For the first time in over two centuries of its history, the nation’s largest lender State Bank of India, which had reported 5.73 per cent of its assets as bad loans in the December quarter, is going all out to stem the rot by offloading around Rs. 5,000 crore of its Rs. 67,799 crore dud assets to ARCs before the end of the month.
Unprecedented natural gas reserves in Europe, record global grain output and the threat of mutual economic calamity from oil sanctions are cushioning commodity prices even as the Ukraine-Russia conflict spurs a gold rally.
While U.K. gas prices, a European benchmark, rose 5.1 percent since the crisis began at the end of 
Singapore’s home sales rose in February as developers marketed new projects, a government report showed.
Home sales climbed 1.7 percent to 724 units last month compared with 712 in the same period a year ago, according to data from the Urban Redevelopment Authority released today. Sales climbed 28 percent from January, the data showed.
Domestic air passenger traffic rose 1.10 per cent in February to 49.46 lakh passengers -- up from 48.92 lakh ferried during the corresponding month last year, data showed on Friday.
According to data furnished by the civil aviation ministry, passengers carried by domestic airlines during January-February, 2014 was up 0.69 per cent at 100.93 lakh from 100.24 lakh passengers in the corresponding period of last year.
Renault India has said it is aiming to double its market share to 5 per cent over the next 3-4 years, riding its sub-Rs. 4 lakh car.
"Our current market share is 2.6 per cent and in the mid-term (3-4 Years) we aim to double the market share," Renault country chief executive and managing director Sumit Sawhney said in Kolkata at the launch of the company's second showroom in the city.
The Corporate Debt Restructuring Empowered Group (CDR EG) has approved Orchid Chemicals and Pharmaceuticals ' debt restructuring proposal, the pharma company said on Friday. "...the CDR EG has issued the letter of approval dated March 10, 2014 and the Board of Directors of the company have approved the same today," the Chennai-based company said in a filing to the BSE. As per the terms of debt restructuring,
Gold prices moved down modestly due to subdued buying from stockist and retailers at the existing levels despite bullish overseas sentiments.
Silver dropped on heavy speculative unwinding coupled with poor industrial demand.
Standard gold (99.5 purity) moved down by Rs 40 to Rs 30,320 per 10 grams at 1400 hrs from Rs 30,360 on Friday.
Pure gold (99.9 purity) also fell by Rs 50 to Rs 30,490 per 10 grams as compared to Rs 30,540 yesterday, according to Riddisiddhi Bullions Ltd.
Silver (0.999 fineness) declined by Rs 310 to Rs 46,890 per kg at 1400 hrs from Rs 47,200 previously.
Billionaire Ruia family stuck to the 70 pence per share it indicated earlier for buying out the minorities in its London-listed Essar Energy Plc, an offer slammed again by the company's independent committee.
The committee said the offer from Essar Global Fund Ltd (EGFL) 'materially undervalued' the London-listed resources company.
"EGFL, which is ideally placed to assess the value of Essar Energy and its prospects, itself recognised in November 2013 that the company was wort ..
ignesh Shah-led Financial Technologies , which faces a CBI probe said it will sell National Bulk Handling Corporation (NBHC) for a consideration of Rs 241.74 crore. The company, which runs several exchanges, including the country's largest commodity exchange MCX and the stock exchange MCX-SX, today informed exchanges that the decision to sell its stake in NBHC follows the listing agreement of its exchanges, especially the equity exchange MCX-SX. "Financial Technologies and all other shareholders of NBHC have entered into a share purchase agreement for sale of 100
The Malaysian Prime Minister this morning confirmed that investigators attempting to solve the mystery of Flight MA370 are looking at the possibility the missing jet may have been hijacked and steered off-course.
Speaking at a press conference in Kuala Lumpur, Najib Razak said all known information suggested deliberate action had been taken to switch off the aircraft’s signalling systems somewhere between the Malaysian and Vietnamese border.
As the search for the missing Malaysian jetliner shifts to the vast expanses of the Indian Ocean, the hunt for an Air France (AF)plane that vanished over the Atlantic in 2009 provides some sobering lessons.
Wreckage from the French jet took two years to locate on the seabed even though debris was found floating five days after the plane 
Coal India officers called off their three-day strike midway on Friday after receiving assurances from its chairman on pay-related demands, a union leader said, ensuring little impact on production that peaks in March.
The state-owned company, the world's No. 1 coal miner that accounts for about 80% of India's output, frequently falls short of its output target due to employee strikes, delays in getting approvals to expand
NEW DELHI: The S&P BSE Sensex plunged as much as 160 points in trade on Friday, led by losses in ICICI BankBSE -2.36 %, L&T, Axis BankBSE -2.45 %, ITCBSE -0.54 % and HDFCBSE -1.24 %.
Tracking the momentum, the 50-share Nifty index slipped below its crucial psychological level of 6450 levels in trade, weighed down by losses in banks, realty, capital goods and metal stocks. 
Billionaire Cheng Yu-tung’s New World Development Ltd. (17) offered HK$18.6 billion ($2.4 billion) to take its China property unit private after shares in the arm traded below net asset value for more than six years.
Shareholders of New World China Land Ltd. (917) will get HK$6.8 a share, 32 percent more than the last closing price before today, the companies said in a joint statement to the Hong Kong stock exchange today. 
Malaysia said it will do “whatever it takes” to find a missing passenger jet as the search headed for its sixth day and yet another lead -- this one an e-mail investigated by Vietnamese authorities -- proved a dead end.
“Our immediate focus is to find the aircraft,” Acting Transport MinisterHishammuddin Hussein told reporters in Kuala Lumpur today. 
Global steelmakers have Iran in their sights.
Even after seven years of sanctions and the economic pain they’ve inflicted, the Islamic Republic still consumes more steel than France or the U.K. It’s a major carmaker and needs massive infrastructure for its oil and gas industry, consuming about 20 million tons a year of the metal, most of it homemade.
Malaysia, aspiring to become a developed nation in six years, is finding that more than 50 years under one coalition and tight control over information is a mismatch for handling a rapidly growing crisis followed across the world.
China is calling on Malaysia to be more transparent as Prime Minister Najib Razak lets his cousin, Acting Transport Minister Hishammuddin Hussein, be the face of the investigation into why aMalaysian Airline System Bhd.
Cathay Pacific Airways Ltd. (293) profit missed analysts’ estimates as cargo demand weakened and Asia’s biggest international carrier, which plans to increase freight and passenger capacity this year to reach new customers.
Net income climbed to HK$2.62 billion ($338 million) last year from a restated HK$862 million a year ago, Cathay said in a stock exchange statement today. 
Indian exports fell for the first time in eight months in February although a sharp decline in imports led by a fall in gold imports helped narrow the trade deficit and ease the pressure on the external sector and the rupee.
Insurance regulator Irda on Tuesday asked SBI Life Insurance company to refund Rs 275.29 crore to the policyholders as the amount was collected from them in violation of norms.
SBI Life Insurance, a joint venture between State Bank of India and BNP Paribas Cardif, has been asked to refund the amount within six months.
MUMBAI: Shares of domestic airliner SpicejetBSE 4.24 % took off on huge volumes following reports that the company has placed an order for 42 Boeing 737 MAX aircraft.
The order is worth $4.3 billion (Rs 26,906 crore; reference rate: 1 dollar = Rs 61.15) without adjusting for inflation or price discounts. All the 42 aircraft will be powered by engines made by General Electric. 
VimpelCom Ltd. (VIP) said the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and Dutch authorities have requested documents as part of a global probe into the wireless operator’s business in Uzbekistan.
The carrier, controlled by Russian billionaire Mikhail Fridman, received a letter yesterday from the SEC stating it is looking into VimpelCom’s operations, the company said in a statement.
NEW DELHI: Gold and silver imports declined 71.4 per cent to $ 1.63 billion in February mainly due to restrictions imposed by the government on inbound shipments of the yellow metal to narrow the current account deficit.
Imports of gold and silver in February 2013 stood at $ 5.24 billion. In January this year, they were $ 1.72 billion.
Audi AG (NSU) delivered more cars than Bayerische Motoren Werke AG (BMW)’s namesake brand through the first two months of 2014 to nab the global lead in luxury-car sales.
Audi sold 242,400 vehicles through February, 383 more than the BMW brand, according to data from the German automakers. At the same time last year, Audi trailed BMW, which has been No. 1 in the segment for nine straight years, by 429 autos.
West Texas Intermediate traded near the lowest price in more than three weeks amid speculation that crude stockpiles expanded in the U.S., the world’s biggest oil consumer. Brent was stable inLondon.
Futures were little changed inNew York after losing 1.4 percent yesterday, the first drop in three days. Crude inventories are forecast to have risen by 1.85 million barrels last week as winter demand fades, according to a Bloomberg News survey before an Energy Information Administration report tomorrow. 
March 11 (Bloomberg) -- U.K. factory production rose more than forecast in January in a sign the economic recovery is gaining traction.
Output rose 0.4 percent from December, when it gained an upwardly revised 0.4 percent, theOffice for National Statisticssaid today in London. The median estimate in a Bloomberg News survey of 25 economists was for 0.3 percent growth. Industrial production, which also includes utilities and mines, rose 0.1 percent -- less than the 0.2 percent forecast -- as bad weather hit oil and gas output.
Unseasonal rain and hail has destroyed huge tracts of horticulture crops, standing rabi mustard and gram crops in Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan, ringing alarm bells in government circles here.
Central teams are being rushed to Maharashtra to assess the damage to banana, grape and pomegranate plantations before providing relief. Onion fields have been inundated and flowering mango orchards have been damaged. Teams are ready to be dispatched to Madhya Pradesh as well.
Billionaire Bill Ackman, who will make a presentation today onHerbalife (HLF) Ltd.’s Chinese operations, said he plans to discuss company documents obtained from a former employee.
Ackman believes the documents will show that Herbalife violatedChina’s laws regulating direct selling and multilevel marketing, the hedge fund manager said in an interview. He declined to elaborate. The webcast presentation is scheduled for 2 p.m. New York time.
The discovery that two passengers boarded the missing Malaysian jet using stolen passports reveals flaws in the screening of air travelers that persist more than 12 years after security worldwide was strengthened in the wake of the Sept. 11 terror attacks.
More than 40 million passports are listed as missing on a database created by Interpol in 2002, yet the international police agency says planes were boarded more than a billion times last year without the travel documents being screened against the register.
Hochtief AG, Germany’s largest builder, offered A$1.16 billion ($1.05 billion) to increase its stake in Leighton Holdings (LEI) Ltd. to as much as 74 percent and signaled it may consider a full takeover. The shares surged.
Leighton is a strategic investment, Hochtief Chief Executive Officer Marcelino Fernandez Verdes said in an interview today after announcing the offer. Shares in Australia’s largest builder climbed 11 percent to close at A$23.09, the biggest increase since 2008, and above the A$22.15 per share Hochtief will offer to increase its current 59 percent holding.
Bouygues SA (EN), seeking to preempt antitrust concerns over its proposed wireless merger withVivendi SA’s (VIV) SFR, is in talks to sell its network and some spectrum to Iliad SA (ILD) for as much as 1.8 billion euros ($2.5 billion).
The exclusive negotiations mean Bouygues Telecom can make its case to the French Competition Authority “from the outset with measures designed to maintain a competitive market for the benefit of consumers,” Bouygues said yesterday.
The use of stolen passports by two passengers to board a Malaysian airliner that vanished over the South China Seasends a “red flag” that terrorism may have played a part, according to security officials and analysts.
Groups such as al-Qaeda have sought to crash planes into oceans to cover up evidence, they said. 
Oscar Pistorius’s murder trial enters its second week today with the prosecution set to sharpen its portrayal of the Paralympian gold medalist as usually armed and reckless with a hair-trigger temper.
Known as the Blade Runnerbecause of his J-shaped prosthetic running blades, double-amputee Pistorius admits shooting his model girlfriend, Reeva Steenkamp, three times on Valentine’s Day last year while she was in his bathroom, believing she was an intruder. 
Bitcoin enthusiasts donated about $28,000 to Dorian S. Nakamoto, a 64-year-old physicist who denied a report last week byNewsweek magazine that identified him as the digital currency’s creator.
A wallet address set up by Andreas Antonopoulos, chief security officer forBlockchain.info, received more than 1,800 payments, amounting to about 44 bitcoins, according to data on his company’s website. That compares with about 1 million coins that the founder of the system owns, worth over $1 billion when the price peaked in December, according to Jered Kenna, a San Francisco-based Bitcoin investor.
Japan Display Inc., a supplier of screens for Apple Inc. devices, and its investors will raise about 318.5 billion yen ($3.1 billion) after pricing its initial public offering at the bottom of the price range.
Japan Display sold shares at 900 yen a piece, according to a statement to the Japan’s Finance Ministry. The company sold 140 million new shares and investors including Sony (6758) Corp. offered 213.9 million existing shares, according to the filing.
Stocks: Markets ignored the anxiety caused by the geopolitical tension over Ukraine and spurted to all-time highs on a slew of positive domestic factors and robust FII buying ahead of high-stake elections.
The benchmark indices - S&P BSE Sensex and the CNX Nifty - were in a record-breaking spree. The former hovered near the key milestone of 22,000-mark, while the latter breached the historic landmark of 6,500 this week.
Piraeus Bank SA (TPEIR)’s planned bond issue will be the first public debt sale from a Greek lender since 2009 when the first cracks started to appear in the nation’s finances, according to UBS AG.
The nation’s banks need to boost capital by 6.38 billion euros ($8.8 billion) after six years of recession left them with swelling bad loans, the central bank said yesterday. Piraeus, which has a shortfall of 425 million euros, is issuing debt before the Greek government returns to capital markets after its bailout, UBS said in a note to clients today.
JPMorgan Chase & Co. (JPM), Deutsche Bank AG,UBS AG (UBSN) and Depfa Bank Plc won a bid to overturn a conviction for overseeing fraud by their bankers in the sale of derivatives to the city of Milan.
An appeals court in Milan cleared the banks and individuals at the firms because “the alleged crimes didn’t take place,” Judge Luigi Martino said as he read out the verdict today.
The Enforcement Directorate on Friday arrested the CEO of a defaulting firm on money laundering charge in connection with its probe in the National Spot Exchange Limited (NSEL) scam case.
Official sources said Gagan Suri, CEO of Yathuri Associates, was arrested by ED sleuths in Mumbai after they found that his role in the scam needs to be probed.
Private sector lender ICICI Bank is planning to double their reach and support over two million women with cumulative loan disbursements of Rs 2,500 crore under its programme for Self Help Groups (SHG) over the next year.
"Over the next year, we intend to double our reach and support over two million women with cumulative loansdisbursements of Rs 2,500 crore," said Chanda Kochhar, managing director & CEO of the bank.
Gold prices on Saturday fell by Rs. 230 to Rs. 30,830 per ten gram while silver plunged by Rs. 930 due to selling by stockists amid weak global cues.
Silver lost Rs. 930 to quote at Rs. 46,400 per kg on reduced off-take by jewellers and industrial units.
Traders said selling pressure gathered momentum after gold fell to one-week low in global markets.
America Movil SAB (AMXL) and Grupo Televisa SAB (TLEVICPO) were ordered by Mexico’s government to share their infrastructure with competitors in a bid to cut the market share of the nation’s dominant phone and media companies.
America Movil, controlled by Carlos Slim, will have its phone prices regulated and must share parts of its network, it said in a statement. Televisa, the nation’s biggest broadcaster, said it will have to let competitors use its towers for a set fee and must publish its advertising prices publicly.
The measures are the culmination of President Enrique Pena Nieto’s work with lawmakers from all three major parties to tackle the lack of competition in industries that economists say are essential for growth. Power has been concentrated in the hands of a cadre of billionaires, including Slim and Televisa’s Emilio Azcarraga.
“The ruling party is committed to following through on its impressive reform achievements of 2013, and to tackling the vested interests in the economy,” said Duncan Wood, director of the MexicoInstitute at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in Washington, in an e-mail. “Their influence will not be reduced overnight; other players will face major obstacles in overcoming brand recognition and the dominant presence in the public consciousness of these firms.”
PETALING JAYA: Indian Oil Corp Ltd is to acquire 10% in Petroliam Nasional Bhd’s (Petronas) Canadian shale gas reserves and liquefied natural gas (LNG) export terminal, ending months of speculation on the deal.
The national oil company said in a statement yesterday that Indian Oil had also signed an offtake agreement for 1.2 million tonnes of LNG per year, or the equivalent of 10% of the LNG facility’s production, for a minimum period of 20 years.
Indian drugmaker Ranbaxy Laboratories Ltd, reeling under a flurry of regulatory rebukes due to poor quality, has recalled more than 64,000 bottles of the generic version of a cholesterol-lowering drug in the United States after doseage mix-up was detected.
Ranbaxy recalled tablets of atorvastatin calcium, the generic version of Pfizer Inc's cholesterol fighter Lipitor, after a pharmacist found a 20-milligram tablet in a sealed bottle marked for 10-milligram tablets, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said on its website.
