Breaking News & Stocks

PMO to intervene to ensure iron-ore blocks to Mittal’

London, April 01: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh could intervene, if need be, to provide iron ore blocks to Lakshmi Mittal, the CEO of ArcelorMittal for his proposed 12 million tonne plants each in India, Steel Minister Ram Vilas Paswan has said.

"Mittal's problems will be sorted out and his demand for iron ore block will be met, if need be, by the intervention of the Prime Minister," Paswan told reporters here last night.

The world's biggest steelmaker has signed MoUs with Jharkhand and Orissa governments to set up Greenfield Steel Plants wherein it will invest a total of Rs 80,000 crore.

Claiming that ensuring iron ore blocks was not a major issue, Paswan accompanied by acting High Commissioner to UK Ashok Mukerji said, "We will sit and sort it out and if necessary, the Prime Minister will intervene in the matter."

While the Orissa plant seemed to be going ahead on schedule, the Jharkhand plant is delayed as allocation of the Chiria iron ore block is sub-judice.

ArcelorMittal requires 600 million tones iron-ore every year for each plant. The steelmaker is interested ensure ore from the world-famous Chiria mines, but state-run steel giant SAIL has refused to partake any ore from it in view of its mega expansion plans in Jharkhand.

***** launching site exclusively for women

New York, April 01: ***** Inc. has launched a site for women between ages 25 and 54, calling it a key demographic underserved by current ***** properties.

The site, Shine, is aimed largely at giving the struggling Internet company additional opportunities to sell advertising targeted to the key decision-maker in many households.

***** said advertisers in consumer-packaged goods, retail and pharmaceuticals have requested more ways to reach those consumers.

Amy Iorio, vice president for ***** Lifestyles, said internal research also shows women are looking for a site to combine various content and communications tools.

``These women were sort of caretakers for everybody in their lives,'' she said. ``They didn't feel like there was a place that was looking at the whole them _ as a parent, as a spouse, as a daughter. They were looking for one place that gave them everything.''

***** is entering a market already served by Glam Media Inc. and iVillage, a unit of General Electric Co.'s NBC Universal. It is *****'s first site aimed at a single demographic, although other ***** sites like Finance and Sports already draw specific audiences.

With Shine, ***** plans to expand its offerings in parenting, sex and love, healthy living, food, career and money, entertainment, fashion, beauty, home life, and astrology.

Shine likely will replace the existing Food site over time, although ***** plans to keep its Health site operating to serve men and women of other age groups.

***** is working with media companies like Hearst Communications Inc. and Rodale Inc. to develop Shine-exclusive content. Hearst publishes Redbook, Cosmopolitan, Good Housekeeping and other magazines aimed at women, while Rodale publishes a range of magazines on sports and recreation, including Women's Health.

***** also has hired a team of editors to produce original material and to seek out items of interest from elsewhere in *****.

Unlike most other ***** sites, Shine will be presented in a blog form, with newest items on top and commentary from an editor.

Air India rules out IPO this year

Mumbai, April 01: National air-carrier Air India on Tuesday ruled out raising money through an Initial Public Offer (IPO) this year and said it will approach the government for infusing more money to strengthen its equity base.

“We will not be going for our IPO this year,” Air India’s newly-appointed Chairman and Managing Director Raghu Menon told reporters here.

The air-carrier would instead seek capital infusion from the government, he said.

“We would like the government to provide equity to us. It (the government) has done it in the past for certain companies ...it depends on what case we build up,” Menon said.

Air India would build up a well-considered case before approaching the government on the matter, he said, adding, “I will like to approach the government for further infusion of equity in our company, because of the huge borrowings that we have taken to purchase new aircraft.”

On the IPO, Menon said he has “really not gone into this IPO issue”. However, Air India was looking at employee stock options (ESOPs) and this scheme should be ready in over next six months, he said.

“This is something we will like to work out very quickly – may be over the next six months. We already have some people in place who are working on it,” he said.

GAIL signs contracts to takeover PMT gas marketing

New Delhi, April 01: In a landmark development, state gas utility GAIL India Ltd on Tuesday signed contracts for taking over marketing of natural gas produced from Panna-Mukta and Tapti gas fields.

GAIL signed a contract with the consortia of Reliance Industries, BG Group of UK and Oil and Natural Gas Corporation – who are the joint operators of the PMT fields lying in western offshore – for buying the entire 17 million standard cubic meters per day of gas produced from the fields.

It then signed contracts for sale of the gas to consumers, including RIL at the Government approved price of USD 5.7 per million British thermal unit.

"We have this morning signed contracts to takeover marketing of the gas from this fiscal," GAIL Director (Marketing) B C Tripathi said here.

GAIL, which was the official marketing agency of the PMT gas till 2005 when Petroleum Ministry gave the rights to the field operators for an interim period, also contracted RIL for sale of 3.6 mmscmd of gas to its petrochemical plants.

About 5 mmscmd gas would be supplied to power and fertiliser plants, while 2.13 mmscmd gas would be sold to BG's subsidiary, Gujarat Gas Co Ltd, for its city gas distribution projects in Gujarat and other consumers.

Another 1.1 mmscmd gas would be given to Gujarat State Petroleum Corporation (GSPC) for 15 days to meet the requirement of small consumers in Gujarat. After this period, GAIL will takeover the supplies to these consumers.

Tripathi said Torrent Power would get 0.9 mmscmd gas, while Rajya Vidyut Nigam Ltd (RRVUNL) 1.5 mmscmd gas. GAIL would get the remaining 2.8 mmscmd for extracting LPG from the fuel.

Anil Ambani group brings Canadian partner in broking biz

New Delhi, April 01: With plans to double presence to 20,000 outlets this year, Reliance Money on Tuesday joined hands with Canada's Recognia, a leading provider of technical charts for stocks, that would allow its customers to know if previous patterns indicate a future rise or fall in share prices.

"Technical analysis, till date, is a privilege available to institutions and HNIs and the Indian retail investors have been deprived of these tools so far," Reliance Money CEO Sudip Bandyopadhyay told reporters here.

The addition of Recognia's Sophisticated Automated Technical Analysis as an add-on feature on the platform will provide automated simplified analysis that will inform the customer about shift in trends of different stocks in the markets at Re 1 per day, he said.

The value-added feature would provide additional revenue stream for the company and it expects about 10-20% of its two million customers to use this facility.

Talking about the expansion plan, Bandyopadhyay said by the end of March 2009, the company would add another 10,000 outlets, taking the total number of outlets to 20,000.

By doubling the outlets, the company would expand its reach to 5,161 tehsils of the country, he added.

Elaborating on the tool, he said Recoqnia's technical analysis will allow Reliance Money users to identify customers about shift in price movements and emerging trends that will help them look up bullish and bearish notifications for any company, thereby providing them an insight into the possible direction for the scrip price.

Manufacturing growth at 8-month low: PMI

Indian manufacturing activity grew at its slowest pace in eight months in March, slipping further from its peak in December as consumer demand softened due to high interest rates, a survey showed on Tuesday.

The ABN AMRO Bank Purchasing Managers` Index (PMI) softened to a seasonally adjusted 57.5 in March, its lowest reading since July, from 59.5 in February and below December`s 61.9, which was the highest reading since the survey began in April 2005.

A reading above 50 signals expansion while readings below 50 suggest contraction.

The index reflects government data, which has shown annual industrial output growth slowing in recent months from double-digit rates at the start of the fiscal year in April 2007.

The PMI, compiled by UK-based NTC research and sponsored by the Dutch bank, tracks changes in manufacturing business conditions by polling 500 companies each month on output, new orders, employment and prices.

Inflation, including higher prices for raw materials, lower export orders and a slump in consumer demand have depressed manufacturing output in recent months.

The output index fell to an eight-month low of 60.3 in March from 62.2 in February. The new orders index eased to an eight-month low of 64.0 in March from 68.4 in February.

The export index dropped to an eight-month low of 53.0 in March from 55.7 in February.

The input price index fell to 53.8 in March from 57.5 in February, and factory-gate prices fell to an eight-month low of 51.7 in March from 54.2 in February.

In contrast, government data on Friday showed wholesale price inflation soared to a 14-month high of 6.68% in the middle of March, well above the central bank`s comfort zone of around 5%.

Most forecasters expect India`s economic growth to have slowed in the fiscal year that ended on Monday from the year-earlier pace of 9.6%, which was the strongest growth in 18 years.

The central bank has kept its main lending rate unchanged at 7.75% for a year, having raised it five times between June 2006 and March 2007. It also raised the proportion of cash that banks have to keep in reserve with the central bank to keep monetary conditions tight.

BSE, NSE fix circuit limits for market in Q1

Mumbai, April 01: A movement of 1,575 points in the Sensex and 470 points in the Nifty would bring trading to a halt through the current quarter ending June, as per the new circuit filter limits set by the country's two premier bourses BSE and NSE.

This circuit would be applicable on movements on either side of gain or loss, circulars on both the bourses said.

While a movement of 1,575 points in Sensex or 470 points in Nifty, representing 10% of the closing value of the respective indices in the previous quarter, would bring about a halt for one hour, the halt periods would be greater in case of bigger falls after the trading resumes.

The exchanges fix the circuit limits at the beginning of every quarter.

According to the circuit-breaker system, a 10% movement before 13:00 hrs triggers a one-hour halt, a gain or loss of 15% before 13:00 hours halts the trading for two hours, while a movement of 20% leads to the trading being halted for the remainder of the day.

The exchanges have fixed 10% circuit at 1,575 points, 15% circuit at 2,350 points and 20% at 3,125 points for the Sensex. Similarly, for the Nifty, the points equivalent to 10% circuit are 470, for 15% it is 710 points and for 20%, it has been fixed at 950 points, the circular added.

The percentages are calculated on the closing index value of the previous quarter. These percentages are translated into absolute points of index variations (rounded off to the nearest 25 points in case of Sensex).

At the end of each quarter, these absolute points of index variations are revised and made applicable for the next quarter. The Sensex had ended the last quarter ended March 31 at 15,644.44 points.

Thanks Rakesh,

For your smart news flash. we appreciate you for this work.

There are many readers like me those watch your thread.

Keep it up...

Regards,
Brahma

thanks a lot.

Stock Futures Point to Higher Open
Tuesday April 1, 9:09 am ET

Stock Futures Climb in Advance of Market Opening; UBS and Lehman Brothers to Issue New Stock

NEW YORK (AP) -- Wall Street appeared poised for an opening rally Tuesday as investors warmed to new recapitalization plans at UBS AG and Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc.
Swiss bank UBS said Tuesday it will take a fresh $19 billion write-down due to additional declines in the value of its mortgage assets and other credit instruments, following an $18 billion write-down last year. But investors focused instead on UBS' accompanying announcement that it will issue up to $15 billion in new stock and that Chairman Marcel Ospel had quit. The new stock sale and executive change were seen as signs the bank was moving forward despite being the most serious European victim of the U.S. subprime mortgage problems.

In addition, the U.S. investment bank Lehman Brothers said it would sell 3 million convertible preferred shares due to "investor interest."

That news buttressed the view that financial services companies are taking aggressive action to improve their capital bases and should add to early positive momentum Tuesday as the second quarter gets under way. And in European trade shares of Deutsche Bank AG advanced, despite news that the company expects a $4 billion first-quarter writedown for difficult market conditions.

In addition, the dollar was able to take back some strength against the euro in early trade. The euro bought $1.5636 early Tuesday, down from the $1.5785 late Monday in New York.

The futures contract for the Dow Jones industrial average rose 109 points, or 09 percent, to 12,366. Futures contracts for the Standard & Poor's 500 shot up 13.30 points, or 1 percent, to 1,337.30 and the Nasdaq 100 advanced 21.5 points, or 1.2 percent, to 1,812.

On Monday, Wall Street managed a moderate gain in the final session of a dismal first quarter. But stock prices and the major indexes still ended the first three months of 2008 with massive losses, the casualties of the still continuing credit crisis. It was the worst quarter for the major indexes since the third quarter of 2002, when Wall Street was approaching the lowest point of a protracted bear market.

The Institute for Supply Management is expected to report that manufacturing activity contracted further in March. Analysts polled by Thomson/IFR project that the ISM manufacturing composite index slipped to 48.0 from 48.3 in February. All readings below 50 indicate contraction.

In addition, the Commerce Department is expected to report that construction spending in February declined 1.1 percent, which would be a slight improvement over the 1.7 percent drop seen in January, according to Thomson/IFR.

Both reports are due at 10 a.m. Eastern.

U.S. auto makers also are set to release their March sales figures.

In overseas trade, Tokyo's Nikkei closed up 1.04 percent. There were gains in Europe too, with London's FTSE rising 1.20 percent, Frankfurt's DAX gaining 1.80 percent and Paris' CAC 40 advancing 1.64 percent.