B U S I N E S S

Sensex up 1.6% to highest close in 6 weeks ahead of RBI policy
Mumbai, June 15
The Bombay Stock Exchange Sensex rose on Friday to its highest close in six weeks as banks gained on hopes for aggressive monetary easing at home, and by hopes major central banks would work to contain any global turmoil from Greek elections.

Moody’s downgrades Nokia rating to junk
Paris, June 15
Ratings agency Moody's on Friday downgraded its long-term credit rating of Finnish telecom group Nokia by one notch to the speculative level of "Ba1" and said its outlook remained negative.

HSBC cuts India GDP forecast to 6.2%
New Delhi, June 15
HSBC said Friday India’s annual and sequential growth will remain “quite moderate” in coming quarters and lowered the GDP growth projection for this fiscal to 6.2 per cent from 7.5 per cent earlier.

Activists wearing masks of G-20 leaders (L-R) US President Barack Obama, Indian PM Manmohan Singh and Chinese President Hu Jintao wave during a protest for food security at the Monument to the Revolution in México City on Thursday. The G20 Leaders' Summit will be held on June 18-19 in Los Cabos, Mexico. — Reuters Haryana principal industries secretary Y.S. Malik addressing the 59th AGM of the Faridabad Industries Association in Faridabad on Friday. FIA president S.K. Goel said although the government had accorded priority to the city’s development, it continued to be plagued with serious infrastructural deficiencies. — Tribune photo

Microsoft’s Hotmail revamped as ‘Newmail’ to take on rival Gmail
Washington, D.C., June 15
In the hope of bringing back millions of users, software giant Microsoft has revamped its Hotmail, the world's biggest email service, which has a striking resemblance to Gmail in its design.

Indonesia scouting for JVs in Himachal
Shimla, June 15
“Currently at the fourth slot, India can emerge as Indonesia’s largest trade partner over the next decade provided Indian firms take advantage of the opportunities”, said Indonesian ambassador to India Andi M. Ghalib, who is on a visit to the state to explore possibilities of joint ventures.

SBI slashes lending rates by 0.5-3.5 per cent
New Delhi, June 15
Days ahead of the RBI reviewing the interest rate, State Bank of India on Friday announced a cut of between 0.5-3.5% in lending rates, mainly for small and medium enterprises and the agricultural sector.

ATF rates cut by a steep 5%
New Delhi, June 15
In a major relief to cash- strapped airlines, jet fuel prices were on Friday reduced by a massive 5 per cent, the steepest reduction in rates since February 2010.

Sensex up 1.6% to highest close in 6 weeks ahead of RBI policy

Mumbai, June 15
The Bombay Stock Exchange Sensex rose on Friday to its highest close in six weeks as banks gained on hopes for aggressive monetary easing at home, and by hopes major central banks would work to contain any global turmoil from Greek elections.

Domestic stocks have rallied this month on hopes the Reserve Bank of India's will cut interest rates by at least 25 basis points on Monday. Some investors also see a joint cut in the cash reserve ratio, or the amount of funds lenders must park with the central bank.

Greek elections are on Sunday, adding to the potential risk, though at least sentiment was boosted on reports that central banks of major economies are ready to provide liquidity if elections result dent global markets.

"Any adverse news flow in Greek result, or any deviation what is expected on the policy front will trigger higher volatility in markets," said Kaushik Dani a fund manager at Peerless Mutual Fund, referring to RBI policy.

"If currency stabilises around 55 levels and if global commodities continue to soften then definitely it will be good news for our economy," he said, adding it would offset concerns about inflation.

The 30-share BSE index rose 1.63% to 16,949.83 points, posting its highest close since May 3 and adding 1.4% for the week. The broader 50-share NSE index advanced 1.67 percent to 5,139.05 points. Shares have rallied since the country posted its weakest growth in nine years in the January-March quarter, according to data released on May 31, raising expectations the RBI would need to switch its focus from inflation to growth.

Data this week showed India's wholesale price index inflation accelerated to 7.55%, which has put into question how aggressive the RBI can afford to be in easing rates. But the tamer 4.8% core inflation has left expectations for at least a 25 bps rate cut intact.

The BSE index has gained 4.5% this month, well outperforming the 1.9% gain in the MSCI Asia-Pacific index excluding Japan.

Banking shares, as measured by the NSE banking index, rose 2.3 percent on Friday and have gained 6.6 percent so far this month. ICICI Bank rose 3.3%, while HDFC Bank advanced 2.5%.

Other interest rate-sensitive stocks also rose. Tata Motors gained 6%, helped as well after its May global vehicle sales rose a stronger-than-expected 12% from a year earlier. — Reuters

Moody’s downgrades Nokia rating to junk

Paris, June 15
Ratings agency Moody's on Friday downgraded its long-term credit rating of Finnish telecom group Nokia by one notch to the speculative level of "Ba1" and said its outlook remained negative.

"Today's rating action reflects our view that Nokia's far-reaching restructuring plan ... delineates a scale of earnings pressure and cash consumption that is larger than we had previously assumed," a Moody's statement said, quoting senior vice president Wolfgang Draack.

The agency nonetheless considered Nokia's decision to take on a drastic restructuring of its operations "as positive and necessary to return the group to profitability.

"A return to profitability also depends on Nokia successfully transitioning its range of smartphones to the new Windows operating system and stabilising its feature phone business," the statement said.

Nokia, one of the world's biggest mobile phone makers, shocked markets on Thursday when it unveiled 10,000 more job cuts as part of deep additional cost-cutting measures.

"These planned reductions are a difficult consequence of the intended actions we believe we must take to ensure Nokia's long-term competitive strength," Nokia chief executive Stephen Elop said in a statement.

Following the news, Nokia, which only recently lost the world number one ranking it had held for 14 years, saw its share price plunge more than 16% on the Helsinki stock exchange.

The company, which has been undergoing a major restructuring for more than a year, said it would implement an additional $2.0 billion in cost reductions by the end of next year, especially affecting its beleaguered Devices & Services unit. — AFP

HSBC cuts India GDP forecast to 6.2%

New Delhi, June 15
HSBC said Friday India’s annual and sequential growth will remain “quite moderate” in coming quarters and lowered the GDP growth projection for this fiscal to 6.2 per cent from 7.5 per cent earlier.

For financial year 2013, HSBC expects growth of just 6.2% (as against 7.5% previously) and for fiscal year 2014 it believes India’s growth rate it will recover to around 7.4 per cent (lower than 8.2 per cent previously).

“In light of the weaker starting point for the year, the slower progress on supply—side reforms than previously expected and the more protracted global economic recovery, we scale back our growth forecasts notably,” HSBC economist Leif Eskesen said in a report.

HSBC said: “Administrative hurdles and domestic policy paralysis will continue to hold back investments and limit the scope for a near-term improvement in growth momentum.”

India’s annual and sequential growth will remain “quite moderate” in coming quarters, HSBC said. — PTI

Rate cuts would be ‘ineffective’: HSBC

A cut in the repo rate would be "ineffective" given the liquidity deficit in the country, and would be "the wrong medicine" to boost growth, HSBC says is a note on Friday. "We think deeper structural reforms are needed instead, and soon," HSBC said, warning inflation pressures will continue "simmering" on the back of a weak rupee and "tight" capacity, despite the fall in oil prices and moderating growth. HSBC added it expected the RBI "to continue to manage liquidity conditions actively" via open market operations, and does not rule out additional OMOs or cuts in the cash reserve ratio. — PTI

Microsoft’s Hotmail revamped as ‘Newmail’ to take on rival Gmail

Washington, D.C., June 15
In the hope of bringing back millions of users, software giant Microsoft has revamped its Hotmail, the world's biggest email service, which has a striking resemblance to Gmail in its design.

Newmail is understood to have a “clean look” when it comes to the font that has been used for the labels in the inbox, which resembles its Google adversary.

According to the Daily Mail, Microsoft has claimed it has a “fluid and interactive design”, which is expressly designed to work well on mobile devices such as phones or tablets.

Hotmail is still the biggest email provider in the world with some 360 million users, but Gmail has caught up with 350 million, shooting up from just 260 m users last October.

A website, LiveSide, which has obtained screen shots of Newmail, shows a significantly more attractive home screen, with none of the clutter which had long bedevilled Hotmail.

Liveside said Newmail will initially be available on an opt-in basis to existing Hotmail customers, but Microsoft has not ruled out making it compulsory in future.

The new email service will also be linked to Facebook and Twitter and will allow users to keep their contacts automatically in sync and see what their friends are doing on the service.

The new name Newmail, however, appears to be just the title for the service and users will still have @hotmail email addresses. — ANI

Indonesia scouting for JVs in Himachal
Tribune News Service

Shimla, June 15
“Currently at the fourth slot, India can emerge as Indonesia’s largest trade partner over the next decade provided Indian firms take advantage of the opportunities”, said Indonesian ambassador to India Andi M. Ghalib, who is on a visit to the state to explore possibilities of joint ventures.

“The field is wide open for Indian companies in major areas like infrastructure, mining and oil exploration and refining, Indonesia will prefer India to have a larger share in the pie because of the cultural affinity between the two Asian countries”, he said.

The new strategic partnership between the of the country since 2005 had already given a big boost to bilateral trade which had increased sharply from $ 6 billion to $ 22 billion over the past six years and it was set to reach $ 45 billion by 2015.

At present India is Indonesia’s fourth biggest trade partner after China, the United States and Japan and is the largest importer of crude palm oil. Ghalib said there was huge scope for coal exports to India as Indonesia had large reserves. He added Indonesia was looking for collaborations in Himachal in the fields of tourism, agriculture and education.

SBI slashes lending rates by 0.5-3.5 per cent

New Delhi, June 15
Days ahead of the RBI reviewing the interest rate, State Bank of India on Friday announced a cut of between 0.5-3.5% in lending rates, mainly for small and medium enterprises and the agricultural sector.

However, interest rates on home and retail loans will remain unchanged, the banking leader said, adding they were low and competitive.

Announcing the rate reduction, SBI MD & group executive (national banking) A. Krishna Kumar said the base rate will also remain unchanged at 10%. — PTI

ATF rates cut by a steep 5%

New Delhi, June 15
In a major relief to cash- strapped airlines, jet fuel prices were on Friday reduced by a massive 5 per cent, the steepest reduction in rates since February 2010.

The prices of aviation turbine fuel (ATF), or jet fuel, in Delhi was reduced by Rs 3,260 per kilolitre, or 5%, to Rs 62,410 per kl with effect from midnight tonight, according to Indian Oil Corp, the nation's largest oil firm.

The fifth straight cut in jet fuel rates since mid-April is the steepest in 27 months. On February 1, 2010, ATF prices were cut by 5.48% or Rs 2,260.05 per kl. — PTI