Page 3727 - Business Finance
Gold crosses Rs 31 K, up Rs 125 on global cues
Gold rebounded by spurting Rs 125 to trade at Rs 31,070 per 10 grams at the bullion market here today due to pick-up in buying by stockists and jewellers amid bullish global cues. Silver too attracted increased buying support from industrial units and surged Rs 365 per kg. Standard gold (99.5 per cent purity) hardened by Rs 125 to finish at Rs 31,070 per 10 grams from overnight closing level of Rs 30,945. Pure gold (99.9 per cent purity) also rose by a similar margin to end at Rs 31,220 per 10 grams compared to Rs 31,095, yesterday. Silver (.999 fineness) spurted by Rs 365 to conclude at Rs 39,835 per kg against Wednesday's level of Rs 39,470. Globally, gold prices edged up as a dollar rally came off the boil, though upside momentum in the precious metal was seen as a safe haven asset and capped by smoothening political tensions in Italy. Spot gold was trading up 0.3 per cent to USD 1,304.31 per ounce at early trade. Spot silver rose 0.1 per cent to USD 16.53 an ounce.
Wall Street opens lower on renewed trade war concerns
(Reuters) - U.S. stocks slipped at the open on Thursday on worries of a looming trade war with the European Union that outweighed optimism over renewed efforts in Italy to form a government.
PM Modi launches 3 Indian digital payment apps in Singapore
Prime Minister Narendra Modi today launched three Indian mobile payment apps in Singapore at a business event here aimed at internationalisation of the country's digital payment platforms. At the 'Business, Innovation and Community Event' here where digital platform was the main theme, Modi launched India's BHIM, RuPay and SBI app. "Touching lives of common people through innovation! PM @narendramodi launched three technologies - RuPay, Bhim App and UPI enabled remittance app by State Bank of India, Singapore," MEA spokesperson Raveesh Kumar tweeted. The RuPay digital payments system was linked up with Singapore's 33-year-old Network for Electronic Transfers (NETS). RuPay users will be able to make payments at all NETS acceptance points across Singapore. Holders of Singapore NETS will be able to make online purchases on the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) e-commerce merchant website, using 2.8 million RuPay point-of-sale terminals in India. Industry observers said it ...
Deepak Fertilisers Q4 profit up 19 pc to Rs 38 cr
Deepak Fertilisers and Petrochemicals Corporation has posted a 19 per cent increase in its net profit at Rs 37.90 crore for the quarter ended March. Its net profit stood at Rs 31.96 crore in the year-ago period, according to a regulatory filing. Total income increased to Rs 1,916.33 crore in the fourth quarter of the last fiscal from Rs 1,256.27 crore in the corresponding period of the previous year. On an annual basis, net profit increased to Rs 162.67 crore in 2017-18 from Rs 154.31 crore in the previous year. Total income increased to Rs 6,085.63 crore from Rs 4,393.98 crore during the period under review.
HDFC Bank shares up over 4%; mcap rises by Rs 23,577 cr
Shares of private lender HDFC Bank rose by over 4 per cent today, adding Rs 23,577 crore to its market valuation, amid reports that the window for foreign investors to pick up stake in the company will open tomorrow. The stock gained 4.36 per cent to end at Rs 2,136.15 on BSE. During the day, it jumped 5 per cent to Rs 2,150 -- its 52-week high. At NSE, shares of the company went up by 4.44 per cent to close at Rs 2,139.45. Led by the rally in the stock, the company's market valuation zoomed Rs 23,576.96 crore to Rs 5,54,752.96 crore. In terms of equity volume, 2.85 lakh shares of the company were traded on BSE and over 99 lakh shares changed hands on NSE during the day. The bank's ADRs rallied 7 per cent in New York yesterday.
Brent rallies to trade at largest premium to U.S. crude since 2015
LONDON (Reuters) - Brent crude prices reversed earlier losses to hit their biggest premium to U.S. futures in over three years on Thursday, as the prospect of more inventory increases weighed heavily on West Texas Intermediate prices.
India's 2017/18 fiscal deficit at 3.5 percent of GDP
NEW DELHI (Reuters) - India's fiscal deficit in the year ended March 2018 came in at 3.53 percent of gross domestic product, in line with the revised estimates, government data showed on Thursday.
Wipro Infra Engineering announces launch of industrial
Wipro Infrastructure Engineering (WIN), a part of Wipro, today announced the launch of industrialautomation business, 'WIN Automation'. It is a full-service line industrial automation business that will focus on the discrete manufacturing sector in India and ASEAN and enable companies to be automated, digitised and smart, the company said in a release. "Our core focus is to be a system integrator and playa pivotal role in industrial automation. Our objective is tomake WIN Automation be among the top three system integratorsin the discrete manufacturing industrial automation businessin the geographies we will operate in," WIN CEO Pratik Kumarsaid. The company also said it has appointed G Sundaraman asSenior Vice President and Head of WIN Automation. He has nearly three decades of experience in the manufacturing sector in leadership roles across multiple functions having worked with companies such as Pricol, JCB, TVS, Whirlpool and others, it said.
MSRDC may issue work orders for Nagpur-Mumbai e-way in June
The Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation (MSRDC) is likely to issue work orders for the ambitious Rs 46,000-crore Nagpur-Mumbai Samruddhi Expressway in June, a senior government official said. The corporation today declared the list of 13 lowest bidders for the 700-km project, which will be developed in 13 packages. The bidders include Nagpur Megha Engineering, Afcons, NCC, PNC Infratech, Sadbhav Engineering, APCO, Reliance Infrastructure, MonteCarlo, Megha Engineering, L&T, Gayatri Projects, Dilip Buildcon and BSCPL. "After the outcome of the financial bids, we shall now immediately undertake the process of evaluation of the valuation submitted by the financial bidders. After completion of the due diligence in next few days, we may issue work orders," MSRDC vice-chairman and managing director Radheshyam Mopalwar said in a release. So far, the state government has acquired 81 per cent of private and government lands for the project. "The project will ...
Govt meets fiscal deficit target of 3.5 pc for FY'18
Fiscal deficit for 2017-18 worked out to be 3.53 per cent of the GDP, broadly in line with the government's revised estimates. According to the data released by the Controller General of Accounts (CGA), the revenue deficit was 2.65 per cent of the GDP. In absolute terms, the fiscal deficit was Rs 5.91 lakh crore or 99.5 per cent of the Budget estimates. The government in the Budget, in February, had revised the fiscal deficit target for 2017-18 to 3.5 per cent from the earlier estimate of 3.2 per cent. It proposes the bring down the fiscal deficit -- the gap between total expenditure and total revenue -- during 2018-19 to 3.3 per cent of the gross domestic product (GDP). The CGA data, released this evening, further said that the government's total expenditure was Rs 21,42,667 crore or 96.6 per cent of the originally planned. Its total receipts were Rs 15,51,004 crore or 95.6 per cent of the Budget Estimate. The data further revealed that revenue deficit during the last fiscal was Rs ..
Trump says expecting letter from Kim Jong Un
US President Donald Trump said today he was expecting to receive a message from North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, as the two sides scramble to revive a summit previously set for next month between the two leaders. "I look forward to seeing what's in the letter. They will probably be coming to Washington DC on Friday to deliver the letter so I look forward to that," Trump said before heading to Texas for the day. He also said that meetings in New York between Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and top North Korean official Kim Yong Chol, which resumed early today, were going "very well.
Deutsche Bank's U.S. ops deemed 'troubled' by Fed a year ago - WSJ
FRANKFURT (Reuters) - The United States Federal Reserve last year designated Deutsche Bank AG's U.S. operations to be in "troubled condition", The Wall Street Journal reported, citing people familiar with the matter.
Details on cabinet expansion, portfolios likely to be made
Karnataka Chief Minister H DKumaraswamy today said details on the Congress-JD(S) coalition government's much awaited cabinet expansion and portfolio allocation is likely to be made public tomorrow. He said a decision has been arrived at with the consensus of everyone after several rounds of deliberations. "I, Deve Gowda (JDS supremo) and Venugopal (Congress general secretary) will sit together and discuss developments that have happened in Delhi and probably tomorrowwe will come before public regarding cabinet formation and portfolio allocation, as also on the coordination committee," Kumaraswamy told reporters here. Hectic parleys were on between both the parties on cabinet expansion and portfolio allocation, soonafter Kumaraswamy proved majority on the floor of the assembly on May 25, two days after his swearing-in on May 23. Sharing of key portfolios was the point of contention between both the parties, most importantly Finance, which both Congress and JD(S) ...
Extend Barmer oil production contract with Vedanta till 2030: HC
The Delhi High Court today directed the Centre to extend till 2030 its production sharing contract with Vedanta Limited and ONGC to produce oil from a Rajasthan block. Justice Rajiv Shakdher said that Vedanta, formerly Cairn India, was entitled to the extension of its contract, set to expire in 2020, for a further period of 10 years on the same terms and agreements when it was first entered into in 1995. The direction by the court came on Vedanta's plea for extension of the production sharing contract (PSC) between the company and the Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) have with the government to extract oil from the Barmer block in Rajasthan. "The writ petition is allowed," the court said and directed the Centre to communicate the extension of the contract to Vedanta and ONGC within two weeks of receipt of its verdict. ONGC had communicated its approval for extension of the PSC in July 2016 after which the Centre had assured the court it would positively take a decision by ...
GST, demo to improve tax collection, broaden tax base: Moody's
Reforms such as Goods and Services Tax (GST) and demonetisation will improve tax collection and broaden the tax base in India overtime, Moody's Investors Service said today. In a report on broadening tax base in Asia Pacific countries, Moody's said although there are uncertainties surrounding GST implementation and compliance, including the timely provision of input tax credit refunds, India's strong economic growth and stable fiscal regime should support the effectiveness of ongoing tax reforms in yielding gains. The long-awaited, unfied GST on July 1 last year replaced a dual taxation model which involved multiple levels of central and state governments imposing taxes throughout the value chain. The 'one nation, one tax' was in making for over 17 years. "The implementation of a GST came alongside a range of measures, including at temporary tax amnesty scheme, demonetization, and measures to strengthen tax administration and the ease of doing business, which will contribute to ...
SoftBank investment in GM Cruise could speed self-driving cars
(Reuters) - In a landmark deal that could accelerate wide-scale deployment of self-driving cars, General Motors Co said on Thursday that Japan's SoftBank Group Corp will invest $2.25 billion in GM Cruise Holdings LLC, the carmaker's autonomous vehicle unit.
Rupee holds grip ahead of key macro data, up 2 paise
The rupee edged up by 2 paise to end at 67.41 against the American currency on stray dollar selling by banks and exporters also supported by expectations of robust macroeconomic outcomes. A positive trading sentiment around domestic equity markets further supported the home currency. The rupee-dollar outright spot dealings largely remained quiet and range-bound due to lack of market-moving factors as traders adopted caution ahead of fourth quarter GDP and infrastructure sector data, which was released after market hours. Meanwhile, government data showed that the Indian economy grew 7.7 per cent in the January-March quarter and 6.7 per cent in the 2017-18 fiscal. Infrastructure sector recorded 4.7 per cent growth in April as against 2.6 per cent a year ago. Moreover, absence of month-end dollar demand from oil companies and bullion dealers also weighed on the currency front. It witnessed either-way movements throughout the day on alternate bouts of buying and selling. Excess ...
Punjab Cabinet approves progressive bidding process for auctioning of mines
The Punjab government today decided to grant mining contracts through progressive bidding to boost revenues and curb illegal mining, including that of sand, in the state. The Supreme Court had earlier this month given its approval on the state government's decision to replace reverse bidding with progressive bidding of mines, an official spokesman said here. The apex court had issued directions to immediately stop all mining activities and also directed contractors to remove their machinery from the sites, thus paving the way for the mines to be returned to the state government for re-auction at better commercial terms. The decision on re-auction of mines through progressive bidding was taken at a meeting of the state cabinet, held here today under the chairmanship of Chief Minister Amarinder Singh, according to the spokesperson. Following the decision, the contractors of the mines auctioned through reverse bidding process would be given their advance profit for the balance term of ...
Expert Views: Indian economy grows 7.7 percent in March quarter
(Reuters) - India's economy grew 7.7 percent in the three months through March from a year earlier, government data showed on Thursday, faster than a revised 7.0 percent in the previous quarter.
Equity indices surge on expectation of higher GDP (Roundup)
The two key indices of the Indian equity market -- S&P BSE Sensex and NSE Nifty50 -- gained more than a per cent each on Thursday as hopes of healthy gross domestic product (GDP) growth rate and predictions of a normal southwest monsoon enhanced investors risk-taking appetite.