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Twilight Litaka Pharma targets Rs 2,500cr turnover by FY13In an interview with CNBCTV18, Gopal Rammourti, MD, Twilight Litaka Pharma, spoke about the companys ambitious revenue growth guidance and the road ahead.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 15 Jun 2010 | 8:15 am RILRNRL likley to sign gas pact next weekActing on Supreme Courts verdict on the gas tussle, the Ambani brothers companies, that is Mukesh Ambanis Reliance Industries (RIL) and Anil Ambanis Reliance Natural Resource (RNRL) is likely to sign a gas supply pact next week, reports CNBCTV18 quoting sources.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 15 Jun 2010 | 7:37 am Etisalat eyes to hike stake in Indian JVUAE\'s Etisalat Group has decided to hike its stake in its Indian joint venture with DB Realty, reports CNBCTV18. Etisalat current holds 44.73% stake in Etisalat DB. The company is now looking at controlling operations of Etisalat DB.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 15 Jun 2010 | 7:32 am Levy hike signals upward revision in prices: Sakthi SugarIn an interview with CNBCTV18, M Manickam, MD, Sakthi Sugars, spoke about the latest happenings in his company and sector.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 15 Jun 2010 | 7:07 am Lodha eyes PE for projects, IPO on holdLodha Developers is in talks with several private equity funds to sell stake in a Mumbai project to build the world\'s tallest residential tower, its managing director said on Tuesday.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 15 Jun 2010 | 6:52 am Citi names Rahul Shukla head of India corp bankingCitigroup said on Tuesday Rahul Shukla will take over as head of India corporate banking, the unit that manages financing needs of the bank\'s corporate clients.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 15 Jun 2010 | 6:26 am Govt okays shares sale in Coal India, Hind CopperThe cabinet on Tuesday approved stake sales in staterun miners Coal India and Hindustan Copper that between them could be worth up to USD 3.7 billion.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 15 Jun 2010 | 6:26 am Working on EIL divestment, will be done in 34 mths: GovtArun Yadav, Minister of State, Heavy Industries and Public Enterprises said the government is still working on names of the companies for divestment.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 15 Jun 2010 | 6:15 am Government okays share sale in Coal India, Hind CopperThe government on Tuesday approved an initial share sale of 10% in Coal India, the world\'s top coal miner, a deal that could net the government as much as USD 2.7 billion in its largest stake sale this year.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 15 Jun 2010 | 5:59 am Delisting not on radar, says Mahindra SatyamAmidst doubt and confusion on the illfated Mahindra Satyam, Vineet Nayar, Vice Chairman of the company shared views in an interview with CNBCTV18.Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 15 Jun 2010 | 5:27 am Sensex flat in volatile trade; ADAG, sugar stocks gain - NDTV.com
Source: Business - Google News | 15 Jun 2010 | 4:01 am EGoM on fuel price revision postponed indefinitely - Moneycontrol.com
Source: Business - Google News | 15 Jun 2010 | 4:00 am BOC India delisting offer at Rs 225.29 per share - Moneycontrol.com
Source: Business - Google News | 15 Jun 2010 | 3:45 am Cabinet okays 2 state firm sales, may raise up to $3.7blnNEW DELHI (Reuters) - The cabinet on Tuesday approved stake sales in state-run miners Coal India and Hindustan Copper that between them could be worth up to $3.7 billion, putting the country on track for its biggest share sale ever.Source: Reuters: Money News | 15 Jun 2010 | 3:44 am Ford India starts exporting petrol engines to Thailand - Economic Times
Source: Business - Google News | 15 Jun 2010 | 3:44 am Apple launches new version of Mac mini from $699Apple said it launched a new version of its lowest-priced computer, Mac mini, with twice the graphics performance and lower power usage, from $699. Apple said the product’s power consumption would be less than 10 watts when idle. The new Mac mini, which is 7.7 inches square by 1.4 inches, has an HDMI port and a new SD card slot to allow transfer of files from a digital camera. It has a Nvidia GeForce 320M graphics processor, a 2.4 gigahertz Intel Core 2 Duo processor, 320 gigabyte (GB) hard-disk and 2GB RAM. It comes with Mac’s Snow Leopard operating system. Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 15 Jun 2010 | 3:37 am Reliance Natural shares jump on gas deal hopesMUMBAI (Reuters) - Shares in Reliance Natural Resources rose as much as 11.8 percent on Tuesday after CNBC-TV18 reported the company was likely to sign a gas deal next week with Reliance Industries.Source: Reuters: Money News | 15 Jun 2010 | 3:34 am China urges improvements at work as Honda strike endsZHONGSHAN, China (Reuters) - Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao urged better treatment of the nation's vast army of migrant labourers as employees at a Honda factory halted the latest strike that has laid bare growing worker assertiveness.Source: Reuters: Money News | 15 Jun 2010 | 3:33 am Lodha eyes PE for Mumbai projectMumbai: Real estate firm Lodha Developers is in talks with several private equity funds to sell stake in a Mumbai project to build the world’s tallest residential tower, its managing director said on Tuesday. Last week, the developer said it would invest $426 million to build a 117-storey residential tower in central Mumbai and that the company could consider selling a 10-25% stake. “We are in talks with several private equity players but there is no transaction yet,” Abhisheck Lodha told the Reuters Global Real Estate and Infrastructure Summit. Media reports have linked Singapore funds GIC and Temasek with the project, but Lodha declined to specify names. The Mumbai-based developer said it would hold back its planned $600 million initial public offer until stock markets stabilise and is banking on stronger-than-expected sales to tide over immediate cash flow needs. “We have taken a decision that we will go to market only when there is certainty to the market environment and we can price in a manner that investors make money,” Lodha said. “We hope the situation will work out in the next 2-3 months.” Lodha, which focuses on high-end residential apartments in and around India’s financial capital, sold about 7 million square feet last fiscal, but expects sales to be 50% higher in the current fiscal year to March. “The company has done much better than we forecast last year. Our funds requirements are being met from internal resources and there is no immediate need for additional capital,” he said. The company, which has about 30 million square feet under development across 38 projects, is estimated to hold a market share of 15% in Mumbai, rated among the most expensive property locations in the world. Since mid-2009, about 16 Indian developers have lined up plans for initial public offers to raise about $6 billion, buoyed by the 81% rise in the Mumbai stock index last year and on the back of reviving property demand. But a lacklustre stock market this year, a crowded calendar of public offers from state-run firms and a looming rise in interest rates are threatening to derail their fundraising plans. Only three developers have actually launched IPOs this year, with all of them depending on demand from institutions to fully cover the offers. Focus on larger, Mumbai projects Lodha Developers, set up in 1980 by Lodha’s father Mangal Prabhat, a politician with India’s main opposition Bharatiya Janata Party, has steadfastly focused on Mumbai. The developer has accumulated 250 million square feet in the land-starved city, seeing value in catering to a market where millions aspire for their own homes but only about 20,000 apartments were delivered last year. “As income levels rise, aspirations are also rising, and there is demand in every segment of the market. The problem is there is a huge supply side constraint, which impacts pricing,” Lodha, a former consultant with McKinsey & Co, said. Property prices in major Indian cities such as Mumbai and Delhi have nearly doubled in the past year, as buyers return and mortgage rates remain in single-digits, but Lodha remains bullish, expecting prices to rise 10-12% more this fiscal. His firm last month paid more than twice the asking price to win a plot of land in central Mumbai for $850 million, in what was India’s biggest land deal. Lodha, which counts the private equity arms of ICICI Bank, Housing Development Finance Corp and Deutsche Bank among investors in its major projects, plans to build 4,000 to 5,000 high-end apartments at the site over 5-7 years and has estimated revenues of about $2.25 billion from the project. “We continue to actively look at all large opportunities in Mumbai. It offers us the best opportunity to keep growing profitably.” Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 15 Jun 2010 | 3:29 am Debt-laden Reliance Comm eyes deals for tower unit - Reuters
Source: Business - Google News | 15 Jun 2010 | 3:27 am Apple launches new version of Mac mini from $699The new Mac mini, which is 7.7 inches square by 1.4 inches, has an HDMI port and a new SD card slot to allow transfer of files from a digital camera.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 15 Jun 2010 | 3:26 am BP faces grilling in Congress, Obama to speak on TVWASHINGTON/HOUSTON (Reuters) - BP Plc's U.S. chief faces accusations in Congress on Tuesday that the energy giant caused the worst oil spill in U.S. history with a calculated strategy to cut costs, hours before President Barack Obama uses a televised address to defend his handling of the disaster.Source: Reuters: Money News | 15 Jun 2010 | 3:22 am World Bank loan to boost Indian microfinanceNew Delhi: The government on Tuesday approved a a proposal to draw a loan of $100 million (about Rs450 crore) from the World Bank to promote microfinance in the country. The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) cleared the proposal for on-lending to the Small Industries Development Bank of India (Sidbi), which -- in turn -- would disburse the funds to the microfinance sector. “The fund will be used to promote responsible and balanced growth of microfinance outreach, particularly in under-served areas where micro finance penetration is low, thereby serving the larger objective of promoting financial inclusion,” home minister P. Chidambaram told reporters after the CCEA meeting. The decision is expected to help broad-base credit disbursals. Growth in the microfinance sector has been very high in the last few years, with some of the institutions registering 100% year-on-year growth. Market reports peg the current size of the sector to almost $1.5 billion, with the global market size being about $50 billion. Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 15 Jun 2010 | 3:22 am Emerging giants recovering, crop prices to rise: UNRome: A “two-speed recovery” from the global economic crisis favours poor countries, and several factors may push crop prices higher, the UN food agency and the OECD club of wealthy nations said on Tuesday. “A two-speed recovery appears to be under way characterised by weak and hesitant growth with high unemployment in many OECD countries and by stronger growth and faster recovery in the large developing countries,” a joint report concluded. The recovery “is slowly spreading to the rest of the developing world and helping to fuel world income growth,” the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation and the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development said. “On a per capita basis, production growth in least developed countries is struggling to keep up with rapid population growth,” said the annual Agricultural Outlook for the coming decade. Overall, “average crop prices over the next 10 years ... are projected to be above the levels of the decade prior to the 2007/08 peaks,” it said. Despite “a number of severe shocks in recent years with record high oil prices, commodity price spikes, food security fears and resultant trade restrictions, not to mention the most serious global economic recession since the 1930s, (agriculture) has shown remarkable resilience,” it said. “Still, many governments remain concerned about the potential for a repetition of significant shocks to such key factors as energy prices, exchange rates, and/or the macroeconomic performance of key countries and regions, and about the consequences that such shocks have on market volatility,” it added. The long-term outlook for food production is positive, the report said. “Global agricultural production is anticipated to grow more slowly in the next decade than in the past one, but in the absence of unexpected shocks, growth remains on track with estimated longer-term requirements of a 70% increase in global food production by 2050.” Emerging economies will drive growth in world agricultural production, consumption and trade, the report said. “Demand from developing countries is driven by rising per capita incomes and urbanisation, reinforced by population growth, which remains nearly twice that of the OECD area,” it noted. Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 15 Jun 2010 | 3:22 am Accumulate SpiceJet target of Rs 65 Angel Sec - Moneycontrol.com
Source: Business - Google News | 15 Jun 2010 | 3:20 am Inflation will stay high for few months - adviserBANGALORE, (Reuters) - Inflation will stay "high" for the next few months but is expected to ease in the second half of the fiscal year, Planning Commission member Saumitra Chaudhuri said on Tuesday.Source: Reuters: Money News | 15 Jun 2010 | 3:19 am Rupee weak tracking dollar's gains - Economic Times
Source: Business - Google News | 15 Jun 2010 | 3:18 am Import of sensitive items soars 40.5 pc in 2009-10Imports of milk, foodgrains, edible oils and pulses, considered sensitive for domestic producers, surged by 40.5 per cent in 2009-10 to Rs 65,564 crore. According to official data, the import bill for such items was Rs 46,667 crore in 2008-09. Source: HindustanTimes.com - Top Business News Headlines | 15 Jun 2010 | 3:15 am Govt backs RBI on prices; deputy gov hints at hikeNEW DELHI (Reuters) – The government gave a nod on Tuesday to the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to take appropriate action to tame accelerating inflation, toning down earlier comments, and a central banker said a rate hike could come before a scheduled July review.Source: Reuters: Money News | 15 Jun 2010 | 3:10 am Debt-laden Reliance Comm eyes deals for tower unitNEW DELHI (Reuters) - Reliance Communications' plan to open up its telecoms tower unit to investors signals the ammunition India's No. 2 mobile operator can tap as it aims to cut its huge debt in a fiercely competitive market.Source: Reuters: Money News | 15 Jun 2010 | 3:02 am Oil creeps above $75, Greek worries weighLONDON (Reuters) - Oil edged above $75 on Tuesday, clinging to slim gains after a Greek sovereign debt downgrade underlined the extent of the euro-zone crisis.Source: Reuters: Money News | 15 Jun 2010 | 2:59 am Rising food prices will ease after July: Pranab Mukherjee - Economic Times
Source: Business - Google News | 15 Jun 2010 | 2:55 am Lodha eyes PE for Mumbai project(For other news from the Reuters Global Real Estate and Infrastructure Summit, click http://www.reuters.com/summit/GlobalRealEstate10?pid=500)Source: Reuters: Money News | 15 Jun 2010 | 2:44 am Nod for 10 percent divestment in Coal India, Hindustan Copper - Sify
Source: Business - Google News | 15 Jun 2010 | 2:33 am Govt approves Coal India, Hindustan Copper share sale plansThe move, which is likely to generate about Rs16,000 crore, was approved by the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA).Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 15 Jun 2010 | 2:28 am Rupee weak tracking dollar’s gains vs majorsMumbai: The Indian rupee continued to trade weaker in the afternoon session on Tuesday tracking the dollar’s gains versus major currencies and also hurt by a choppy domestic sharemarket. At 2:12pm, the partially convertible rupee was at Rs46.60/61 per dollar, weaker than Monday’s close of Rs46.4850/4950. It had risen to Rs46.40 on Monday, its highest since 31 May. The main stock index was seesawing after Moody’s downgrade of Greece’s debt hit investor sentiment. Dealers said the dollar’s movement versus major currencies will be key for the rupee. The index of the dollar against six major currencies was 0.24% higher. Most Asian currencies also dropped versus the dollar. The euro retreated on Tuesday as the downgrade of Greece’s debt to junk status by ratings agency Moody’s renewed concerns about euro zone debt, dampening sentiment and cutting short a rally in the currency. One-month offshore non-deliverable forward contracts were quoted at Rs46.72, weaker than the onshore spot rate. In the currency futures market, the most traded near-month dollar-rupee contracts on the National Stock Exchange and MCX-SX were both at Rs46.6850, with the total traded volume on the two exchanges at about $4.3 billion. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 15 Jun 2010 | 2:28 am Bhopal disaster: GoM to meet on FridayNew Delhi:The reconstituted group of ministers (GoM) on the Bhopal gas tragedy will meet on Friday, home minister P. Chidambaram on Tuesday said, a day after Prime Minister Manmohan Singh asked the panel to submit its report to the cabinet in 10 days. “The GoM will meet on the afternoon of June 18,” Chidambaram told reporters after his briefing on a meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs. Asked whether former Union Carbide CEO Warren Anderson’s extradition will be part of the GoM discussion, Chidambaram said he has no idea about the nature of the deliberations that will take place. “I have no idea. Let us see what papers are circulated by the ministry of chemicals and petro-chemicals. They have promised to circulate papers by tomorrow. Let us see what issues are raised by them. And then we will decide whether any additional issues are to be addressed,” he said. The Prime Minister had on Monday asked the nine-member GoM headed by Chidambaram to meet immediately and report to the cabinet within 10 days. The GoM, set up last week, has been asked to assess the options and remedies available to the government in the light of the Bhopal court’s verdict in the gas tragedy case. The GoM was reconstituted to go into a range of issues including the relief and rehabilitation of victims and their families. The Prime Minister’s decision came even as the BJP and the Congress engaged in a fresh war of words on the issue. Senior Congress leader Arjun Singh, who was Madhya Pradesh chief minister in 1984, has maintained a stoic silence over why Anderson was allowed to leave the country soon after the tragedy. Nearly 26 years after the disaster left over 15,000 dead, former Union Carbide India hairman Keshub Mahindra and six others were sentenced to two years imprisonment by a Bhopal court last week. Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 15 Jun 2010 | 1:58 am Pilot safe in Halwara MiG-21 crashLudhiana: A MiG-21 fighter aircraft of the Indian Air Force on Tuesday crashed near Halwara air base in Punjab, but the pilot bailed out safely. The crash took place at around 11.15a.m just outside the Sidwan Khas Range in Halwara, 33 km from Ludhiana. “A MiG-21 Type-96 aircraft crashed around 11.15 hours near S K Range near Halwara air base. The pilot ejected from the cockpit safely,” an IAF spokesperson said in New Delhi. “The pilot had flown the plane from Pathankot air base for a routine armament training sortie at the range in Halwara when the mishap occurred,” he said. With today’s crash, the IAF has lost three fighter jet planes this year. It had lost a MiG-27 warplane on 16 February this year in a crash near Hashimara and a MiG-21 Type-77 fighter aircraft on 19 February at Bagdogra, both in West Bengal. In the Hashimara crash, the pilot, Wing Commander Oswald, was killed, while in the Bagdogra mishap, the pilot ejected out of the cockpit safely. Last year, the IAF was hit by 11 crashes and five of them involved variants of the MiG-21 fighter planes. Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 15 Jun 2010 | 1:54 am Lodha Developers eyes private equity for projects, IPO on holdManaging director Abhisheck Lodha said the developer would hold back its planned $600 million initial public offer until stock markets stabilise.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 15 Jun 2010 | 1:48 am Fortis hires banks as Parkway battle heats upNew Delhi/Singapore: India’s Fortis Healthcare has hired Macquarie and Religare Capital to raise funds for a possible battle with Malaysian sovereign wealth fund Khazanah over Singapore’s Parkway Holdings, two sources with knowledge of the matter said. Fortis, controlled by billionaire brothers Malvinder Singh and Shivinder Singh, is also in talks to hire RBS to help raise funds, said the sources, who declined to be identified as the matter is not yet public. Fortis Healthcare, which owns roughly 25% of Parkway, had wanted to build a controlling stake in the firm before Khazanah made a surprise $835 million offer to lift its stake to 51.5%. Parkway operates 16 hospitals in Singapore, Brunei, Malaysia, India and China. Under Singapore rules, Fortis will have to make a general offer for Parkway shares it does not own or a potential bid of more than $2.3 billion because it recently bought Parkway shares. Last week, Fortis unveiled plans to raise as much as $1.2 billion in equity and debt. “All these steps indicate Fortis is very aggressive about Parkway and is working towards arranging funds within the limited timeframe for the counterbid,” said Sapna Jhawar, an analyst with Mumbai-based brokerage Sharekhan. Fortis will have to offer a 6-10% premium over Khazanah’s offer to attract shareholders, analysts said. Khazanah is offering S$3.78 a share to double its stake in Parkway, valuing the entire company at S$4.27 billion ($3.06 billion). Malvinder Singh moved from New Delhi to Singapore as chairman of Parkway, a hospital chain he planned to use as a platform for global expansion. Citings its television channel ET Now, India’s Economic Times newspaper reported on Tuesday that a consortium of banks were willing to fund up to $1 billion. Sources told Reuters that the banks’ mandate was to arrange debt and they are not involved in Fortis’ equity raising plans. Fortis, Macquarie, RBS and Religare declined comment. Parkway’s shares, down 0.3 percent at midday, have weakened in the past two sessions after staying above Khazanah’s offer price for the past few days on market talk of a likely counter-bid by Fortis. Fortis shares were up 0.1% by 11:45am. A fund linked to Morgan Stanley recently bought Parkway shares for its clients above Khazanah’s offer price, fuelling speculation about a counter offer. Morgan Stanley is also the independent financial adviser to Parkway. Deutsche Bank is advising Khazanah. But not everyone is convinced Fortis will make a counter bid. “While we do not rule out a potential counter-bid offer, we maintain that Fortis would be hesitant to launch an outright general offer, given current valuation and the capital outlay involved,” Su Tye Chua, a Singapore-based analyst at Credit Suisse said in a note on Tuesday. The note said if Fortis gains control of Parkway through a potentially successful offer, it may cloud the Singapore company’s long-term strategy for the Malaysian market. Parkway’s Malaysian operations, through a 40:60 stake with Khazanah in Pantai, currently generates about a quarter of Parkway’s revenues and almost a-third of its earnings before interest, tax, depreciation, amortisation and rent (EBITDAR). Source: Home - Livemint.com | 15 Jun 2010 | 12:57 am Delhi raises property circle rates - Economic Times
Source: Business - Google News | 15 Jun 2010 | 12:53 am Govt approves stake sale in Hindustan Copper and Coal IndiaThe government on Tuesday approved 10 percent divestment of its shares in Coal India and allowed another state-run firm Hindustan Copper to issue 10 percent equity to the public.Source: India Business News | Business News - Times of India | 15 Jun 2010 | 12:23 am BJP to help Mallya en route Rajya SabhaBangalore: Stage is set for the 17 June biennial elections for four Rajya Sabha seats from Karnataka with five candidates, including liquor baron Vijay Mallya, in the fray at the end of withdrawal of nominations on Tuesday. Given its strength in the Legislative Assembly, BJP is assured of victory of its two candidates -- M Venkaiah Naidu and Ayanur Manjunath, while Congress would have no difficulty in getting Oscar Fernandes re-elected. The contest is now between JD(S)-backed Mallya and the Congress party’s second candidate T.V. Maruthi. Mallya counts on surplus votes of BJP to romp home but the ruling party in Karnataka has not disclosed its mind and apparently left it to the party high command to take a call on whether to support the UB Group chairman. Twenty-seven JD-S MLAs and Independent MLA Varthur Prakash have pledged support to Mallya, who now needs 17 more votes as a candidate needs 45 first preference votes to get elected. BJP has enough excess votes to see Mallya sail through, while Maruthi is short of 16 votes for victory. On the day of filing nominations, Mallya expressed confidence of victory, maintaining that he would not have entered the race otherwise. Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 15 Jun 2010 | 12:22 am Cabinet okays shares sale in Coal India, Hind CopperNew Delhi:India’s cabinet on Tuesday approved stake sales in state-run miners Coal India and Hindustan Copper that between them could be worth up to $3.7 billion. The government will sell a 10% stake in Coal India, the world’s largest coal miner, through an initial public offering, Home Minister P. Chidambaram told a news conference after the cabinet meeting. The Coal India offering is expected to raise roughly $2.7 billion, in what could be India’s largest share sale ever. Separately, the government will sell 20% in Hindustan Copper - 10% through fresh equity and another 10% by divesting the government’s stake, Chidambaram said, adding the offering details will be finalised by a ministerial panel. Shares in Hindustan Copper rose more than 14%, after the cabinet approved the share sale. Hindustan Copper is expecting the government to approve its plan for a 20% stake sale to raise up to about Rs5000 crore ($1.06 billion), its chairman Shakeel Ahmed had told Reuters earlier this month. Coal India had been looking to launch its offering by August, although a government official recently told Reuters that a September listing was planned. The stake sales in Coal India and Hindustan Copper are part of a government plan to offload minority holdings in 60 state firms in coming years. The government aims to generate Rs40,000 crore ($8.5 billion) via stake sales in state firms in this fiscal year, although persistently weak markets could make that a difficult target. Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 15 Jun 2010 | 12:17 am Citigroup poised to cut Greek debt from WGBI indexNew York: Citigroup said on Tuesday it is preparing to remove Greek government debt from its World Government Bond Index, a key benchmark for sovereign credit, after Moody’s Investors Service cut its rating to junk status. “Greece no longer meets the minimum credit criteria of BBB-/Baa3 by either S&P or Moody’s for the World Government Bond Index (WGBI),” Citigroup said. Moody’s earlier on Tuesday cut Greek government bond ratings four notches to Ba1 from A3, the second ratings agency to regard the Hellenic Republic’s credit as non-investment grade. In late April, Standard & Poor’s cut its rating on Greece to BB-plus, an equivalent junk status. “If the credit ratings remain below investment-grade on June 24, 2010, the fixing date for the July 2010 Profile, Greece will be removed from the WGBI at the end of June,” a memo, dated 14 June, said. Greece stands at the center of Europe’s sovereign credit crisis which roiled global financial markets and pushed the European Union and the International Monetary Fund to cobble together a massive bailout plan. The aid mechanism for Greece is worth 110 billion euros ($132.4 billion) and a safety net for other euro zone countries is worth 500 billion euros. Greece has a debt load forecast to reach 149 percent of gross domestic product by 2013. It is expected to see its economy slump by 4% this year after a 2% drop in 2009, as tax increases and cuts in wages and pensions take a toll. Citigroup said there are currently 23 Greek government bonds in the “June 2010 WGBI profile” with a total market value of $213.6 billion. These bonds represent 1.34 percent of the overall WGBI, the memo said. The bonds would also be removed from the EMU Government Bond Index (EGBI) and the World Broad Investment-Grade (WorldBIG) Bond Index at the end of June, Citigroup said. “We will continue to track the Greek Government Bond Index as one of the WGBI - Additional Market Indexes starting with the July 2010 profile,” the memo said. The WGBI index is a major benchmark used by investment funds. Once removed, a country can become a candidate for re-entry if it meets requisite criteria. This process however takes a minimum of six months. Separately, JPMorgan Chase said in a research note dated June 15 that Greek sovereign debt, as a result of the Moody’s downgrade, were now eligible for its Emerging Markets Bond Index Plus. At present only the Greek 4.625% 2013 bonds are eligible for the EMBI+, however they “don’t meet the necessary liquidity criteria for inclusion,” JP Morgan said. The bond was last bid at a price of 82.167, yielding 12.002%, according to Thomson Reuters data. “Greece is not eligible for the EMBIG/Diversified series due to its high income status,” the firm said. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 15 Jun 2010 | 12:09 am Govt approves 10 pc stake sale in Coal India, Hindustan CopperThe government today approved disinvestment of 10 per cent equity each in mining companies Coal India Ltd and Hindustan Copper Ltd. The decision was taken at a meeting of the Cabinet Committee of Economic Affairs. Source: HindustanTimes.com - Top Business News Headlines | 15 Jun 2010 | 12:04 am RCom plans to hive off tower armAnil Ambani-controlled Reliance Communications has decided to offload stake in its tower company by hiving it off into a separate entity and use the proceeds to clear itsSource: Business Line - Home Page | 15 Jun 2010 | 12:00 am Day Trading GuideNote: In a buy recommendation, the resistances would be the targets and the nearest support would be the stop loss; In a sell recommendation, the supports would be the targets and the nearest resistance would be the stop loss; The recommendationSource: Business Line - Home Page | 15 Jun 2010 | 12:00 am MF accounts closure is not a cause for concernMutual funds have registered a steady decrease in the number of folios (accounts) in equity schemes over the last sixSource: Business Line - Home Page | 15 Jun 2010 | 12:00 am Nalco will not give corporate guarantee for Iranian project loanNational Aluminium Company (Nalco), the state-owned aluminium giant, has declined to provide corporate guarantee to two global banks for raising $2 billion loan for its proposed gas-fired smelter inSource: Business Line - Home Page | 15 Jun 2010 | 12:00 am Favours petrol price decontrolThe Chief Economic Advisor to the Finance Ministry, Dr Kaushik Basu, said on Monday that he favours some decontrol of fuel prices, particularly that ofSource: Business Line - Home Page | 15 Jun 2010 | 12:00 am Madhucon Projects (Rs 140.1): BuyInvestors with a short-term trading perspective can purchase the stock of Madhucon Projects. The stock reversed direction on Monday by forming a giant bullish engulfing candle in the daily chart. This up-move also helped to close the gap formedSource: Business Line - Home Page | 15 Jun 2010 | 12:00 am Satyam scam: Price Waterhouse seeks ruling on SEBI's jurisdiction over auditorsThe Securities and Exchange Board of India may have to establish its regulatory jurisdiction over audit firms before pronouncing its verdict on the case relating to Price Waterhouse's role in the multi-crore SatyamSource: Business Line - Home Page | 15 Jun 2010 | 12:00 am Kalanithi Maran to spend up to Rs 1,220 crore to pilot SpiceJetMr Kalanithi Maran, Chairman and Managing Director, Sun TV Network Ltd, will spend close to Rs 1,220 crore for a controlling interest in SpiceJet Ltd, if his offer to acquire a further 20 per cent stake in the airline is fully subscribedSource: Business Line - Home Page | 15 Jun 2010 | 12:00 am 130-member team driving IT systems at FIFA World CupWith crores of football lovers across the globe glued to the television screens to watch the FIFA matches in South Africa, about 130 employees of Mahindra Satyam are working overtime at its games command centre in Johannesburg to ensureSource: Business Line - Home Page | 15 Jun 2010 | 12:00 am Double-digit inflation, a worry: Kaushik BasuThe Chief Economic Advisor, Dr Kaushik Basu, on Monday stuck to the Finance Ministry's average inflation forecast of less than 5 per cent for 2010-11 even as wholesale price index (WPI) inflation climbed to 10.16 per cent in May on a year-on-yearSource: Business Line - Home Page | 15 Jun 2010 | 12:00 am Markets flip-flop on Greece’s downgradeMumbai: Indian shares seesawed on Tuesday as Moody’s downgrade of Greece’s debt to junk status revived concerns about the woes in euro zone and halted a rebound in world markets. Traders said investor sentiment was fragile and a fresh bout of risk aversion could dent foreign fund inflows that were slowly picking up after a selloff in May. Reliance Communications bucked the trend rallied as much as 5.2% after the No. 2 Indian mobile operator’s board approved a proposal to bring investors into its telecoms tower arm. On Tuesday, the Economic Times named American Tower, a consortium of private equity firm Blackstone and Crown Castle International, and India’s GTL among suitors for Reliance Comm’s tower unit. By 11:19am, the 30-share BSE index was trading down 0.12% at 17,317.11, with half of its components declining. Deven Choksey, managing director and CEO of KR Choksey Shares, he expected foreign institutional investors (FII) to continue investing in India but probably at a slower pace. “FII flow will not come with a bang,” he said. “It will definitely flow gradually. They would not want to miss out on India’s growth story.” Data last week showed India’s factory output grew an annual 17.6% in April, with manufacturing growth matching its fastest pace in at least 15 years. Foreign funds have bought shares worth nearly $358 million in June after dumping $2 billion last month. Banks edged lower after rising in recent sessions. The sector index was down 0.5% after gaining 3.8% over four previous sessions. Top lender State Bank of India was down 0.3% while rivals ICICI Bank and HDFC Bank shed 1.1% and 0.6% respectively. Metals rose on short-covering and as they caught up with the recent underperformance compared with the broader market, dealers said. The sector index was up 1.1% but still down nearly 16% since the start of May. Non-ferrous metals producer Sterlite Industries and aluminium producer Hindalco rose 2.9% and 0.4% respectively. Tata steel, the world’s eighth-largest steel maker by output, rose 0.5%. Energy giant Reliance Industries, which has the highest weight on the Sensex, was down 0.8%. It had risen 6.7% in the past four sessions. In the broader market, gainers led losers in a ratio of 1.5:1 on volume of 163 million shares. The 50-share NSE index was down 0.1% at 5,194. STOCKS MMTC jumped 22.1% to Rs34,840 after the state-run trading firm said it would consider a bonus issue and stock split on 29 June. Mahindra Satyam was down 1.4% at 87.65 rupees after the IT services firm said on Monday it had sought more time from authorities to file financial statements relating to fiscal years 2008 and 2009, delaying its merger with Tech Mahindra. Tech Mahindra was down 0.9% at Rs732.90. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 14 Jun 2010 | 11:56 pm Rupee weakens by 8 paise against dollarThe rupee on Tuesday lost 8 paise against the dollar in early trade amid weakness in the equity markets.Source: India Business News | Business News - Times of India | 14 Jun 2010 | 11:54 pm Market opens lower on some sellingThe Bombay Stock Exchange benchmark Sensex today opened 36 points lower on profit selling in bluechips like TCS and ICICI Bank.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 14 Jun 2010 | 11:38 pm RCom shares rally on tower deal plansNew Delhi: Reliance Communications shares rose more than 5% early on Tuesday on hopes the Indian mobile carrier’s plan to bring investors into its tower arm will help reduce its huge debt. Reliance Comm, India’s No. 2 cellular carrier, said on Monday its board had approved a proposal to open up the tower unit to investors and help create an independent tower company. The tower unit could be valued at more than $5 billion based on recent telecom tower deals in the Indian market. On Tuesday, the Economic Times named American Tower, a consortium of private equity firm Blackstone and Crown Castle International, and India’s GTL among suitors for Reliance Comm’s tower unit. The announcement follows a recent plan to sell as much as 26% of the parent mobile carrier, which is facing a fiercely competitive local market and the heavy cost of rolling out third generation services. “The game plan is to add as much as ammunition possible to your balance sheet,” said Jagannadham Thunuguntla, head of equity at SMC Capitals in New Delhi. “Be it a stake sale in the mobile company or the tower unit.” Reliance Comm, controlled by billionaire Anil Ambani, owns 95 percent of the tower unit. The company said on Monday it was looking at options including a “demerger and/or other suitable value-creating options” for the tower unit’s assets, and would be paid in cash and stock. Reliance Comm, which had earlier planned to sell 10% of Reliance Infratel through an initial public offering, said it was in “advanced stage” talks with several international and local strategic and financial players for the tower unit and expected to announce a deal shortly. “The Infratel IPO doesn’t seem to be happening - the over all market conditions are not great and the mood in the telecoms sector is also not favourable. So how to monetise the assets in one form or the other,” Thunuguntla said. Reliance Comm shares were up 2% at Rs183.35 by 9:55am in a flat Mumbai market, having risen as much as 5.2% in early deals. More than 4.5 million shares had changed hands on the National Stock Exchange, compared with full-day average volume of 9.3 million in the past 30 days. After being one of the worst performers in the benchmark index for much of 2010, the stock has erased losses for the year on talks for the stake sale and are up more than 6 percent in the year to date. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 14 Jun 2010 | 11:17 pm Oil hovers above $75 as investors eye demandSingapore: Oil prices hovered above $75 a barrel Tuesday in Asia as traders mulled whether the recovery of the global economy is strong enough to sustain improving crude demand. Benchmark crude for July delivery was up 4 cents to $75.16 a barrel at midday Singapore time in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract rose $1.34 to settle at $75.12 on Monday. Oil prices have traded in a $70 to $80 range so far this month after dropping from $87 to $64 last month amid fears Europe’s debt crisis could hurt global economic growth. On Monday, credit rating agency Moody’s lowered its rating on Greece’s debt to “junk” status. But oil traders have taken heart in recent weeks from a fall in US crude inventories, which suggests demand is improving. Analysts expect another drop of 1.8 million barrels, according to a survey by Platts, the energy information arm of McGraw-Hill Cos., when the American Petroleum Institute announces its weekly supply data late Tuesday and the Energy Department’s Energy Information Administration releases its report on Wednesday. Some analysts expect the growth in oil demand in developed countries to catch up with burgeoning consumption in developing countries and push prices higher. “We expect prices to eventually move back above $80 supported by the strong growth momentum in demand,” Barclays Capital said in a report. “Despite price movements being at the mercy of macroeconomic jitters lately, $70 has emerged as a strong floor and with good reason.” In other Nymex trading in July contracts, heating oil fell 0.10 cent to $2.0249 a gallon and gasoline dropped 0.14 cent to $2.0750 a gallon. Natural gas was up 3.5 cents at $5.041 per 1,000 cubic feet. Brent crude was up 12 cents to $75.32 a barrel on the ICE futures exchange. Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 14 Jun 2010 | 11:09 pm Supply shortages slowing Gulf oil spill cleanupMOBILE, Alabama (AP) _ As countless tar balls washed ashore on a beach along Alabama’s Gulf Coast, cleanup workers sat and watched because they didn’t have the proper plastic covers to protect their shoes. Elsewhere, a crew using shovels and garden rakes worked for hours on a long stretch of sand that a machine could have cleaned in minutes. Almost two months after the Deepwater Horizon oil rig exploded in the Gulf of Mexico, shortages of government-required protective gear and cleaning equipment are slowing work to remove the sticky mess and keep beaches and marshes along the Gulf Coast safe and oil-free. Listen to a podcast on why an underwater oil pipeline rupture is so difficult to repair BP says it’s doing all it can to keep supplies stocked and has had to turn to foreign companies for help. But with demand so high for everything from plastic gloves, to oil-blocking booms and sand-sifting machines, finding enough items to outfit workers and protect the coast is an unending task. As the oil first stained the Alabama coast, officials say some people hired to pick up tar balls off the sand couldn’t lift a finger because they didn’t have the bright yellow boot covers that have since become ubiquitous on the beach. The workers eventually got the boots. BP also is still trying to find additional sand-sifting machines, which are capable of cleaning long areas of beach in minutes rather than the hours it takes to do the work by hand. The company didn’t even know they existed until Gulf Shores Mayor Robert Craft recently showed off one operated by the city. Coast Guard Lt. Erik Halvorson, a spokesman for the unified area command overseeing the spill response, said shortages haven’t caused any major slowdowns in the cleanup, and large orders have been placed in advance when needs are anticipated. “I believe that any response work delays ... are localized and short term, not widespread,” he said. Late Monday, BP spokesman Bill Salvin told The Associated Press that the company has contracted with actor Kevin Costner and Ocean Therapy Solutions to use 32 of their centrifuge machines that are designed to separate oil from water. “We recognized they had potential and put them through testing, and that testing was done in shallow water and in very deep water and we were very pleased by the results,” Salvin said. He added that the machines will be among the many tools it is using to try to respond to the spill. Ronnie Hyer’s company, Gulf Supply Co. of Mobile, has become a major supplier of safety equipment and other gear being used all over the Gulf Coast _ but finding enough supplies has become a daily struggle. “This is worse than a hurricane,” said Hyer. “This is a never-ending hurricane.” One day the shortage may be white disposable coveralls worn by cleaning crews, Hyer said, while the next day it might be gloves. Both are required under rules set out by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, he said, so crews can’t work without them. “There’s no chain, no rope. There’s a shortage of steel posts in this area,” he said. “They found some in Houston.” When Hyer’s company finds an item, it buys in bulk. Pallets and storage shelves all around Gulf Supply’s site in northern Mobile are full of sun screen, coveralls, degreaser, toilet paper, trash bags, ice coolers, shovels, rakes and orange vests. A trailer is loaded with shovels and rakes, and they found boot covers _ 70,000 of them. “They called yesterday and wanted 350 kitty litter scoops,” said Hyer. “They clean the sand with them.” Many of the items in Hyer’s warehouse are stamped “Made in China.” Though BP says it tries to buy from American manufacturers, sometimes it’s impossible. “Where critical material is not available and will not be available in any reasonable period of time we have literally scoured the globe,” said BP executive vice president Chris Sliger. For example, BP’s purchasers have bought boom in several countries including the U.K., Norway, the Middle East, Brazil and China _ “literally every place we can get it in the world,” Sliger said. Around the Gulf, supplies are being stockpiled and shipped out of 17 different staging areas from coastal Louisiana to Port St. Joe, Florida, according to Halvorson. President Barack Obama visited one of the largest on Monday near Theodore, Alabama. Sliger said BP is trying to buy additional sand-sifting machines, which are pulled behind tractors down the beach. Work will speed up considerably once those are available, he said. “I believe ... that we purchased five more, and we’re trying to find as many more as we can,” he said. ____ Associated Press Writers Brian Skoloff in Gulf Shores and Mary Foster in New Orleans contributed to this report. Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 14 Jun 2010 | 11:09 pm Fortis hires 3 i-banks to help raise fundsFortis Healthcare has appointed three investment banks - Religare Capital, RBS and Macquarie - to raise funds.Source: India Business News | Business News - Times of India | 14 Jun 2010 | 11:00 pm RCom surges 5 pc on Infratel demerger decisionAnil Ambani group firm Reliance Communications climbed 5 per cent on the Bombay Stock Exchange in morning trade a day after it decided to demerge its telecom infrastructure unit, Reliance Infratel, to create an independent entity.Source: HindustanTimes.com - Top Business News Headlines | 14 Jun 2010 | 10:55 pm Market opens lower on some sellingThe Bombay Stock Exchange benchmark Sensex on Tuesday opened 36 points lower on profit selling in bluechips like TCS and ICICI Bank. The 30-share index, which had gained 273.22 points in the previous session, fell by 35.91 points to 17,302.26 points.Source: HindustanTimes.com - Top Business News Headlines | 14 Jun 2010 | 10:44 pm Market down on profit sellingThe Bombay Stock Exchange benchmark Sensex on Tuesday opened 36 points lower on profit selling in bluechips like TCS and ICICI Bank.Source: India Business News | Business News - Times of India | 14 Jun 2010 | 10:34 pm Asia shares slip as Moody’s downgrades GreeceHong Kong: Asian stocks slipped on Tuesday, snapping a five-day winning streak, as worries about Europe’s debt problems returned after Greece was downgraded to junk status, a move which also stymied the euro’s rally. Although Moody’s 4-notch downgrade of Greece’s credit rating to Ba1 was expected, as it was catching up with rival Standard & Poor’s BB-plus rating, the move gave investors an excuse to book profits after shares hit a month high on Monday. The euro which has posted impressive gains in the last few sessions, saw its rally losing steam with the single currency failing to breach key resistance levels on charts. Wall Street surrendered gains after the downgrade, ending little changed in low volume on lingering worries that the euro zone’s fiscal problems may hamper a global economic recovery. Global stocks had rallied earlier on data showing euro-zone industrial output surged in April, achieving the biggest year-on-year percentage gain in almost two decades. “I believe we are yet to feel the full impact of Europe’s debt crisis,” said David Taylor, a market analyst at CMC Markets in Australia. In Asia, Tokyo’s Nikkei share average slipped 0.2%, reversing a three-day rising streak. The benchmark is now hovering around its 25-day moving average, a key psychological resistance level. The MSCI index of Asia Pacific ex-Japan stocks fell 0.3%, led by losses in the resources and energy sectors. The euro eased to $1.2211 from $1.2226 seen late in New York on Monday. It had gained 0.9% on Monday when it rose to as high as $1.2298 and well above a four-year low of $1.1876 hit last week. Much of the gains of late have been fuelled by traders covering their short bets against the currency, but dealers said the single currency was still vulnerable to any bearish news from the euro zone. “The negative market impact was tempered by the fact that the move by Moody’s was partly a catch up to S&P’s junk status for Greece whilst Moody’s also noted that a debt restructuring could be avoided,” said Credit Agricole CIB in a client note. The Australian dollar, which has benefited from a gradual return of investors to riskier assets in recent sessions, was hurt by expectations that the central bank would keep interest rates unchanged at 4.50% in July. Minutes for the Reserve Bank of Australia’s (RBA) June policy meeting showed members had thought previous rate rises gave it time to see if Europe’s troubles would hurt world growth, and to wait for more information on domestic inflation. The Aussie fell as far $0.8548 as the RBA minutes gave currency speculators another reason to cash in recent gains. Crude oil futures inched higher above $75 a barrel on hopes that surging fuel demand in emerging economies would offset any declines in Europe. US crude prices on Monday pared news after the Greece downgrade but still held on to a 1.8% gain by the close. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 14 Jun 2010 | 10:06 pm Oil min gives nod for 10% selloff in EILThe oil ministry has approved the sale of 10% government holding in consultancy firm Engineers India Ltd (EIL), and a public offering is expected in the second half of July.Source: India Business News | Business News - Times of India | 14 Jun 2010 | 3:35 pm MF sellers find it hard to stay afloatSeveral mutual fund distributors are finding it hard to stay afloat these days. Even 10 months after the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) banned entry load on mutual funds - taking away the upfront commissions earned on selling mutual funds - these firms are yet to find a viable way to charge their clients for the advice they offer.Source: India Business News | Business News - Times of India | 14 Jun 2010 | 3:32 pm FM doesn't want rise in interest ratesGovernment data released on Monday pegged overall inflation at 10.16% in May, the highest in the last 19 months and indicating that impact of high food prices is spreading to manufactured goods as well.Source: India Business News | Business News - Times of India | 14 Jun 2010 | 3:30 pm Benefits for people with special needsFrom additional deductions to cheap insurance, here are the respites the law offers.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 14 Jun 2010 | 3:28 pm Gilt funds making a comebackGilt funds, which lost their lustre due to hardening yields on government bonds, are slowly moving up the performance charts on the back of an increase in bond prices in recent months.Source: India Business News | Business News - Times of India | 14 Jun 2010 | 3:26 pm All want aviation, nobody wants to build infra: Giovanni BisignaniGiovanni Bisignani, director-general, IATA, shares his views on the Indian airline industry.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 14 Jun 2010 | 3:26 pm 'Need time to restate accounts'Mahindra Satyam, the rebranded Satyam Computer Services on Monday announced that it has sought yet another extension from the CLB to complete the restatement of Satyam accounts.Source: India Business News | Business News - Times of India | 14 Jun 2010 | 3:24 pm Ssangyong due diligence started: Anand MahindraThe country's biggest sport-utility vehicle maker by sales, Mahindra & Mahindra has commenced due diligence on South Korea's troubled car major, Ssangyong Motor.Source: India Business News | Business News - Times of India | 14 Jun 2010 | 3:21 pm EADS Defense & Security aims strong footing in defence, securityThe consortium of Alenia Aeronautica, BAE Systems, EADS CASA and EADS German came together to produce the Eurofighter for German, France, Spain and UK markets.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 14 Jun 2010 | 3:20 pm Eastern freight corridor to get $1 billion by OctoberLoan agreements for other sections on the stretch funded by the World Bank would be finalised through 2011-12, a railway ministry official said.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 14 Jun 2010 | 3:17 pm Oil price hike on backburner: Basu KaushikCore inflation a worry, but average food price inflation has stabilised over last six months.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 14 Jun 2010 | 3:15 pm Take-off time for aviation sectorKalanithi Maran, has picked up 37.75% stake in SpiceJet and will have to make an open offer for another 20%.Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 14 Jun 2010 | 3:13 pm Inflation up, EMIs to followAs India’s inflation rate gallops into double digits once more — figures released on Monday showed 10.16 per cent in May — a hike in interest rates is widely expected.Source: HindustanTimes.com - Top Business News Headlines | 14 Jun 2010 | 1:34 pm The rise and rise of Abhisheck LodhaAbhisheck Lodha says he is in a hurry. The 30-year-old managing director of the Lodha Group, who had a stint with McKinsey before joining the group which is the same age as him, clearly walks the talk.Source: Business Standard | Front Page Headlines | 14 Jun 2010 | 1:19 pm Spain sees credit squeeze, denies EU rescue bidBerlin/Santander, Spain: Spain said on Monday foreign banks were refusing to lend to some of its banks in a new twist to the euro zone crisis, and Germany said an EU aid mechanism was in place if Madrid needed a Greek-style rescue. Highlighting persistent doubts about Greece’s ability to repay its debt mountain despite last month’s €110 billion multilateral bailout, credit ratings agency Moody’s downgraded Greek sovereign debt by four notches to junk status. In a statement explaining the unusually steep cut, Moody’s cited the “macroeconomic and implementation risks” in Athens’ draconian austerity programme, agreed with its 15 euro zone partners and the International Monetary Fund. Spanish Treasury secretary Carlos Ocana admitted officially for the first time that some Spanish banks faced a liquidity freeze in the interbank market and said the government was working to restore confidence. “It’s definitely a problem,” Ocana told a conference of business leaders at a conference in the northern town of Santander when asked about the credit squeeze. But he said Madrid was not negotiating any financial aid package. “Spain does not need additional financing from any international institution. The rumour is false and I deny it.” In Berlin, German Chancellor Angela Merkel was asked after talks with French President Nicolas Sarkozy about media reports that Madrid could seek aid from a new €750 billion European Financial Stability Facility as early as this week. “If there should be problems — and we shouldn’t talk them up — the mechanism can be activated at any time,” Merkel said. “Spain and any other country knows that they can make use of this mechanism if necessary.” The fourth largest economy in the euro area, Spain needs to refinance €16.2 billion of bonds in July. It has been able to borrow on the markets but at a rising premium, paying an average 3.317% to sell three-year bonds last Thursday. Banking sources said last week the liquidity freeze was affecting savings banks and small banks but not the country’s biggest financial institutions. Rescue Talks Denied The German Finance Ministry and the European Commission denied a report in the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung that EU states would hold talks on aiding Spain in Brussels this week. Spanish banks have been under pressure since the Bank of Spain stepped in last month to take over CajaSur, a small, 146-year-old lender controlled by the Catholic Church, highlighting the precarious position of other savings banks. The chairman of Spain’s second-largest bank BBVA said the country’s top task was to restore market confidence through a mixture of deficit cutting, structural reforms and recapitalising and slimming down its financial sector. “We need a solvent and stable financial system, a substantial reduction in the installed capacity in the sector and a sufficient injection of funds,” BBVA’s Francisco Gonzalez told the same conference, adding that Spanish banking faced a “difficult and uncertain future”. The euro and European stocks rose by more than 1% at the start of a decisive week for reforms in Europe aimed at preventing a repeat of Greece’s debt crisis. But the euro fell back slightly after the Moody’s downgrade. Merkel and Sarkozy said the two biggest euro zone economies had agreed on stricter budget rules for the single currency area, three days before an EU summit, including suspending the voting rights of a country in persistent breach. EU finance ministers have drafted new rules designed to enforce the bloc’s budget deficit limit of 3% of national output by applying earlier and tougher sanctions to countries in breach, and extending greater discipline to public debt. Both leaders said they were determined to strengthen fiscal discipline within the bounds of the EU’s Lisbon treaty. Sarkozy said lawyers would have to determine whether a treaty amendment was necessary to suspend a country’s voting rights. They also said they had agreed that Europe needed a stronger “economic government” to coordinate national economic policies, but, in a clear victory for Merkel, this would comprise the leaders of all 27 EU states, not just the 16 euro zone members. Sarkozy said they had also agreed that euro zone heads of state and government could meet “pragmatically and flexibly” when problems arose that specifically affected the single currency area. France had sought an “economic government” centred on the euro zone with its own permanent secretariat. Finance ministers of the Group of Seven nations — the United States, Japan, Germany, Britain, France, Italy and Canada — conferred by telephone on Monday to prepare for a G20 leaders’ summit later this month, but several officials said they did not discuss Spain’s fiscal problems. Merkel and Sarkozy said they were sending a joint letter to Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper, the G20 chairman, seeking more ambitious reforms in financial regulation, a global tax on financial transactions and agreement in principle on a levy on banks to pay for the cost of financial crises. Structural Reforms In the latest of a wave of structural reforms designed to adapt strained public finances to long-term challenges and make euro zone economies more competitive, France is set to announce an overhaul of its pension system and Spain a shake-up of its labour market, both on Wednesday. European governments are taking advantage of the sense of urgency instilled by last month’s $1 trillion financial backstop for the euro zone and, critics say, of voters’ distraction by the soccer World Cup, to push through unpopular measures. European Central Bank Governing Council member Patrick Honohan, trumpeting a concerted message from the ECB, said the market response to perceived euro zone fiscal risks had been overblown. “This (nervousness) led to the situation a few weeks ago where you had effectively frozen money markets, interbank and the like, reflecting what seems to be an overblown response to perceived fiscal risks,” the Irish Central Bank chief told a conference in Dublin. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 14 Jun 2010 | 12:45 pm Wall Street gains after European data; Greece downgradedNew York: US stocks rose on Monday as European industrial data eased concerns about a slowdown in global growth, but a debt downgrade of Greece limited gains. Moody’s Investors Service downgraded Greece’s credit rating after midday, placing it into junk status. Earlier, data showed euro-zone industrial output surged in April, achieving the biggest year-on-year percentage gain in almost two decades. For the past few months, worries about debt problems in Greece and other European nations have weighed on the US stock market on concerns that the euro zone’s fiscal problems could hamper a global economic recovery. The data spurred demand for shares of US companies that rely on overseas sales, with the euro earlier up more than 1% at a session high just below $1.23. After the Greek debt downgrade, the euro cut some of its gains and was up about 0.9% at $1.2222. Heavy equipment maker Caterpillar Inc advanced 2% to $61.46. “The slightly better-than-expected industrial production data out of Europe, along with a bounce in the euro, have been enough to put investors in a buying mood to start the week,” said Michael Sheldon, chief market strategist of RDM Financial, in Westport, Connecticut. Investors snapped up some chip makers’ stocks and that helped bolster the Nasdaq. Technology bellwether Intel Corpshot up 1.5% to $20.95, while a semiconductor indexadvanced 1.3%. The Dow Jones industrial average was up 50.41 points, or 0.49%, at 10,261.48. The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index was up 6.02 points, or 0.55%, at 1,097.62. The Nasdaq Composite Index was up 17.74 points, or 0.79%, at 2,261.34. Earlier, the Dow was up as much as 1.2%, while the S&P 500 was up as much as 1.3%, and the Nasdaq was up as much as 1.6%. The S&P 500 was trading near the psychologically key 1,100 level, and just below 1,108, its 200-day moving average. The rally on Wall Street follows strong advances in European and Asian stock markets, as well as the S&P 500’s 2.5% gain for last week. The S&P 500 is still down about 9% from its 23 April closing high for the year. Shares of some airlines also rose after Deutsche Bank AG started coverage of the stocks. AMR Corp, the parent of American Airlines, was up 2.5% at $8.47 after Deutsche Bank gave it a “buy” recommendation. US crude oil futures added 76 cents to $74.52 per barrel after Greece’s government bonds were downgraded to junk status. Earlier, oil prices had jumped over 2.5% following the European industrial production data, which helped renew optimism about a recovery and a pickup in demand for fuel. Chevron Corp was up 0.6% at $74.40, off an earlier gain of over 1%. BP Plc’s US-traded shares continued their slide, falling 8.3% at $31.13. US President Barack Obama plans to press the company to set up an escrow account to pay damage claims by individuals and businesses hurt by BP’s oil spill in the US Gulf of Mexico. The British company said the cost of the spill hit $1.6 billion. Source: Home - Livemint.com | 14 Jun 2010 | 12:29 pm Economy on the boil; RBI may step inInflationary pressure has shifted to manufactured products from food, a trend that will make it more difficult for the Reserve Bank of India to stanch rising prices without hurting economic growth. Also See Manufacturing Output Growth (Graphics) Wholesale price inflation in May accelerated faster than expected to 10.16%, according to data released on Monday. Chief economic adviser Kaushik Basu said that rising food prices had virtually stabilized and inflation is now being driven by manufactured products such as iron and steel. Rising domestic demand is fanning inflation and mounting pressure on the central bank, which meets July end, to tighten monetary policy. Graphics by Ahmed Raza Khan/Mint Source: Home - Livemint.com | 14 Jun 2010 | 11:42 am NTPC plans restructuring to meet challengesNew Delhi: To be able to take on growing competition and new challenges, state-run power utility NTPC Ltd is planning a restructuring that involves setting up a domestic subsidiary for its coal mining operations and floating an overseas arm. The restructuring would be executed after one year. “It will be required to be done. We are scouting for coal acquisitions. This is in preparation to that,” said R.S. Sharma, NTPC’s chairman and managing director.  Step forward: NTPC chairman and managing director R.S.Sharma. The firm is scouting concessions abroad to meet its rising demand. Pradeep Gaur/Mint Indian coal also has high ash content, which reduces the efficiency of power plants (restricting the power that can be generated from one tonne of coal). Domestic coal, however, is 30-40% cheaper than imports, depending on the quality. Acquiring energy assets overseas is key to energy security for India, the world’s fifth largest oil importer. The country imports 75% of its fuel requirement and accounts for some 3.5% of global consumption. State-run Oil and Natural Gas Corp. Ltd (ONGC) already has ONGC Videsh Ltd to run its overseas operations and Coal India Ltd has Coal Videsh Ltd. NTPC, to augment its international operations, plans to create a new post of director (business development)—a task presently overseen by its director (commercial). As part of its overseas plans, it is looking to acquire the assets of Australia’s beleaguered Griffin Coal Mining Co. Pty Ltd, which includes a power project and coal mines. In India, NTPC has been allocated eight captive coal blocks by the government—Pakhri Barwadih (1,350 million tonnes, or mt), Kerandari (228 mt), Chatti Bariatu (243 mt), Chattrasal (150 mt), Dulanga (260 mt), Talaipalli (965 mt), Brahmini (1,900 mt) and Chichro Patsimal (356 mt). But so far, it has not been able to begin production from its captive coal mine blocks in India or secure coal concessions overseas. Coal is critical for NTPC as at least 80% of its installed capacity of 31,134MW is fired by the fuel. It has a requirement of around 160 million tonnes per annum (mtpa) and imports around 10%, or 16 mtpa, to meet the shortfall. The need is expected to grow further as a substantial portion of the capacity NTPC is adding will be based on coal. The firm plans to have an installed capacity of 75,000MW by 2017. With around 67% of India’s total power generation based on coal, the power sector is the major consumer of the fossil fuel, absorbing nearly 78% of India’s total production. NTPC faces other challenges as well. According to India’s apex power sector regulator, the Central Electricity Regulatory Commission, the utility will, from 2011, have to compete for projects through tariff-based competitive biddings, unlike in the present system in which it sets up regional power stations on a cost-plus basis. “Mining is a separate business and there should be a separate business entity for it,” said a New Delhi-based power sector analyst who tracks NTPC, asking not to be identified. “One should also have an overseas investment subsidiary from (a) tax-saving perspective, arranging for forex and taking quick investment decisions. This is the correct way forward from the corporate strategy perspective.” utpal.b@livemint.com Source: Home - Livemint.com | 14 Jun 2010 | 11:06 am M&M’s due diligence for Ssangyong this weekAuto major Mahindra & Mahindra plans to start due diligence for South Korean Ssangyong Motor in a day or two, a senior company official said.Source: HindustanTimes.com - Top Business News Headlines | 14 Jun 2010 | 10:11 am Nokia vows to defend smartphone territoryFinland’s Nokia on Monday vowed to defend its number one position in the lucrative smartphone market, where it is under fierce pressure from Apple’s iPhone and Research in Motion’s Blackberry.Source: HindustanTimes.com - Top Business News Headlines | 14 Jun 2010 | 10:08 am China stir could spur broader demandsA strike at a Honda Motor parts supplier in China could augur broader demands across China’s vast manufacturing belt as workers seek a bigger piece of the nation’s growing economic wealth.Source: HindustanTimes.com - Top Business News Headlines | 14 Jun 2010 | 10:06 am Microsoft unveils ‘Kinect’ to connect to casual gamersMicrosoft has christened its new motion-sensing game system 'Kinect', and hopes to draw a new generation of casual players into the Xbox game console fold.Source: HindustanTimes.com - Top Business News Headlines | 14 Jun 2010 | 10:01 am BP spill: Obama panel to raise cashBarack Obama’s leadership of the Gulf of Mexico oil spill faces key tests this week as the US president gives his first national address on the disaster and meets top BP executives for the first time.Source: HindustanTimes.com - Top Business News Headlines | 14 Jun 2010 | 9:58 am
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