Rupee hits 2-1/2 month high at 49.65 against US dollar

Mumbai Jan 27: The rupee touched a two-and-a-half month high on Friday, aided by firm local shares, as demand for riskier assets was spurred by hopes Greece will soon reach an agreement on restructuring its debt. At early trade, the rupee was at 49.72/73 to the dollar, after touching 49.65, its highest since November 9, and firmer than 50.09/10 at close on Wednesday. The market was closed on Thursday for a local holiday. "I expect the bullishness in euro as well as in stocks to continue for some time, and rupee can test 49.00/05 level," said Hari Chandramgathan, a forex dealer with Federal Bank in Mumbai.
The euro held onto most recent hefty gains against the dollar on Friday, after hitting a five-week high, as the Fed's pledge to keep rates near zero for the next three years encouraged carry trades funded in dollars.
The BSE Sensex rose 1 percent in early trade, extending gains to a sixth consecutive session, on rising foreign fund investments.
Foreign institutional investors have bought Indian shares worth USD 1.56 billion so far in January, and invested USD 3.39 billion in debt.
Traders said developments in Greece would provide directional cues and influence dollar inflows into India. Greece and its private creditors made progress on Thursday in talks on restructuring its debt, both sides said, and they will continue negotiating on Friday with the aim of sealing an agreement within a few days.
Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said on Wednesday the US central bank was ready to offer the economy additional stimulus after it announced it would likely keep interest rates near zero until at least late 2014. One-month offshore non-deliverable forward contracts were at 50.10, indicating some weakness in the short term in the onshore spot rate. In the currency futures market, the most-traded near-month dollar-rupee contracts on the National Stock Exchange, the MCX-SX and the United Stock Exchange were all around 49.7, on total volumes of USD 1.8 billion. (Agencies)

Food inflation remains in negative for fourth week at -1.03%

New Delhi Jan 27: Food inflation remained in the negative zone for the fourth week in a row, at (-) 1.03 percent for the week ended January 14, on account of cheaper vegetables.
Food inflation, as measured by the Wholesale Price Index (WPI), was at (-)0.42 percent in the previous week. It was above 17 percent in the corresponding week of 2011.
According to the official data released on Friday, onion prices fell steeply by 79.10 percent, year-on-year, for the week under review, while potato prices were down 22.46 percent. Prices of wheat also fell by 3.37 percent.
Overall, vegetables were 47.06 percent cheaper during the week under review, from the same period last year.
However, other food products, led by protein-based items, became more expensive on an annual basis.
Pulses prices were 12.77 per cent higher, while milk grew dearer by 12.25 percent. Eggs, meat and fish prices were up 20.33 percent year-on-year.
Fruits also became 5.17 per cent more expensive on an annual basis, while cereal prices were up 2.71 per cent.
Inflation in the overall primary articles category stood at 1.89 percent for the week ended January 14, as against 2.47 percent in the previous week. Primary articles have over 20 percent weight in the wholesale price index. (PTI)

PNB-J bags first prize for work in 'Rajbhasha Hindi'

G J Report
Jammu Jan 27: Punjab National Bank (PNB), Jammu Circle has been awarded the First Prize by Town Official Language Implementation Committee (TOLIC) for excellence in implementation of Official Language Policy of the Govt. of India.
According to the spokesperson of the bank, this award was presented by Dr Ram Vishwakarma, President of Town Official Language Implementation Committee-Jammu Chapter and Director of Indian Council of Integrated Medicines, at the Meeting of the Members of TOLIC during award presenting ceremony. Ashok Gupta, Circle Head (DGM) received the Shield and Manager (Rajbhasha) Shri. Jagdish Lal received the Certificate of Excellence. Shailesh Kumar Singh, Deputy Director- Rajbhasha, Ministry of Home Affairs, Govt. of India and Heads of other member Institutions were present on the occasion.

Expert committee under Rangarajan on sugar sector

New Delhi Jan 27: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has constituted an experts panel on the sugar sector, which is among the last remaining industries in India still under government control. The panel will be headed by former Reserve Bank governor C. Rangarajan.
"The committee will look into all issues relating to de-regulation of the sugar sector and it has been requested to complete its task as early as possible and give its recommendations to the prime minister," an official statement said Friday. Apart from the secretaries overseeing the ministries of food, public distribution system, and agriculture, the other members include Chief Economic Advisor Kaushik Basu, noted farm sector economist Ashok Gulati and former agriculture secretary Nand Kumar. The Prime Minister's Economic Advisory Committee Secretary K.P. Krishnan is the convenor. (Agencies)

Maaza launches new 'Har Mausam Aam' campaign

GJ REPORT
Jammu, Jan 27: Maaza, India's biggest and most favourite juice drink brand has always been an equivalent to juicy mangoes has launched its latest campaign, 'Har Mausam Aam'.
The campaign is based on the simple human desire to have the things we love, accessible to us anytime we desire them. According to Andriy Avramenko, Vice President - Juice Business, Coca-Cola India, "Indians often passionately debate the experience of having a mango, and it is the 'experience' that they crave more than the taste.
"The new Maaza campaign 'Har Mausam Aam' has been conceptualized by Leo Burnet (Delhi) and directed by Abhijeet Chowdhary (Dadu) from QED films. In addition to leveraging mass media advertising, integrated communication plan includes roll out of a range of initiatives including out-of-home (OOH) media, point of sale merchandise and on- the- ground initiatives across all key markets, he added. Commenting on the film, Sainath Saraban, Executive Creative Director, Leo Burnett, New Delhi, who also wrote the film, said, "We Indians love mangoes and with Maaza, every season is an occasion to savour the pleasure of mangoes. Our new campaign is all about Maaza being the mango equivalent whatever the season may be, and since it is made with great care using the choicest mangoes, it gives you the best mango experience every time, all through the year.

IGC estimates rice exports to jump 32% this year

NEW DELHI, JAN 27: Rice exports from India, the world second-largest producer, may go up by 32 per cent to five million tonnes this year, according to the International Grains Council (IGC). Shipments from neighbouring country Pakistan too are expected to see a jump of 32 per cent to 3.7 mt from 2.8 mt, IGC said in the latest report.
India's rice exports are projected to increase to five mt this year from 3.8 mt in 2011, said IGC, which forecast rice exports for five major exporters.
Forecast for India is based on assumption that the government will continue non-basmati rice exports that was allowed in September 2011 and in anticipation of higher production.
India has kept a target of a record 102 mt of rice production in 2011-12 crop year (July-June). Basmati rice shipments are allowed at a minimum export price (MEP) of USD 900 per tonne. Pakistan does not follow any MEP regime.
According to the IGC report, barring India and Pakistan, rice exports from Thailand, Vietnam and the US are expected to be lower in the current calendar year.
While shipments from Thailand may drop to 7.2 mt in 2012 from 10.5 mt last year, rice exports from Vietnam are likely to decline to 6.5 mt from 7.1 mt in the concerned period. Similarly, shipments from the US are expected fall to 3.1 mt in 2012 from 3.3 mt last year.
Exports from other countries are seen declining to 6.3 mt in 2012 against an estimated 6.8 mt last year. As regards rice imports, IGC noted that the total global shipments are seen to be down at 31.5 mt this year against 34.1 mt last year, due to significantly reduced imports to markets in Far East Asia.
The world's rice production is projected to go up marginally to 459 mt in the 2011-12 crop year (July-June) because of increases in Asia, notably in China and India, it said. Inventories in the five major exporters are projected to rise by 10 per cent to an all-time high of 31.9 mt due to increases in India and Thailand, it added.(PTI)

Markets sustain uptrend amid better inflation numbers

Dr. Gopal Parthasarthi

Indian stock markets sustained uptrend on the opening of a fresh F&O series on Friday as sentiments remained positive throughout the session. Coming in the session after the Republic Day holiday, the benchmarks failed to capitalize on the initial gap up opening but steadily gained ground after drifting to intraday lows in the late morning session. The psychological 5,150 (Nifty) and 17,100 (Sensex) levels proved as strong supports as the frontline gauges got a technical bounce from those levels thanks to hefty position build up in heavyweights like Reliance Industries and L&T. Sentiment got a boost after encouraging weekly inflation data showed that food inflation hovered in the negative terrain for the fourth successive week as it moderated to (-) 1.03% by week ended January 14, 2012. Moreover, foreign funds, which have been showing renewed interest in the fundamentally strong but deeply undervalued Indian equities, have infused more than $1.5 billion in local markets in January, in sharp contrast to net outflows of about $500 million in 2011.
Meanwhile all sugar stocks including Bajaj Hindusthan, Shree Renuka and Balrampur Chini rallied sharply on reports that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has formed expert committee to examine issues concerning the sugar industry and also to consider deregulation of the sector. However, the rate sensitive counters which have been in a stupendous uptrend of late, witnessed some profit booking. Earnings announcement from Canara Bank disappointed the street and plunged over three percent however Bank of India got commended for its third quarter performance as it surged over three percent post result announcement. In the global space, stock markets in Asia largely exhibited cautious trends while the European stock too traded on a negative note as investors eyed negotiations between private bondholders and the Greece's government over the nation's debt trouble.
Earlier on Dalal Street, the benchmark got off to a gap up start tracking the supportive leads from Asian markets. The indices jumped to the highest point in the session in initial moments of trade but soon slipped to lower levels. However, profit booking gathered momentum in late morning trades which dragged the gauges to lowest point in the session. But the frontline indices treaded on the road to recovery after hitting session's lows and the upward journey only ended with the day's close around the high point of the day. Eventually, the NSE's 50-share broadly followed index Nifty, climbed around a percent and settled just above the psychological 5,200 support level while Bombay Stock Exchange's Sensitive Index - Sensex amassed over one hundred fifty points to close above the psychological 17,200 mark. The broader markets too showed resilience and settled on a positive note with the small cap index outpacing the midcap one.
On the BSE sectoral front, largely across the board buying was evident with the Oil & Gas counter leading the space with 2.69% gains. The Consumer Durables and TECk counters too went home with over 2% gains each. On the flipside, the high beta Realty sector plummeted over two percent, being the top laggard in the sectoral space followed by the defensive FMCG index which plunged about a percent. The markets surged on tepid volumes of under R 1 lakh crore as it was the first day of a new F&O series. The market breadth remained optimistic as there were 1781 shares on the gaining side against 1106 shares on the losing side while 110 shares remained unchanged.
Finally, the BSE Sensex rose 156.80 points or 0.92% to settle at 17,233.98, while the S&P CNX Nifty up by 46.40 points or 0.90% to close at 5,204.70. The BSE Sensex touched a high and a low of 17,258.97 and 17,106.57 respectively. The BSE Mid cap and Small cap indices were up by 0.66% and 1.30% respectively.
The major gainers on the Sensex were Sterlite up 5.49%, Tata Motors up 4.10%, L&T up 3.76%, Bharti Airtel up 3.66% and RIL up 3.48%. While, DLF down 3.47%, Bajaj Auto down 3.07%, BHEL down 2.84%, Hero Moto down 2.21% and Jindal Steel down 2.04%, were the major losers on the index.
On the BSE sectoral space, Oil & Gas up 2.69%, CD up 2.54%, TECk up 2.02%, Metal up 1.89% and Capital Goods up 1.89% were the top gainers, while Realty down 2.22%, FMCG down 0.81%, Bankex down 0.37%, Power down 0.25% were the only losers on the sectoral space.
Meanwhile, the Prime Minister has constituted a 7 member Expert Committee under the Chairmanship of Dr. C. Rangarajan, Chairman Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister, to examine issues relating to the sugar sector. The other members of the committee are: Dr. Kaushik Basu, Chief Economic Adviser, Ministry of Finance; Secretary, Department of Food and Public Distribution; Secretary, Department of Agriculture; Dr. Ashok Gulati, CACP; Shri Nand Kumar, former Secretary, Department of Food and Public Distribution and Department of Agriculture and Cooperation and presently Member NDMA and Dr. K.P. Krishnan, Secretary EAC - Convener. Further the Committee has been empowered to involve such experts, academics as required as special invitees.
The S&P CNX Nifty touched a high and low of 5,217.00 and 5,162.40 respectively.
The top gainers on the Nifty were Sesa Goa up 7.47%, SAIL up 6.91%, Sterlite up 6.73%, Grasim up 4.43% and L&T up 4.16%.
On the flip side, Ranbaxy down 6.82%, PNB down 3.59%, DLF down 3.56%, JP Associates down 3.23% and BHEL down 3.19% were the top losers on the index.
Asian markets rose Friday on tentative hopes that Greece will be able to agree a deal with creditors on writing down some of its debt, although gains were capped by underwhelming US economic figures. Greek Prime Minister Lucas Papademos and Finance Minister Evangelos Venizelos on Thursday resumed talks with banks and insurers on a major write-down to help the troubled country escape a devastating default. The discussions aim to reach agreement on a voluntary exchange of bonds that would wipe 100 billion euros ($130 billion) off the country's debt of 350 billion euros. While US stocks slipped overnight after the government reported an unexpected drop in new home sales in December, capping the worst year for home sales since record-keeping began in 1963.
Hong Kong stocks rose for a sixth straight session day on the back of banking and telecommunication shares, while Japanese equities were weighed down by weak earnings reports from Nintendo and NEC.
Hang Seng was up 62.53 points or 0.31% to 20,501.67, Jakarta Composite was up 2.98 points or 0.07% to 3,986.41, Straits Times was up 21.83 points or 0.75% to 2,916.26 and Seoul Composite was up by 7.65 points or 0.39% to 1,964.83. On the flip side, Nikkei 225 was down by 8.25 points or 0.09% to 8,841.22. Stock markets in China and Taiwan remained closed on Friday in observance of Lunar New Year holiday.