|
|
|
|
|
Monday mayhem: Sensex at 14-month low, tanks 431 pts
Gold rush at jewellers as yellow metal price slips
Reliance Jio, Airtel’s 4G network to get boost with Nokia, LG phones
Exports up 1.6%; trade gap widens to $17.7 bn
|
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Retail inflation slides to 9.39% in April
Mallya’s firms get
Rs 91-cr tax notice
Indian IT infra spending to reach $2.1 bn: Gartner
Ranbaxy to pay $500 m in US lawsuit settlement
|
|
Monday mayhem: Sensex at 14-month low, tanks 431 pts
New Delhi, May 13 The Monday morning opening was sedated with no inkling of the storm to follow. Post afternoon after the trade deficit numbers were announced, it turned into a massive selling spree which sank the BSE Sensex by 431 points, wiping off more than Rs 1 lakh crore in market capitalisation. The Sensex closed at 19,691 points, its biggest fall since it lost nearly 478 points way back in February, 2012. The recent rally in the stock markets when it scaled the 20,000 mark had been based on the fall in international commodity prices like crude oil and gold was expected to help curb the current account deficit. In April, there was a collapse in gold prices from almost Rs 30,000 per 10 gram to around Rs 25,000. This was expected to lower the imports of gold into the country. That premise has been turned on its head as cheaper gold led to feverish buying, leading to gold imports jumping 138 per cent compared to April last year. Trade deficit for April jumped to $17.8 billion, compared to $14 billion last year, leading to concerns that cheaper commodities may not result in a lower trade deficit. The huge buying in gold has come despite several government measures to deter gold buying, including raising import duties and making PAN card mandatory for cash transactions. A weak rupee, ongoing RBI probe into money laundering allegations against banks and political developments resulted in market sentiment turning weak. Dipen Shah, head of Private Client Group Research, Kotak Securities, said the recent fall in the rupee, a worse-than-expected April trade data and weak Asian and European markets soured sentiments. India's April trade deficit rose to $17.8 bn in April on a massive surge in imports of cheaper gold. This raised concerns about the current account deficit. He added that markets had gone up substantially over the past few weeks and some correction was expected. Shah said the broad-based selling across sectors indicates some caution and profit-booking at higher levels despite the better-than-expected April consumer price inflation of 9.39%. Selling was seen across the spectrum as all 13 sectoral indices closed with losses with FMCG, capital goods, metal and auto shares leading downslide. All 30 Sensex-based shares closed with sharp to moderate losses with ITC suffering over 5 per cent drop after recent rally. L&T, TCS, ICICI Bank, Tata Motors, RIL and HDFC Bank were among major losers. |
||
|
Gold rush at jewellers as yellow metal price slips
Mumbai, May 13 According to him, sales are 40-50 per cent The jewellers' associations in Mumbai had earlier estimated that volume of gold sold today on the occasion of Akshaya Tritiya across the city would cross 1 tonne. Last year, gold sales on this auspicious
day amounted to around 450 kg in Mumbai. Jewellers have come out with a number of schemes to make the most of the craze for gold today. While many companies reduced making charges on gold jewellery purchased today, others came out with
special packages. One company has introduced Sachin Tendulkar gold coins on which an image of the cricketer and his signature are embossed. A 10 gram coin is priced at Rs 34,000, well above the price of the yellow metal in the open market. With imports of gold hurting the country's economy, the RBI today introduced restrictions. Banks will be allowed to import gold on consignment basis only to meet the needs of exporters, the central bank said today. |
||
|
Reliance Jio, Airtel’s 4G network to get boost with Nokia, LG phones
New Delhi, May 13 At present, Huawei is the only telecom equipment vendor that supplies TD-LTE phones to Airtel resulting in high pricing for the handsets. Lack of availability of cost-effective 4G phones is also one of the reasons for slow growth of 4G in some of the markets. Both Reliance Jio and Airtel are said to be in talks with electronics and mobile handset makers to bring in cheaper phones in a bid to give a push to their efforts to launch the high-speed 4G services in the country. Another telecom operator Aircel is also said to be negotiating with the handset makers for better deals. Reliance Jio is said to be making preparations for the launch of 4G/LTE services this year using its BWA licence that it procured in 2010. China, India, Europe and the US are predicted to play a vital role in the success of 4G/LTE services and will account for more than 134 million registered TD LTE lines by 2016. Airtel has already launched 4G networks in Kolkata, Bangalore, Pune and Chandigarh and is looking for adding voice capacity to it as well. The government has already given its go-ahead for voice over IP (VOIP) which would help these telecom operators to improve their user base. Reliance Jio recently also concluded telecom infrastructure deals with Airtel and Reliance Communications.
|
||
|
Exports up 1.6%; trade gap widens to $17.7 bn
New Delhi, May 13
Exports in April stood at $24.16 billion as against $23.7 billion in April, 2012. Expressing concern over the ballooning trade deficit, Rao said the government would take steps to bridge the gap. "Government sees this growing trade imbalance with concern and would be taking into stock this heavy import of gold and would come out with considered steps as how to contain this growing trade deficit," he added. After touching the second highest figure ever in a month in January to $20 billion, the trade gap came down to $14.9 billion in February and $10.3 billion in March. After declining for consecutive eight months from May 2012, India's exports entered positive zone in January, 2013. Rao said the absence of alternative avenues of investment was also pushing demand for gold upwards. "It is an inflation proof investment for a citizen. If economic growth picks up and better avenues for investment (appear), then the consumer behaviour shifts," he said. Sectors which registered positive export growth include rice, gems and jewellery (22 per cent), ready made garments (8.6 per cent), cotton (8.1 per cent), tea (5.4 per cent) and marine products (25 per cent). Sectors which registered negative growth include petroleum (0.5 per cent), engineering (8.6 per cent), chemicals (1.4 per cent), man made yarn (3.3 per cent) and pharmaceuticals (1.6 per cent). — PTI
|
||
|
Retail inflation slides to 9.39% in April
New Delhi, May 13 The prices in the vegetables basket eased to 5.43 per cent in April from 12.16 per cent in March. Inflation in protein-based items — egg, meat and fish — stood at 13.60 per cent during the month. In oils and fats segment, it was 7.52 per cent. The overall food and beverages segment saw an inflation of 10.61 per cent in April as against 12.42 per cent in March. Among all the constituents that make the CPI, cereals recorded the highest inflation of 16.65 per cent in April, according to data released today. Besides, inflation in pulses stood at 10.91 per cent and in sugar it was 10.49 per cent on an annual basis. The rate of price rise in clothing and footwear segment stood at 10.22 per cent during the month. In urban areas, retail inflation declined to 9.73 per cent in April from 10.38 per cent in March. — PTI
|
||
|
Pak stocks zoom to record high; investors richer by Rs 10k cr
Karachi, May 13 The Karachi Stock Exchange's benchmark index KSE-100 rose to its all-time high of 20,309.36 points this morning with a gain of 1.8 per cent of 359 points, as the general elections held over the weekend delivered a clear mandate for the return of Sharif as the country's next Prime Minister. Sharif, himself an industrialist and co-owner of diversified multi-million dollar conglomerate Ittefaq group, has said revival of economy would be among his top priorities. He is seen by many in Pakistan as someone who can fix the country's bleeding economy. Although Pakistan's share market is small as compared to its Asian peers, including that of India, the total wealth of its investors, measured in terms of total market value of all listed shares, rose today by about Rs 10,000 crore to close to Rs 5 lakh crore. There are only 569 listed companies on the Karachi Stock Exchange, as against about 5,000 in the Indian stock market, where total investor wealth is close to Rs 70 lakh crore. The number of companies listed on the KSE has come down in the past few years, from more than 650 in 2009, as the country's economy has been struggling amid a turbulent political scene. A clear mandate in the just-held historic polls is expected to revive the economic activities and therefore the stock markets as well. — PTI
|
||
|
Mallya’s firms get Rs 91-cr tax notice
Mumbai, May 13 The notice is pertaining to sponsoring events like IPL, East Bengal Football Team, Force India Team, Wills India Fashion Week, Mohan Bagan Team.— PTI
|
||
|
Indian IT infra spending to reach $2.1 bn: Gartner
New Delhi, May 13 “Despite global economic challenges, India provides strong growth opportunities across infrastructure. Big data, cloud, social and mobility are finding real-time business driven use cases,” said Naveen Mishra, research director at Gartner. The nexus of forces - big data, cloud, social and mobility - are finding real-time business driven use cases which is bringing a paradigm shift in the way IT is delivering business impact and hence, changing the role of an Indian CIO. The Indian IT infrastructure market is driven by hardware refresh, optimisation and consolidation efforts. New data centre build out, primarily driven by service providers, is providing added impetus to this market. The server market accounts for the biggest chunk totalling $753 million in 2013 and is projected to total $962.3 million in 2017. Increased uptake of x86 based technologies, coupled with continued investment in virtualisation, will drive server growth. Virtualisation is extending beyond servers and is setting the stage for private cloud adoption in many of the leading organisations, Gartner said. External controller-based storage is the fastest growing segment with revenue growing from $374.2 million in 2013 to $702.3 million in 2017. While managing the storage demands is one of the biggest problems faced by Indian users, approaches such as tiered storage are helping to optimise storage needs.
|
||
|
Ranbaxy to pay $500 m in US lawsuit settlement Washington, May 13 The US Justice Department said in a statement: "In the largest drug safety settlement to date with a generic drug manufacturer, Ranbaxy USA, a subsidiary of Indian generic pharmaceutical manufacturer Ranbaxy Laboratories, pleaded guilty today to felony charges relating to manufacture and distribution of certain adulterated drugs made at two of Ranbaxy's manufacturing facilities in India." "Ranbaxy also agreed to pay a criminal fine and forfeiture totalling $150 million and to settle civil claims under the False Claims Act and related State laws for $350 million." The generic drugs at issue were manufactured at Ranbaxy's facilities in Paonta Sahib and Dewas in India. As part of the case's resolution, the whistle-blower, a former Ranbaxy executive Dinesh Thakur will receive about $48.6 million from the Federal share of the settlement amount. "While we are disappointed by the conduct of the past that led to this investigation, we strongly believe that settling this matter now is in the best interest of all of Ranbaxy's stakeholders; the conclusion of the DOJ investigation does not materially impact our current financial situation or performance," Ranbaxy Laboratories CEO & Managing Director Arun Sawhney said. — PTI in the net Ranbaxy USA pleaded guilty to three felony counts under the Federal Food Drug and Cosmetics Act, and four felony counts of knowingly making materially false statements to the Food and Drug Administration
|
||
|
| HOME PAGE | |
Punjab | Haryana | Jammu & Kashmir |
Himachal Pradesh | Regional Briefs |
Nation | Opinions | | Business | Sports | World | Letters | Chandigarh | Ludhiana | Delhi | | Calendar | Weather | Archive | Subscribe | E-mail | |
It is ironic that the stock markets fell today on gold concerns on Akshay Tritiya, considered auspicious for gold buying. The NSE announced its volumes for gold exchange-traded funds were today 14 per cent more than last year. 
According to the buzz from Mumbai’s Zaveri Bazaar, the hub of the gold jewellery trade in the country, buyers have been making a beeline to buy jewellery due to the fall in prices in recent weeks. "We are seeing buyers coming in large numbers. Maximum buyers are expected by late evening as people come after work to buy," said Ajay Shah, Manager, Tribhovandas Bhimji Zaveri.
"Imports has seen an undue growth of 10.9 per cent (in April to $41.95 billion) largely contributed by significant increase in gold imports," Commerce Secretary S R Rao told reporters here.