Mumbai/New Delhi, April 16
Falling for the third straight session, gold prices on Tuesday slid below the Rs 27,000 level as it crashed by a whopping Rs 1,160 to Rs 26,440 per 10 grams in the national capital, taking cues from global markets where the metal dropped to an over two-year low.

In line with overall trends, silver also plunged by Rs 1,875 to Rs 46,125 per kg. Indian gold futures bounced from their lowest level in more than 18 months on Tuesday mirroring global markets, with physical traders witnessing a small revival in demand, but below expectations.

A stronger rupee kept the upside in prices limited. The rupee plays an important role in determining the landed cost of the dollar-quoted yellow metal.

The actively traded gold for June delivery was 0.8% higher at Rs 25,842 per 10 grams on the MCX at 3.51 p.m., recovering from a low of Rs 25,270 struck earlier in the session, a level last seen in late September 2011.

"Sales are not on the expected lines... Traders feel the current rally is a consolidation phase and market will come down," said a dealer with a bullion importing bank in Mumbai, adding premiums have increased by 10-20 cents to $1.8 an ounce on London prices.

In the overseas market, gold rose 1 percent after a drop to a two-year low earlier in the session ignited physical buying, but investors frustrated by the metal's lacklustre performance remained cautious amid fears of central bank sales and global growth.

In New York, gold plunged 9.35% to US $1,360.60 an ounce. The metal has dropped by $200 an ounce, or nearly 13%, in the last two trading days.

Marketmen said sustained weakness in overseas markets, where gold plunged over 9% on Monday to its lowest level since February 2011, on worries over Chinese growth and possible selloff by struggling Cyprus's central bank, continued to influence the trading sentiment here.

On the domestic front, gold of 99.9% and 99.5% purity fell by another Rs 1,160 each to Rs 26,440 and Rs 26,240 per 10 grams, respectively. The metal had lost Rs 2,000 in last two sessions. Sovereigns followed suit and lost Rs 900 to Rs 23,800 per piece of 8 grams.

Similarly, silver ready remained under pressure and traded Rs 1,875 lower at Rs 46,125 per kg and weekly-based delivery by Rs 1,750 to Rs 44,150 per kilogram. The white metal had plunged Rs 4,600 in the previous two sessions. However, silver coins held steady.— PTI/Reuters

Mumbai, April 16
Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) posted a fourth quarter net profit that rose 32 percent to a higher-than-expected Rs 5,590 crore, helped by stronger margins in its oil refining business.

Reliance, which operates the world's biggest refining complex in Jamnagar, was expected to report a net profit of Rs 54.8 billion for the fiscal that ended on March 31, according to Thomson Reuters data. Profits were Rs 42.4 billion in the same year-ago period.

The company reported sales of Rs 84,200 crore. The petrochemical margins were reported at 8.55% versus 10.2% year-on-year. EBITDA margins for the fourth quarter were at 9.3% versus 7.7% YoY.

Reliance, India's third biggest company by market value after TCS and ONGC, has been under pressure from investors due to its slowing energy business and a drive into consumer-focused sectors such as telecoms, retail and financial services, which have yet to turn a profit.

Other income for Q4 was reported at Rs 2,243 crore versus Rs 2,295 crore YoY. The refining margin stood at 4.52% versus 2.2% YoY. The company has also approved a Rs 18,000 crore appropriation to general reserve.

The Q4 GRM number came in at at $10.1/bbl versus US $9.5/bbl YoY. The company will pay Rs 9 per share as the dividend. The company's turnover was, however, down 1.4 per cent at Rs 86,618 crore in the same period.

Stating that the numbers are in line with estimates, Prayesh Jain, analyst at India Infoline said: "We don't expect any big bang surprise from RIL stock on Wednesday. Gross refining margins are slightly above estimates and impressive at $10.1 per barrel against $9.5 per barrel (year-on-year)”.

E&P business has been a major drag on the stock as KG-D6 output has been falling. Jain is of the view that if the KG-D6 production starts rising, it will add to the profitability which could spring a surprise in the medium term. This may lead to the brokerage upgrading the stock to a market performer.

Ahead of the results, RIL rose by over 1 per cent. After gaining 2 per cent in intraday trade, shares of the energy major finally ended at Rs 804.50, up 1.38% on the BSE.

On the NSE, the stock closed 1.05% higher at Rs 801.95. In terms of volume, 5.68 lakh shares of the company changed hands on the BSE, while 40.62 lakh shares were traded on the NSE.

At present, RIL commands a market value of Rs 260,313 crore. — Agencies 

Toronto, April 16
India is considering freeing prices of locally produced oil and natural gas from state controls in a bid to lure more foreign investment, Finance Minister P Chidambaram said here.

"We are at an advanced stage — a cabinet paper is under consideration on how to move from a production sharing model to revenue sharing model for oil and gas explored and excavated by companies," he told investors here on Monday as he started a tour of Canada and the United States to woo investors.

At present, India allows 100% foreign direct investment in exploration and production of oil and gas through a production sharing regime, wherein the companies get to recover all their investment before sharing profits with the government.

This regime has come in for criticism from official auditor CAG, which feels it incentivises companies to keep raising capital cost so that government profit is postponed.

Under the new regime being contemplated, companies will be asked to bid for oil and gas they will share with the government from the very first day of output. Companies bidding for the highest share will get licence to explore. Once government is guaranteed the highest share, it will rid itself of the current task of regulating price of gas.

Chidambaram said the government was keen on replacing the production-sharing model for oil and gas exploration with a revenue share model.

The new model is based on recommendations of a committee headed by C. Rangarajan, chairman of Prime Minister's Economic Advisory Council. This panel had also suggested moving to a market determined prices for natural gas in five years.

For the intervening period, the panel suggested hybrid model of global benchmark gas price and imported LNG. — PTI

Seoul, April 16
LG Electronics Inc has become the world's No.3 smartphone maker behind Apple Inc and Samsung Electronics Co Ltd for the first time in the US $223 billion market, industry data showed, as solid sales of high-end models helped it win customers.

LG saw its smartphone market share rise to 3.2 percent in the fourth quarter by sales, propelling it to the third spot for the first time, while rival HTC Corp slid to fourth, data from research firm Strategy Analytics showed.

Samsung and Apple took a combined 71.4 percent of the market and the rest is split among firms such as LG, HTC, Sony Corp and BlackBerry, the data showed.

Reflecting growing optimism that LG's smartphone business will recover, LG Electronics shares have gained 54% from their 2012 low hit in late July. The shares ended up nearly 2% on Thursday at 86,600 won, the highest in more than a year.

LG is betting high-end models that boast powerful hardware and software features and a fast 4G connection will help it rebuild its tarnished handset brand quality and increase its market share of the lower-end segment as well.

The South Korean company announced on Thursday software upgrades for its flagship Optimus G Pro model that will allow consumers access to features that Samsung touted as major selling points of its upcoming Galaxy S4. The move is its latest attempt to boost appeal to upmarket consumers before rival products hit the market.

The features LG is adding include motion detecting technology that stops and starts videos depending on whether someone is looking at the screen and snapping pictures.

The 5-inch Optimus Pro debuted in South Korea in late February and in Japan this month. It is LG's fastest-selling smartphone with sales hitting 500,000 in the first 40 days of the launch, LG said.

In terms of unit shipments, LG remains the seventh-largest with a 4.0% share, following Huawei, Lenovo Group Ltd , Sony and ZTE Corp which have market share of between 4% and 5%.

Analysts expect LG's smartphone shipments will rise by 16 per cent to a record 10 million after 8.6 million phones sold in the fourth quarter, a strong performance as the overall market is seen contracting by 6 per cent from the strong year-end holiday quarter.

HTC reported on Monday a record-low quarterly profit that missed analysts' estimates after it delayed the full launch of its 2013 flagship smartphone model, which will now debut against Samsung's newest Galaxy.

Meanwhile, LG Electronics, a worldwide technology and design leader in mobile communications, launched its Optimus L-series II smartphones — LG L7 II Dual and L3 II dual, its next generation of Optimus L series devices — in India last Monday.

LG reports its first-quarter results on April 24. — Reuters

New Delhi, April 16
Capital expenditure on expansion of telecom network is expected to go down in the coming years which could have a serious impact on the network managed services market growth over the next five years.

Recent research points out that network managed services market will grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 7% between 2012 to 2018, which would be much lower than the previous years’, where the growth has been in double digits.

Experts say the impact of lower capex will also hit telecom equipment vendors, which are active in network managed services.

Low capex is expected due to scaling down of operations by most operators around the world due to concerns over profitability which is triggering the slow growth. Besides, uncertain conditions prevailing in Europe would also have its effect on telecom operations.

However, analysts also say that the gloomy macroeconomic conditions in Europe aside, the service providers there have no choice but to invest in their networks as some have been restricting capex for years leading to network outages due to heavy traffic on the network.