Growth in the fourth quarter to be much better: Kamal Nath

Date : Mar-02-2009 10:35
Though the economy is struggling with the global economic slowdown but the Commerce and Industry Minister Kamal Nath is still confident that the growth of the country would pick up momentum in the last two months of this fiscal. Nath said "I believe the worst is over," by adding that the last two months of this fiscal would be much better in terms of growth.

Nath also said that the government was aware of the sluggish growth in the economy during the quarter ended December and that''s why the stimulus packages was announced. "We were seized... We did not know the figures but certainly we were seized that there is a sharp decline, that is why we did announce a stimulus package," said Nath adding that the measures have started yielding results.

The economy of India grew 5.3% for the quarter ended December from a year earlier, slowing from 7.6% in the previous quarter. The annual growth of India''s fiscal third quarter was lower than upwardly revised 8.9% annual expansion in the same quarter a year ago. The farm output in the December quarter fell an annual 2.2% as compared to a rise of 2.7% in September quarter. The manufacturing slipped an annual 0.2% in December quarter as against a growth of 5% in the September quarter. The construction grew 6.7% in December quarter as compared to 9.7% September quarter. The trade, hotels, transport and communication advanced 6.8% in December quarter vs 10.7% in September. The financing, insurance, real estate and business services gained 9.5% in Oct-Dec vs 9.2% in July-September.

Market deteriorated further on confidence crisis due to worsening US Slump.

Date : Mar-02-2009 13:33
The key benchmark indices traded weak due to confidence crisis in the market. The worsening US slump and continuous fall in Asian market provoked the worries for equity market. The expectation from RBI to pump in money into the market by reducing the key rates is still awaited. Moreover, according to biggies of equity market – the market will see some recovery from first quarter of 2010. Due to this, the investors are losing confidence in the market and are away from the market. Meanwhile, continuous selling from FIIs is also pulling the key indices lower.

On the sectoral front, traders off-loaded position across the sectors. Auto stocks advanced jumped after some auto firms announced jump in February 2009 vehicle sales. Baking stocks fell on fears of rising defaults in a weakening economy and on fall in ADRs. IT stocks fell on fears a weak global economy would cut the IT spending.

The Market breadth, indicating the overall strength of the market, was weak. On BSE, out of 2,233 stocks traded so far, 731 shares advanced while 1,405 shares declined. Nearly 97 shares are unchanged.

At 1.30PM, the BSE Sensex is trading lower by 223.66 points at 8,667.95 and NSE Nifty is down by 71.45 points at 2,692.20.

The BSE Mid Cap is trading lower by 32.59 points at 2,725.69 and Small cap is trading down by 29.17 points at 3,076.83.

Major losers from the BSE Sensex pack are Tata Steel plunged 6.21% to Rs. 161.65 along with ICICI Bank tumbled 4.37% to Rs. 313.75, HDFC Bank fell by 3.94% to Rs. 850.00, ONGC by 3.85% to Rs. 664.55, Reliance Infra by 3.29% to Rs. 474.45, TCS Ltd by 3.17% to Rs. 465.35, Reliance Communication by 3.02% to Rs. 150.75, ACC Ltd by 2.90% to Rs. 524.15, Hindustan Uniliver by 2.76% to Rs. 246.80, and Bharti Airtel by 2.61% to Rs. 620.05 among others.

Major gainers from the BSE Sensex pack are Mhindra & Mahindra Ltd fell by 4.16% to Rs. 322.80 along with Tata Motors by 2.17% to Rs. 152.70, Maruti Suzuki by 1.44% to Rs. 687.35 and Ranbaxy Labs by 0.37% to Rs. 162.40.

The BSE Bankex index is lower by 138.19 points or 3.26% at 4,101.91. Stocks trading in red are Axis Bank by 4.50% to Rs. 332.30, ICICI Bank by 4.37% to Rs. 313.75, HDFC Bank by 3.94% to Rs. 850.00, Oriental Bank by 3.74% to Rs. 110.80, Punjab National Bank by 3.41% to Rs. 326.00 and Yes Bank by 3.31% to Rs. 49.60 among others.

Tata Steel fell 6.21% to Rs. 161.65 on profit selling after the stock rose over 7% in the past three trading sessions.

Edserv Softsystems trading at Rs. 139.55, a 132.58% premium to its issue price of Rs. 60 a share on its listing.

Fortis Healthcare jumped 5.16% to Rs. 68.30 after multiple block deals on BSE and NSE.

Reliance Industries fell 2.07% to Rs. 1,238.90 after the company set the swap ratio for merger of Reliance Petroluem slightly in favour of Reliance Petroleum.

TVS Motor Company rose 5.17% to Rs. 20.35 on reports the company has posted a 13% rise in its two-wheeler sales to 1,07,301 units in February 2009 over February 2008.

Hindustan Dorr Oliver rose 3.46% to Rs. 32.90 after the company won an engineering order worth Rs. 24 crore from HPCL-Mittal Energy.

Seamec Ltd fell 6.70% to Rs. 55.70 snapping a solid surge in the previous three trading sessions, on profit booking.

HMT jumped 10% to Rs. 31.90 on reports the company is one among 10 sick public sector units whom the government has allowed the unit to sell surplus land for raising resources to turnaround its balance sheet.

Aurobindo Pharma fell by 1.20% to Rs. 147.90 despite the company through its wholly owned subsidiary Aurobindo Pharma Australia Pty Ltd received it''s first approval from Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA), Government of Australia for the registration of Auro-Lisinopril 5, Auro-Lisinopril 10 and Auro-Lisinopril 20 tablets containing Lisinopril (as dihydrate) 5mg, 10mg and 20mg.

India, Nepal set to construct dam

NEW DELHI: Thirteen years after signing a treaty, India and Nepal are all set to establish Pancheshwar Development Authority for construction of the ambitious 6000 MW Pancheswar multi-purpose project on the Indo-Nepal border.

The project seeks to build a storage dam on the Mahakali river at the boundary of Uttarakhand and Nepal. Nearly 80 per cent of the catchment area for the project would be in India and the rest in Nepal.

"The Pancheshwar Development Authority will be set up jointly with the Government of Nepal for construction, operation and maintenance of the Pancheshwar project within a year," Water Resources Minister Saifuddin Soz said.

According to Soz, the authority will help decide the "operational details" for construction of the project.

The treaty on development of the Mahakali river, called Sarda in India, was signed between the two countries in February 1996, but came into force in June 1997.

The Pancheshwar project would also facilitate regulated release of water contributing to development of irrigation potential and control flood downstream.

There is also a proposal to construct a regulatory dam. While India wants to construct the regulatory dam at Purnagiri in Uttarakhand, Nepal is interested in building it at Rupaligarh so that relief and rehabilitation problems in that country is minimised

Source:http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/World/India-Nepal-set-to-construct-dam-/articleshow/4207898.cms

Suspected IM terrorist reveals Delhi, Mumbai blast plots: Report

: New Delhi, Feb 27: Sadiq Sheikh, an alleged operative of the terror outfit Indian Mujahideen, has unravelled on camera the plotting of the October 2005 Delhi blasts as well as the 2006 Mumbai train bombings, a television news channel claimed on Friday.According to the channel, Sheikh, who is in the custody of the Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS), revealed on camera the modus operandi of the pre-Diwali Delhi blasts on October 25, 2005, and the July 11, 2006 explosions in Mumbai that together claimed nearly 250 lives.“All five of us arranged local train passes for the first class compartments beforehand. We also had local train timetables with us so that we could find out the train as per our convenience,” the channel showed Sadiq as saying about the Mumbai explosions in a statement broadcast on Friday.“We purchased bags and pressure cookers in Mumbai. On the day of the blast, that is on July 11, 2006, all five of us assembled and we filled seven cookers with explosives. We kept the bombs ready. We had planned the bombs to blast at 6.30 pm,” he told the channel.Giving details of how the serial blasts were executed on Mumbai trains, Sadiq’s chilling confession continues.