Business

Mumbai, August 14: Indian equities markets were trading on a volatile note a little before noon today, with a key index still in the red and 52 points below its last closing figure.

At 11.42 a.m., the 30-scrip benchmark index of the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), the Sensex, which opened higher at 15,530.38 points, was at 15,472.91 points — 45.58 points or 0.29 percent lower than Wednesday’s close.

At around the same time, the S&P CNX Nifty of the National Stock Exchange (NSE), too, was trading in the negative terrain at 4,595.6 points, down 0.2 percent.

New Delhi, August 14: The civil aviation ministry has sought the cabinet’s nod for Air India to float tax-free bonds worth Rs.5,000 crore ($1 billion) and fresh equity from the government to fund its fleet expansion plans and other expenses. The ministry said the bonds were necessary for the ailing state-run carrier, struggling to stay afloat after having accumulated losses worth $2 billion, to meet its expenses during the ongoing five year plan that ends 2011-12, officials said.

New Delhi, August 14: Silver coins zoomed to an all-time high of Rs 30,000 per 100 pieces in the bullion market today on frantic buying by stockists for seasonal demand amid firming overseas front.

Gold also inched up by Rs 100 to trade at Rs 15,200 per ten grams in tandem with the rising trend.

Buying activity gathered momentum on retailers buying for the festival like ‘Janmashtmi’ and coming marriage season, which was further fuelled on reports that the white metal in overseas markets crossed 15 dollar an ounce.

Mumbai, August 13: Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) today made a net investment of Rs 630.94 crore in the Indian stock markets, helping the key indices to gain fairly.

FIIs were the gross buyer of shares worth Rs 2,698.97 crore, while they sold equities valued at Rs 2,068.03 crore, resulting in a net investment of Rs 630.94 crore, provisional data available with the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) shows.

Domestic institutional investors purchased net shares worth Rs 182.85 crore.

Mumbai, August 14: The Indian rupee on Friday depreciated by 18 paise against the US dollar in the forex market on steady capital outflows amid jittery financial markets.

In lacklustre trade at the Interbank Foreign Exchange market, the domestic unit lost 18 paise and traded at 48.28 per US dollar.

Marketmen said a single day largest gain of the month in stocks markets failed to enthuse forex traders.

–PTI

Bangalore, August 14: Global software major Wipro Technologies on Thursday said it has set up a consulting academy in the US to strengthen the customer management skills of its frontline employees.

“The enterprise application services consulting academy will inculcate the right engagement behaviour at an early stage for improving customer satisfaction,” the company said in a statement here.

Mumbai, August 14: Business in India lose up to Rs 11,640 crore in revenue every year due to poor service as customers abandon transactions or end relationships when companies do not meet their expectations, a survey says.

“India loses Rs 11,640 crore (USD 2.46 billion) due to poor customer service every year in revenue due to inability to meet customer expectations,” a survey conducted by Greenfield Online said.

India pays a higher cost of poor customer service compared to New Zealand and Australia that were also part of the survey.

Los Angles, August 14: Michael Jackson’s estate has earned $100 million since his death with a film contract and advertising contracts, and is expected to earn another 100 million by the end of the year, New York reported Thursday.

A good portion of those earnings will likely be used to pay the hundreds of millions in debts the King of Pop reportedly left behind after his June 25 death. A clear picture of his net worth and his debts has not yet been tallied.

New Delhi, August 13: Inflation dipped to (-) 1.74 per cent for the week ended August 1, the lowest in three decades, even as prices of essential food items like pulses, cereals fruit and vegetables continued to rise.

The wholesale price index during the corresponding week a year ago was as high as 12.91 per cent, while in the previous week, it stood at (-) 1.58 per cent.

During the week, prices of barley, jowar and gram rose by two per cent and condiments and spices, arhar and fruits and vegetables by one per cent each.

Mumbai, August 13: Indian equities markets opened on a positive note Thursday, with a key index gaining 1.76 percent within 20 minutes of start of trade.

The sensitive index (Sensex) of the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) opened at 15,207.96 points, as against Wednesday’s close at 15,020.16 points. It soon rose to 15,283.92 points, 263.76 or 1.76 percent up from its previous close.

The S&P CNX Nifty of the National Stock Exchange (NSE) too was trading in the green at 4,534.2 points, a rise of 1.72 percent.

Chennai, August 13: The heady days of the real estate boom are over for most lawyers who made quite a packet dealing with clients on the lookout for purchasing land, with most of them having to deal with petty cases now — a fallout of the recession brought about by the global economic crisis.

“Earnings have come down for these lawyers, who specifically concentrated only in dealing with real estate clients. Some of them have even started taking up pending cases,” Madras High Court Association president R C Paul Kanakaraj said.

Singapore, August 13: Oil prices rose in Asian trade on Thursday after the Federal Reserve said the recession-hit US economy was stabilising, analysts said.

New York’s main contract, light sweet crude for September delivery, climbed 55 cents to USD 70.71 a barrel.

Brent North Sea crude for September delivery went up 56 cents to USD 73.45.

Oil and US stocks rallied Wednesday after the Fed, at the conclusion of a two-day meeting, said that “economic activity is levelling out”.

Washington, August 13: The Federal Reserve kept its benchmark interest rate at near zero percent Wednesday and showed no signs of changing course as the US begins to emerge from a 20-month recession.

The central bank in a statement pointed to signs that US economic activity was “leveling out” and said the financial sector had “continued to improve” in the last few weeks.

The Fed has kept the federal funds rate at a 0-0.25 percent range since December and repeated that it would stay the course “for an extended period” as the economy begins to recover.

New Delhi, August 13: The number of total domestic passengers carried by all scheduled airlines was lower by about a lakh in July compared with that in the same month last year.

However, a total of 35.97 lakh passengers as against negative growth in the first six months of year can be seen as a indicator of the re-emergence of stability in the sector despite the financial downslide.

New Delhi, August 13: The removal of Securities Transaction Tax (STT) proposed in the new Direct Taxes Code may prove beneficial for market players as it may bring back strong volumes, analysts said.

“The abolishment of STT would be beneficial for brokers and day-traders, for whom the cost of transactions had increased considerably, and strong volumes may come back if it is removed,” Purpleline Investment Advisors CEO P K Agarwal said.

Mumbai, August 13: Signs of India’s economic recovery appears to have raised the confidence among foreign investors with the flow of foreign investment surging five times in the April-June quarter.

As against a flow of nearly USD three billion in the preceding quarter of Jan-March, the direct and portfolio investments flow together rose sharply to USD 15 billion during April-June this year, data released by RBI revealed.

Pune, August 13: The city is set to face a shortage of essential items as the wholesale market for vegetables, fruits and flowers will remain shut till Saturday when a decision whether to extend the closure will be taken. This means, starting Thursday, the prices of these items will also begin to shoot up.

The decision to keep over 900 shops run by vegetable, fruit and flower wholesalers at the Shivaji Market in Gultekdi closed till Saturday is a precautionary measure.

New Delhi, August 13: In what could provide a major relief to income tax payers, the Government proposed to tax only 10 per cent of income up to Rs 10 lakh while under the existing regime this relief is limited to people with income of Rs three lakh only.

Income between Rs 10 lakh and Rs 25 lakh would be taxed at the rate of 20 per cent and earnings thereafter would attract a rate of 30 per cent, as per the draft of the new Direct Taxes Code which is aimed at radical direct tax reforms.

Mumbai, August 12: A sharp recovery towards the end led by lower level buying and better IIP data helped the benchmark CNX Nifty trim most of its early losses and end down by only 13.85 points on the NSE today.

Factors like global equity markets, deficient monsoon related worries and negative FII activities are the worrying factors for the market at this juncture, according to the traders.

However, a strong growth in industrial production, which showed a remarkable rise of 7.8 per cent in June against 2.7 per cent in May, can minimise the negative impact of the poor monsoon, they said.

Kochi, August 12: Canon India Private Ltd is targetting a sales turnover of rs 800 crore this calendar year, a top official of the company said here today.

The company’s turnover in 2008 was rs 665 crore, Alok Bharadwaj, Senior Vice President, Canon India, told reporters.

Canon is expecting a 33 per cent revenue from its camera business alone this year.

The camera business has seen growth of 27 per cent in the first six months of this year, he said.

Mumbai, August 12: Samsung Electronics today said it has launched its Omnia series mobile phone handsets with multimedia in the Indian market.

“Samsung Omnia exemplifies our vision of providing premium phones for consumers who desire functionality, style usability and entertainment in one innovative device,” Samsung India Country Head Sunil Dutt said in a statement here.

“Omnia series keeps the consumers at the forefront of work and play, staying connected anytime and anywhere,” he said.

New Delhi, August 12: Gold prices today rose by Rs 50 to Rs 15,050 per ten gram in the bullion market here on fresh buying by stockists and jewellery makers to meet the current season festival demand.

Marketmen said fresh buying by stockists and jewellery fabricators in view of festival season mainly led to rise in gold prices.

They said global trend which normally sets the price band in domestic markets here failed to impact the prices.

In London, gold lost 5.85 dollar to 940.25 dollar an ounce, the lowest since July 31.

New Delhi: Led by a smart recovery in manufacturing sector, industrial production growth accelerated to 7.8% in June compared to 2.7 per cent a month ago.

Manufacturing sector, which accounts for two-thirds of the industrial production, recorded a growth of 7.3 per cent in June indicating return of consumer demand in the market.

Consumer durables and capital goods grew by 15.5 per cent and 11.8 per cent, respectively – the strongest expansion in several months.

New Delhi, August 12: Further signs of recovery in India’s industrial sector emerged Wednesday with the latest official data indicating a 7.8 percent growth in June over the like month the previous year.

Notably, the manufacturing output rose 7.3 percent during the month, as per the data on the index of industrial production released by the Central Statistical Organisation here.

New Delhi, August 12: The country’s largest car maker Maruti Suzuki India has achieved the feat of rolling out the 1,00,000th of its flagship export model, A-Star.

The Manesar facility of the company, which manufactures A-Star, SX4, Swift and Swift DZiRE, has also crossed the 5-lakh-units production mark since the commencement of the unit.

These landmarks come less than two weeks after the company achieved the milestone of producing 80 lakh units of the car since 1983.