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Sensex up 492 pts
Rupee gains 60 paise
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Yahoo! to lay off 3 pc of India workforce
Jet Airways denies sacking 1,000 in Sept
No plans to cut jobs in India: Sony
Auto sales hit bumpy road in Nov
Bankers foresee slowdown in credit offtake
3G Spectrum
OVL to borrow $1 billion
Bailout package for US automakers in the offing
Dunlop Crisis
Bharti Retail venture
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Global shares rally
London, December 10 This and gains in emerging market stocks helped lift MSCI's main world stock index around 0.7 percent, putting it in positive territory for the month. If sustained, it would be the first time in seven months that the world benchmark has had a monthly gain. The index has lost around 45 per cent this year. Wall Street, in the meantime, looked set for a positive open. The White House and US Congressional Democrats reached a tentative agreement on a bailout for beleaguered US automakers, helping lift the mood. Meanwhile, oil rebounded after having slumped 4 per cent overnight on the back of lowered forecasts for US energy demand and fears of a worsening global recession. The market is looking ahead to producer cartel OPEC's December 17 meeting, which is expected to agree more output cuts to boost prices. US crude for January delivery was up around $2.30 at a little over $44 a barrel. On Tuesday, it fell $1.64, or 3.75 per cent, to settle near a four-year low of $42.07 a barrel. On foreign exchange markets, the yen edged down against the dollar and euro as shares extended gains, while the dollar was weaker against a basket of major currencies.
— Reuters |
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Sensex up 492 pts
Mumbai: The Indian markets continued to respond to the stimulus package announced by the Central government last week with the Sensex gaining 492 points to close at 9,654 points. In the broader markets, Nifty advanced 5.2 per cent to close at 2,928.
Reliance Industries led the rally closing 9.6 per cent higher. Among sectoral indices, realty stocks were major gainers followed by metal, oil and gas and capital goods stocks. The BSE realty index was up 12.5 per cent to end at 2,005. DLF, HDFC and IBREL were the biggest gainers in the group. The BSE metal index shot up 8.4 per cent with SAIL, Tata Steel and Jai Corp among the major gainers. The BSE oil and gas index closed 7 per cent higher at 5,906. The biggest gainer among the Sensex scrips were real estate major DLF, which closed 18.9 per cent higher at Rs 262. |
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Rupee gains 60 paise
Mumbai, December 10 In fairly active trade at the Interbank Foreign Exchange (Forex) market, the local unit opened sharply higher at 49.18/20 a dollar from the previous close of 49.58/59. Initially, it touched the day's low of 49.35 on some dollar buying by oil refiners. But a spurt in the Sensex after the government unveiled a multi-crore stimulus package for the economy and dollar selling by banks on expectations of a further fall in the greenback helped the rupee to rally smartly, a forex dealer said. The rupee breached the 49 level and touched a high of 48.89 before concluding the day at 48.98/49.00, a rise of 1.21 per cent.
— PTI |
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Yahoo! to lay off 3 pc of India workforce
New Delhi, December 10 Sources close to the company said, "As part of Yahoo!'s strategy to perform competitively in the current economic downturn in India, less than 3 per cent of the total Indian workforce has been impacted and they were notified today." Yahoo! has about 2,000-strong workforce in India and it is likely that a maximum of 40 persons would be impacted by the decision, the sources said, and added that "a significant number of employees were affected due to poor performance and only a few of them due to the slowdown". About 1,500 Yahoo! employees — about 10 per cent of its workforce — are likely to be laid off globally, to enable the company survive the deteriorating financial
turmoil. — PTI |
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Jet Airways denies sacking 1,000 in Sept
New Delhi, December 10 Asked about Jet Airways CEO Wolfgang Prock-Schauer's comments on the official website: "On the staff numbers we have reduced the headcount in September by further 1,000 entries and now able to synergise the operations between Jet and Jetlite", the spokesperson said, "the information is incorrect". "The Q2 (second quarter) communication CEO is referring to is Jetlite, where 824 employees were either offered an absorption into Jet Airways for Jetlite operation or a voluntary separation scheme," Jet Airways vice-president corporate communication Ragini Chopra told PTI on phone from
Mumbai. "Of these 457 were absorbed in Jet Airways and the rest took a VSS," she clarified. The carrier, which has a total of 13,000 employees, played out the sacking-and-reinstatement drama of 1,900 employees in October, with chairman Naresh Goyal 'overruling' its Board decision to fire the
employees. — PTI |
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No plans to cut jobs in India: Sony
New Delhi, December 10 The Tokyo-headquartered firm is reviewing its business in each country for the announced cost-cutting programme, but the Indian business is unlikely to see any job cuts given a "healthy business growth", Sony India managing director Masaru Tamagawa told PTI in an email
statement. Tamagawa was responding to a query on whether India would be impacted from Sony's planned cost-cutting measure to eliminate 8,000 full-time staff and another 8,000 temporary employees from its global workforce. "Based on expectations of the future economic environment and the electronics business, Sony Corporation is enacting various measures, such as lowering fixed costs and reducing headcount at a macro level," he said. Yesterday, the Japanese firm announced the job cuts as part of a billion-dollar cost saving exercise in a bid to improve profitability and enhance operational efficiency in its electronics businesses. Besides, under the corporate restructuring measures, Sony is planning to reduce investment in the electronics business by about 30 per cent by fiscal 2010, compared to its mid-term plan. The electronics giant also plans to reduce the total number of manufacturing sites by 10 per cent from the current total of 57 by March 31, 2010.
— PTI |
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Auto sales hit bumpy road in Nov
New Delhi, December 10 According to figures released by SIAM, motorcycle sales in the country during the month was down 20.24 per cent at 4,31,171 units, against 5,40,553 units in the corresponding month a year ago. Total two-wheeler sales in November also dipped 14.68 per cent to 5,67,502 units compared with 6,65,181 units in the same period last year. Commercial vehicle sales decreased last month to 20,637 units from 40,879 units in the year-ago period, a fall of 49.52 per cent, SIAM said. Incidentally, as reported earlier, lack of liquidity and high rates of interest had led to the country’s largest car manufacturer Maruti Suzuki India Limited (MSIL) reporting a 27.4 per cent dip in car sales during last month. TVS Motor Company had also reported a 12.7 per cent decline in the sale of two wheelers. While MSIL had sold 64,885 units in the corresponding month last year, it sold 47,103 units during November, 2008. Total vehicle sales during the month were also down by 24.4 per cent at 52,711 units compared to 69,699 units in the corresponding month last year. Similarly, TVS Motor Company sold 98,402 units in November compared with 1,12,766 units in the corresponding period last year. Motorcycles sales of the company stood at 45,276 units for the month of November this year compared with 57,113 units in the same month last year. |
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Bankers foresee slowdown in credit offtake
Chandigarh, December 10 The recession-hit industry is in no mood to expand its business. Bankers say that there is no demand for additional credit in the steel, textile, hand tools and auto industry. There is a negligible demand for increasing credit limit of industrial units, even as the RBI has ensured enough liquidity and there is no dearth of schemes from banks to suit their needs. The credit offtake to the SME sector in this region had been growing at a steady 20-30 per cent in the first two quarters of this fiscal. However, bankers fear that the slowdown in SME growth now will prevent them in achieving their set targets for the third and fourth quarter of the year. Various nationalised banks have set a target of almost Rs 7,500 crore to be disbursed as loans to the SME sector. Officials in the State Level Bankers Committee (SLBC) of Punjab and Haryana informed TNS that the credit offtake for SME sector in Punjab till June this year was Rs 14,023 crore, while in Haryana it was Rs 10,211 crore. In fact, both states had implemented the policy package for SME sector by doubling their credit offtake within three years from 2005. But most bankers foresee a massive slowdown now. A senior official in SBI said though they had disbursed Rs 1,800 crore to SME sector till November, they were not sure if they would be able to disburse another Rs 1,700 crore by the end of this fiscal. Bankers say that the industry does not need additional funds, just flexibility in margins and rescheduling of loans. Says N.C. Jain, chief general manager of Punjab National Bank, “At this time, nobody is keen on expanding business. But at this stage, the industry wants that more funds are available to them within existing loans. As a result, we have come out with different packages for industry (on a case-to-case basis) by rescheduling loans or increasing moratorium period”. Ashok Gupta, AGM , Union Bank of India, too, said a survey conducted by their bank in the industrial hub of Baddi-Barotiwala showed that there was no demand for credit. “The need of the hour is to customise products to meet the need of customers," he said. |
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3G Spectrum
New Delhi, December 10 In its latest revised recommendations to the government, it said two per cent of the highest bid amount in the 3G spectrum auction had been suggested as the annual administrative charge during the spectrum validity period. "As this is an additional charge on the 3G spectrum bidders, DoT has to place this before the Telecom Commission for clearance. If okayed, this will raise the cost of licence for a 3G spectrum owner or the operator," said an official. While TRAI has suggested this in response to a DoT reference over the spectrum charges for stand-alone 3G and existing 2G players, who would also bid and own 3G spectrum, DoT has accepted former's proposal on no segregation of 2G and 3G revenues. Justifying the 2 per cent charge, TRAI said, "As the operators will take time to roll out their services after the allocation of spectrum, the Authority recommends a moratorium of one year from the date of allocation of spectrum in respect of the payment of administrative charge. It is being recommended as a transparent, just, fair and equitable criterion, specific to owners of the 3G spectrum." "The all-India reserve price for 3G spectrum is Rs 2,020 crore and the number of slots to be auctioned in each circles has been referred to the finance ministry," the regulator said and added that it was possible to give 2G services also using the 3G spectrum and it was difficult to segregate between 2G and 3G services that could be provided using the 3G
spectrum. — PTI |
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OVL to borrow $1 billion
New Delhi, December 10 OVL had earlier tied up a $1-billion bridge loan from Deutsche Bank, but because of the global credit crunch and the fact that most western banks would be on Christmas holiday by the time the payments for Imperial buyout are to be lined up, the firm has now decided to opt for a rupee loan from Indian lenders. The rest of the $2.1 billion acquisition price would come from Oil and Natural Gas Corporation, the parent firm of OVL, by way of a soft loan, a top company official said. The Cabinet yesterday allowed OVL to go ahead with the acquisition of the UK-listed firm, which has oilfields in Russia, at the original offer price of 1,250 pence a share even though it gave 3-4 per cent lower returns at current oil prices as against over 10 per cent envisaged in
August. — PTI |
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Bailout package for US automakers in the offing
Washington, December 10 Quoting a senior administration official and congressional aides, the Wall Street Journal today said, "The White House and top Democrats on Capitol Hill reached agreement in principle on a sweeping rescue package for the nation's auto makers, hoping to propel action this week on billions of dollars in aid." The legislation would provide billions in loans to the car industry in return for the US government taking a substantial stake and a direct role in the industry's restructuring, the daily said in a report published online. "The bill would provide short-term funds, expected to total about $15 billion, and would kick off discussions about longer-term taxpayer financing," the Wall Street Journal noted. General Motors, Ford Motor and Chrysler have already presented their bailout proposals to the tune of $34 billion to stave off a possible bankruptcy. The auto firms are in deep financial troubles after steep decline in their sales in recent months.
— PTI |
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Dunlop Crisis
Kolkata, December 10 The government’s decision was conveyed to Ruia by the state industries secretary, Sabyasachi Sen. This has upset the company’s management as well as jobless employees, who had earlier decided to launch mass hunger strike along with their family members against the company’s decision to shut down the Sahaganj factory from November 16. Meanwhile, Ruia today called on Mamata Banerjee and sought her help for solving the crisis, for which he blamed the state government and the CPM. Mamata asked Ruia to re-start the factory first and then only she would extend her support for re-vamping of the company. |
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Bharti Retail venture
New Delhi, December 10 The company already operates
17 neighbourhood format stores of 2,200-4,200 sq ft under the brand name of 'Easyday' in Punjab and Haryana. The new mid-format store of 25,000 sq ft would offer items ranging from apparels for men, women and kids, home furnishings, home ware, cosmetics, a wide range of kids toys, small appliances, mobile phones and stationery, bakery, meat, poultry and fish, fruits and vegetables, grocery and general merchandise, Bharti Retail said in statement.
— PTI |
Ford cuts prices Reliance Money tie-up Stake in GMR Infra SKF to lay off 2,500 workers Gold surges by Rs 100
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