Rupee falls 13 paise in early trade

MUMBAI: The Indian rupee depreciated by 13 paise against the dollar on Friday, as the American currency strengthened against other major currencies.

The domestic unit in early morning was trading at Rs 45.70 a dollar, 13 paise lower from the yesterday's close at the Interbank Foreign Exchange (Forex) market.

Yesterday, it snapped five-session long losing spree to close 14 paise higher at Rs 45.57/58 a dollar following a heavy dollar sale by exporters and some banks.

Dealers said dollar's gains against other currencies overseas and month-end demand for the American currency weighed on the rupee sentiment.

Meanwhile, the BSE Sensex recovered by 36.44 points at 18,720.87 points in the opening trade

Read more: Rupee falls 13 paise in early trade - The Times of India http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/business/india-business/Rupee-falls-13-paise-in-early-trade/articleshow/7376901.cms#ixzz1CJZD5e9q

Sensex trades 136 points down

MUMBAI: After opening higher, the BSE benchmark Sensex today slipped by 136 points to trade at 18,548.54 at 1015 hrs with selling pressing emerging in realty, auto and capital goods sector stocks.

Similarly, the broad-based National Stock Exchange index Nifty fell by 47.85 points, or 0.85 per cent, to 5,556.45.

The 30-share index opened the day higher by 36.44 points, or 0.19 per cent, to 18,720.87 points.

Marketmen said a weak trend on Asian bourses dampened the sentiment here and triggered widespread selling. Investors were also concerned over rising food inflation and a hike in key interest rates by the Reserve Bank of India, they added.

Food inflation inched up marginally to 15.57 per cent for the period ended January 15, on account of escalating vegetable prices, particularly, onions.

Read more: Sensex trades 136 points down - The Times of India http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/business/india-business/Sensex-trades-136-points-down/articleshow/7377123.cms#ixzz1CJZ3Xo68

Sony unveils new handheld to take on DS, smartphones

TOKYO (Reuters) - Sony Corp showcased a new handheld gaming device, the first to feature 3G wireless connectivity, as it battles with Nintendo's best-selling DS and tries to fend off rising competition from smartphones and tablets.

Sony said the new device, which it has codenamed "NGP" for Next Generation Portable, will go on sale around the year-end. It didn't provide any pricing details.

The announcement came the same day Nintendo reported a 46.5 percent fall in quarterly profit as sales of its ageing DS device tumbled ahead of the launch next month of a 3D capable model.

Sony's new device will feature 3G wireless connectivity, the first in a portable games device, and use a 5-inch OLED panel, the company said. That compares with 3.5 inches for a standard smartphone screen.

The device also has a back touch pad in addition to the front touch panel and a motion sensor for more intuitive use, Sony said.

With smartphones and tablets from the likes of Apple Inc eating into the market for portable gaming devices, Sony and Nintendo desperately need a blockbuster product to boost sales and profit.

"The key would be pricing of the device," said Nobuo Kurahashi, an analyst at Mizuho Investors Securities. "If the company prices it cheaper than Nintendo's 3DS (25,000 yen), it would be positive."

Nintendo's DS sold nearly 136 million units up to last September . Sony's PSP has sold some 61 million.

Next week, Sony is expected to post a fall in profits for October-December, hit by its struggling TV busines

SC raps govt for non-action on blackmoney asks to track source

New Delhi, Jan 27 (PTI) Government today found itself on the backfoot in the Supreme Court which asked why action has not been taken against those who have stashed blackmoney in foreign countries and asked it to go after the source of money which may be from arms deals, drug trafficking and smuggling.

The apex court directed the government not to restrict its probe on the aspect of tax evasion only and expand its ambit by tracking the source of money which might have originated from anti-national activities.

"Looking at the issue from taxation point of view is only one aspect. Some names have been given to you in respect of a bank. What steps have you taken? Have you set law in motion. They are Indian people and are amenable to Indian law," a bench comprising Justices B Sudarshan Reddy and S S Nijjar said.

"That is a serious matter which we are concerned about. You know the names, (you know) where the money is lying, still you are talking about double taxation issue," the bench said, asking "What action have you taken against them when you came to know that they have stashed money in foreign bank(LGT Bank in Liechtenstein)."

The court''s remark came after the Solicitor General Gopal Subramanium submitted that the government is taking all actions under Double Taxation Avoidance Agreement (DTAA) against the people who have stashed money in foreign banks.

Asking the government not to restrict its probe only to the tax evasion aspect, the bench said it should track down the sources of blackmoney.

"Why are you looking only at tax evasion issue in this matter when there are more grievous offences associated with such cases. That is the most dangerous part of the story. Have you done anything," the court said.

The government, however, tried to convince the court that it is taking all possible action under international agreements and law against the erring persons and it has no problems in sharing the information with the court.

The solicitor general submitted that many agencies were working on the case and investigations were underway.

The court appeared to be not satisfied with the contention of Subramanium and asked him to file a detailed report by Thursday next on what action the government has taken against people who have parked their black money in foreign land.

"What are the sources of the money? Where has the money come from? It might be because of arms deals, smuggling, narcotics, drug trafficking or something else. These are more serious issues, when you know the name, what action you have taken?," the bench asked.

The court also sought replies from the government, RBI and CVC on a petition seeking direction to the government to ratify UN convention on corruption which would facilitate in bringing back blackmoney from foreign banks. .

Google to hire 6,000 in 2011

BOSTON: Google Inc is all set to go on a hiring spree this year with the company planning to add more than 6000 people around the globe in one of the "biggest" workforce expansions in company history.

In a blog post, Senior Vice President of Engineering and Research Alan Eustace said Google was "looking for top talent -- across the board and around the globe."

The company had added more than 4,500 workers in 2010 primarily in engineering and sales departments.

The workforce expansion set for 2011 and said to he the "biggest hiring year in company history", will be more than the 6,100 workers Google had hired in 2007.

Google plans to hire more than 1,000 workers in Europe alone this year. The company said it will hire "as many smart, creative people as we can to tackle some of the toughest challenges in computer science: like building a web-based operating system from scratch, instantly searching an index of more than 100 million gigabytes and even developing cars that drive themselves."

Eustace said the hiring comes when not just the company's products but also the company "grew" in 2010. Google's operating system Android now runs on over 100 devices with more than 300,000 activations each day, while Chrome has at least 120 million active users, Eustace added.

California-based Google has been trying to keep its employees who are being lured by rivals companies like Facebook and Apple. Last year, Google announced a 10 per cent raise for all its employees. Facebook, which has been giving stiff competition to Google, has about 200 ex-Google workers in its roughly 2,000 workforce.

Google had last week announced major changes in its top management positions with company co-founder Larry Page set to take over as CEO in April from current chief executive Eric Schmidt. As on December 31, 2010 Google had a total workforce of 24,400.

Read more: Google to hire 6,000 in 2011 - The Times of India http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/tech/news/internet/Google-to-hire-6000-in-2011/articleshow/7370523.cms#ixzz1CFBjrZeK

Food inflation up to 15.57%

NEW DELHI: Snapping the downward trend of two consecutive weeks, food inflation inched up marginally to 15.57% for the period ended January 15, on account of escalating vegetable prices, particularly, onions.

Food inflation for the week ended January 8, was recorded at 15.52%

The uptick in latest food inflation figure is likely to put further pressure on the government grappling with expensive food commodities and a slowing industrial growth that dipped to the 18-month low of 2.7% for November.

The goverment has already adopted measures like export ban on onions to make the kitchen staple more affordable to masses. Further, the RBI in its third quarter monetary policy review on Tuesday hiked key policy rates by 25 basis points to scotch the inflationary pressures.

During the week under review, vegetable prices soared by 67.07% on an annual basis.

Onions went up by a huge 111.58% year-on-year, thus, showing that government initiatives like export ban were not proving sufficiently effective.

On an annual basis, prices of fruits went up by 16.40% while milk became expensive by 12.44% . Prices of egg, meat and fish went up by 13.58% year-on-year.

Cereal prices, too, went up marginally by 0.53%, with rice going up by 2.79%.

However, wheat and pulses became cheaper on annual basis by 5.75% and 14.07%, respectively.

In indication that spike in food commodities was becoming ingrained into the wider economy, in the non-food category, the prices of fibres and minerals were up by 47.23% and 19.52%, respectively.

Fuel and power also became dearer by 10.87% year-on-year.

The headline inflation in December had risen to 8.43%, up from 7.48% in the previous month, mainly driven by costly food items.

At its quarterly review earlier this week, the RBI had revised its headline inflation estimate to 7% by end of March, up from the earlier estimate of 5.5%.

Read more: Food inflation up to 15.57% - The Times of India http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/business/india-business/Food-inflation-up-to-1557/articleshow/7370679.cms#ixzz1CFBUb07T

Sensex falls 285 pts on rising inflation, rate hike

MUMBAI: The BSE benchmark Sensex fell over 285 points to 18,684.43 amid rising food inflation and fears of further hike in interest rates, as investors adjusted positions on the last day of monthly derivatives contracts.

The Bombay Stock Exchange benchmark index Sensex dropped 285.02 points following reports that the food inflation has moved up marginally to 15.57% for the week ended January 15, from 15.52% in the previous week.

The gauge had lost 182 points in the previous session, after the Reserve Bank of India had increased key rates for the seventh time since last March, revising upwards inflation forecast to 7% for this fiscal end from 5.5%.

Besides, investors and funds unwinding their pending positions on the last day of the current month's settlement in the derivatives segment also effected the trading sentiment.

After a higher opening, the Sensex remained volatile throughout the session, touching a high of 19,086.69 and a low of 18,656.05.

The broad-based National Stock Exchange index Nifty dipped below 5,600 points level before closing 83.10 points down to 5,604.30, with stocks of banking and interest related sectors suffering the most.

Brokers said the initial gains got erased as overseas investors felt that the near-term outlook of the economic growth looked far from promising, and tried to find better prospects elsewhere.

They said further rise in food inflation this week matching with the RBI forecast raised concerns among investors of a further hike in policy rates to tame overall price rise.

In 30 BSE benchmark components, 28 stocks fell, while Tata Consultancy Services and Tata Motors ended with gains. The two most-heaviest, with 23% weightage on the index, fell -- Reliance Industries dropped by Rs 15.55 to Rs 943 and Infosys Technologies by Rs 58.90 to 3,195.20.

With the selling pressure spreading over a wide-front, the midcap index lost 1.88% to 7,087.16 and smallcap index by 1.35% to 8,864.23.

Read more: Sensex falls 285 pts on rising inflation, rate hike - The Times of India http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/business/india-business/Sensex-falls-285-pts-on-rising-inflation-rate-hike/articleshow/7372261.cms#ixzz1CFBIEebz