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Commercial vehicle sales NEW DELHI, Dec 3: Buoyed by the massive infrastructure projects currently underway, commercial vehicle sales saw a handsome 32 per cent surge in .........more Rupee
extend gains MUMBAI, Dec 3: The rupee staged a smart 10-paise rally against the US dollar at 45.59/60 in morning trade today, as the sharp fall of the greenback ....more Dollar
digs record low vs LONDON, Dec 3: The dollar fell to a fresh record low on the euro on Wednesday for the fourth session in a row, in the grip of a downtrend fuelled ....more Benefits
to consumer NEW DELHI, Dec 3: Terming the new unified licence regime to be in the interest of the consumers, the Centre has....more |
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Gold off near-8-yr peak SINGAPORE, Dec 3: Gold retreated from its highest levels in almost eight years in quiet Asian trade on Wednesday, but dealers said it was primed to ....more Bank
rates may not go BANGALORE, Dec 3: Further downward revision of the bank rates in the country in the near future is unlikely, according to Credit Rating Information .....more SC
adjourns hearing on NEW DELHI, Dec 3: The Supreme Court today adjounred the hearing on Wireless in Local Loop (WLL) matter to January 13, 2004 giving time to the .......more Asia
gasoline-MRPL SINGAPORE, Dec 3: India’s Mangalore Refining and Petrochemicals Ltd (MRPL) has issued a tender to sell 25,000 tonnes of 96- to 100-octane ......more |
Commercial vehicle sales up 32 pc in April-Oct ‘03 NEW DELHI, Dec 3: Buoyed by the massive infrastructure projects currently underway, commercial vehicle sales saw a handsome 32 per cent surge in the domestic market in the first seven months of this fiscal at 1,31,703 vehicles while exports increased by 22 per cent to 7,948 units in the same period on the back of healthy demand for offerings of Ashok Leyland and Tata motors overseas. Sales of Medium and Heavy Commercial Vehicles (M HCVs) jumped by 36 per cent to 79,520 units (58,444) in the April-October ‘03 period while Light Commercial Vehicles (LCVs) saw a growth of 26 per cent to notch up sales of 52,183 units (41,389), according to figures provided by the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM). Goods carriers was the heavyweight player in the M HCV segment and saw sales increasing by 38 per cent to finish the first seven months at 65,856 units against 47,595 units in April-October ‘02. On the other hand, passenger carriers saw domestic sales touch 13,664 units (10,849) at a growth of 26 per cent. Heavyweights tata motors and Ashok Leyland saw surge in sales in the domestic market in the M HCV segment. Premium truck maker Volvo saw sales jump to 85 units (52) in the 12-16.2 tonne category even as it witnessed a massive 73 per cent decline in the over-25 tonne segment where it could only sell 31 units against 117 units sold in April-August ‘02. In the over 35.2-tonne category also, the Swedish truck maker saw sales drop to 41 units against 94 in the first seven months of last fiscal. In the LCV segment though, growth in the domestic market was provided by the goods carriers only while while sales of passenger carriers saw a four per cent decline to 11,059 units (11,538). Goods carriers provided the main thrust to the 26 per cent surge in LCV sales with a total of 41,124 units being sold in April-October ‘03 against 29,851 units sold in the corresponding period last year. In the below 5-tonne passenger carrier category, except for Bajaj tempo and Tata motors which saw healthy sales growth at figures of 2,739 (1,530) and 1,556 (493) units respectively, other players Hindustan Motors and Mahindra and Mahindra saw sales drop sharply. Tata motors had even better sales in LCV goods carrier under 3.5-tonne segment where its sales grew a whopping 688 per cent to touch 8.066 units against 1,023 units in April-October ‘02. The other dominant player here was Mahindra and Mahindra which had sales of 11,662 vehicles (9,576). On the export front, both M HCV and LCV witnessed a growth of over 20 per cent. While M HCV segment saw shipments increasing by 23 per cent to 3,546 units (2,875), LCV exports moved up 20 per cent to 4,402 units against 3,663 units shipped in April-October ‘02. (UNI) |
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Rupee extend gains as dollar falls in overseas market MUMBAI, Dec 3: The rupee staged a smart 10-paise rally against the US dollar at 45.59/60 in morning trade today, as the sharp fall of the greenback in overseas on concerns about the US current account deficit and geopolitical risks, propelled huge export and NRIs dollar inflows. The unabated foreign fund inflows into the booming stock markets, feeble import demand at the beginning of the month and muted intervention by the state-run banks, also fueled the rupee’s uptrend, dealers at the development credit bank said. Opening with a gap of four paise on higher side at 45.65/66, the rupee further surged to 45.59/60 in the morning, extending its gains by another 10 paise from 45.69/70 of Tuesday’s close. The sentiment on the rupee remains bullish on the back of the rising stock markets, the Indo-Pak peace initiatives that could spurt up foreign fund inflows and the dollar’s weakness in overseas, a treasury head at a private brokerage firm said. Foreign funds, the main driving force for the market, have pumped a whopping Rs 28,916.9 crore till November 29 nearly eight times higher than Rs 3,677.7 crore in the whole year 2002. The interbank call rate ruled easy at sub-repo level at 4.20-4.40 per cent, while Government bonds opened lower by 10-20 paise later to be steadied on supportive buying at lower levels. (UNI) |
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Dollar digs record low vs euro as downtrend grips LONDON, Dec 3: The dollar fell to a fresh record low on the euro on Wednesday for the fourth session in a row, in the grip of a downtrend fuelled by US current account deficit, geopolitical and trade concerns. The dollar hit a fresh five-year low against the British pound, a seven-year low on its index against a basket of currencies and a new six-year low against the Australian dollar after the Australian Central Bank raised interest rates. Analysts say strong US economic data in the past few days is largely priced into financial markets, US interest rates look set to remain around 1.0 percent for the time being and Washington’s engagement in Iraq is undermining sentiment. "Despite strong US data, the dollar has continued to fall and investors are becoming less willing to hold the currency," said Adrian Hughes, currency strategist at HSBC markets. "The fed is in no hurry to raise rates which means returns on US assets are not attractive enough to fund the US current account deficit. If the fed doesn’t raise rates, the adjustment mechanism will come via a weaker dollar." By 0830 GMT the dollar was holding around 1.2087 per euro, after plumbing a new low around 1.2113 in Asian trading, according to data. Traders say key support on technical charts lies around 1.2125 and a break there could drive the dollar much lower. Against the yen, the dollar was holding around a two-week low at 108.50 yen. Traders said further declines were limited by market wariness of potential yen selling intervention from japanese authorities, who have intervened throughout the year to buy dollars and prevent yen strength cutting off economic recovery. The euro’s rise was triggered in part by a leap in the australian dollar in the wake of a 25-basis point interest rate rise by the nation’s central bank. The move, which took Australian rates to 5.25 percent, was expected but it still sent the Australian dollar to a six-year high above US 0.73, with the yield looking even more attractive in contrast to US rates. Strong US November auto sales data released on Tuesday and Monday’s US manufacturing report showing the fastest pace of growth in 20 years have failed to offer the dollar any sustained relief in its downtrend. "In a word, market players are cutting dollar positions in a show of dislike of what is going in on in the middle east and (US President George W) Bush’s policies," said Kosuke Hanao, head of forex sales at royal bank of Scotland in Tokyo. "As a result, strong figures are essentially meaningless." US productivity data is due at 1330 GMT while the ISM non-manufacturing survey is due at 1500 GMT. Economists expect the US service sector index to edge down to 64.3 in November from 64.7 in October, but still well above the 50 level that divides contraction from expansion. A German Government source travelling with Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder in Beijing on Wednesday told, Berlin was not worried about the current euro/dollar exchange rate. The single currency is now around three cents above its launch rate in January 1999 having gained around 15 percent against the dollar since the start of this year. Germany, the euro zone’s largest economy, struggled out of recession in the first quarter this year helped by exports. The country’s industry federation has said it would be concerned about a euro at 1.20, although exporters said last month they could stand a higher exchange rate, it was the speed of change which might be problematic. A series of euro zone policy makers speak on Wednesday, including European Central Bank President Jean-Claude Trichet at a meeting in Paris. (AGENCIES) |
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Benefits to consumer not liked by cellular operators: Govt NEW DELHI, Dec 3: Terming the new unified licence regime to be in the interest of the consumers, the Centre has informed the Supreme Court that tariff reduction in telecom services fuelled by competition was not to the liking of cellular operators. Replying to a petition filed by Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI) challenging WLL services, the Government said "competition in telecom sector has greatly helped consumers. Tariffs have fallen from Rs 16 per minute to Re 1 per minute. Long distance tariffs have seen a reduction of more than 60 per cent. "Obviously this is not to the liking of the cellular operators," the Government said adding "consumers cannot be allowed to be squeezed or blackmailed by any of the operators." Accusing the cellular operators of being party to the consultation process before notification of the unified licence regime, the Centre said that they did not choose to challenge it during the stages of formulation and initiation. It said "the cellular operators having chosen to ignore developments and having not challenged TRAI recommendations before the appropriate forum, cannot be permitted to use these proceedings to convert the Supreme Court into a primary tribunal examining the decisions on facts and beyond the scope of appellate jurisidiction under TRAI Act." The Government said the cellular operators did not pay any entry fee for migration to the new unified regime, while the basic operators have been charged a fee running into thousands of crores. Accusing the cellular operators of opposing competition in the telecom sector, the Government said the players have been granted concessions from time to time including migration from fixed licence fee regime to revenue sharing regime. It cited the example of provisioning of Short Messaging Service (SMS) resulting in the wiping out of the radio paging industry, which got no compensation. "The cellular operators have already accepted multi-player regime while accepting the post NTP-99 migration package in which unlimited number of players could be inducted by the Government," the Centre’s affidavit said. Since the cellular operators had made commitments to the Government while accepting the migration package to NTP-99 regime that additional licences without any limit could be issued in a service area, the unified licenece was consistent with contractual obligation of existing operators specially the cellular players, the Government said. As basic operators have paid additional fees to be at par with the cellular players, the latter could not now say that Government was unfair in giving additional licences under the unified regime and claim status quo in the licencing. (PTI) |
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Gold off near-8-yr peak in Asia, fresh gains seen SINGAPORE, Dec 3: Gold retreated from its highest levels in almost eight years in quiet Asian trade on Wednesday, but dealers said it was primed to test new peaks as worries over Iraq and the dollar elevated the metal’s safe-haven status. Spot gold rose as high as 405.55 on Tuesday for the first time since February 1996, continuing to benefit from global tension following the US invasion of Iraq and eroding confidence in the US currency, which makes dollar-priced gold cheaper for yen and euro holders. Spot gold stood at 402.50/403.25 an ounce by 0531 GMT, down from 403.00/403.50 in New York. "The uptrend remains intact...The euro does help a lot," said Gordon Cheung, Director of Precious Metals Trading at Mitsui Bussan in Hong Kong. Gold, used for investment and adornment in many countries, also a got boost from news that Barrick gold corp would no longer sell its gold forward at set prices, reversing a two-decades old strategy. Barrick is the world’s third-biggest gold miner and largest Hedger. Hedging involves selling yet-to-be-mined gold ounces, using options and futures. The dollar was at record lows against the euro for the fourth consecutive trading day on Wednesday, hit by concerns about the US current account deficit and Washington’s handling of post-war Iraq. US forces have come under fire daily since toppling Saddam Hussein in April, and a weekend of bloody attacks has left their allies agonising over the cost in blood of the occupation. The dollar was at 108.70 yen, while the euro was at 1.2084. Precious metals analysts said geopolitical concerns would support the bullion market but trading was likely to be choppy ahead of the Christmas holiday. "If we break the 410 resistance, the market will move up to 430," said one precious metal analyst in Sydney. "But at the moment, there’s a little tussle going on between the bulls and the bears. The bulls are happy to buy on any dip below 395, but as soon as the market moves to a new high, they sell. "At this stage, the best approach is to stay long and buy on dips. I would think we are going to head back down to 395 and 390 area again before going significantly higher again," he said. Tokyo gold futures also fell victim to profit taking. The benchmark October 2004 gold contract on the Tokyo commodity exchange was three yen per gram lower at 1,407 yen per gram. "We saw profit taking in tocom and physical sell back across Asia after last night’s gains in New York. Some people say today’s trading range will be 400 to 406," said one Hong Kong dealer. In other precious metals, spot platinum was quoted at 774.00/779.00 an ounce, silver at 5.46/5.48 and palladium at 191.00/196.00. (AGENCIES) |
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Bank rates may not go down immediately: Crisil BANGALORE, Dec 3: Further downward revision of the bank rates in the country in the near future is unlikely, according to Credit Rating Information Services of India Limited (CRISIL) Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer R Ravimohan. Speaking at a seminar on risk management in Indian banks here, he said with increased flow from outside the country, low capital formation and high liquidity in the currency market, there was no possibility of further reduction in the bank rates immediately. Later when asked by newsmen whether the interest rates had reached a plateau, Mr Ravimohan said there was scope for a further reduction by about 100 basic points. Mr Ravimohan, however, said there could be further reduction in the net profit margin of banks over the next three years. The net profit margin, which was 3.79 per cent in 1997, had shrunk to 3.7 per cent in 2002 and it might lose another one per cent by 2006. The banks had been sustaining on the investment books of the past and this might get eroded over the next few years following Government’s decision to buyback high cost papers besides the recent trend of issuing long maturity Government securities at fixed interest rates. All this would further reduce the cushion available in the system and increase the system’s interest rate sensitivity, he added. Referring to the buoyancy in the foreign exchange reserves, he said the Reserve Bank of India might be mulling over introduction of current account convertability. Mr Ravimohan warned public sector banks that they might have to scout for deposits in the future as resource might become scarce with investments diverted to other income generating sources. Currently, nearly 51 per cent of the household savings were deposited in the bank every year with the capital market attracting only about two per cent. The banks need to be proactive in the future as the next decade might see only 45 per cent of the domestic savings deposited in banks with mutual funds and capital market enhancing their share to about six per cent. He said the banks should also effectively use the technology deployed to spread their wings across the country and increase the share in the gross dometic product. Banks share in the GDP was currently 45 per cent as against the global average of 80 to 85 per cent. Similarly retail banking accounted for only three per cent of the GDP in India as against 37 per cent in Thailand, 80 per cent in Hong Kong and 120 per cent in the United States. He lamented that the banking sector following a series of scams had become more conservative compared to their outlook in the early 1990s. If they need to go forward they need to be proactive and look for proper risk mitigation exercises to tap the potential available in the country, he added. (UNI) |
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SC adjourns hearing on WLL matter to Jan 13 NEW DELHI, Dec 3: The Supreme Court today adjounred the hearing on Wireless in Local Loop (WLL) matter to January 13, 2004 giving time to the cellular operators to reply to basic operators’ response. A bench comprising Justice S Rajendra Babu and Justice G P Mathur adjourned the hearing to January 13, 2004. The Apex Court had, last month, posted an interim application of Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI) for final hearing in the first week of December but had refused to order status quo on service-specific licencing regime as sought by cellular players. At the heart of WLL controversy, which has dominated the telecom scenario for over two years now, is Government’s decision to allow basic operators to offer limited mobile services. The cellular operators have challenged an August 8 order of telecom tribunal - TDSAT given by its "two non-judicial members" which allowed basic operators to offer such services. According to COAI, the minority verdict of Tribunal’s Chairman Justice D P Wadhwa that had termed wll services as illegal, should be upheld as it was the correct interpretation of the New Telecom Policy-99. (PTI) |
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Asia gasoline-MRPL tenders to sell Jan reformate SINGAPORE, Dec 3: India’s Mangalore Refining and Petrochemicals Ltd (MRPL) has issued a tender to sell 25,000 tonnes of 96- to 100-octane reformate for January lifting, a company source said on Wednesday. The tender, which closes on Friday, offers the supplies for lifting from west coast Mangalore from January 8-10. MRPL last month sold 25,000 tonnes of 96-octane reformate for December 21-23 loading at a premium of more than 2 a barrel to Singapore spot 97-octane gasoline quotes. MRPL, a subsidiary of oil and natural gas corp ONGC.Bo , has a refinery production capacity of 9.69 million tonnes a year, or about 200,000 barrels per day. (AGENCIES) |
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US imposes anti-dumping duty on Indian PC steel WASHINGTON, Dec 3: The US Department of Commerce has levied 102 per cent anti-dumping duty and 63 per cent countervailing duties on imports of Pre-stressed Concrete (PC) steel wire from India after holding that it was "unfairly traded". It has also imposed duties on four other countries. In a final ruling yesterday, the department determined that foreign producers are dumping PC strand — as it is commonly known — in the US market at less than fair value and imposed anti-dumping duties of up to 119 per cent on imports from Brazil 102 per cent on India, 54 per cent on Korea, 77 per cent on Mexico and 13 per cent on Thailand. Dumping is a violation of US and international trade law and occurs when goods are sold in the US market at a lower price than in the home market, the department said. Indian PC strand imports are also subject to a 63 per cent countervailing duty to offset unfair subsidies. The parties involved in the case will testify before the International Trade Commission (ITC), which is the next and final step in the filing of an unfair trade case. The final anti-dumping and countervailing duties go into effect if the itc concludes that the US industry is being injured by the imports. PC strand is a high strength concrete reinforcement that is used in concrete elements and structures such as parking decks, commercial and institutional construction, slabs on grade, bridges, and concrete pilings. In 2002, the US market for PC strand was approximately 190 million. The US steel industry body, the PC strand coalition, said it is also monitoring imports from China and Argentina, whose imports recently have surged into the US market. The coalition said it intends to aggressively combat efforts by foreign exporters and their US importers to undermine the efficacy of these duties and US law. The unfair trade petition was filed by the coalition in January. (UNI) |
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WB tops in small savings collection SILIGURI, Dec 3: West Bengal topped the list of 35 states and Union Territories in the country in small savings collection from April to March 2003 with net deposits over Rs 7800 crore. The state is followed by Maharastra with Rs 5,141 crore as against Rs 3,619.03 crore in the corresponding period last year and Uttar Pradesh with Rs 4,950 crore as against Rs 1,649.94 crore in the same period previous year, according to north Bengal and Sikkim post master general John Samuel. Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh and Delhi had net deposits for the same period at Rs 4,910.25 crore, Rs 2,884.74 crore and Rs 2,880.50 crore respectively, he told a news conference today. West Bengal had total net deposits in the current fiscal at Rs 7,800.86 crore compared to Rs 6,616.70 crore in last fiscal year and thus topped list of 35 states and Union Territories. The overall net deposits in small savings in the country was at Rs 50,460.15 crore compared to Rs 37,767.84 crore in last fiscal, regsitering a 30 per cent increased. The lowest savings was from Lakshadweep with only Rs 19 lakh being collected. The Andaman and Nicobar islands had collected Rs 1.20 crore and Rs 4.73 crore was collected from Daman Diu. Assam had slightly increased to Rs 650.98 crore this fiscal from Rs 650.26 crore last year, Bihar had Rs 1553.84 crore from Rs 1447.74 crore and Jharkhand had good jumped up to Rs 1164.54 crore in the current fiscal from Rs 888.95 crore last year. The new state of Uttaranchal had also recorded good net deposits under small scheme with Rs 576.99 crore this year from Rs 484.07 crore and Tamil Nadu to Rs 2,646.41 crore from Rs 1649.94 crore. Mr Samuel said the overall increase in small savings deposits with the postal department was due to higher rate of interest at eight per cent and ten per cent bonus compared to nationalised banks that have six to seven per cent. He said West Bengal, which topped the list of savings, showed an increase of about 18 per dent this year following the success in the rural areas. (UNI) |
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Bank rates may not go down immediately: CRISIL BANGALORE, Dec 3: Further downward revision of the bank rates in the country in the near future is unlikely, according to Credit Rating Information Services of India Limited (CRISIL) Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer R Ravimohan. Speaking at a seminar on risk management in Indian banks here, he said with increased flow from outside the country, low capital formation and high liquidity in the currency market, there was no possibility of further reduction in the bank rates immediately. Later when asked by newsmen whether the interest rates had reached a plateau, Mr Ravimohan said there was scope for a further reduction by about 100 basic points. Mr Ravimohan, however, said there could be further reduction in the net profit margin of banks over the next three years. The net profit margin, which was 3.79 per cent in 1997, had shrunk to 3.7 per cent in 2002 and it might lose another one per cent by 2006. The banks had been sustaining on the investment books of the past and this might get eroded over the next few years following Government’s decision to buyback high cost papers besides the recent trend of issuing long maturity Government securities at fixed interest rates. All this would further reduce the cushion available in the system and increase the system’s interest rate sensitivity, he added. Referring to the buoyancy in the foreign exchange reserves, he said the Reserve Bank of India might be mulling over introduction of current account convertability. (UNI) GM shelves sale of commercial mortgage unit DETROIT, Dec 3: General Motors corp has dropped tentative plans to sell the massive commercial mortgage arm of its general motors acceptance corp finance unit, the world’s largest automaker said on Tuesday. GM said in March that it was considering selling all or substantially all its interests in the commercial mortgage business. It cited what a company spokeswoman called "difficult capital market environments." No price tag had been put on the possible sale of the business. But in a statement issued late on Tuesday, GMAC chairman and president Eric Feldstein said the commercial mortgage unit had "continued to perform extremely well" for GM and the company was seeking to establish "alternative funding mechanisms" to support it. GM was hit with a credit rating downgrade in October 2002, making it more difficult for the automaker to raise capital through some corporate debt markets. GMAC is an integral part of GM’s core business, underwriting financing and leasing deals on vehicles as well as other activities key to GM’s bottom line. A consistent money maker, it has generated cash even when the automotive business has posted losses. GMAC’s commercial mortgage unit had net income for the nine months ended Sept 30 of about 243 million. It generated nearly 20 billion in loans and had total assets valued at around 14.6 billion over the same time frame. (AGENCIES) |
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