London, October 27
World markets today woke up to another nightmarish day, as Asian and European stocks wobbled under the spectre of economic slowdown, with Japanese benchmark Nikkei nosediving to a 26-year low.

Starting from where they left on Friday, the Asian bourses except South Korea's Kospi Index, and the European markets today saw themselves washed away in recessionary fears and mounting negative global cues.

In the Asian region, Hong Kong's benchmark Hang Seng, China's Shanghai SE Composite IX and Singapore's Straits Times, crashed on an average of 8 per cent.

Bogged down by weak Asian markets, the European shares tumbled in the range of 4 to 6 per cent, as worldwide efforts to stave off recession failed to assuage investor's fears.

Among Europe's major benchmark indices, London Stock Exchange's FTSE 100, France's Cac 40 and Germany's Dax were trading in the negative zone.

Japanese benchmark Nikkei 225 took one of the worst beating, as it tumbled by 6.36 per cent to 7,162.90 points, reportedly its lowest close since 1982.

Appreciating Yen, which has now touched a 13-year high against the US dollar and increasing economic slowdown fears have been battering the country's shares in recent weeks.

However, propped up by a cut in key rates, South Korea's Kospi swarm against the negative tide and closed higher by nearly one per cent at 946.45 points.

South Korea's central bank has slashed the key interest rates to 4.25 per cent from five per cent.

India's 30-share index, Sensex, was less hit compared to its counterparts in Asia. Trimming the losses towards the end, the benchmark index closed at 8,509.56 points, down 2.20 per cent.

Hong Kong's Hang Seng plummeted more than 1,600 points or 12.7 per cent to 11,015.84 points. This is reportedly the biggest loss in a single trading session since 1991.

Singapore's Straits Times declined 8.33 per cent to 1,600.28 points.

Further, Chinese stocks too nosedived 6.32 per cent to 1,723.35 points, reportedly the lowest close since September 2006.

Meanwhile, the G-7 nations warned that strengthening Yen is a threat to the economic stability and promised coordinated efforts to arrest the currency's rising value.

In the Asia-Pacific region, another victim of the oscillating fortunes was the Philippines market. The benchmark Philippine SE IDX tumbled 12.27 per cent to 1,713.83, after one of the nation's biggest banks, Banco de Oro Unibank, recorded a hefty loss of 1.3 billion Pesos (over 26 million dollars) for the second quarter.

On the other hand, UK's FTSE 100 plunged 4.68 per cent to 3,701.50 points while France's Cac 40 dropped 6.24 per cent to 2,994.56 points. Germany's Dax fell 4.30 per cent to 4,110.84 points.

Moreover, American markets are expected to track the trend in Asian and European bourses when they open later in the day. — PTI 

New Delhi, October 27
Country's largest lender State Bank of India's net profit for the July-September quarter jumped 40 per cent to Rs 2,259.72 on higher interest income, although the global banking industry is caught in a financial whirlpool.

"Driven by high growth in interest income coupled with other income, the bank has registered over 40 per cent growth in its profit during the quarter" SBI said in a statement.

The bank had a standalone net profit of Rs 1,611.42 crore in the September quarter last year.

Meanwhile, SBI has doubled its business to Rs 1,08,881 crore in the September quarter this year.

The bank registered a deposit growth of 67.93 per cent to Rs 57,861 crore. Its current and savings account (CASA) ratio was up by 26 basis points to 39.71 per cent. Advances of the bank grew by 162.35 per cent to Rs 51,020 crore.

Besides, home loans grew by 23.47 per cent, auto loans by 30.48 per cent and education loan by 43.81 per cent, the bank said. However, SBI card suffered a loss of Rs 27.90 crore.

Capital adequacy ratio as per BASIL I norms was 12.14 per cent and as per BASIL II norms it is 11.51 per cent.

The standalone total income rose to Rs 17,909.64 crore in the second quarter, from Rs 13,658.22 crore a year ago.

The consolidated net profit grew 11.50 per cent at Rs 2,458.04 crore for the second quarter as against Rs 2,204.56 crore last year, while the total income rose 26.41 per cent to Rs 27,083.47 crore.

For the six months ended September 30, SBI reported a consolidated net profit of Rs 4,138.06 crore, against Rs 4,128 crore in the year-ago period. — PTI

Mumbai, October 27
Amid criticism of its exposure to 'toxic' assets abroad, India's largest private sector lender ICICI Bank today said its UK subsidiary has registered a $35 million (around Rs 160 crore) net loss for the half year ended September 30 on account of higher provisioning in its investments abroad.

"After making the required provisioning on our investments abroad, our UK subsidiary has made a net loss of $35 million...(however) as on September 30, the net NPAs of this unit is zero," ICICI Bank's joint managing director Chanda Kochhar told reporters here.

The UK subsidiary has a total deposit base of $4.9 billion as at September-end, out of which 39 per cent constituted term deposits, Kochhar said.

For the second quarter, the lender posted a marginal rise of 1.1 per cent in its net profit at Rs 1,014 crore from Rs 1,003 crore in the same quarter in the previous fiscal while the total income rose to Rs 9,712 crore as compared with Rs 9,588 crore.

In the face of challenging market conditions, the bank has been closely monitoring all segments of its operations to maintain credit quality and sustain growth in key sectors, Kochhar said.

"We are monitoring all portfolios very closely. Retail lending still constitutes 55 per cent of our total advances...We haven't seen any major changes (in bad assets) in the last quarter," Kochhar said. — PTI 

New Delhi, October 27
Largest public sector lender State Bank of India today said interest rates have peaked and now borrowers could see some softening of rates in the coming months mainly due to steps taken by the Reserve Bank and government to infuse liquidity.

"Interest rates have peaked. You could see some moderation in coming months," SBI chairman O.P. Bhatt told reporters here after announcing nearly 40 per cent increase in net profit during second quarter ended September 2008.

Asked about whether the bank intends to cut its lending and deposit rates, he said, at the moment "status quo" will be maintained.

On the interest rate outlook, Bhatt said, inflation is moderating and there is adequate liquidity with the banking system. "In this context interest rates in short term is likely to be stable while in medium term it would moderate," he added.

The bank has not slowed down lending because of liquidity problem, Bhatt said, adding advances during the second quarter jumped up by whopping 162 per cent to Rs 51,020 crore.

Following global financial meltdown and outflow of FII money from India RBI has reduced mandatory deposit that bank keep with the central bank unlocking Rs 1,00,000 crore and simultaneously reduceding the benchmark short-term lending rate (repo) by 100 basis points to ease the liquidity.— PTI

New Delhi, October 27
The government today reiterated that there would be no delay in its planned multi-billion dollar auction of next-generation wireless spectrum because of the global financial crisis.

A telecom ministry spokesman said there would be no change in the schedule for the auction of the third generation (3G) spectrum and the auction process should finish by January 15, 2009.

In August, the government outlined guidelines for a global auction of radio spectrum for third-and fourth-generation (3G and 4G) wireless services to be held by December, from which it hoped to raise up to Rs 40,000 crore.

Media reports said Vodafone had requested the auction be delayed until early 2009 because of the financial crisis.

Earlier, even minister for communication and IT A. Raja had asserted said that the prevailing cash crunch due to the global meltdown would not affect the process for the auction and roll out of the service would on schedule.

There have also been media reports that the government was considering relaxing the auction guidelines to make it easier for the telecom operators to pay large sums which would be required following the auction of the 3G spectrum space.

Reports suggested that the government was considering introduction of a staggered payment option for successful bidders.

It said the successful bidders may only have to pay the reserve price upfront and pay the rest in equal instalments. The base price for pan-India spectrum has been set at about Rs 2,020 crore by the Department of Telecom (DoT).

The global liquidity crisis has made it difficult for telcos to borrow. AT&T’s global chairman Randall Stephenson had recently warned that the company was facing difficulty in borrowing as banks were “limiting their lendings”. Although he was not referring to India, difficulties in fund-raising could hit its plans here as well. An India entry will cost AT&T upwards of $4 billion. 

BRIEFLY

Brent oil dives under $60
London: Brent crude oil prices plunged underneath $60 per barrel here on Monday, as traders responded to the potential impact of a global recession on energy demand. At around IST 1410, Brent North Sea crude for December delivery dropped to $59.32 per barrel, the lowest point since February 2007. New York's main contract, light sweet crude for December delivery, tumbled to $61.55 a barrel. — AFP

ONGC's Dahej plant
New Delhi: ONGC will by the year-end commission a Rs 1,100-crore plant at Dahej to extract C2-C3 compounds from natural gas and will sell them to Reliance Industries' owned IPCL till its plant to convert them into polymers comes up in 2012. "Yes, the plant is on track for commissioning by end 2008," ONGC chief R.S. Sharma said on Monday. — PTI

MRPL expansion plan
New Delhi: Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals Ltd (MRPL) will invest about Rs 12,000 crore in expanding its capacity to 15 million ton by October 2011 but has put on hold plans to set up a new grassroot refinery-cum-petrochemical plant. "Refinery completion will happen well in time for availing the income tax holiday," MRPL chairman R.S. Sharma said on Monday.— PTI

Gold falls by Rs 200
New Delhi: Following selling by stockists, sparked off by a weakening trend in the global market, gold prices fell by Rs 200 to Rs 12,010 per 10 gram in the national capital on the eve of Diwali festival on Monday. — PTI

Religare to raise Rs 1,000 cr
Mumbai: Religare Enterprises, a financial services arm of Ranbaxy Group, on Monday said that it would raise over Rs 1,000 crore through rights offering to its existing shareholders. The board would meet on October 30 to consider raising of funds in excess of Rs 1,000 crore at around current price level by further issue of equity shares on rights basis, Religare said. — PTI

Parle to buy HPMC apple juice
Solan: The Himachal Horticulture Produce Processing and Marketing Co-operation (HPMC) would now be selling all its apple juice concentrate to Parle after the latter agreed to purchase 600 MT of juice this year. This has enabled the HPMC to do a business of nearly Rs 6 crore this year. — OC