Rupee logs biggest one day gain in more than two and half years

The rupee surged 1.4 percent on Thursday and posted its largest single-session rise since May 2009, powered by hopes of dollar inflows, a day after the world's six major central banks announced co-ordinated action to help ease the euro zone crisis.

Strong gains in local shares, mirroring global equities, and the euro's sharp climb buoyed the rupee, traders said.

Robust interest from foreign investors at the debt limit auction on Wednesday added to the sanguine outlook on dollar inflows and boosted the local currency, they said.
The enhanced $10 billion debt limit for foreign institutional investors (FIIs) received bids worth $14 billion, four market sources said on Wednesday.

The partially convertible rupee ended at 51.46/47 per dollar, after gaining as much as 51.40 -- a level last seen on November 18 -- in early trade. It had closed at 52.20/21 on Wednesday.

The local currency had last witnessed such a sharp rise on May 18, 2009, when it climbed more than 3 percent on the back of a 17-percent surge in local equities, after the re-election of the Congress party-led ruling coalition.

The US Federal Reserve, the European Central Bank and the central banks of Canada, Britain, Japan and Switzerland said on Wednesday they would lower the cost of existing dollar swap lines by 50 basis points from December 5, and arrange bilateral swaps to provide liquidity for other currencies.

Rupee still vulnerable

Despite the rupee's strong performance on Thursday, the local currency was still open to a correction, traders said.

"After Wednesday, market is hoping for bigger and better things from ECB and European policy makers to help the euro zone out of the debt crisis," said Priyanka Kishore, forex strategist at Standard Chartered Bank.

"But portfolio flows are unlikely to be a one-way bet, until more concrete progress is made on solving the euro zone crisis. So rupee remains vulnerable to bouts of risk aversion."

Foreign funds are still net sellers this year of $527 million of local shares as of Tuesday, compared with a record investments of more than $29 billion in 2010.

The rupee had declined 6.7 percent in November and is the worst performer among Asian peers this year.

Traders said gains in the euro too were expected to be limited ahead of next week's summit of European Union leaders and could cap the rupee's rise.

"Euro still looks vulnerable and the dollar inflow has to materialise for the rupee to see continued rise. Domestic factors like trade deficit, slowing growth, remain negative," said a senior forex dealer with a private-sector bank.

The euro was at $1.3473 at end of rupee trade, while the index of the dollar against six major currencies was at 78.276 points.

The one-month offshore non-deliverable forward contracts were quoted at 51.76.

The one-month onshore forward dollar premium was at 27.75 points from 28.75 on Wednesday, the three-month was at 67.25 points from 64, and the one-year premium was at 186.50 points, from 165.25.

In the currency futures market, the most traded near-month dollar-rupee contracts on the National Stock Exchange ended at 51.70, while on the United Stock Exchange and the MCX-SX they both ended at 51.71. The total volume at $5.08 billion.

'Bangalore'- the best Indian city to live in

Southern technology hub Bangalore has emerged as the best city to live in India, a global survey said today.

But  Bangalore's worldwide rank is very low at 141st position in a list of 221 cities globally in terms of standard of living, compiled by the 'Quality of Living Survey - Worldwide Rankings, 2011' by the global HR (human resources) consultancy major Mercer.

Vienna has been ranked as the world's best city to live in on the global list, which has five Indian cities-
Bangalore (141st),
 New Delhi (143rd),
Mumbai (144th),
Chennai (150th) and
Kolkata (151st).

Globally, Vienna is followed by Zurich, Auckland, Munich, Dusseldorf, Vancouver, Frankfurt, Geneva, Copenhagen and Bern among the top-ranked cities in terms of quality of living, Mercer said.

In another list of the world's best cities in terms of personal safety standards, Luxembourg has been placed on the top, followed by Bern, Helsinki, Zurich, Vienna, Geneva and Stockholm.

On this list, Indian cities have been ranked a little better, as Bangalore has got 117th place, New Delhi and Kolkata shared the 127th position, Mumbai is at 142 and Chennai is placed at 108th.

Bangalore has been ranked as the best Indian city both in terms of quality of living and the personal safety standards.

The personal safety ranking has been on measures of internal stability, crime levels, law enforcement effectiveness and host-country's international relations.

Facebook faces crackdown in Europe on selling users' details

LONDON : Facebook is facing a crackdown in Europe for harvesting Facebook users' all personal information and "selling" the same to advertisers, a media report said.

The European Commission is planning to stop the way the popular social networking website "eavesdrops" on its users to gather information about their political opinions, sexuality, religious beliefs and even their whereabouts, 'The Sunday Telegraph' reported.

Using sophisticated software, Facebook collects information from people's activities on the social networking site -- whatever their individual privacy settings -- and make it available to advertisers, it claimed.

However, following concerns over the privacy implications of the practice, a new European Commission directive, is to be introduced in January, which will ban such advertising unless users specifically allow it, the newspaper said.

Even though most of the information it harvests is stored on computers in the USA, if Facebook fails to comply with the new legislation it may face legal action.

Viviane Reding, the vice-president of European Commission, said the directive would amend current European data protection laws in the light of technological advances and ensure consistency in how offending firms are dealt with across the EU.

"I call on service providers -- especially social media sites -- to be more transparent about how they operate. Users must know what data is collected and further processed (and) for what purposes."

Facebook has, however, denied the claims. A spokesman for the company said: "We do not share people's names with an advertiser without a person's explicit consent and we never sell personal information to third parties."

In small and medium business segment, TCS targeting more customers

TCS (Tata Consultancy Services) launched a first of its kind fully integrated information technology solution for Small and Medium Business (SMB) segment recently, today said it was targeting to reach over 1000 customers in the segment nationally this year, a top official today said.

iON, TCS's strategic unit for small and medium business, presently has over 250 customers who are experiencing the benefits of increased efficiences, predicatablity of technology, talent on call and an expanded customer based following the end-to-end integrated suite of cloud based business solutions, V Ramaswamy Global Head iON told reporters here. The third generation service model allows SMBs to capture growth through seamless technology deployment.

Over 60 per cent of the SMB's do not have IT system, which is a large market waiting to be tapped, he said.
Launching the product in Kerala market, he said TCS will go aggressive in the state and tap opportunties in the education, food processing and health care sectors. There are over 2.20 lakh registered SSI units employing close to one million people, he said key sectors including Information Technology, Tourism, Agrobased business including food processing, Readymade garments, were the areas they would
To provide its customers with seamless service, iON has created an eco-system of over 100 Cloud Service Partners across India. iON's industry solutions are currently available for Manufacturing, Textile, Education, Retail, Restaurant, Wellness and Professional services.

iON addresses the entire spectrum of an SMB's technology needs which range from sophisticated domain based ERP solutions like HRM finance, inventory besides basic applications like email, document management and website services.

Kozhikode realty market is getting ready for another big round of boom

Rising interest rates and slowing growth may have dampened spirits across the country but Kozhikode (formerly Calicut) realty market is gearing up for another round of boom. The Kozhikode on the way to a new trend, would see the launch of around 15-20 projects in and around the city.
According to a study about the market, the industry has taken up projects after taking genuine demand into account. The demand is from actual customers whose housing needs are genuine and there is very little investment demand. Builders say rising interest rates and slowing growth may not affect demand. Moreover, like elsewhere in the state, Kozhikode also gets a large inflow of NRI money into real estate. However, the focus of the builders is on domestic demand, growing at a healthy rate.
Builders in Kozhikode have placed their hope on the growing importance of the city as an IT destination. In fact, many companies have started looking at Kozhikode seriously while deciding on their future investment plans. A Hungarian company has already announced its plans to open a centre in Kozhikode employing almost 1,000 IT professionals initially.

It is against this backdrop that the city is getting ready for a new jump. The rates for residential apartments are now in the range of Rs 2,500 to Rs 4,100 per square feet and rates for premium apartments within the city, especially in places like Mananchira and Nadakkavu, have gone up to Rs 4,100 per sq ft.
Expansion of Kozhikode airport, the growth of tourism and the potential of the city to emerge as a new IT destination are the aspects on which the builders are pinning hopes on. Taking into account the all-round development of the city, the builders have launched new projects.
The growth in general business in the city has also led to a boom in commercial space construction. There are about 40 builders in Kozhikode and its suburbs. They ensure that supply is kept in line with the demand. As a result, there has been a consistency in the rates for built-up space in both residential and commercial categories.

Jet fuel prices hiked, It's too bad for aviation

Indian oil companies hiked jet fuel prices for the second time this month, raising rates by a steep 2 % with effect from midnight tonight.

"The price of aviation turbine fuel (ATF), or jet fuel, at Delhi's T3 airport was raised by Rs. 1,195 per kilolitre (kl), or 1.95 per cent, to Rs. 62,310.33 per kl with effect from midnight tonight, an official of Indian Oil Corp, the nation's largest fuel retailer, said.

The increase comes on back of a massive 3.8 per cent or Rs. 2,845 per kl hike in rates effected from November 1.

But for a one-off marginal reduction in mid-October, ATF prices have been on the climb since September. IOC and other state retailers, Hindustan Petroleum and Bharat Petroleum, had on October 1 and September 16 and raised jet fuel prices by 2.5 per cent and 1.5 per cent respectively, as imports became costlier due to fall in rupee against the US dollar.

ATF in Mumbai, home to the nation's busiest airport, will cost Rs. 63,228.40 per kl from tomorrow as against current rate of Rs. 61,983.64 per kl.

Jet fuel makes up for 40 per cent of an airlines' operating cost and the steep hike in prices will raise burden on the cash-strapped airlines. No immediate comment was available from airlines on the impact of the price hike on passenger fares.

ATF prices vary from airport to airport, depending on the local sales tax or VAT.

The three fuel retailers revise jet fuel prices on the 1st and 16th of every month, based on the average international price in the preceding fortnight.

World stock trend

LONDON: World stocks rose for the fourth session in a row on Wednesday on hopes the U.S. Federal Reserve will ride to the economy's rescue with another stimulus package, though global shares were still set to post their biggest monthly drop in 15 months.

Copper prices also rose while the dollar slipped against the Swiss franc and the yen.

Gold, bolstered during August by safe-haven buying, eased 0.1 percent. However, it was poised to post its biggest monthly rise since November 2009.

Yields on 10-year U.S. Treasuries and German Bunds also fell sharply this month, with the Treasury yields down more than 21 percent -- heading to their biggest monthly percentage drop since December 2008.

Tuesday's slump in U.S. consumer confidence to its lowest in two years, along with Fed minutes showing policymakers discussed a range of unusual tools they could use to help the economy, further bolstered expectations that the U.S. central bank is ready to act.

The Fed's decision to hold a two-day meeting in September instead of a one-day session has already helped stabilise financial markets after a steep sell-off earlier in August on concerns over slowing global growth and the euro zone debt crisis.

"Although the release of the FOMC meeting minutes offered little in the way of consensus as to precisely what the central bank will do next, it does still leave the door open for further action so this may well help keep the general sentiment upbeat," said Cameron Peacock, market analyst at IG Markets.

The pan-European FTSEurofirst 300 index of leading shares climbed 1.2 percent, though it was still down 12 percent in August and set for its biggest monthly fall since October 2008 after the collapse of Lehman Brothers.

World equities measured by the MSCI All-Country World Index advanced 0.6 percent. The benchmark is down 8.2 percent this month, heading for its worst monthly percentage drop since May last year.

In Asia, Japan's Nikkei average ended flat and was down 8.9 percent in August, its biggest one month decline in 15 months.

DOLLAR DIPS

Expectations of further stimulus from the U.S. weighed on the dollar, which was down 0.9 percent at 0.8126 francs and 0.1 percent at 76.58 yen on Wednesday.

"In the run up to the September FOMC, we're probably going to have a bit more chatter about QE3...which is likely to keep the dollar weak," said Andrew Robinson, FX analyst for Saxo Capital Markets in Singapore.

The U.S. currency was down 1.2 percent in August versus the yen, despite Tokyo's efforts to weaken its currency through intervention. The greenback is down 5.6 percent this year against the yen, which has held its safe-haven appeal.

The euro was down 0.1 percent at $1.4435, though the single currency is up 7.9 percent against the dollar this year, largely helped by Asian investors' moves to diversify their assets.

Copper added 0.7 percent, up for the sixth day in a row, while Brent crude steadied to trade just below $114 a barrel.

Yields on 10-year Treasuries were up 1 basis point at 2.1899 percent after falling 60 basis points in August. Benchmark Bund yields have dropped nearly 40 percent over the same period.

Indian PC sales going to touch 11.15 million units in 2011

The India PC market is expected to see sales of 11.15 million units in the 2011 calendar year, according to a study.

According to market research, consulting and advisory services firm CyberMedia Research, sales are expected to accelerate further by 14% to 12.71 million units in 2012. The study pointed out that with nearly 10 million unit sales in 2010, the combined installed base of desktop and notebook personal computers in India is estimated to have crossed 52 million units as of December 31, 2010.

The current installed base of personal computers translates into one computer for every 25 Indians, doubling the per capita PC availability in just four years. At the end of 2006, there was approximately one computer for every 50 Indians.
    
The first tablet computer was launched in India in November, 2010. Since then, the market has seen a slew of launches by both MNC and Indian players.
    
While models like Cisco's Cius and RIM's Blackberry Playbook tablets are focused on the enterprise user segment, the Samsung Galaxy Tab and Reliance 3G Tab manufactured by Chinese telecom manufacturer ZTE are focused on the consumer segment.
    
The firm expects tablets to become the new battleground as major MNCs and Indian vendors and operators race to capture a share of this emerging market.
    
The first half of 2011 witnessed subdued sales in the Indian PC market on account of lower offtake by the government, public and private sector. Lower consumer demand also added to the slack sales.
    
This situation is expected to correct itself in the July-September, 2011, quarter as strong demand from the education sector is usually witnessed at the commencement of the new academic session.
    
Consumer buying is also expected to be higher in the July-December period of 2011 on account of festive season buying.
    
Domestic demand in the large and SMB enterprise segments is expected to remain healthy as well.
    
However, a 'wait-and-watch' buying sentiment may continue in the corporate sector due to the ongoing uncertain economic environment in the US, Europe and Japan.
    
The other major development with a likely impact on companies' shares of the PC market was HP's announcement on August 18-19 that it was spinning off its PC business, the study added.

Growth in commercial credit offtake slows to 19%

               Hit by high interest rates, growth in commercial credit offtake from banks by major sectors slowed to 18.9% in July, 2011, from 20% in the same month last year.

While the farm sector and industry reported lower credit offtake in July, 2011, vis-a-vis the same month of 2010, year-on-year growth was higher in case of services and personal loans, as per the latest data released by the RBI. Total outstanding non-food or commercial credit disbursement stood at Rs 37.28 lakh crore in July this year, up from Rs 31.35 lakh crore in the same month of the previous fiscal.

Commercial credit offtake of all the sectors combined was Rs 26.13 lakh crore in July, 2009.
    
"On a year-on-year basis, non-food gross bank credit increased by 18.9% in July, 2011, as compared with 20% in the corresponding period of last year," the RBI said.
    
The RBI had last month revised its non-food credit growth projection for this fiscal downward to 18% from the earlier estimate of 19%.
    
The decline in credit offtake is on account of the RBI's monetary tightening policy. The apex bank has raised its key policy rates 11 times since March, 2010, in a bid to tame inflation, which is currently above 9%.
    
Gross bank credit, which also includes food credit, grew by 19.1% in July on an annual basis, as against a growth of 19.8% in the same month of 2010.
    
This is on account of a massive 31.9% jump in food credit offtake during the month under review, as against a mere 9.2% growth in July last year.
    
Food credit offtake stood at Rs 67,461 crore in July this year, compared to Rs 51,281 crore in July last year. Food credit offtake had stood at Rs 46,971 crore in June, 2009.
    
Last fiscal, non-food credit offtake increased by 21.5%, much above the RBI's projection of 20%.
    
As per the latest data, total credit disbursement to agriculture and allied areas grew by only 11.8% in July, 2011, as against a growth of 19.9% in the same month of 2010.
    
It was Rs 4.43 lakh crore in July, 2011, compared to Rs 3.96 lakh crore in July last year. In July, 2009, it stood a Rs 3.30 lakh crore.
    
"Credit to industry increased by 21.2% (year-on- year) in July, 2011, as compared with 27.7% in the previous year...," the RBI said.
    
On an annual basis, total credit disbursement to industry -- which includes infrastructure, metals, food processing, rubber, plastic and their products and engineering -- was Rs 16.79 lakh crore in July, compared to Rs 13.85 lakh crore in the same month last year. It stood at Rs 10.84 lakh crore in July, 2009.

However, there was a moderate increase in the rate of growth of credit offtake from banks by the services sector.
    
"Credit to the services sector increased by 21.3% (year-on-year) in July, 2011, up from 17.4% in the previous year," the RBI said.
    
The sector saw bank credit offtake rise to Rs 9.06 lakh crore in July this year from Rs 7.47 lakh crore in the corresponding month last year. In July, 2009, the figure was Rs 6.36 lakh crore.
    
Within services, while segments like transport, computer software, tourism and wholesale trade witnessed slower growth in the offtake of credit during the month, disbursements to non-banking financial companies saw a big jump.
    
"Credit growth to NBFCs at 55.6% on a year-on- year basis in July, 2011, was significantly higher than that of 10.9% growth during the corresponding period of the previous year," the apex bank said.
    
Bank credit disbursement to the NBFC segment stood at Rs 1.73 lakh crore in July this year, as against Rs 1.11 lakh crore in the same month last year. Credit disbursement to NBFCs stood at Rs 10.03 lakh crore in July, 2009.
    
Credit extended to the personal loans sector also went up by 15.4% during July, 2011, compared to a growth of 8% during the same month a year ago.
    
During the month under review, total credit offtake by the sector stood at Rs 6.98 lakh crore, as against Rs 6.05 lakh crore in July, 2010. In July, 2009, the sector had availed credit to the extent of Rs 5.60 lakh crore.

The BSE benchmark Sensex falling agin and again..

The BSE benchmark Sensex posted its longest four-week losing streak since October 2008 as it plunged by 698 points to end at the 15-month low of 16,141.67 during the truncated week in line with mayhem in global markets on economic worries.

The stock markets, BSE and NSE, were closed on Monday, August 15, on account of the 'Independence Day'.
Increased selling by foreign institutional investors (FIIs) also was one of the major reasons for the turmoil. FIIs pulled out over Rs 2,000 crore this week, taking the total to over Rs 7,600 crore in August so far.
Enduring European debt problems and murky US economic data released on Thursday indicated the world is going into another recession, distressing the market sentiment globally.
On the domestic front, higher inflation and rising interest rates, which might restrict the corporate profit growth, continued to weigh on the market.
The downslide commenced from July 26 when RBI raised key lending rates by 50 basis points, higher than the market expectations. The situation was further exacerbated by external factors.
Sensex-based key stocks like RIL, Infosys, ICICI Bank, SBI, Tata Motors, Tata Steel, Jindal Steel, Sterlite, Wipro, Hindalco, Tata Power logged their new 52-week lows.
The Bombay Stock Exchange 30-share bellwether index resumed higher at 17,015.99 but later dipped below 16,000 to a low of 15,987.77, before ending at 16,141.67, lowest closing after May 25, 2010, a net loss of 697.96 points, or 4.14 per cent, from its last weekend's close.

Gold in a new peek of Rs. 28,230 per 10 grams

Gold in new peek of Rs. 28,230 per 10 grams

Gold price in a new peek of Rs 28,230 per 10 grams increased Rs 80 on sustained buying by stockists and investors amid firm global trend.

Trading trends remained bullish as gold rose to a record, above 1,880 dollar an ounce in New York, rallying on concern over altering US economy and deepening European sovereign debt crisis.

On the domestic front, gold of 99.9 and 99.5 per cent purity added Rs 80 to set fresh peak of Rs 28,230 and Rs 28,080 per ten grams respectively.
Sovereign held steady at Rs 22,400 per piece of eight gram.
Silver ready spurted by Rs 3,500 to Rs 66,300 per kg and weekly-based delivery by Rs 3,795 to Rs 66,485 per kg.
Silver coins surged by Rs 4,000 to Rs 73,500 for buying and Rs 74,500 for selling of 100 pieces.

The Govt lifts ban on wheat exports ..by Sharad Pawar.

The four year old ban on wheat exports has decided to lift by the Govt, at the current global prices the shipment of the grain is not viable.

For boosting the domestic supply and contain inflation, the Govt banned wheat exports since early 2007. But on the sideline of an ICAR function, the agricultural minister Sharad Pawar told reporters that "Yes, There is No ban. Wheat Exports are allowed" and he also added the Govt has not announced the quantity of wheat allowed for exports as global prices are very low.

Just recently, financial minister Pranab Mukherjee headed Empowered Group of Ministers(EGoM) on food, in which Pawar aso a member, had given in principal approval to lift the ban on wheat exports in the wake of overflowing stocks.

Presently the Govt godown have the wheat stock of 37.8 million tones(MT) in view of bumper output.

"i don't think there will be any response. The issue is whether we will be able to sell in the global market at such low international prices" by Pawar for expressing the doubt on viability on wheat exports.

The agricultural ministry is yet to announce the final production estimate, source said that the country total wheat output  has touched a record a record 86 million tone in the 2010-11 crop year(july to june), the previous year output were 80.80 MT.

The Gold in new peak at Rs23,270 on global cues

Gold surged Rs150 and in a new high of Rs 23,270 per 10 grams. Silver also staged a strong come back by increasing Rs 1,000 to Rs 57,500 per kg.

Trading trends turned bullish as the yellow metal to a record high in global markets, on mounting
concern that debt woes in the US will escalate, boosting its appeal as a safe haven.

Gold in global market , which is always a trend setter in price hike and that is in a great record $1,594.90 an ounce.

On the domestic market;-

Gold of 99.9% -23,270 per 10 grams.

Gold of 99.5% -23150 per 10 grams.

Piece of eight grams -18850

  Silver ready bounced back and increase by Rs 1,000 to Rs 57,500 per kg and weekly based delivery by Rs1,745 to Rs 58,445 per kg. Silver coin rose by Rs 61,500 for buying and Rs 62,500 for selling as against last close of Rs 61,500 and Rs 62,000, respectively.

Eight Indian Companies were ranked in World's 500 largest corporation

Eight Indian Companies are listed in World's 500 largest companies by Future magazine.
Indian Oil find a place in the top 100 and Reliance Industries in 134th spot. The Indian Oil on 98th spot,up from 125th place last year. Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Industries has also improved from 175 to 134 spot.

• Bharath Petroleum -271
• State Bank of India -291
• Hindusthan Petroleum -335
• Tata Motors -358
• ONGC -360
• Tata Steel -369

    The list is topped by the retail giant Wal-Mart Stores, which had annual revenues of USD-421849 million, and it followed by the  Royal Dutch Shell (USD-378152 million), EXXON Mobiles (USD-354674 million) at second and third post respectively.

• Indian Oil - USD-68837
• Reliance Industries - USD-58900
• Bharath Petroleum - USD-34102
• State Bank of India - USD-32450
• Hindusthan Petroleum - USD-28593
• Tata Motors - USD-27046
• ONGC- USD-26945
• Tata Steel - USD-26065