 bln for a US-centric mobile player that’s not successful is a first-class way to destroy shareholder value. Palm has tried to move from the PDA world into the mobile world for eight years without success,” Strand said. According to Gartner, Palm held 1.2% of the global smartphone market in 2009, compared with Nokia’s 41.1%, RIM’s 19.9% and Apple’s 14.4%. Despite Palm’s shortcomings, persistent takeover rumors have attracted many investors to the heavily shorted stock. For example, Philip Falcone’s hedge fund Harbinger Capital Partners LLC bought Palm shares on April 12, when they were trading between $5.43 and $6.29, and had a 9.48% stake. The deal may mark the culmination of a long-running effort by private equity firm Elevation Partners, the private equity firm that boasts U2 frontman Bono among its partners. Elevation -- which bought a quarter of Palm for $325 million in 2007 -- had brought in numerous ex-Apple executives over the years in hopes of turning the company around, including Rubinstein. It was unclear how much Elevation, which has invested about $460 million in Palm, made or lost. Some investment banking sources had thought that Lenovo <0992.HK> was the leading candidate to buy Palm after the U.S. company was rebuffed by other potential Asian buyers including HTC Corp <2498.TW> and Huawei [HWT.UL]. Palm now expects fiscal fourth quarter revenue in the range of $90 million to $100 million, compared with its mid-March forecast that revenue would be less than $150 million. Todd Bradley, executive vice president of HP’s computer division, said the company plans to “invest heavily” in Palm, increasing spending on sales and marketing and research and development in the hope of spurring the developer community into writing more applications for the platform. Palm’s app universe now has more than 2,000 applications, dwarfed by Apple’s App store with closer to 200,000 apps. Bradley also said Palm’s platform is attractive for an entire ecosystem of mobile devices, from smartphones to slate devices to netbooks. HP Executives expected a few cents" dilution for from the deal in the second half of fiscal 2010 and “mild” impact in 2011 -- for a company that in the fiscal first quarter reported non-GAAP earnings of $1.07 per share. “Coupled with our scale, global reach and investments in the ecosystem, we expect we will see solid growth,” he said. HP already has a smartphone, the iPaq, which runs on Microsoft’s Windows mobile platform. But the device has gained little traction in a crowded market. Rubinstein is expected to remain with the company, HP said in a statement, adding that the acquisition would likely close during its third fiscal quarter ending 31 July. Shares of HP fell 1% to $52.75 in extended trading from their New York Stock Exchange close of $53.28. HP “would be one of the few companies that I think could successfully turn Palm around. The company has great brand, great international distribution,” said C.L. King Associates’ analyst Lawrence Harris. “That will open a lot of doors.” Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 28 Apr 2010 | 8:34 pm Wall Street rises after Fed statementNew York: US stocks rose on Wednesday after the Federal Reserve pointed to signs of strength in the economy, comments that gave some relief to investors worried about possible debt defaults in Europe. The Fed’s comments on the economy and its statement that it would keep interest rates low for an extended period lifted bank shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co rose 2.5% and BKW Bank index rose 1.4%. Investors also scooped up shares beaten-down in Tuesday’s selloff after debt downgrades for Greece and Portugal. Worries about some euro zone nations’ fiscal health have weighed on global markets for months. Some investors said the Fed had Europe’s turmoil in mind when designing its policy statement. “The fact that the Fed is keeping rates low will be a relief for stocks, which have been in a trading range recently.” said Subodh Kumar, chief investment strategist at Subodh Kumar & Associates in Toronto. “The downgrades in Europe are probably having an impact on the way the Fed is thinking. The risk is that they get frozen into their comments about extended periods since that’s language they don’t need.” The Dow Jones industrial average gained 53.28 points, or 0.48%, to 11,045.27. The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index rose 7.65 points, or 0.65%, to 1,191.36. The Nasdaq Composite Index added 0.26 points, or 0.01%, to 2,471.73. The policymaking Federal Open Market Committee said in a statement after a two-day meeting, “Economic activity has continued to strengthen and ... the labor market is beginning to improve.” That went some way to ease investors’ concerns about events across the Atlantic when Standard & Poor’s cut its credit rating on Spain by one notch, citing a more protracted period of sluggish growth than previously expected. Energy and financial shares were the top gainers. Besides JPMorgan, which rose to $43.46, Exxon Mobil Corp added 1.4% to $69.19. Both were among top boosts to the Dow industrials. Exxon also raised its second-quarter payout to 44 cents per share from 42 cents in the first quarter. Earnings season stayed in high gear, with Dow Chemical Co up 5.9% to $31.83 after reporting a profit that beat expectations. Comcast Corp, the No. 1 US cable operator, posted slightly better than expected quarterly profit and strong cash flow growth, sending its shares up 1.9% to $18.81. Broadcom Corp shares rose 1.7% to $35.41 a day after reporting a first-quarter profit, beating expectations, and giving an outlook above the consensus estimate. Teva Pharmaceutical Industries continued to weigh on the Nasdaq after U.S. regulators warned the company about manufacturing violations at a California plant, according to a letter released on Tuesday. Teva’s shares fell 1.7% to $58.66. About 10.98 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. On the New York Stock Exchange, about three shares rose for every two that fell, while on the Nasdaq, advancers beat decliners by a ratio of about 11 to 10. Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 28 Apr 2010 | 8:30 pm AT&T sells 7% stake in TechMa for Rs 660crAT&T Inc, the biggest US phone company, sold a 7% stake in Tech Mahindra Ltd, which controls India's Satyam Computer Services, after exercising an option to buy 8% last month.Source: India Business News | Business News - Times of India | 28 Apr 2010 | 6:56 pm HDFC may consider stock splitThe country's largest mortgage lender, Housing Development Finance Corporation, on Wednesday said it may consider a sub-division of shares at its forthcoming board meet.Source: India Business News | Business News - Times of India | 28 Apr 2010 | 6:54 pm Sensex tanks on Greece crisisAcross Asia, Nikkei in Japan was the worst hit, tumbling 2.6% while Hang Seng in Hong Kong ended 1.5% off.Source: India Business News | Business News - Times of India | 28 Apr 2010 | 6:53 pm 'Green tech focus to push auto exports'Indian automakers need to enhance cost competitiveness and focus on greener technologies to increase their share in the world market, a study has said.Source: India Business News | Business News - Times of India | 28 Apr 2010 | 6:52 pm Bharti net dips 8% on rising competitionBharti Airtel, India's top mobile operator, posted an 8% fall in quarterly profit to Rs 2,055 crore as fierce competition among 12-13 operators cut into earnings despite higher subscriber growth.Source: India Business News | Business News - Times of India | 28 Apr 2010 | 6:51 pm Bharti Airtel volumes up, but margins dropBharti Airtel Ltd’s results for the March quarter were a mixed bag, with high volume growth being largely offset by a sharp fall in tariffs. The company reported a strong growth in traffic carried on its mobile network. Traffic, measured in minutes of usage, rose 12.8% to 172.8 billion minutes. The incremental usage of 19.6 billion minutes is a record and is more than double the addition of 9.6 billion minutes in the December quarter. On the flip side, however, average revenue per minute of traffic carried fell 9.1% to 47 paise. This is higher than the 7.8% drop in revenue per minute in the December quarter and more than what analysts had estimated.  Graphic: Yogesh Kumar / Mint Average revenue per minute has fallen at an average rate of 7% in the past four quarters due to intense competition. There haven’t been any major cuts in tariffs in recent months and it seems like revenue per minute may not fall at such sharp rates in the coming quarters. At the same time, if traffic growth continues to be buoyant, the company may soon return to operating profit growth. It’s now been three successive quarters that operating profit has fallen on a sequential basis. But even assuming that the current mobile business on the 2G platform is stabilizing, the current high bids for 3G (third generation) spectrum are a worry for the company and the sector. The cost for pan-India 3G spectrum is increasing every passing day. At current levels of over $2 billion (Rs8,920 crore), a pan-India bid (which the company is most likely to go for) will hurt its earnings in the near term. Bharti shares have fallen 10% from their highs just prior to the start of the 3G auction process, reflecting the market concerns about the high bids. As far as the Zain Africa acquisition goes, the company told analysts on the earnings call that it plans to give updates once the acquisition formalities are completed. Further clarity on the company’s valuations and its plans to improve profitability of this business would have a role to play in valuations going forward. Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 28 Apr 2010 | 1:16 pm Fortuner brakes raise fears, being replaced for freeAfter persistent consumer complaints about its brakes, Toyota Kirloskar Motor Ltd (TKML) has begun replacing brake kits in its bestselling sports utility vehicle (SUV), Fortuner. Sumant Banerji reports.Source: HindustanTimes.com - Top Business News Headlines | 28 Apr 2010 | 1:11 pm Exide profit rises on volume expansionWhile announcing the March quarter results on Wednesday, the Exide Industries Ltd management said it lost out on revenue growth due to capacity constraints for automotive batteries. Yet, on the back of surging automobile sales witnessed in the last four quarters, it posted a 28% rise in net sales on a year-on-year (y-o-y) basis, to Rs1,028.3 crore. Although there were no significant price increases, Exide’s 16% volume expansion in the automotive segment was the main growth engine. After all, it has a 70% market share in the automotive original equipment space. Besides, it is steadily trying to raise its share in the replacement market, where it commands 55-60%. However, a slowdown in telecom tower installations led to contraction of revenue from this segment. The industrial battery segment, therefore, grew by only 10% on a y-o-y basis.  Graphic: Yogesh Kumar / Mint Sequentially, OPM was down by about 160-170 basis points. This could be due to the high cost inventory of lead. Though the average lead price during the March quarter was about $2,211 (Rs98,610 today)/ tonne, lead prices had surged in January to around $2,500/tonne. This is reflected in the rise in raw material costs on a quarter-on-quarter basis, from about 56% to 58% of sales. Exide’s net profit nearly doubled y-o-y to Rs134 crore during the quarter. The scrip closed at Rs123, which discounts the earnings of Rs6 per share for fiscal 2010 by about 21 times. Given its pricing power as a market leader in the automotive segment, analysts believe that revenue growth momentum will be maintained during fiscal 2011. How much this will translate into earnings expansion will depend on howprices of lead price move. Write to us at marktomarket@livemint.com Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 28 Apr 2010 | 1:08 pm Greek crisis hits Sensex, but no contagion yetMumbai: Indian equities fell the most in three months on Wednesday, echoing markets around the world, as investors pulled money out of equities and sought refuge in risk-free assets after rating agency Standard and Poor’s (S&P) cut Greek debt ratings to junk status and downgraded Portugal.  Graphic: Ahmed Raza Khan/Mint Also See The Greek Contagion (Graphic) The Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) Sensex fell 310 points, or 1.76%, to 17,380. The broader 50-stock Nifty index of the National Stock Exchange (NSE) fell 1.75% to 5,215.45 with investors cutting exposure to real estate firms the most. “There is contagion risk possibility; but for now investors are awaiting further action (from euro zone governments),” said Ullal Ravindra Bhat, managing director, Dalton Strategic Partnership Llp, a foreign institutional investor (FII) registered in India. On Tuesday, S&P cut the debt rating of Greece, an economy burdened with debt to the tune of 115% of its gross domestic product (GDP), and running a deficit of close to 13% of GDP, to junk status. The European Union and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) are trying to cobble a bailout package, but there is opposition in countries such as Germany and France. Fearing contagion or the spreading of this risk to other European markets, investors started fleeing from equities. While the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 1.9% overnight, Japan’s Nikkei index slipped 2.57%. “Although the US was the epicentre of the global crisis, Europe was more deeply affected because of its economic openness, mutual trade and financial interdependence, and the relatively higher reliance on banks than capital markets as a source of credit,” said ratings agency Moody’s in a study of sovereign defaults over the last 25 years. One reason why investors are concerned about the crisis is that the larger issue here is not just about a bailout, but on the restructuring that will happen and the haircut—or portion of debt that’s waived off—that will have to be taken by Greece’s debtors. If this spreads and larger European banks come under fire, the recovery in the West may be impaired, analysts said. “If Greece defaults and becomes a contagion, then there are definitely medium-term and macro (economic) implications.” said Vetri Subramaniam, head of equity funds at Religare Asset Management Co. Ltd that has about Rs13,000 crore worth of assets under management. Wednesday’s fall is “part of a normal pattern in the last five months, when the Sensex has been trading in a range”, he added. Indeed, after doubling in a little under six months from its lows of March 2009, the index has gained some 2% since then, trading between the 15,000 and 18,000 levels. NSE’s volatility index, or VIX, had fallen to lifetime lows in March. On Wednesday, it inched up marginally to 19.82, from 19.79 on Tuesday. According to provisional data available with BSE, FIIs sold Rs131 crore worth of shares, compared with Rs324 crore purchases by local mutual funds and insurers. So far this year, FIIs have bought Indian stock worth $6.27 billion (Rs27,964.2 crore), giving a thumbs-up to the resurgent economy, which is forecast to expand at 8.8% in 2010, according to IMF. Among BSE’s sectoral indices, realty, oil and gas, metal and consumer durables were the most affected, losing 2-3.6%. Reliance Industries Ltd, which has the heaviest weightage in the Sensex, slipped 4.16% to Rs1,017. ICICI Bank Ltd, India’s largest private sector lender, lost 2.93%, and the country’s largest steel producer, Tata Steel Ltd, fell 3.6% to Rs624.35. “The India growth story is still intact; this is more of a localized risk aversion spilling to broader markets,” said Deepak Lalwani, director of India investments at London-based Astaire and Partners Ltd. “On a valuation basis, India is treated as a growth market with a high premium attached. When such markets look fully valued, investors take some money off the table” at the hint of such crises. Ashwin Ramarathinam and Reuters contributed to this story. Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 28 Apr 2010 | 1:06 pm Another turf war, this time with FMCThe Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) may be heading for a fresh battle, this time with the Forward Markets Commission.Source: Business Standard | Front Page Headlines | 28 Apr 2010 | 1:02 pm RNRL gains ahead of court verdictWith the Supreme Court (SC) likely to announce its judgement on the gas price tussle between Ambani brothers next week, the share price of Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) has taken a sharp knock while Reliance Natural Resources Ltd (RNRL) witnessed a spike.Source: Business Standard | Front Page Headlines | 28 Apr 2010 | 1:01 pm Govt mulls 100% FDI in defenceThe government is considering a proposal to allow 100 per cent foreign direct investment (FDI) into the countrys defence sector, despite stiff opposition from the defence ministry that has raised security concerns.Source: Business Standard | Front Page Headlines | 28 Apr 2010 | 1:00 pm Markets offer slide showStock markets across the world were enveloped in fresh fears of credit turmoil with the lowering of credit ratings of Greece and Portugal. Almost every single European index ended in the red on Wednesday. The Indian indices registered their worst single-day fall in almost three months.Source: Business Standard | Front Page Headlines | 28 Apr 2010 | 12:58 pm Sebi drops legal option on UlipsIrda may approach government again.Source: Business Standard | Front Page Headlines | 28 Apr 2010 | 12:55 pm What’s the real price of spectrum?As the 3G auction sees bids for frequencies surging, we look at how this increasingly scarce commodity has been priced ever since mobile services began in India. Click hereto see a graphic representation of the spectrum prices Graphic by Ahmed Raza Khan/Mint Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 28 Apr 2010 | 12:35 pm War with new players dents Bharti's Q4 net by 8%A price war with new entrants and expenses linked to overseas acquisitions have caused a fall in the net profit of Bharti Airtel, India’s largest telecom service provider, reports HT Correspondent. Source: HindustanTimes.com - Top Business News Headlines | 28 Apr 2010 | 12:09 pm ‘We do not believe in ARPU’Sanjay Kapoor, CEO of Bharti Airtel (India and South Asia) spoke to Hindustan Times about his company’s performance and strategy. Excerpts. Source: HindustanTimes.com - Top Business News Headlines | 28 Apr 2010 | 12:06 pm Sensex sheds 310 points on Greek, Portuguese woesIndian markets caught the contagion spreading all across the world and fell sharply on Wednesday on the fears of a deepening European debt crisis and its potential to slowdown the pace of the economic recovery worldwide, reports HT Correspondent. Source: HindustanTimes.com - Top Business News Headlines | 28 Apr 2010 | 12:03 pm Insurance premia: curbs on cash likelyThe finance ministry has communicated to the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (IRDA) and Life Insurance Council, among others, that a committee will examine the “threshold for payment of insurance premium by cash,” and also payment of premiums by multiple demand drafts. Source: HindustanTimes.com - Top Business News Headlines | 28 Apr 2010 | 12:02 pm Goldman refutes Senate charges, says CDO market not a casinoWashington, DC: US lawmakers have accused global investment banking firm Goldman Sachs Group Inc. of treating its clients as object of profits. “Goldman’s actions demonstrate that it often saw its clients not as valuable customers but as objects for profits,” said senator Carl Levin, chairman of the permanent subcommittee on investigations. “Its conduct brings into question the whole function of Wall Street,” Senator Claire McCaskill accused Goldman officials of gambling with little oversight. Lloyd Blankfein, chief executive of Goldman Sachs, explained Goldman’s stand in an interview. Edited excerpts: The analogy of casinos is being repeatedly used when referring to the synthetic CDO (collateralized debt obligation) market. I would like you to comment on another one that came up a great deal with Senator Claire McCaskill, who referred to the Abacus transaction and Goldman’s role in it as nothing more than a bookie. Do you buy that? I do not think that’s right. Synthetic CDOs allowed buyers and sellers to be able to take the kinds of positions they want in the housing market; it wasn’t a casino. Also, these were very highly sophisticated parties. In fact, among the most sophisticated in the world, in a professional market. But someone asked the question why we even need a synthetic CDO market. We are talking about a derivative. We have a $12 trillion (Rs535.2 trillion) physical mortgage markets that already exists during this period in time. Why synthetic CDOs?  Question time: Goldman Sachs chairman and CEO Lloyd Blankfein being sworn in on Tuesday by the Senate subcommittee on investigations during the hearing on Wall Street investment banks and the financial crisis. Susan Walsh/AP I think issues were raised and I think in connection with regulatory reform people will be looking at derivatives market since they see that, notwithstanding the value they contribute to the market, some securities are too complex and hard to manage. What do you think now when you look back on the synthetic CDO market? Do you think perhaps it’s something which we should never have touched, which we should not have done? I understand fully the reason that drove the transactions. What was the reason that drove the transaction? People wanted positive or negative risk to the housing market. And people were searching for yield. But couldn’t they have found it in some other area? These were professional investors who sought the risk and obtained the risk that they wanted in the market. Another question that has come up a lot is if you have an adverse interest to your client, do you have a responsibility to tell? When you are a market maker, you have a responsibility to make sure that your client is suitable, knowledgeable and that what you are providing serves the purpose and provides the rest of the client’s wants. You believe that Goldman Sachs did that? I believe we did. There is also the larger question about ethics, about this market at this period of time and as to how it reflects on Goldman and all of Wall Street? Why did it need to exist? Why did it need to happen? I think the housing market was and is and will be an important market and it will want to attract capital. In order to attract capital, people will want to have investment opportunities and people will also need instruments that will allow them to hedge investments, or else, capital will not flow in. cnbctv18@livemint.com Source: World Business - Livemint.com | 28 Apr 2010 | 10:39 am JAL to cut more flights to speed up restructuringTokyo: Japan Airlines will cut 45 international and domestic routes and shift faster to smaller jets, the carrier said Wednesday, as it is pressed to drastically cut costs while restructuring. The indefinite suspensions of 15 international and 30 domestic routes bring Japan Airlines Corp.’s total route cuts to 78, effectively slashing 40% of its international operation and 30% of domestic operation. The airline, known as JAL, had suspended 33 routes during the fiscal year ended March. A statement said JAL was trying to “achieve a drastic reduction of fixed costs, which was initially planned for three years, in one year.” JAL filed for bankruptcy protection in January with $25.6 billion in debt and is undergoing a government-led restructuring under new leadership. It has been delisted from the Tokyo Stock Exchange. Among international routes to be discontinued after September are those between Tokyo and Amsterdam, Rome, Milan and San Francisco, as well as Osaka to Guam, Hong Kong and Beijing. Dozens of unprofitable routes between Japanese cities are also scrapped. “We have to change (JAL) into a muscular company,” new JAL chairman Kazuo Inamori told a televised news conference. Wednesday’s announcement did not include any job cuts. JAL previously announced it would cut about one-third of its workforce of 47,000 or about 15,000, over a three-year period. But on Wednesday, company spokesman Taro Nanba only referred to about 3,600 employees who have applied for early voluntary retirement. Japanese media reports have speculated staff cuts of more than 16,000 by March 2011 to speed up the restructuring process, as the company is still deeply in the red. In February, JAL said it lost a record $2 billion in the nine months through December, but that its results were improving. JAL is finalizing details of its restructuring plan, but is behind schedule and likely miss the end of June deadline for submission to the court, Nanba said, without elaborating. JAL is looking for a boost from closer ties with alliance partner American Airlines. The two carriers are seeking government approval to work more closely in areas such as revenue sharing and carrying each other’s passengers. Source: World Business - Livemint.com | 28 Apr 2010 | 7:18 am RBS signals will toughen targets on exec bonusesEdinburgh: Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) said it is making good progress on asset sales and signalled it will raise targets on its executive bonus scheme to mute investor complaints. Part-nationalised RBS, bailed out at the height of the crisis and now 83 percent owned by the UK taxpayer, kicked off its annual shareholder meeting against an improving backdrop, and its shares have recovered to the point where taxpayers could make a profit. But Philip Hampton, RBS chairman, said much work needs to be done before RBS can leave behind its image of a “problem bank”. “We are under no illusions that we are out of the woods,” Hampton said in a copy of his speech released in advance. RBS was “on its knees” a year ago, but has made a good start in its turnaround plan, he said. He said RBS was making “good progress” on its disposals programme, including the sale of payment processing arm WorldPay and 318 bank branches, although the sale or flotation of its insurance arm “looks unlikely before 2012.” A year ago, RBS shareholders voted overwhelmingly against the bank’s remuneration report, venting their anger and frustration over the banks troubles and former boss Fred Goodwin’s pension. The focus now has shifted to the possible impact of the outcome of the 6 May general election on plans to sell down the state’s stake in RBS, especially with a UK election just a week away. Taxpayers who bailed out the bank are benefiting from strong investment banking profits and a broader economic recovery. By 1244 GMT, RBS shares were down 0.6% at 55.8 pence pence after a fall across Europe’s bank sector amid worries about exposure to weak economies in southern Europe, but still above the average price of around 50p at which the government bought its stake. RBS is expected to field tough questions on pay for its board and, more broadly, its top bankers. Hampton repeated that the bank needs to “strike a balance” between the government’s demand to rein in pay and the need to retain staff. RBS has been a lightning rod for public outrage over bankers’ pay and has held extensive talks with shareholders over remuneration and its new long-term incentive plan (LTIP) for executives and senior managers. Reports this week have said the bank will scrap a trigger point of 50p a share for the LTIP, after shareholders said it should be higher. Hampton said the bank’s remuneration committee “is very conscious of the views expressed by some shareholders on the appropriateness of this target” and will take those views into account before setting the target next week. That trigger is part of an absolute shareholder return measure which accounts for one quarter of the award. PIRC, a leading UK governance body which advises major institutional investors, said last week shareholders should reject pay proposals from both RBS and rival Lloyds as they lacked disclosure. Investors are also expected to quiz the bank on whether it plans to sue beleaguered investment bank Goldman Sachs over losses linked to a deal currently being probed. RBS paid Goldman $841 million in August 2008 to unwind a position built up by ABN Amro, some of whose operations RBS had acquired, and could seek to claw back some of that payment if the US Securities and Exchange Commission’s case against Goldman succeeds. The bank is due to publish an update on first-quarter trading on 7 May. Source: World Business - Livemint.com | 28 Apr 2010 | 6:55 am In Senate hearing, Goldman denies bad business !Goldman Sachs has denied reaping vast profits from the collapse of the US housing market as its top executive and a star trader faced hostile questions in Congress over the 2008 financial meltdown.Source: Zee News : Business | 28 Apr 2010 | 6:49 am India may grow faster; inflation a `big worry`: RBI chief!India`s economic growth this year may be "slightly higher" than the currently estimated 7.2 percent but faster inflation is a "big worry", according to Reserve Bank of India Governor Duvvuri Subbarao.Source: Zee News : Business | 28 Apr 2010 | 6:49 am Service tax notices to DLF, Religare, Adidas for IPL-I!In the midst of a tax probe into finances of IPL, authorities have issued notices to several sponsors of the first edition of the Twenty20 event, including DLF, Adidas and Religare for non-payment of service tax.Source: Zee News : Business | 28 Apr 2010 | 6:49 am Goldman chief says doesn’t think of resigningWashington: Goldman Sachs chief executive Lloyd Blankfein said he has not thought about resigning amid accusations the firm helped inflate the housing bubble and then made billions off the market’s collapse. Blankfein was asked in an ABC interview aired on “Good Morning America” on Wednesday whether it had ever crossed his mind to resign. “No it hasn’t,” he replied. The Goldman executive underwent a blistering cross-examination from lawmakers during an 11-hour Senate hearing on Tuesday about the firm’s practices. “We are all citizens and family people and taxpayers and members of our community. I think Washington has a responsibility to respond to the events of the last several years by enacting some kind of financial reform,” Blankfein told ABC. But he added that he thought Goldman was “getting some disproportionate treatment.” Senator Carl Levin, who had roundly criticized Goldman during the hearing, told ABC: “What was really the problem is that they made a heck of a lot of money in the wrong way and in an unfair way at the expense of taxpayers.” Republican Senator Susan Collins said she had not been satisfied with the answers from Goldman executives at the hearing. “They were truthful in a sense, but they also tried to avoid answering whenever they could,” Collins said on NBC’s “Today” show. “And most of all I was struck by the fact that they did not take responsibility for their actions nor did they acknowledge their conflicts of interest.” Source: World Business - Livemint.com | 28 Apr 2010 | 6:08 am Aadhaar does a double in biometricsLong-standing debate over the biometrics Aadhaar will employ to identify those enrolled in the programme has come to an end with the release of the UIDAI’s official position on fingerprinting and retina scanning. Surprise, surprise -- they’re planning to utilize both. Why? Fingerprinting doesn’t work in under-15s, as their prints aren’t fully developed yet. And manual laborers who use their hands often see their prints completely rubbed away. Read it for details. Source: Tech News - Livemint.com | 28 Apr 2010 | 2:33 am
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