New York, August 25: General Motors, which for months has been trying to sell Opel, reportedly is now trying to keep the ailing German brand, a move that would drive a stake in Berlin’s favored option: a takeover by Magna.
GM, which emerged from bankruptcy protection last month with the US government owning a majority stake, is trying to develop a USD 4.3 billion financing plan that would allow it to keep control of Opel, The Wall Street Journal reported late Monday.
Washington, August 25: The Securities and Exchange Commission and Bank of America Corp. on Monday defended the fairness of their proposed USD 33 million settlement over executive bonuses paid out by Merrill Lynch, and the bank maintained it didn’t mislead investors in the affair.
In a court filing, Bank of America suggested that shareholders should have already known about the USD 3.6 billion in bonuses given the media attention surrounding its takeover of Merrill after it was first announced last September.
Jackson, August 25: Ben Bernanke began as Federal Reserve chairman by meekly promising to maintain the status quo. He ended up facing the worst downturn since the Great Depression and changing central banking in ways that will reverberate for decades.
Bernanke took office promising to follow in the footsteps of his storied predecessor, Alan Greenspan, and to bring greater transparency to a historically secretive institution.
New Delhi, August 25: The Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Industries Limited has sent a new letter to the Oil Ministry.
Network 18 has learnt that the letter is about the advertisement campaign against RIL by the Anil Dhirubai Ambani group.
The letter has called RNRL’s advertisement campaign a malicious, mischievous, baseless and an ill-informed one. It says that the campaign attempts to belittle the achievements of professionals and regulators.
It further goes on to say that the ad is an attempt to destroy the value of RIL and its partners in the market.
New Delhi, august 25: There has been continuous speculation about Maruti Suzuki India’s gameplan from April next year, when the M800 is phased out from the top 11 Indian cities. Since M800 and has traditionally formed the backbone of Maruti’s entry level strategy, what will the company do to maintain its vice like grip on this segment? Already, the launch of Tata Nano is expected to start eating into Maruti’s entry-level dreams.
Hyderabad, August 25: After slashing costs and manpower, Mahindra Satyam may have to do an encore to keep the boat afloat.
This, even as parent Tech Mahindra desperately seeks funds to repay the onerous debt it took on to acquire the tainted software company.
Tech Mahindra had borrowed about Rs 2,300 crore to finance the Satyam deal and may be paying around Rs 20 crore per month towards interest.
It has been working on a plan to discharge this expensive debt by borrowing funds from a cheaper source, including institutions.
Mumbai, August 25: The Bombay Stock Exchange benchmark Sensex today fell by 154 points in opening trade as foreign funds and retail investors preferred to book profits amid weak Asian markets.
The 30-share index, Sensex, which had gained nearly 820 points in the past three session, moved down by 153.92 points, or 0.95 per cent to 15,474.83 in opening trade.
Similarly, the Nifty index on the wide-based National Stock Exchange lost 44.85 points to 4,597.95.
Stocks of oil and gas, realty, banking and metal sectors succumbed to profit-taking, dragging the Sensex down.
New Delhi, August 25: Revival of monsoon in southern states of the country is all set to benefit the cotton acreage. Recent rainfall in Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu as well as some parts of Maharashtra is going to improve cotton acreage, which, according to traders, will surge this year.
Mumbai, August 25: The BSE Sensex is expected to open lower on Tuesday, taking cues from tepid Asian peers, as investors take a breather after the market rallied 5.5 percent over the past three sessions.
Energy giant Reliance Industries and state-run explorer Oil and Natural Gas Corp will be watched as oil prices fell below $74 a barrel on Tuesday, down for the first time in six days.
Non-ferrous metals producer Sterlite Industries will be on the radar as copper prices in Shanghai held steady on Tuesday, having slammed into its upside limit in the previous session.
New Delhi, August 25: Toyota India has arrived in the Indian roads which was the most anticipated Diesel SUV Fortuner. Toyota has initiated only a SUV model which is in-built with 3.0Lit diesel engine.
If we talk about the specification of this SUV Fortuner than the car is featured with Four wheel drive, five speed transmission, D-4D diesel with Intercooler Tubocharger which offers a displacement of 2982, Max Power 3600rpm, torque 343NM, 5 Speed gearbox, power steering, front ventilated disc brake, rare drum brakes, top speed 176km/hr, 0-100Kmph in 9.6sec, fuel tank capacity- 80lit.
Houston, August 25: Oil prices approached USD 75 a barrel today for the first time in 10 months amid growing optimism that the world’s economies are on the mend.
Benchmark crude for October delivery rose USD 74.62 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Oil last topped USD 75 in October.
Natural gas rebounded strongly from new seven-year lows today, though prices remained well below USD 3 per 1,000 cubic feet.
Mumbai, August 25: Bharti Airtel Chairman Sunil Mittal came in contact with Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee regarding the deal with South African firm MTN.
Till time today its could has not been determined that what come to light in the meeting, which comes at a time when Bharti Airtel and South Africa’s MTN last week extended their merger talks for the second time till September 30.
Bharti Airtel and MTN are in elite discussion before along time May for a billions deal.
New Delhi, August 24: The government today barred large and bulk consumers of sugar from keeping more than 15 days of stocks with them, a move aimed at checking hoarding and any price escalation ahead of festivals Dussehra and Diwali.
The directive follows sugar prices doubling to Rs 35 a kg in a year’s time and concerns that the sweetener might get more expensive as production has been lower this season and a poor sugarcane crop is expected next season too.
New Delhi, August 24: World chief manufacturer of cars Toyota is soon planning to extend its business in Indian market too.
The Toyota is planning for small cars which would widely cover the Indian roads and came among the Indian cars competitor.
Toyota MD Akira Okabe said; “We hope that within 3-4 years, we will increase our volume of sales in India by more than three times. Our planned compact car will be a factor in the growth”.
Mumbai, August 24: Financial services major American Express today said it has added more features to its Platinum card.
“We believe our renewed offerings on the revitalised Platinum Card will pave the way for us to consistently raise the bar for service excellence,” American Express Banking Corporation, India, CEO, Rajesh Saxena said here.
Platinum card offers services like International Airline Programme, Airport Club Access and Platinum Fine Dining programme amongst others.
The annual fee for the Platinum Card is Rs 50,000.
—Agencies
Mumbai, August 24: The agricultural sector as a whole is expected to record its first decline after a record six years of continuous growth and is projected to contract by two per cent in 2009-10, Solvent Extractor’s Association of India (SEA) has said.
While Union Budget will aid the economic growth, the monsoon failure will hit growth this year. The precipitation during the first two months of the monsoon was 19 per cent below normal, SEA President Ashok Sethia said here today.
Mumbai, August 24:Indian equities markets surged Monday on strong global trends, with a key index ending trade 388 percent higher than its previous close.
The 30-scrip sensitive index (Sensex) of the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), which opened at 15,362.93 points, ended at 15,628.75 points, up 387.92 points or 2.55 percent.
The broader-based Nifty of the National Stock Exchange (NSE) also closed in the positive terrain at 4,642.8 points, up 2.52 percent.
New Delhi, Aug 24 (IANS) Fiat India Automobiles, a joint venture between Tata Motors and Fiat Group, Monday said it has finalised three credit agreements with Indian and international banks for Rs.2,500 crore.
“The company has finalised three syndicate credit facility agreements with a consortium of Indian and international banks for a total amount of Rs.25 billion,” Fiat said in a statement.
All the credit facilities were by Citibank, acting through its offices in Mumbai, London and Milan, the statement added.
New Delhi, August 24: Terming as ‘malicious, baseless, mischievous and ill-informed’ the advertisement propaganda by Anil Ambani Group on its gas field capex,
Reliance Industries has stated that the development cost was the lowest in the world and compares favourably to any other project in India.
New Delhi, August 24: Air India needs a bailout of nearly $620 million to keep flying, a minister said in remarks published on Monday, in which he added he was certain the loss-making airline would survive.
The flagship airline, which posted a $1.03 billion loss for the fiscal year ended March 31, and other Indian carriers have been hit by overcapacity in the industry and a sharp drop in passengers due to the economic slowdown.
Taipei, August 24: China Mobile and Taiwan’s leading smartphone maker HTC Corp have agreed to work together to develop products for the mainland’s third generation mobile network, the companies said Monday.
They signed a memorandum of understanding in Taiwan to kick off the partnership, focusing on product and technology development.
Mumbai, August 24: Extending its gaining streak for the third session in a row, the Bombay Stock Exchange benchmark Sensex Monday rose by 289 points in early trade on heavy buying by funds, driven by a firming trend in the global markets.
The 30-share index, Sensex, shot up by 289.17 points, or 1.70 per cent, to 15,530.00 with most of the sectoral indices gaining up to 3.12 per cent. The BSE barometer had gained over 430 points in the past two sessions.
The wide-based National Stock Exchange index Nifty climbed 76.85 points, or 1.61 per cent, to 4,606.65.
Mumbai, August 24: Continuing its surging trend for the fourth day in a row, the Indian rupee appreciated by another 23 paise to 48.39 against the dollar in early trade on Monday in line with strong equity markets and weak dollar overseas.
The domestic currency resumed firm at 48.40/42 a dollar against its last weekend’s close of 48.62/64 a dollar and later moved narrowly in the range of 48.39 and 48.45 in the initial 30 minutes of trading.
It was quoted steady at 48.40/42 a dollar in late morning deals in lacklustre activity.
Singapore, August 24: Oil prices rose in Asian trade today, bolstered by improved investor sentiment amid widespread hopes for a global economic recovery, analysts said.
A weaker US dollar was also a factor behind the surge in oil prices, they said.
New York’s main contract, light sweet crude for October delivery, gained 25 cents to USD 74.14 a barrel.
Brent North Sea crude for October delivery advanced 44 cents to USD 74.63.
New Delhi, August 24: The Serious Fraud Investigation Office (SFIO) will scrutinise the balance sheets of over 350 companies and 800 bank accounts to track down the money allegedly stashed abroad by the promoters of fraud-hit Satyam Computer Services.
The SFIO, the investigating arm of the Corporate Affairs Ministry, may seek more time to complete investigation and submit its report on the movements of funds.
The agency has been asked by the ministry to probe the angle of siphoning off of money in the Satyam fraud and submit its report in two months.