Business

Mumbai, August 07: Continuing its losing streak for the second consecutive session, the Bombay Stock Exchange benchmark Sensex on Friday fell by 181 points in opening trade on selling by foreign funds and retail investors, tracking other weak Asian markets.

The 30-share index, which had lost nearly 390 points, or 2.45 percent in yesterday’s highly volatile session, lost another 181.16 points, or 1.16 percent at 15,332.87.

Similarly, the Nifty index on the wide-based National Stock Exchange fell by 50.85 points, or 1.10 percent at 4,534.65.

Mumbai, August 07: The much-awaited initial public offer of state-run NHPC allured investors and was fully subscribed within an hour of the opening of the issue on Friday.

The NHPC IPO, which is the first stake sale by a PSU company in the last one and a half years, received bids for 175.81 crore shares as against 167.73 crore shares on offer.

The issue got subscribed 1.05 times as on 1100 hrs, as per data available on the National Stock Exchange.

New Delhi, August 07: PSU bank employees are expected to call off their strike on Friday, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee told the Lok Sabha. “The bank strike is expected to be called off today. I am being told that talks are on between the bank associations and worker unions,” he said replying to supplementaries during the Question Hour.

Banking operations across the country have been impacted severely with employees of public sector banks going on a two-day strike yesterday demanding wage revision.

–Agencies

New Delhi, August 07: Allaying apprehensions of a food crisis in view of poor monsoon, Minister of Road Transport and Highways Kamal Nath today said the country has enough foodgrain reserves to tackle even the worst monsoon situation.

“There is no panic. We have enough foodstocks to counter even the worst monsoon scenario,” he said.

New Delhi, August 07: The Centre is mulling to restart the practice of holding consultations with the representatives of banks along with Chief Ministers to discuss issues related to availability of credit for rural areas.

Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee said he was planning to revive the practice of meeting representatives of banks along with chief ministers and finance ministers of states at least once a year to discuss related issues.

He expressed concern over credit-deposit ratio in some states which was not at par with the national level.

New Delhi, August 07: India and South Korea on Friday signed a Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement that would enable duty free trade in goods and services between the two countries and help double bilateral trade to USD 20 billion.

Commerce and Industry Minister Anand Sharma and South Korean Trade Minister Kim Jong-hoon signed the agreement in Seoul. This is India’s second comprehensive deal with any country after Singapore.

New Delhi, August 07: Economy has started moving upward due to two stimulus packages in the last fiscal, but scanty rainfall this year may play a spoilsport, government told the Lok Sabha on Friday.

“The economy has started moving slightly, but still I am not quite sure because other problems may come from adverse impact of scanty rainfall,” Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee said during the Question Hour.

Sydney, August 07: Quantum computing, the latest advance on the technology front that is still hedged with many ifs and buts, may be more stable than previously thought, according to the latest research.

Tom Stace, a University of Queensland (UQ) physicist, found that with even 50 percent loss of components, they could still work, unlike conventional computers, which would have broken down.

‘Our results demonstrate that relatively large errors and losses can be tolerated, and so may confirm that quantum computers are genuinely feasible,’ Stace said.

New Delhi, August 07: Economy has started moving upward due to two stimulus packages in the last fiscal, but scanty rainfall this year may play a spoilsport, government told the Lok Sabha on Friday.

“The economy has started moving slightly, but still I am not quite sure because other problems may come from adverse impact of scanty rainfall,” Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee said during the Question Hour.

New Delhi, August 07:They walked up to the bank and were greeted by a shutdown notice. Many parliamentarians Friday got a taste of the hardship caused by a two-day nationwide bank strike.

Friday being the last day of the second session of the 15th Lok Sabha, the MPs and the ministers, before going back to their constituencies, went to the State Bank of India, Parliament House branch, to clear their transactions.

Mumbai, August 07: The Bombay Stock Exchange benchmark Sensex tumbled over 313 points at midsession on Friday on heavy selling by funds in heavyweight stocks following weakening trends at Asian markets and a lower start in European markets.

The Sensex, which had lost 390 points in yesterday’s trading, fell further by 313.68 points at 15,200.35 at 1.15 pm as all the sectoral indices traded in the red.

The 50-share National Stock Exchange index Nifty went below the crucial 4,500 point level by losing 95.00 points at 4,490.50.

Shimla, August 07: The Delhi government has provided Rs.214.83 crore to Himachal Pradesh for a hydroelectric project that will provide drinking water to the national capital, Himachal Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal has said.

“The Delhi government has deposited Rs.214.83 crore with Himachal Pradesh for the construction of the Renuka Dam (in Sirmaur district), that will provide drinking water to Delhi,” Dhumal told the state assembly on Thursday.

Washington, August 07: The US budget deficit reached USD 1.3 trillion for the current fiscal year in July, official data showed, news set to fuel opposition to US President Barack Obama’s ambitious health care and climate change proposals.

The deficit for the first 10 months of fiscal year 2009, which began October 1, reached USD 1.3 trillion, close to 880 billion dollars greater than the deficit recorded through July 2008, said the US Congressional Budget Office (CBO).

Washington, August 07: The US has resumed accepting applications for the H-2B foreign temporary worker visa after receiving far fewer petitions from US employers than anticipated.

The congressionally mandated annual cap for H-2B visas sought by semi-skilled Indian workers is 66,000, and the government has issued only 40,640 this fiscal year, which ends September 30.

Tokyo, August 07: Japan Airlines Corp. said Friday it posted a USD 1 billion loss in the April-May quarter, larger than its loss for all of last year, as ticket sales suffered due to the weak economy and swine flu fears.

Asia’s biggest airline said its net loss was 99 billion yen (USD 1 billion), versus a 3.4 billion yen loss a year earlier. Sales fell 32 percent to 334.9 billion yen from billion yen.

Mumbai, August 07: A key index of the Indian equities markets opened in the red Friday and was 51 points down about 15 minutes into trade.

The sensitive index (Sensex) of the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) opened lower at 15,440.95 points, as against Thursday’s close at 15,514.03 points. After 15 minutes, it was at 15,462.34 points, 51.69 or 0.33 percent down from its previous close.

The broader S and amp;P CNX Nifty of the National Stock Exchange (NSE) too was in the red and was at 4,565.15 points, a fall of 0.44 percent.

Abu Dhabi, August 07: Etihad Airways, the national airline of the United Arab Emirates (UAE), will start flights from Abu Dhabi to the Indian city of Hyderabad from November, WAM news agency reported Thursday.

The Abu Dhabi-based airline will launch the non-stop, four times a week service from November and it would become daily from the start of 2010.

Mumbai, August 07: The Indian rupee today moved further down by 18 paise against the US currency in opening trade on expectations of capital outflows by funds amid a weak dollar overseas.

In thin trading at the Interbank Foreign Exchange market, the local unit fell by 18 paise at 47.85 a dollar in early trade over the previous close of 47.67.

Forex dealers said expectations of capital outflows as the stocks markets may open weak today in tandem with other Asian bourses, which are down up to two per cent, influenced the rupee sentiment.

New Delhi, August 06: After remaining weak in the last two sessions, gold today staged a comeback and gained Rs 130 at Rs 15,130 per ten gram on the back of fresh buying by stockists and ornament makers ahead of the festive season and firming trend overseas.

Silver prices also went up by a whopping Rs 550 to Rs 23,300 per kg.

Bullion traders said pick up in demand from stockists as well as ornaments makers to meet ongoing festive and marriage season mainly influenced gold prices here.

New Delhi, August 06: Kerosene and domestic LPG prices in India are the lowest in South Asia, while the rates for petrol and diesel are comparable with its neighbours, Petroleum Minister Murli Deora said today.

In a written reply to a question in the Lok Sabha, he said kerosene at Rs 9.22 per litre in Delhi is the cheapest cooking fuel in South Asia.

Kerosene in Pakistan costs Rs 34.89 a litre, Rs 30.53 in Bangladesh, Rs 21.26 in Sri Lanka and Rs 34.35 per litre in Nepal.

Mumbai, August 06: In volatile trade, the Bombay Stock Exchange benchmark Sensex today ended with a sharp fall of almost 390 points as major players sold shares after a recent widespread rally.

The Sensex, which had gained over 73 points in the previous session, closed lower by 389.80, or 2.45 per cent, at 15,514.03. It moved between 15,969.81 and 15,443.22 following ups and downs in index-related stocks.

Mumbai, August 06: The BSE Sensex provisionally fell 2.45 percent on Thursday, as investors took profits on a near 19 percent jump over the past 3-½ weeks.

Automakers such as Mahindra & Mahindra, Tata Motors and Maruti Suzuki led the drop after the auto sector had risen by more than a third since July 13 through Wednesday.

The 30-share BSE index provisionally ended down 389.69 points at 15,514.14, with 29 stocks declining.

The 50-share NSE index provisionally closed down 2.3 percent at 4,585.75.

—-Agencies

New Delhi, August 06: The government Thursday said it will release a subsidy of Rs.2,546 crore ($535 million) for the crisis-hit textile sector, which will directly reach the beneficiaries in three days.

‘The fund will reach 12,540 beneficiaries through 121 financial institutional banks,’ Textiles Minister Dayanidhi Maran told reporters, adding that amount will be released in three days.

Bangalore, August 06: Agri-tech firm Ratnagiri Impex will set up a retail chain in rural India to market farming machinery such as sprayers, a top company official said.

‘We plan to set up about 300 agri-marts through the franchise route as a one-stop solution for farmers, especially small and marginal farmers,’ Ratnagiri Impex chairman and managing director S.A. Vasudev Murthy told IANS.

Shimla, August 06: Poor rainfall this monsoon and poorer snowfall last winter have hit apple production in Himachal Pradesh. But the farmers are not complaining, as the fruit’s prices are shooting north.

Every day, trucks carrying hundreds of apple-filled crates from Shimla, Kullu, Mandi and Chamba districts head for Chandigarh, Delhi, Mumbai, Ahmedabad, Bangalore and Lucknow.