Friday, January 9, 2009

Crude falls below $40 for first time in 2009

COLUMBUS (OHIO): Oil prices fell below $40 a barrel on Saturday for the first time this year as the US government reported the worst annual job losses since World War II.

People are travelling less, manufacturers are slashing production and there are job cuts across almost every sector of the economy, leading to a severe drop-off in energy use.

The Labor Department said employers slashed 524,000 jobs in December and 2.6 million jobs for all of 2008. It was the worst annual loss since 2.8 million jobs were loss in 1945, although the number of jobs has more than tripled since then. The US unemployment rate jumped to 7.2 per cent, the highest since 1993.

Light, sweet crude for February delivery fell $1.72, more than 4%, to $39.98 on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

Saturday's decline capped another bad week for oil prices, though crude at one point rose above $50 a barrel from a five-year low of $33.87 on Dec 19.

Crude has closed lower every day with dire economic news overshadowing armed conflict in the oil-rich Middle East, a dispute that has shut off or disrupted natural gas supplies to more than a dozen European nations, and diminished crude exports from the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, which accounts for about 40 per cent of global supply.

The unemployment report bolsters how the worst recession in decades has taken hold of the US economy. At the same time, crude oil continues to flood the market with traders storing oil at sea in hopes that it can be sold later should prices rise.

Source: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Business/Oil_prices_fall_below_40/articleshow/3959303.cms

Fuel crisis could lead to price hike

NEW DELHI: Officials of oil PSUs might have called off their three-day strike on Friday evening, but hoteliers in Mumbai complained they had already dented local economies by forcing many restaurant owners to down shutters by shutting off LPG supplies.

The total loss in the past three days has been around Rs 105 crore, they said. ‘‘Restaurants in Mumbai get their gas supply through pipelines. But 40% of them had to pull down their shutters on Friday because of the lack of supply,’’ former (Indian Hotels and Restaurants Association) president and adviser Chandrahas Shetty said.

Mumbai’s neighbourhood grocers and stationers had their stocks fast running out. They feared that depleting stocks might hike prices of essential items like sugar, tea and milk.

‘‘We’ve a stock that will last, at the most, for the next three days. Fresh supplies have to come fast,’’ said a Prabhadevi shop owner. The situation was quite similar in Bhopal in Madhya Pradesh, with grocery and general store owners fearing shortage of essential goods.

Serpentine queues of motorists and dry fuel stations were two features for most part of the day in Nagpur, with the situation being similar across the country.

Although queues at gas stations had eased late Friday as word of the strike being called off spread, tempers were frayed all morning as people in Ahmedabad jostled and scuffled to fill tanks. Police had to be deployed at almost all petrol pumps as people picked up fights with others trying to jump queues that took hours to move an inch. Pump owners imposed rationing themselves dispensing fuel worth Rs 50 to two-wheelers and Rs 300 to four-wheelers to cater to all. The CNG-run autorickshaws made the most of the oil PSU strike, ferrying stranded people.

Commuters in Kolkata weren’t sure how they would get home, with 90% of the petrol pumps going dry by Friday. The state government came out with a rationing of petrol and diesel at the pumps to allow maximum vehicles to get fuel. But most of the pumps couldn’t comply with the order as they had run out of stock.

‘‘I had been in the queue for more than three hours. Who knows whether I will be able to get some fuel to run my car,’’ said Satyajit Sarkar, a car-owner at a Shakespeare Sarani petrol pump.

Source: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Fuel_crisis_over_but_losses_may_hike_prices/articleshow/3958611.cms

Satyam's Raju to be produced in court today

HYDERABAD: The former chairman of Satyam Computer Services B Ramalinga Raju and his brother Rama Raju, who were arrested amid high drama by the Andhra Pradesh police on Friday night, will appear in court on Saturday.

At Saturday's hearing authorities will seek permission to hold Raju and his brother in custody for further interrogation, said VSK Kaumudi, inspector general of police in the crime investigation department in the southern city of Hyderabad.

B Ramalinga Raju and his brother Rama Raju were questioned by the police throughout the night.

Police questioned the two for more than three hours, Raju lawyer Bharat Kumar said on Saturday morning.

The crime branch of Andhra Pradesh booked the two after questioning under charges of fraud, forgery.

Bharat Kumar said that the two have been booked under Section 120 b (criminal conspiracy), 420 (cheating), 406, 467 and 427 (criminal breach of trust, forgery and using forged documents as genuine).

Bharat Kumar said notices were issued around 8.30pm after which they both the brother went to the police and they were arrested.

The lawyer added that Raju was also examined by a team of doctors after he complained of uneasiness.

Satyam, which specializes in business software and back-office services for clients including General Electric and Nestle, is based in Hyderabad.

Raju resigned on Wednesday after revealing years of accounting fraud, including an admission that about $1 billion, or 94% of the cash and bank balances on Satyam's books at end-September, did not exist.

The board of Satyam, which was scheduled to meet on Saturday, has been dissolved by the government and a minister has said a new board would be constituted with 10 members, which would meet within seven days. There was no move at this time, however, to take over Satyam's management, said corporate affairs minister Prem Chand Gupta on Friday.

Analysts said Satyam's very existence was threatened by the scandal, which stand-in chief executive Ram Mynampati said has pushed the company into a crisis of unimaginable proportions.

The company's market value has shrivelled to $330 million, from more than $7 billion six months ago.

Source: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Satyams_Raju_to_be_produced_in_court_today/articleshow/3959275.cms

We will go after Mumbai attackers, says US ambassador

"We will pursue 26/11 terrorists till they are brought to book," said Mulford.

“The US to go non-stop as long as it takes in pursuing perpetrators of Mumbai terror attacks,” the US ambassador said.

The ambassador said the Mumbai attack appeared to have been carried out by people from Pakistan and "managed and monitored by Pakistan".

"We'll press ahead as long as it takes," he said at a function organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry.



Nifty struggles to cross 2900; metals, realty down

MUMBAI: Indian equities put a brave face on Friday and recovered from lows as traders covered shorts in realty stocks. However, losses in metals and real estate stocks saw benchmarks end lower.

National Stock Exchange’s Nifty met a stiff resistance near 2900 levels. It ended at 2868.40, down 52 points or 1.78 per cent. The broader index hit an intra-day low of 2810.25 and high of 2929.85.

Bombay Stock Exchange’s Sensex closed at 9390.13, down 195.75 points or 2.05 per cent. It touched a low of 9,250.82 and high of 9630.40 in day’s trade.

BSE Midcap Index ended 2.31 per cent lower and BSE Smallcap Index declined 2.79 per cent.

Satyam Computers (-42.68%), Reliance Communications (-9.44%), Tata Steel (-9.31%), Sterlite Industries (-8.86%) and Ranbaxy Laboratories (-8.32%) were the top Sensex losers.

TCS (6.81%), Hindustan Unilever (4.81%), NTPC (3.68%), Maruti Suzuki (3.20%) and Mahindra & Mahindra (2.78%) were amongst the Sensex gainers.

Market breadth was negative on the BSE with 1873 losers and 584 gainers.


(All figures are provisional)

Source: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Business/Nifty_struggles_to_cross_2900/articleshow/3956042.cms

Oil India Ltd, BPCL staff end strike

NEW DELHI: In some relief to the people hit by the oil sector strike, state-run Bharat Petroleum Corp on Friday said it would resume fuel supplies at all locations starting this evening, as more than 70% of the striking employees returned to work.

OIL India Ltd Officers Association has also called off its strike.

"Over 70% of the people have resumed work in marketing. By this evening, we will be able to resume fuel supply at all locations.... To make up for the backlog we would work on Saturday and Sunday too," BPCL Director (Marketing) S Radhakrishnan said in the capital.

Indian Oil Corp (IOC) chairman Sarthak Behuria, at a media briefing, also condemned the strike

“We will break the strike; officers not reporting to work tomorrow and Sunday will be dismissed; administrative action like arrest and chargesheet will be taken,” the IOC chairman said.

“No question of conceding officers' demands; will attempt to restore normalcy by Monday,” Behuria added.

BPCL accounts for 25% of the petro goods market in the country, while HPCL accounts for 27% and IOC the rest.

HPCL has been functioning normally throughout.

Source: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Oil_India_Ltd_BPCL_employees_end_strike/articleshow/3956388.cms