New York, January 22
The US stock index futures sank on Tuesday as fear of a recession gripped investors, suggesting Wall Street will join a global equities plunge that could usher in a bear market.

The sell-off in futures follows sharp losses in global equities on worries a deteriorating US economy would drag other regions down with it.

European stocks posted their biggest percentage drop since the Sept 11, 2001 attacks on Monday when US financial markets were closed for the Martin Luther King Jr. Day holiday.

On Tuesday, European stocks fluctuated wildly, dropping more than 4 per cent and then recovering to trade little changed on market talk of concerted central bank action to stem the fall. Japan's benchmark Nikkei lost 5.7 per cent.

Speculation of central bank action also lifted US stock futures futures off their early morning lows, though they remained deep in the red.

"We're in a meltdown and it seems the global financial markets have gone mad," said Peter Cardillo, chief market economist at Avalon Partners in New York. Dow Jones industrial average futures dropped 453 points.

Should the Dow close lower on Tuesday by the amount the futures suggest, it would rank as the sixth-largest one-day point loss ever for the index, according to Dow Jones Indexes.

S&P 500 futures were down 57.20 points, far below fair value, a mathematical formula that evaluates pricing by taking into account interest rates, dividends and time to expiration on the contract. Nasdaq 100 futures slid 72.50 points.

If US stocks open at the levels futures are currently indicating, it would push major indexes dangerously close to bear market territory — or a 20 percent drop from their peak in October. That would mark the death of the bull market that began in early October 2002.

The drop in futures follows the worst week in five years for the S&P 500. On Friday, stocks fell for a fourth day, on worries that a White House effort to boost the economy may not prevent a recession.

US President George W. Bush on Friday called for a package worth up to $150 billion in tax cuts and other measures to shore up the economy, but investors said the plan did not go far enough.

"The only thing that could save this market is if (Federal Reserve chairman Ben) Bernanke immediately cut interest rates by 100 basis points, perhaps that could reverse market psychology."

The Standard & Poor's 500 index closed on Friday down 15.33 percent from its peak close on October 9. A fall into bear market territory for the S&P 500 would mean the end of the second-longest bull market for the benchmark index since 1929, according to the Stock Trader's Almanac.

Among S&P 500 companies scheduled to report quarterly results are bond insurer AMBAC Financial Group, iPod, iPhone and computer maker Apple and drug maker Johnson & Johnson.— Reuters

Davos, January 22
Amidst worries of US slowdown and investors fleeing equity markets, over 2,500 global business and political leaders, including finance minister P Chidambaram will assemble for the annual World Economic Forum (WEF) meeting beginning on Wednesday here. 

Chidambaram will have a global audience to talk about the impact of US slowdown on the emerging economies. He will be joined by commerce and industry minister Kamal Nath.

Though the theme of the meeting is 'Power of collaborative innovation', jubilation over strong global economy last year may be missing this time around.

In fact, the US mortgage crisis spreading out as a contagion to the world economy, high crude oil prices besides slow progress for a multilateral trade deal under the Doha Round, are expected to be discussed prominently in the meeting.

According to Klaus Schwab, founder of the WEF, discussions in Davos will certainly be dominated by economic challenges in the aftermath of sub prime crisis, transfer of capital from energy consuming to energy-producing countries, and inflationary tendencies.

About 100-member delegation from India would be closely associated with the discussions about international economic uncertainty, technology, energy crisis and rising commodity prices. WEF organisers have staged a series of high-profile debates on financial stability and banking risk with senior bankers in attendance. They would include JP Morgan's Jamie Dimon, Goldman Sachs' Lloyd Blankfein and John Thain of Merrill Lynch.

US secretary of state Condoleeza Rice and British Prime Minister Gordon Brown would be other star attractions of the conference. Many European finance ministers are expected to indulge in behind-the-scene talks about global policy responses to the credit crunch, before next month's crucial meeting of finance ministers of G-7 countries (developed nations except Russia) and meetings of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank.

At an informal discussion, trade ministers are expected to push the Doha round of WTO talks, virtually facing a deadlock now. — PTI 

New Delhi, January 22
Finance minister P Chidambaram today sought to calm investors panicked by a meltdown of over 2,000 points today leading to suspension of trading, saying enough liquidity would be provided to market players.

"I am assured by the RBI and all banks that enough liquidity will be provided to brokers and market players. Liquidity will not be an issue," Chidambaram said.

Ahead to his visit to Davos for participating in the World Economic Forum, Chidambaram exuded confidence that investors would return to market as fundamentals of the economy were strong.

"Worries of western world should not be allowed to overwhelm us... our economy is very different from some economies of developed countries. Our economy is a strong economy and corporate sector is very strong," he said after the exchange authorities suspended trading within minutes after the bourses witnessed a sharp plunge. Even after the market opened at 11 am, the sentiments were heavily toward sell and within an hour the BSE Sensex was reading down by over 2200 points. — PTI

Mumbai, January 22
The slaughter in the stock market over the past seven trading sessions has wiped out what the Sensex had gained in more than seven months since July 2007.

In its seventh straight loss, the market benchmark Sensex today lost as much as 2,273 points in intra-day trade and, despite a sharp recovery, settled 875.41 points below yesterday's closing.

The 30-share index has lost 4,097.51 points in seven sessions since January 14. It was down by 5,874.35 points from its life-time high of 21,206.77 points, scaled on January 10, when it touched an intra-day low of 15,332.42 points today.

Incidentally, when the Sensex crossed 15,000, analysts were bullish on the Sensex crossing even the 50,000 level in the years to come. However, in the past eight days, the Sensex has slipped from above 21,000 to below 16,000-point mark.

This plunge has also led to the mood turning bearish and some of the market players are predicting that some further "correction" might be in store.

In the continuing meltdown, the stock market today left investors poorer by about Rs 10 lakh crore in two days of mayhem triggered by fears of a recession in the US economy.

In fact, the market has shown a declining trend during the whole of last week and investors have lost a wealth of over Rs 15 lakh crore in the seven trading sessions.

The soothing touch was, however, provided by blue chip companies Bharti Airtel and Tata Motors, who were the only gainers among the 30 shares that make up the sensitive index. — PTI 

New Delhi, January 22
After the ‘Sensex Zammen Par’ episode on black Monday, there is a ray of hope for retail investors, who have invested in the recent big ticket IPOs like Reliance Power and Future Group. 

The finance minister and the Reserve Bank of India have assured the retail investors that they can withdraw from IPOs applied for anytime before the allotment of shares or securities by the company.

According to SEBI DIP guideline, an applicant can, in a book building issue, withdraw applications of a public issue anytime before allotment of shares. This rule emanates from the fundamental principle under the Law of Contracts that an offer can be revoked before acceptance.

The bids made by the bidders is an offer made and allotment of securities by the companies only brings into a binding contract between the bidder and company and, therefore, an application in a public issue can be withdrawn by the applicant depending upon the market scenario post subscription closure of the IPO but before allotment even if the application money has been realised by the company states the SEBI DIP guideline.

Instances have happened in the country where investors have withdrawn their applications in an IPO, like Purvankara group, Deccan Airlines, Cairn Energy, IVR Prime, KPR Mills and HDIL.

New Delhi, January 22
Forward Markets Commission (FMC) will receive a status of an independent regulator on the lines of SEBI through promulgation of ordinance on January 24 to regulate all commodities exchanges, according to food processing minister Subodh Kant Sahay and FMC chairperson B C Khatua.

Disclosing this at Assocham-organised conference on `Commodity futures market: Riding the growth phase’, Sahay and Khatua said the Cabinet would ratify the proposed ordinance on Thursday and a Bill, seeking amendment to the FMC Act would be introduced in Parliament in the budget session.

The minister also announced that the Banking Regulation Act of 1949 is also being amended to remove commodities from negative list to facilitate participation of financial institutions and mutual funds in commodities futures trading just as they trade in stocks.

The minister also said the government would shortly take steps to notify permission of 100 per cent FDI into warehousing and cold storage sector to encourage futures market trading in commodities at the national level and hurry up amendment to APMC Act so that farmers produce is not auctioned in mandis only.

Khatua also explained that as a result of delays in FMC amendment, the commodities trade have suffered a great deal, although its market size has grown by over 6,000 per cent in the past 4-5 years.

He, however, warned that any further delay in FMC amendment Act would cause stagnation in commodities future trade.

The FMC chairperson also indicated restoration of trading in wheat, tour, urad and rice. Suspension in their futures trade any longer would damage the interest of farmers, he said.

New Delhi, January 22
Bank of India today said its net profit increased by 100 per cent to Rs 511.89 crore for the third quarter ended December 31, 2007, as compared to Rs 254.87 crore in the corresponding quarter last year. 

New Delhi, January 22
ORG Informatics has acquired a satellite services division of one of Belgium’s largest direct -to-home (DTH) player, Belgacom. The acquisition, which was made for Euro 10 million, is going to be of immense benefit for the booming Indian DTH industry. 

It would make television viewing for south Asian viewers in Europe more varied and pleasurable.

With the acquisition, ORG plans to launch India’s first pan-European DTH platform, making it first of its kind direct uplink from India on a single beam satellite. “With this acquisition, we aim to set up the infrastructure for uplink and downlink DTH services in India, which will be of immense value as we will provide infrastructure to DTH service providers that will be cost effective for viewers”, says Ajoy Khandheria, MD and CEO, ORG Informatics.

Initially, ORG is expecting annual revenues to be more than Euro 22 million. The satellite service business will thrust ORG into Europe, giving exposure to its operations there and supporting their efforts in the South Asian and African market. 
The Belgacom acquisition will give ORG an immediate and significant satellite-business presence in Europe, which at the moment is a booming market for DTH service.

“We plan to make the company public in the next three years,”says Khandheria. These satellite operations are considered a national asset in Belgium with photographs of some of the dishes displayed at Brussels airport as a “welcome” view. ORG Informatics was awarded as one of the 50 fastest growing companies across India and 500 fastest growing companies in Asia Pacific.

ORG goals will include the ongoing expansion in the United Arab Emirates, Europe and American markets.