Sensex opens 57 points higher on selective buying

TAFF WRITER 9:44 HRS IST

Mumbai, Feb 3 (PTI) The Sensex gained over 57 points in opening trade on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) today on selective buying by cautious investors in the absence of any cues from other Asian markets.

The 30-share index of the BSE, which rose by 68.40 points in yesterday's volatile session, moved up by 57.32 points, or 0.31 per cent, to 18,147.94 today, with metal, IT and banking stocks leading the rise.

In a similar fashion, the broad-based National Stock Exchange Nifty index gained 10.35 points, or 0.19 per cent, to 5,442.35 points.

Brokers said buying by funds, though selective, helped the Sensex open in positive terrain. However, in the absence of cues from other Asian markets, which are closed on account of a public holiday to mark the Lunar New Year, participants adopted a cautious approach.

Rupee two paise lower against US dollar in early trade

STAFF WRITER 10:2 HRS IST

Mumbai, Feb 3 (PTI) The Indian rupee opened 2 paise lower at Rs 45.64 per US dollar in early trade on the Interbank Foreign Exchange today amid demand for the American currency from importers and appreciation of the greenback against other currency rivals overseas.

The rupee had strengthened by 13 paise to Rs 45.62/63 per dollar in the previous session.

Forex dealers said gains registered by the dollar against euro overseas, in addition to demand from importers, mainly weighed on the rupee sentiment.

However, a higher opening in the stock market and closure of Asian markets to mark the Lunar New Year restricted the rupee losses, they said.

Meanwhile, the Bombay Stock Exchange benchmark Sensex rose by 57.32 points, or 0.31 per cent, to 18,147.94 in opening trade today.

Pilots die saving lives in crash

NEW DELHI/NASHIK: Showing great presence of mind, two Army pilots steered their crashing helicopter towards open space to avoid civilian casualties on the ground in Nashik on Wednesday. The pilots succeeded in their mission but it was their last.

The pilots of the Chetak helicopter, Major Atul Garje and Captain Bhanu Pratap Gupta, the former a qualified flight instructor, died in the crash which took place around 9am in Nashik.

``The two steered the helicopter away from a densely populated area towards a vacant plot to land after detecting a technical fault in the chopper`s rotor blades. The blades hit the terrace of a bungalow while going down in an open area,`` said an Army officer.

The bodies of the two officers, who were to fly from Nashik to Goa, were later extricated from the mangled remains of the helicopter by fire brigade and Army personnel. Major Garje, who was from Ahmednagar and an alumni of Sainik School in Satara, had a daughter a few months ago. They were to fly to Bangalore for the Aero-India show that kicks off next week, an Army source said. The Army ordered a court of inquiry into the mishap.

The chopper crashed beside the house of Bhagwan Patil (57), an employee of Nashik Currency Note Press (CNP). ``I am told a rotor blade stopped moving mid-air and the aircraft hit the terrace of my ground floor home before crashing to the ground," said Patil whose house was damaged. ``My wife Meera, a schoolteacher, had left in the morning. I got home only after my neighbour rang and informed me about the accident,`` Patil told TOI. He said when he arrived home, the bodies of two pilots were being taken out on stretchers.

Patil said his house was locked and he had to open it after Army officers asked him to do so for a police panchnama and further probe. ``We had to use hydraulic cutters to retrieve the bodies from the debris,`` said a fire brigade officer. A team of Army`s rescue operation aided operations.

In 2006, an Army helicopter had crashed close to the Combat Aviation Training Centre in Nashik. It killed three personnel, while an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) had gone down in a civilian area at Vadner on Pathardi-Delvali Road in 2010, with no casualty.

The Cheetah and Chetak light-utility helicopters, based on the design of French ``Alouettes`` and ``Lama SA-315``, were inducted in the 1970s. Around 250 of these were built under licence by Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd until the 1980s. They are in use in forward locations, including Ladakh and Kashmir, and for ``patrol and reconnaissances`` along the LoC.

The defence ministry is now looking to import 197 ``light utility`` helicopters to replace the Cheetahs and Chetaks for high-altitude and other operations.

As reported by TOI earlier, after a major dip in the crash rate around 2003-2006, military aircraft and helicopters have once again begun to go down with alarming regularity. In the last three years, the armed forces have recorded over 65 crashes, which have killed almost 60 military personnel and five civilians.

TOI

Sensex ends losing streak

MUMBAI: The markets reversed its five-session losing streak with a 68-point gain for the BSE sensex to 18,091 on Wednesday, but the day's session witnessed strong selling in late hours when the news broke that A Raja was arrested by CBI. In less than one-and-half hours of trade, the sensex lost nearly 250 points, what could otherwise have been a strong reversal for the index after it lost over 1,100 points between January 25 and February 1. Market players said the arrest of the scandal-stricken former minister, from the Tamil Nadu-based UPA ally DMK party, could lead to tension within the ruling coalition. The arrest could also lead to slide in the stocks of companies which are the new entrants in the country's telecom space after they got 2G spectrum during Raja's tenure as the telecom minister, they said.

On Wednesday, among the telecom stocks of leading companies, while Bharti Airtel rallied 2.8% to close at 323, Reliance Communications lost 1.1% to Rs 117, after touching a new low of Rs 115.85 in intra-day trade, and Idea closed 3.5% higher at Rs 69. Stocks of Unitech, which has a substantial stake in telecom operator Uninor, closed 5.1% higher at Rs 45, while DB realty, which has a stake in Swan Telecom, closed flat at Rs 151. Dealers said these stocks will be closely watched when markets open on Thursday. Given the political situation at the Centre with the opposition forcing complete shutdown of business in the parliament over government's refusal to agree to a joint parliamentary probe into the spectrum muddle, it would also be interesting how investors react to the recent developments.

Wednesday's gains were helped by subsiding FII selling, with the net outflow at Rs 82 crore, compared to Rs 1,037 crore on Tuesday., BSE data showed. Among the sensex stocks, Tata Motors closed 3.9% higher at Rs 1,111 while index heavyweight RIL gained 2.9% to Rs 921. Among the laggards were Hero Honda, down 5.3% at Rs 1,523 and BHEL, down 2.7% at Rs 2,138. Of the 30 sensex constituents, 13 closed higher while 17 ended in the red. In the broader market, the number of winners at 1,421 were slightly more than the number of laggards, at 1,382. At the close of session, investors were richer by Rs 29,000 crore with BSE's market capitalisation now at Rs 65.4 lakh crore.

TOI

Sensex snaps 5-day losing streak; fails to keep early gains

MUMBAI: The BSE benchmark Sensex snapped its 5-day losing streak but failed to maintain initial sharp gains due to fag-end profit booking, mainly in power and capital goods sectors, and closed about 68 points up at 18,090.62.

Smart rise in heavyweights like RIL, ICICI Bank, TCS, Tata Motors and Bharti Airtel helped the Sensex rise.

As news of former Telecom Minister A Raja's arrest, along with his two former associates in connection with the 2G spectrum scam, filtered in, the market washed out major part of its early gains.

Initially, the Sensex shot up to a high at 18,306.00, up nearly 284 points, on fresh buying in Realty, Oil & Gas, Metal and IT on strong global cues.

However, fag-end selling pressure pulled it down to close at 18,090.62, showing a gain of just 68.40 points or 0.38 per cent from the last close.

In the last five straight sessions, the Sensex had tumbled 1,129.06 points or 5.90 per cent.

The NSE 50-issue Nifty also recovered moderately by 14.80 points or 0.27 per cent to end at 5,432.00 points.

Recently battered realty counters attracted good buying support at lower levels, resulting the sectoral BSE-Realty index rising by 51.24 points or 2.40 per cent and was the top gainer followed by refinery and tech segments.

However, power and capital goods were at the receiving end on profit-booking.

TOI

2G scam: CBI arrests former telecom minister A Raja

NEW DELHI: Former telecom minister A Raja was on Wednesday arrested along with his two former associates in connection with the 2G spectrum scam.

Raja arrived at the CBI headquarters on Wednesday morning, a day after his brother A K Perumal was questioned by the CBI about alleged funding of some front organisations owned by telecom companies which had been allocated spectrum from October 2007 to January 2008, official sources said.

Raja, his former personal secretary R K Chandolia and former telecom secretary Siddartha Behura were arrested for allegedly abusing their official position and manipulating the tendering procedures to benefit certain telecom companies in getting the spectrum.

The arrest of 47-year-old Raja, who has been questioned four times by the agency, comes over two months after he was forced to resign in the wake of the spectrum controversy.

Raja, who was questioned earlier on December 24 and 25 last year and January 31, was called to the CBI office this morning and quizzed before being arrested, the sources said.

The DMK MP had been confronted with some questions and documents recovered from the computers seized during searches conducted by the investigation agency earlier at his premises, the sources said.

He was also asked about his conversations with corporate lobbyist Niira Radia and the reasons for advancing the cut-off date of applying for license for spectrum allocation in 2007 by a week.

Raja was forced to resign on November 14 last year in the wake of the CAG report which held that the spectrum allocation at undervalued prices resulted in a notional loss of Rs 1.76 lakh crore to the state exchequer.

He got the telecom portfolio on May 18, 2007 and was re-elected as a member of the 15th Lok Sabha and continued as telecom minister from May 31, 2009, till November 14, 2010.

The Supreme Court has asked CBI and Enforcement Directorate to submit status reports on their investigations into the 2G spectrum case to it by February 10 when the case will come up for further hearing.

In its FIR, CBI mentioned the loss in spectrum allocation as Rs 22,000 crore based on CVC findings which had referred the case to it.

CBI has also questioned former Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) chief Pradip Baijal, a 1966 batch IAS officer of Madhya Pradesh cadre, and former telecom secretary D S Mathur in connection with the case.

TOI