Breaking News & Stocks

Europe Markets up 1.5%
US markets to close 3% up today - Source http://money.cnn.com/2008/02/19/mark...atch/index.htm

Nifty to open at least 200-250 points up by 10 AM in the morning - All people who held their equities can cash some good money this week

Cheers
SM

thats great.thanks

europe now recoverd: FTSE 100 6,008.60 +62.00 +1.04% DAX 7,032.03 +64.48 CAC 40 4,909.08 +47.28 +0.97%

Sensex ends up 0.15 pct; Ranbaxy, Bajaj gain

By Devidutta Tripathy

MUMBAI (Reuters) - Indian stocks edged up 0.15 percent on Tuesday, surrendering early gains of as much as 1.5 percent as nervy investors decided it was best not to take aggressive positions given uncertainty about the global outlook.

Drug maker Ranbaxy Laboratories ended up 4.8 percent after its board approved the spin-off of its drug discovery research unit, a move which it said would generate savings of $25 million in the current year.

Second-ranked motorcycle maker Bajaj Auto closed 5.6 percent higher after said it had court approval for a plan to split its manufacturing and finance operations.

"Markets are in a consolidation mode. There is no clear signal from the international markets," said Gajendra Nagpal, CEO at Unicon Financial in New Delhi.

"We rose in the morning tracking Asia, but that could not be backed up when Europe opened."

The benchmark BSE 30-share index rose 27.61 points to 18,075.66, with 19 components rising. The index ended 14.8 percent below a record high of 21,206.77 hit on Jan. 10.

"The budget is the most important event the market is now looking to. I don't think we will see any major upside or downside before the budget," Nagpal said.

The government will announce its 2008/09 (April/March) budget on Feb. 29.

Equity markets elsewhere in Asia rose on Tuesday as investors put January's global slump behind them and ventured into banking stocks, daring to trust that the U.S. economy would not throw any more ugly surprises, but European equities fell more than 1 percent.

Merrill Lynch equity strategist Vijay Gaba said the uncertain external environment and risk aversion among global fund managers could keep Indian markets volatile for the next few months, even though India offered a safe haven in uncertain times.

"There is no sign of it crash landing. It is though expected to soft land into a healthy 8 percent-plus real GDP growth region in 2008 and 2009, against over 9 percent real GDP growth in 2007," he said in a report.

Top software exporter Tata Consultancy gained 2.7 percent to 874.85 rupees as the rupee slipped to a four-month low against the dollar.

Reliance Energy, which owns 45 percent of utility Reliance Power, fell 4.4 percent to 1,622.15 rupees. Reliance Power said on Sunday its board would consider issuing bonus shares to its shareholders, excluding owners, after its poor debut last week.

In the broader market, 1,506 gainers led 1,239 losers on volume of 308 million shares.

The 50-share NSE index edged up 0.07 percent to 5,280.80.

Elsewhere in the region, Karachi's 100-share index gained 3.09 percent to 14,797.47, its highest close since Dec. 26, on relief the country's general election had passed with less violence than feared and without allegations of rigging.

Colombo's All-share index rose 0.26 percent to 2,503.54.


STOCKS THAT MOVED

* Reliance Power edged down 0.1 percent to 413.30 rupees. The stock had risen 7.5 percent on Monday on plans to issue bonus shares after its poor debut last week.

* OnMobile Global Ltd closed at 521.90 rupees on debut, 18.6 percent higher than its issue price of 440 rupees.

* Visa Steel Ltd rose 4.9 percent to 50.10 rupees after its chairman told Reuters it planned to spend 80 billion rupees ($2 billion) over 5 years to set up 3 million tonnes of steel-making capacity.


TOP THREE BY VOLUME

* Reliance Natural Resources 20.8 million shares

* OnMobile Global on 19.7 million shares

* Ispat Industries on 16.1 million shares

read it carefully

Zee Bouquet Is Hot Pick for tomorrow, Source ZeeLtd.

good.even today zee was too hot.

Expect DishTV to touch 77 tomorrow

Realty sector to see 25 % jump in 2008 salary: Report

New Delhi, Feb 19: The realty sector is projected to witness the highest salary rise in 2008 in India, even ahead of retail and telecommunications industries, says a survey.

The real estate is expected to record a salary hike of 25 percent this year, though marginally less than 25.2 percent seen in 2007.

According to "salary increase survey 2007-08" conducted by consulting firm Hewitt associates, telecommunications and energy sectors would have an increase of 17.6 percent and 17.5 percent respectively.

The sectors would be followed by banking/finance (16.9 percent), retail (16.2 percent) and accounting/consulting/legal (16.1 per cent).

Meanwhile, India is estimated to have an average salary hike of 15.2 percent in 2008, the highest for any country.

However, the projected increase is nearly flat, as compared to 15.1 percent last year.

"India would possibly have the highest rise in salary compared to other countries...," Sandeep Chaudhary, leader of Hewitt's rewards consulting practice in India told reporters here today.

"Employees are increasingly looking for great career opportunities and are actively being pursued by other organisations offering extremely attractive opportunities and packages. Hence, organisations are using compensation as a strategic lever in attracting, retaining and motivating talent," he pointed out.

However, the survey forecasts a gradual decrease in salary hikes and stabilisation in the range of 9 to 10 percent by 2012.

The survey was conducted in 540 organisations in India across 19 industries in the last three months.

Bureau Report

Tuesday February 19, 07:04 PM India's Reliance says has not signed for Iraq deals

NEW DELHI (Reuters) - India's Reliance Industries Ltd has not registered with the Iraqi government to participate in oil and gas exploration tenders there, a company spokesman said on Tuesday.

"We have reviewed our current exploration portfolio and resources. We feel that we are not in a position to commit resources required for undertaking exploration and production activities in Iraq," Tushar Pania said.

He said the company would look for participation in the future when it had the requisite resources.