Gold demand up as jewellers brace for weddingsA customer looks in a mirror after wearing a gold earring inside a jewellery shop in HyderabadGold demand in India rose on Friday, after prices fell 3% in the past two days, luring jewellers who began restocking and preparing for the wedding season beginning mid-January, dealers said.At 3:42 pm, the most-active February gold on the Multi Commodity Exchange was 1.2% up at Rs 27,157 per 10 gram.International spot gold rose 1% to $1,561.89 an ounce.(Pictures by Reuters)

Gold demand rises

People walk past the Bombay Stock Exchange building in Mumbai

The BSE Sensex closed 0.57% lower on Friday and fell nearly 25% on the year, posting its first annual loss in three years.

The main 30-share BSE index ended 89.01 points down at 15,454.92, with 22 of its components in the red.

The 50-share NSE index shed 0.47% to 4,624.30.

Sensex shed 25% in 2011

A man is drenched by a large wave during high tide as he cycles past at a fishing harbour in Chennai

Rain and gale force winds lashed the southeast coast on Friday, bringing down walls and power lines and killing at least six people as cyclone Thane made landfall near Chennai.

With winds of up to 135 kph and tidal surges of up to 5 feet, Thane hit Tamil Nadu, close to the former French colonial town of Pondicherry, forcing some people in coastal villages to seek safety in relief shelters.

The storm quickly lost strength over land, with winds dropping to 75 kph.

"There have been six cyclone-related deaths in different villages in this area mainly due to wall collapses or electrocution," said V Amuthavalli, an official in Cuddalore district, one of the worst-hit areas in Tamil Nadu.

The weather office said Thane, which had moved in from the Bay of Bengal hitting the coast between Cuddalore and Pondicherry at around dawn, would

Cyclone Thane lashes southern coast

A cashier counts currency notes inside a bank in the northern Indian city of Lucknow

The rupee was down on Friday due to dollar demand from oil importers and a few foreign banks, with a reversal in domestic equities adding to pressure on the local currency, which is on course for its steepest annual fall since 2008.

At 3:07 pm (0937 GMT), the rupee was at 53.30/31 to the dollar, down 0.4% from Thursday&#39;s close of 53.07/08.

Traders said any further decline in the rupee was unlikely to be sharp as most expect the central bank to intervene to support the local currency.

Rupee down on importer demand

Air India&#39;s newly-acquired Airbus A321 and Boeing 777-200 LR aircrafts are on display at the tarmac of Mumbai airport

The Aviation Ministry proposes to provide Rs 33,000 crore in assistance to cash-strapped Air India by 2017, as part of the government&#39;s 12th Five-Year Plan, according to a working group report seen by Reuters.

The assistance would include an equity infusion of Rs 19,900 crore, the report shows.