Business

Mumbai, September 05: Gold prices advanced further on the bullion market here today due to persistent local buying interest despite lower New York advices.

Silver also firmed up on renewed demand from industrial users.

In New York, gold futures edged lower on Friday after rallying near USD 1,000 an ounce in the previous session, as a jobs report that fell largely in line with expectations curbed gold’s safe-haven appeal.

December gold futures, slid by USD 1 to end at USD 996.70 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange.

Toronto, September 05: Toronto-based Nortel, which is selling its businesses to pay off its creditors, will auction its second biggest division next Friday.

The enterprise unit that makes network equipment will be auctioned under court supervision.

US-based Avaya Inc. is one of the bidders with an offer of $475 million.

Friday was the last day to place bids.

The 124-year-old Canadian icon has been operating under bankruptcy protection since January after suffering losses of $5 billion last year.

Washington, September 05: India has said when there is a need to regulate the financial market; the same should not be used to devise any kind of protectionism.

“We shall have to strike a balance. First of all, I would like to… in the name of the financial regulation and to regulate the markets and as I started off, I mentioned protectionism need not come. Yes, there is a need of regulating the financial market,” Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee said in an interview to CNN.

Panaji, September 05: Gold may go as high as USD 1,100 an ounce at least by early next year on the back of a weak dollar, but weak physical off-take from India could cap its upside, a senior analyst from Standard Bank said on Saturday.

“We expect the dollar to weaken against the euro in the next 6-12 months due to high inflation and a rising trade deficit,” said Walter De Wet, head of commodity research at Standard Bank.

“Inflation may rise as central banks have expanded their balance sheet by pumping in so much money into the system.”

Washington, September 05: The World Trade Organization ruled on Friday that European loans for Airbus were illegal subsidies under world trade rules, US lawmakers said, but European sources said Washington did not win a sweeping victory.

The findings, which came in a confidential 1,000-plus page ruling, are the latest chapter in a decades-old battle between US manufacturer Boeing and European rival Airbus for dominance of the global aircraft market, a major source of jobs on both sides of the Atlantic.

London, September 05: India’s stand that protectionism remains a real threat to the global economy and emerging economies need to guard against tendencies in some developed nations to extend it beyond trade to financial markets and investment has been endorsed by Russia, China and Brazil.

A joint communique issued at the end of the two-hour meeting of the BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India, China) countries’ Finance Ministers here last evening asserted that “protectionism remains a real threat to the global economy and should be avoided, both in direct and indirect forms.”

London, September 05: British Prime Minister Gordon Brown called on Group of 20 leaders to make a strong and clear commitment to continued efforts to boost global growth, saying Saturday that the world economy is at a “critical juncture.”

Addressing finance officials from the G-20 rich and developing countries at the start of their talks here, Brown warned against “complacency or overconfidence” in the face of mounting signs of at least a modest economic upturn.

Washington, September 05: The government is trying to make it easier for Americans to save for retirement, President Barack Obama said Saturday, as he noted the toll the recession has taken on extra income and savings accounts.

One initiative will allow people to have their federal tax refunds sent as savings bonds. Others are meant to require workers to take action to stay out of an employer-run savings program rather than having to take action to join it.

Mumbai, September 05: The proposed helipad atop ‘Seawind’, Mukesh Ambani’s residence in south Mumbai, has got clearance from the Maharashtra Coastal Zone Management Authority (MCZMA), a senior official said today.

“The helipad has been granted clearance by the Authority,” Environment Secretary Valsa Nair Singh told PTI here.

The Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Industries Limited had sought permission from the government for the helipad atop the building in posh Cuffe Parade area.

Agartala, September 05: The Reserve Bank of India has adopted a business correspondence model, acting as an agent of a commercial bank, to provide banking services to the people of remote areas where there is no banking outlet.

The model would be ideal for North Eastern states like Tripura, a state full of terrains and scattered population, said Usha Thorat, RBI deputy governor here in a seminar.

New Delhi, September 04: The VJM02 will remain the same blindingly fast car, with or without Giancarlo Fisichella, and Adrian Sutil is good enough to score points in the remaining five races of the 2009 season, said Force India chairman Vijay Mallya.

Talking to reporters from London, Mallya dismissed suggestion that losing Fisichella, so far the team’s only point-scoring driver, would render the team a lesser force and insisted in F1, it all boils down to the car, more than its driver.

Chennai, September 04: Auto manufacturer Ford India, which is doubling its plant capacity, has hired 400 people taking its total workforce to around 2,000.

According to company officials, six percent of the plant workforce women, down from 13 percent earlier.

—Agencies

Bangalore, September 04: Dell India on Friday announced a wireless brandband solution with its select range of notebooks to Reliance Communications (RCom) Internet customers, the world’s leading computer maker said here.

The package “NetConnect Broadband Plus” comes with a USB card and unlimited access for six months on purchasing Dell notebook or netbook, said Reliance Communications director Mahesh Balla in a statement.

—Agencies

Kolkata, September 04: The state-owned India Infrastructure Finance Co Ltd (IIFCL) will raise Rs.3,000 crore from the domestic market by issuing bonds by March, a top company official said here Friday.

“We have already raised Rs.1,000 crore and we intend to raise another Rs.3,000 crore by March 2010,” said company chairman and managing director S.S. Kohli on the sidelines of a banking conference organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII).

Mumbai, September 04: Indices closed sharply higher on Friday taking cues from the positive opening of European markets. The rally was led by gains in auto,
Markets.

National Stock Exchange’s Nifty ended at 4677.95, up 84.4 points or 1.84 per cent. The 50-share index touched a high of 4697.20 and low of 4580.35.

Bombay Stock Exchange’s Sensex was at 15682.32, up 283.99 points or 1.84 per cent. The index touched an intra-day high of 15740.83 and low of 15358.94.

BSE Midcap Index was up 1.05 per cent and BSE Smallcap Index moved 1.04 per cent up.

Mumbai, September 04: Metals, auto and capital goods stocks sent a key index of the Indian equities markets soaring in afternoon trade today to around 255 points higher than its last closing figure about 80 minutes before end of trade.

At 2.12 p.m., the 30-scrip benchmark index of the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), the Sensex, which opened at 15,425.86 points, was at 15,632.19 points — 254.86 points or 1.66 percent higher than Thursday’s close of 15,398.33 points.

Mumbai, September 04: State energy explorer Oil India’s IPO worth up to USD570 million is fairly priced and should leave money on the table for subscribers, may be wary after the last two big Indian listings lagged expectations.

Oil India, the second state-owned firm to go public this year, opens its offering on Monday and has set a price band of 950-1,050 rupees for its shares.

Ahmedabad, September 04: The co-operative banking sector scenario in the country stands improved as the sector has clocked a double digit growth of 12-13 percent in its deposits, a top official said.

“The deposits of co-operative banks in the country stood at 1.17 lakh crore upto March 2007, and reached Rs 1.38 lakh crores upto March 2008, a hike of 12-13 pc,” National Federation of Urban Co-operative Banks and Credit Societies (NAFCUB) CEO D Krishna told a news agency.

Singapore, September 04: Oil prices hovered near USD68 a barrel on Friday in Asia as investors looked to a U.S. unemployment report later in the day for signs of economic recovery.

Benchmark crude for October delivery was up 25 cents to USD68.21 a barrel by midday Singapore time in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract on Thursday slipped 9 cents to settle at USD67.96.

Oil has traded near USD68 a barrel for the last three days as traders look for clues on the strength of the U.S. economy.

Geneva, September 04: World Trade Organisation judges will rule on Friday for the first time on whether the European Union handed out illegal subsidies to Airbus in a verdict that could affect planemakers worldwide.

The three-member WTO panel is widely expected to agree with complainant Washington that the billions of euros in “launch aid” Airbus received to build the A380 and other top-selling planes was anti-competitive and violated trade laws.

Washington, September 04: Acknowledging that the global economy appears to be emerging from the worst financial and economic crisis in the post-war period, the International Monetary Fund Managing Director, Dominique Strauss-Kahn on Friday said the recovery will be sluggish and that a jobless recovery remains a risk.

Delivering the 2009 Bundesbank Lecture in Berlin, Strauss Khan argued that the stimulus measures adopted by countries to combat the global crisis should be withdrawn only when the economic recovery has taken hold and unemployment is set to decline.

New Delhi, September 04: In what could dash the hopes of WTO chief Pascal Lamy that the ongoing trade ministers’ meeting here would lead to successful culmination of global trade talks, India on Thursday said the end was nowhere in sight.

“In some quarters, it has been suggested the most issues have been settled and we are almost in end-game. However… there are still a few gaps and large number of unresolved issues. In some instances, the architecture of a solution is not yet fully in sight,” Commerce Minister Anand Sharma said.

Mumbai, September 04: The Indian rupee on Friday strengthened by three paise against the US currency in opening trade on dollar selling by exporters.

Weak dollar against some other currencies and hopes of fresh capital inflows by foreign funds into equity markets, which may open higher also supported the Indian rupee.

At the Interbank Foreign Exchange (Forex) market, the domestic unit gained 3 paise to quote at 48.88 a dollar over the previous close. Yesterday, the rupee closed five paise higher at 48.91/92.

Mumbai, September 04: The Bombay Stock Exchange benchmark index Sensex today recovered by over 77 points in opening trade on emergence of buying by funds and retail investors, triggered by firming trends in other Asian bourses.

The 30-share BSE Sensex rose by 77.10 points, or 0.50 per cent to 15,475.43 points in opening trade with all the sectoral indices rising up to 1.26 per cent. The BSE barometer had lost nearly 525 points, or 3.40 per cent in the past four sessions.

The wide-based National Stock Exchange index Nifty recovered by 23.50 points, or 0.51 per cent to 4,617.05 points.

Mumbai, September 03: In a bid to support drought-hit farmers, State Bank of India today launched a bouquet of measures for farm loan borrowers including interest rate reductions on irrigation and crop loans.

SBI today reduced interest rates for minor irrigation loans upto Rs 25 lakhs to eight per cent in the first one year and nine per cent in the second and third years. The existing rates in this category is 10.5 per cent-13,25 per cent.

“SBI has decided to provide interest rate reductions as cash flows of farmers have been hit owing to the drought.