Sensex climbs 211 points in opening trade

MUMBAI: The Sensex gained over 211 points in opening trade on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) on Monday on fresh buying by funds, tracking a firming trend on other Asian bourses.

The 30-share index of the Bombay Stock Exchange, which gained 265.57 points in the previous session, gained another 211.55 points, or 1.19%, to 17,940.16 points today, with auto, metals, banking and realty stocks leading the rise.

Similarly, the broad-based National Stock Exchange Nifty index also moved up by 63.10 points, or 1.18%, to 5,373.10.

Brokers said the investor sentiment was boosted by a firming trend in Asia following a higher close in the US market on the weekend.

They said prevailing low levels also attracted buying activity. Furthermore, covering up of pending short positions helped the Sensex rise.

Among banking stocks, State Bank of India rose 1.79% to Rs 2,631, while ICICI Bank gained 1.81% to Rs 1,019.75 in opening trade today.

Meanwhile, Japan's Nikkei index was up by 0.86% and Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index by 0.73% in early trade today.

In the US, the Dow Jones Industrial Average ended 0.36% higher in the previous session on Friday.

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Congress doubles stakes in Tamil Nadu, may ask for 80 seats

CHENNAI: The Congress committee, drafted for holding seat-sharing talks with the DMK, met Tamil Nadu chief minister M Karunanidhi at his residence on Sunday after the initial round of intra-party consultations earlier in the day. Though Congress leaders claimed that no specific demand with regard to the number of seats was made in the meeting, the general mood within the party is that it should contest in at least 70-80 seats in the forthcoming assembly polls, said a senior leader.

The committee, comprising Union ministers P Chidambaram and G K Vasan, TNCC president KV Thangkabalu, AICC general secretary K Jayakumar and Congress national spokesperson Jayanthi Natarajan, kick-started consultations with Congress MLAs and MPs as well as former legislators on Sunday. The intra-party consultation in the Congress was like an interview in which each member was called separately for discussion, said a party leader.

Thangkabalu described the meeting with the DMK patriarch as a "courtesy call." He said: "No specific demand with regard to the number of seats was conveyed to the chief minister. We also did not demand any share in power. All that will happen at a later stage."

Congress had contested 48 seats and won 34 in the 2006 assembly polls. It later won the byelection for Madurai West constituency.

Soon after the meeting with Karunanidhi at his Gopalapuram residence, Chidambaram left for Delhi. The rest of the members returned to Satyamoorthy Bhavan to continue the interaction with the party leaders.

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Exports in Jan up by 32.5 pc; to touch USD 220 bn in 2010-11

NEW DELHI: India's merchandise exports rose by 32.5 per cent to USD 20.6 billion in January on an annual basis, driven by pick up in demand from markets such as the US and Latin America, raising expectations that shipments would touch USD 220 billion by this fiscal-end.

During April-December period of 2010-11, the outbound shipments grew by 29.4 per cent to USD 184.6 billion over the year-ago period.

"It is a huge jump. Export performance is pretty damn good. My guess is that by next month, we will cross USD 200 billion and we should end up at USD 220-225 billion," Commerce Secretary Rahul Khullar told reporters here today.

As per the primary estimates, imports during the month grew by 13.1 per cent to USD 28.6 billion over the same period last year, resulting in the trade deficit by USD 8 billion.

Exporters body FIEO said that the country's exports are increasing in new markets of Latin America and Africa along with the US and specially within Asia.

"Exports are increasing because of market diversification. Asia itself has emerged as a big export destination," Federation of Indian Export Organisations (FIEO) President Ramu Deora said.

The shipments are increasing in new markets such as Latin America and Africa, trade expert with Indian Institute of Foreign Trade (IIFT), Rakesh Mohan Joshi said.

In its monetary policy review last month, the RBI had said that global growth prospects have improved in recent weeks.

The recovery in major advanced economies which had weakened during the second quarter of 2010, regained strength in the following quarter.

The sectors that performed well during the April-January period of the current financial year include gems and jewellery (9.3 per cent), engineering (70 per cent) and petroleum and oil lubricants (36 per cent), Khullar said.

Exporters are getting huge demands for engineering products from Latin American countries such as Columbia.

The trade deficit during the first 10 months of the fiscal stood at USD 89 billion.

"My guess is that trade gap should end up at USD 105-110 billion," the Secretary said.

The government had set up an export target of USD 200 billion for 2010-11.

In December 2010, the country's shipments grew by 36.4 per cent to USD 22.5 billion on an annual basis, the highest in 33 months.

During April-January 2010-11, imports grew by 17.6 per cent to USD 273.6 billion, he said, adding the import numbers are "guesstimates" and will be revised.

Officially, the trade numbers for January would be released by the government on March 1.


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Industrial growth plunges to 1.6% in December

NEW DELHI: Industrial growth slowed even further to a dismal 1.6 per cent in December, 2010, from 18 per cent in the same period a year ago due to the poor performance of the manufacturing sector.

In November, 2010, the Index of Industrial Production (IIP) had expanded by a meagre 2.7 per cent.

Industrial growth during April-December this fiscal stood at 8.6 per cent, unchanged in comparison to the corresponding period of the previous year, official data released here on Friday showed.

In December, 2010, manufacturing growth plummeted to 1 per cent from 19.6 per cent a year ago.

Consumer non-durables production declined by 1.1 per cent during the month under review, in sharp contrast to 3 per cent growth in the same period a year ago.

The capital goods sector also contracted by 13.7 per cent in December, 2010. The sector had expanded by 42.9 per cent in the corresponding period of the previous year.

Besides manufacturing, mining growth also fell to 3.8 per cent in the month under review from 11.1 per cent in the same period of the previous year. However, electricity generation expanded by 6 per cent in December, 2010, compared to 5.4 per cent in December, 2009.

In terms of industries, 12 out of 17 industry groups achieved positive growth in the last month of 2010.

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