US Stocks (Dow -348,Nasdaq -93) decline on unemployment, factory reports

Stocks decline on unemployment, factory reports

Stocks fall on unemployment claims, factory orders data as investors fear protracted downturn
NEW YORK (AP) -- Pessimism about a protracted economic downturn washed over the financial markets Thursday, sending stocks plunging and further tightening the credit markets. Reports on declining factory orders and a seven-year high in jobless claims stoked fears that the government's financial rescue plan won't ward off a recession, and the Dow Jones industrials skidded nearly 350 points.

Investors appeared to be settling in for a prolonged economic winter. The main concern is that the $700 billion bailout plan won't be enough to stimulate growth, and economic reports delivered Thursday show that the U.S. continues to struggle.

The government said the number of people seeking unemployment benefits rose last week and that demand at the nation's factories has fallen by the largest amount in nearly two years. The market is interpreting the Commerce Department report on factories as a sign that tight credit conditions are hitting manufacturers.

"The economy is what's driving this weakness," said Subodh Kumar, global investment strategist at Toronto-based Subodh Kumar & Associates. "I think now what's going on is a focus on the economic weakness in a whole bunch of areas."

He also said, "the next couple of days are going to be pretty intense politically" as Wall Street girds for another vote on the financial bailout plan. The bill that passed the Senate late Wednesday will be sent to the House as soon as Friday. The latest version of the bill adds $100 billion in tax breaks for businesses and the middle class and raises the limit on federal deposit insurance to $250,000 from $100,000.

Supporters are hoping the sweetened bill will be more palatable to some of the 133 House Republicans who rejected the measure in a vote Monday that took Wall Street, and many on Capitol Hill, by surprise.

Those in favor of the plan to let the government buy billions of dollars in bad mortgage debt and other now-soured assets say it will help unclog the world's credit markets. Banks are fearful of making loans, even to each other, because of worries they won't be repaid. That, in turn, is weighing on the economy, making borrowing more difficult and expensive for businesses and consumers alike.

The credit markets showed some increased strain Thursday. The yield on the 3-month T-bill, the safest type of investment, fell to 0.70 percent from 0.79 percent late Wednesday. The historically low yields indicate investors are willing to accept the smallest of returns to safeguard their money.

The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note, which moves opposite its price, fell to 3.64 percent from 3.74 percent late Wednesday.
The stock market is a leading economic indicator of sorts, because investors tend to buy and sell based on where they believe the economy will be six months or more in the future. Thursday's big drop points to a market increasingly resigned to further economic instability whether or not the bailout plan becomes law.

"There are a lot of people who think regardless of a bailout, there's still this economic data and the horror stories out there," said Todd Salamone, director of trading at Schaeffer's Investment Research. "Certainly, there's a negative psychology."

Investors might get another grim reading about the economy on Friday when the Labor Department releases its September jobs report, one of the most closely watched indicators. The report is expected to show a loss of 100,000 jobs, according to a median estimate from economists. That would be the ninth straight month that the economy has lost jobs.
The Dow fell 348.22, or 3.22 percent, to 10,482.85. The blue chips plunged nearly 778 points Monday, logged a partial rebound Tuesday and finished modestly lower Wednesday; still the Dow has had triple-digit swings every day this week, having fallen more than 200 during Wednesday's trading.

Broader stock indicators also fell sharply Thursday. The Standard & Poor's 500 index fell 46.78, or 4.03 percent, to 1,114.28, and the Nasdaq composite index fell 92.68, or 4.48 percent, to 1,976.72.
Light, sweet crude fell $4.56 to settle at $93.97 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Gold and other commodities also declined during the session.

Billionaire investor Warren Buffett said the U.S. has been hit with an "economic Pearl Harbor," and the government must respond quickly. "That sounds melodramatic, but I've never used that phrase before. And this really is one," Buffett said in an appearance on the "The Charlie Rose Show" on PBS stations.

The Labor Department reported Thursday that initial claims for unemployment benefits rose by 1,000 last week to a seasonally adjusted 497,000, above expectations for a 475,000 increase. That's the highest seen since the immediate aftermath of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, and unnerved investors worried about not only about strains in the financial market but also the effect on the broader economy.
Beyond employment, the government reported that orders for manufactured goods fell by 4 percent in August from July. Economists had expected a 2.5 percent decline. It is the biggest drop since a 4.8 percent decline in October 2006.
The dollar was higher against other major currencies, particularly the euro, even after the European Central Bank left interest rates unchanged. Higher interest rates in Europe generally make the euro more attractive to investors than the dollar.
The ECB left its key interest rate unchanged amid concerns over inflation but explored the option of lowering the rate as the financial crisis increasingly affects the continent. The central bank is also weighing a bailout of the region's financial system, similar to what U.S. lawmakers are considering.
That raised the question of whether policymakers globally might be less focused on fighting inflation, and instead trying to come up with short-term solutions to stimulate the economy.
"At some point, you have to face the realities that we have some serious problems and there aren't going to be any quick fixes," said Ryan Larson, head of equity trading at Voyageur Asset Management. "Even if bailouts pass, the fact remains that it might get credit flowing again but won't solve the broader issues out there."

The Russell 2000 index of smaller companies fell 33.92, or 5.05 percent, to 637.67.
Declining issues led advancers by a 3 to 1 margin on the New York Stock Exchange, where consolidated volume came to 6.16 billion shares, up from 5.59 billion on Wednesday.
Overseas, Japan's Nikkei stock average fell 1.88 percent. Britain's FTSE 100 fell 1.80 percent, Germany's DAX index fell 2.51 percent, and France's CAC-40 lost 2.25 percent.

Oil falls below $94 on falling global demand
BoA sues Lehman units over collateral
Bailout bill in House for final nod
Fed may consider rate cuts: Report
Greenspan sees early end to crisis

Source:ET,Yahoo finance

Send Free SMS via Google SMS Channels;Google InQuotes

Google Labs India Launch Google SMS Channels & InQuotes today

Today is a big day for Google India users as Google just launched Google SMS channels and Google In Quotes. The Google SMS channels is for Indian Mobile users allows them to get updates via SMS.It is a major announcement by Google to uproot the market players like SMSGupShup (by Webarro) which allows you to create free group SMS across India.Google as always has went one step ahead by introducing the blog feed updates, that can now be sent to mobile phone users. All the India readers of this blog are welcomed to join Digital World SMS Channel by Google to get all updates here directly in your mobiles.Apart from that you can also join or create MS groups for news alerts, weather updates etc. and off course do group SMS with friends too. All these services are free for both Publishers and Subscribers.On the Other hand Google has also launched Inquotes where the computer search engine quotes famous people of India whose quotes have appeared in a publication or national daily on the keywords of your choice.You can also create Google SMS Channels for your blogs or websites or groups at Google SMS Channels
.------------------------------------------------

FAQs: http://labs.google.co.in/smschannels/help#create_channel

Learn more about SMS ChannelsFor subscribers »For channel owners »

Google Search results http://www.google.co.in/search?hl=en&q=google+sms+channels&start=0&sa=N

Google SMS Channels: Send SMS Text Messages to your Group for Free

Google India Launches SMS Channel Service Technology and Business ...
Techmeme: Google SMS Channels: Send SMS Text Messages to your ...

Google SMS Channels : Sends Blog updates & other information to a ...

BlogoWogo - The Blog Network Google Labs India Launch Google SMS ...

» Send Free Group SMS with Google SMS Channels

Digg - Google SMS Channels - In India (Google Labs)

Send free sms to friends with google sms channels

Send SMS to your Group for Free with Google SMS Channels
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19. How do I create a channel? What are the different ways to publish content to a channel?

To create a channel on the website, click the Create channel link on the right hand side on the main page.You need to specify following information to create a channel:Name: Name of the channel.Description: A brief description of channel in less than 100 characters.Category: Channel category.Location: If a channel is specific to a city, you can specify the city name.Source (optional): You can get your channel updates from Blogger or Google Groups or Google News or RSS/Atom feeds from any supporting web site. This field is optional. You can post messages via the web front end or the phone with or without a source selection.Blogger: Enter the blog name that you want to use as a source for channel posts/updates. For example: To get updates from the Official Google Blog ( http://googleblog.blogspot.com/ ), enter googleblog in the text box after selecting Blogger as the source.Google Groups: Enter the Google group name that you want to use as a source for channel posts/updates.For example: To get updates from Google Maps Group (http://groups.google.com/group/Google-Maps), enter Google-Maps in the text box after selecting Google Groups as the source.Google News: Enter one or more keywords of interest for Google News based updates for the entered keywords. For example: to get Google News based updates for keywords "global warming", enter global warming in the text box after selecting Google News as the source.RSS/Atom feed: Enter the RSS/Atom URL address in the text box. For example: to get Google News RSS based updates, enter the RSS feed URL "http://news.google.com/?output=rss" in the text box. You can preview your channel content by clicking on the 'preview' button. The content should appear inside the image of the phone on the right.Allow publishing by: This stores the preference around who can publish posts to the channel. By default, only the channel creator is allowed to publish to a channel. You can also select the "Any subscriber" option that permits publishing by any subscriber of the channel (not just the creator).Who can subscribe: By default, a created channel is open for subscription by any registered user and hence is also referred to as a public channel. If you want to allow subscription to your channel only via invitations sent by you, you can select "By invitation only" option. Note: "By invitation only" channels are also referred to as private channels because they do not appear in search results. No one can join a private channel on their own.To create a channel using phone, send the following SMS to 9870807070:'CREATE 'For example you can create a channel for traffic information in Bangalore with the following command: CREATE TrafficBangalore traffic information for Bangalore.This will create a "public" channel (anyone can subscribe to a public channel) with name TrafficBangalore.You can change the properties by using the MODIFY command as below:To make the channel "private" (only allow people to subscribe by invitation by the owner) send the following SMS to 9870807070:'MODIFY PRI'To make a channel "public", send the following SMS to 9870807070:'MODIFY PUB'To make channel publish privilege limited (only the owner can publish), send the following SMS to 9870807070:'MODIFY PRISEND'To allow all subscribers to publish to a channel send the following SMS to 9870807070:'MODIFY PUBSEND'Please note you are automatically subscribed to every channel that you create.

Source:Indiaeduscholar, all webs sources

US Senate passes Indo-US Nuclear Deal, $700 billion Bailout plan

US Senate passes Indo-US Nuclear Deal


WASHINGTON: The United States Senate on Thursday overwhelmingly approved a legislation on the landmark Indo-US nuclear deal, paving the way for its operationalisation, four days after the House of Representatives gave its nod for it.

The Berman Bill H R 7081, named after Howard Berman, a Democrat strongly opposed to the deal on non-proliferation grounds and who converted only a couple of days back, was adopted with 86 voting for and 13 against. The Senate also rejected the killer amendments introduced by Democratic Senators Byron Dorgan and Jeff Bingaman to ensure that the US nuclear exports to India do not help boost New Delhi's nuclear weapons programme.

With the 100-member Senate approving the Bill, the Indo-US civil nuclear deal is now ready for signing between the two countries. US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, who was slated to arrive in New Delhi on October 2, has reportedly rescheduled her visit and is expected on Saturday. Rice may ink the agreement with External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee, a feat that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and President George W Bush could not achieve when they met at the White House on Friday last.

INDIA JOINS THE NUCLEAR FAMILY
US Senate Passes Indo-US nuclear deal

New Delhi: The much-touted and widely debated Indo-US nuclear deal cleared its last legislative hurdle early Thursday morning (India time), as US Senate passed it after a two-and-a-half-hour debate, with members from across the political divide supporting the landmark accord.

An overwhelming 86 Senators voted for the deal, while 13 opposed it. Presidential hopefuls Barack Obama and John McCain and Democratic Vice Presidential candidate Joe Biden also participated in the voting.

The Senate rejected the killer amendments introduced by Democratic Senators Byron Dorgan and Jeff Bingaman to ensure that the US nuclear exports to India do not help boost New Delhi's nuclear weapons programme.

With the 100-member Senate approving the Bill, the Indo-US civil nuclear deal is now ready for signing between the two countries.
US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, who was slated to arrive in New Delhi on October 2, has reportedly rescheduled her visit and is expected on Saturday.

Congress OKs Indo-US nuclear deal

WASHINGTON: The US Congress on Wednesday approved a landmark deal ending a three-decade ban on US nuclear trade with India, handing a victory to President George W. Bush on one of his top foreign policy priorities.
Final approval came as the Senate voted to ratify the deal, 86-13, sending the legislation to Bush to sign into law. The Senate's move came just ahead of an expected trip to India this weekend by U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.
The Bush administration says the pact will secure a strategic partnership with the world's largest democracy, help India meet its rising energy demand and open up a market worth billions.
But critics say the deal does grave damage to global efforts to contain the spread of nuclear weapons, by letting India import nuclear fuel and technology even though it has tested nuclear weapons and never signed the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).
India has a yawning energy deficit, and the accord opens up this market worth billions to American companies such as General Electric and Westinghouse Electric, a unit of Japan's Toshiba Corp.
Rice spent much of the past month in an all-out effort to persuade Congress to approve the pact, which the Bush administration says will transform the U.S.-India relationship. Bush wanted the deal approved before leaving office in January; Congress is expected to adjourn soon for elections.
The accord enjoys bipartisan support in Congress, where many lawmakers favored it as a way to create jobs in the U.S. civil nuclear industry while cultivating the small but affluent Indian-American community.
Critics said the deal was deeply unwise, overturning decades of U.S. policy of refusing to sell nuclear technology to nations lacking full safeguards against that technology's diversion into nuclear weapons programs.
Iran concerns
"Why are we rushing to pass this gravely flawed agreement?" demanded Sen. Tom Harkin, an Iowa Democrat, before the vote. There was nothing in it, he said, to prevent India from resuming nuclear testing. India, which first detonated a nuclear device in 1974, last tested in 1998.
The deal would also weaken U.S. efforts to deny Iran a nuclear weapon, Harkin said. He said Indian entities already had sold sensitive missile technologies to Iran, which the Bush administration suspects is pursuing a nuclear bomb.
But supporters said they expected India to move quickly to negotiate a new safeguards agreement with the International Atomic Energy Agency.
"The benefits of this pact are designed to be a lasting incentive for India to abstain from further nuclear weapons tests and to cooperate closely with the United States in stopping proliferation," Indiana Republican Sen. Richard Lugar said.
Before approving the pact, the Senate rejected an amendment by Sen. Jeff Bingaman of New Mexico and Sen. Byron Dorgan of North Dakota, both Democrats, making clear that another Indian nuclear test would lead to termination of the deal.
Lugar argued the amendment was unnecessary, saying India had been warned repeatedly that the consequences of another test would be "dire": U.S. nuclear trade would be cut off.
The deal could open up around $27 billion in investments in 18-20 nuclear plants in India over the next 15 years, according to the Confederation of Indian Industry.
But there is global competition. France announced on Tuesday that it had signed a nuclear cooperation agreement with India, and Russia is already building two 1,000 megawatt reactors in the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu.
Local media say India's monopoly Nuclear Power Corp has tentatively picked four suppliers, including Westinghouse Electric and France's Areva, for planned new projects.
India is also reported to be negotiating with General Electric, Japan's Hitachi Ltd and Russia's atomic energy agency Rosatom.

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Senate Passes $700B 'Sweetened' Rescue Package

WASHINGTON (AP) -- After one spectacular failure, the $700 billion financial industry bailout found a second life Wednesday, winning lopsided passage in the Senate and gaining ground in the House, where Republicans opposition softened.

Senators loaded the economic rescue bill with tax breaks and other sweeteners before passing it by a wide margin, 74-25, a month before the presidential and congressional elections.

In the House, leaders were working feverishly to convert enough opponents of the bill to push it through by Friday, just days after lawmakers there stunningly rejected an earlier version and sent markets plunging around the globe.

The measure didn't cause the same uproar in the Senate, where both parties' presidential candidates, Republican John McCain and Democrat Barack Obama, made rare appearances to cast "aye" votes.

In the final vote, 40 Democrats, 33 Republicans and independent Sen. Joe Lieberman of Connecticut voted "yes." Nine Democrats, 15 Republicans and independent Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont voted "no."

The rescue package lets the government spend billions of dollars to buy bad mortgage-related securities and other devalued assets held by troubled financial institutions. If successful, advocates say, that would allow frozen credit to begin flowing again and prevent a deep recession.

Even as the Senate voted, House leaders were hunting for the 12 votes they would need to turn around Monday's 228-205 defeat. They were especially targeting the 133 Republicans who voted "no."

Their opposition appeared to be easing after the Senate added $110 billion in tax breaks for businesses and the middle class, plus a provision to raise, from $100,000 to $250,000, the cap on federal deposit insurance.

They were also cheering a decision Tuesday by the Securities and Exchange Commission to ease rules that force companies to devalue assets on their balance sheets to reflect the price they can get on the market.

There were worries, though, that the tax breaks would cause some conservative-leaning Democrats who voted for the rescue Monday to abandon it because it would swell the federal deficit.

"I'm concerned about that," said Rep. Steny Hoyer, D-Md., the majority leader.
As revised by the Senate, the package extends several tax breaks popular with businesses. It would keep the alternative minimum tax from hitting 20 million middle-income Americans and provide $8 billion in tax relief for those hit by natural disasters in the Midwest, Texas and Louisiana.

It doesn't designate a way to pay for many of the tax cuts, though, angering the House's band of conservative "Blue Dog" Democrats. Leaders in both parties, as well as private economic chiefs everywhere, said Congress must quickly approve some version of the bailout measure to start loans flowing and stave off a potential national economic disaster.

"This is what we need to do right now to prevent the possibility of a crisis turning into a catastrophe," Obama said on the Senate floor. In Missouri, before flying to Washington to vote, McCain said, "If we fail to act, the gears of our economy will grind to a halt."

Critics on the right and left assailed the rescue plan, which has been panned by their constituents as a giveaway for Wall Street, and has little obvious direct benefit for ordinary Americans.
Sen. Jim DeMint, R-S.C., a leading conservative, said the step was "leading us into the pit of socialism." Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont, an independent who's a self-described socialist, said the rescue was fundamentally unfair.

"The masters of the universe, those brilliant Wall Street insiders who have made more money than the average American can even dream of, have brought our financial system to the brink of collapse," Sanders said, and are demanding that the middle class "pick up the pieces that they broke."

Still, proponents argued that the financial sector's woes were already being felt by ordinary people in the form of unaffordable credit and underperforming retirement savings and without the bailout would soon translate into even more economic pain for working Americans, including more job losses.
"There will be no balloons or bunting or parades," when the rescue becomes law, said Sen. Chris Dodd, D-Conn., the Banking Committee chairman. But lawmakers will have "the knowledge that at one of our nation's moments of maximum economic peril, we acted -- not for the benefit of a particular few, but for all Americans."
The Senate specializes in high-stakes legislating by enticement, and the long list of sweeteners it added was designed to attract votes from various constituencies.
Tax cuts new and old are favorites for most House Republicans, the main target of intense lobbying to gain support for the measure. Help for rural schools was aimed mainly at lawmakers in the West, while disaster aid was a top priority for lawmakers from across the Midwest and South.
Another addition, to extend the deductibility of state and local taxes for people in states without income taxes, helps Florida and Texas, among others.
Increasing the deposit insurance cap was a bid to reassure individuals and small businesses that their money would be safe in the event their banks collapsed. It was particularly geared toward small banks that fear customers will pull their money and park it in larger institutions seen as less likely to fold.
The FDIC would be allowed to borrow unlimited money from the Treasury Department through the end of next year as a way to cover the increased insurance limit. If used, it would be the first time the agency has tapped Treasury for a loan since the early 1990s.
Raising the limit -- along with the SEC's decision to ease accounting rules on valuing assets -- helped House Republicans claim credit for some substantive changes.
And with constituent feedback changing dramatically since Monday's shocking House defeat and the corresponding market plunge, lawmakers' comfort level with the package increased markedly.

Senate passes bailout /Senate approves $700 bln financial bailout

By Daniel Trotta and Richard Cowan
NEW YORK/WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Senate approved a $700 billion bailout of the financial industry on Wednesday that political and financial leaders called crucial to averting economic catastrophe.
The bill is aimed at reinvigorating worldwide credit markets and interbank lending that had frozen up while overleveraged financial institutions staggered under the weight of failed mortgages.
Amid warnings that failure to act could plunge the country into a depression, more than 60 Senators voted in favor, exceeding the majority needed to send the measure to the House of Representatives, probably for a vote on Friday.
The House had rejected a similar measure on Monday, sending global markets into a tailspin, so congressional leaders added two sweeteners to the bill -- a tax cut and extended federal protection for bank deposits -- that could turn "no" voters into supporters.
Central bankers and pensioners worldwide were counting on the rescue plan to empower the U.S. Treasury to buy distressed assets from financial firms, clean up their balance sheets and jump-start lending.
The vote came amid early trade in Asian markets and the dollar climbed near a one-year peak against a basket of currencies while Japanese stocks extended losses.
The credit crisis also reverberated among European banks while recessionary signals mounted in the United States.
U.S. factory activity shrank in September to its lowest since the 2001 recession and major automakers reported plunging U.S. sales for September, led by a 34 percent slide at Ford Motor Co. Continued...

Stocks end relatively calm day with modest loss- AP
Buffett's company to buy $3B of GE preferred stock- AP
Manufacturing shrinks to lowest level since 2001
Buffett dives into GE amid "economic Pearl Harbor"
SEC extends short sale ban to give Congress time
Congress OKs Indian nuclear deal, sends to Bush
Senate approves $700 bln financial bailout
Senate weighs bailout; Europeans split



Source: ET,Reuters,Yahoo Finance, UTV etc

Index (Sensex,Nifty) based market wide circuit breaker for the Quarter 1st October 08 - 31st December 08

Sourced from NSE, BSE websites....
NSE ( NIFTY)

NSE/CMTR/11406
September 30, 2008
Index based market wide circuit breaker for the quarter October 01, 2008 to December 31, 2008.

Circular No.: NSE/CMO/049/2008
Download No. NSE/CMTR/11406
Date: September 30, 2008

Dear Members,

Sub: Index based market wide circuit breaker for the quarter October 01, 2008 to December 31, 2008.

SEBI vide its circular no. SMDRPD/Policy/Cir-37/2001 dated June 28, 2001 has informed the Exchange to implement index based market wide circuit breaker in compulsory rolling settlement with effect from July 02, 2001. The index based market wide circuit breaker system is applicable at three stages of the index movement either way at 10%, 15% and 20%. In this regard, Exchange has issued circular no. NSE/CMO/0015/2001 (Download No. NSE/CMTR/2657) dated June 29, 2001.

Accordingly the percentages are calculated on the closing index value of the quarter. These percentages are translated into absolute points of index variations (rounded off to the nearest 10 points in case of NIFTY). At the end of each quarter, these absolute points of index variations are revised and made applicable for the next quarter.

On September 30, 2008, the last trading day of the quarter, NIFTY closed at 3921.20 points. The absolute points of NIFTY variation (over the previous day’s closing NIFTY) which would trigger market wide circuit breaker for any day in the quarter between October 01, 2008 to December 31, 2008 would be as under:-

Percentage (+/-) Equivalent Point (+/-)
10% 390
15% 590
20% 780

For any clarifications, members are advised to contact the following officials:
Mr. Khushal Shah / Mr. Sunil Gawde / Mr. Amit Kursija / Mr Hasnain Khatri at 26598153 / 26598156 / 26598157

For National Stock Exchange of India Ltd.

Suprabhat Lala
Asst. Vice President (Capital Market)
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BSE ( SENSEX)

Index based market wide circuit breaker for the Quarter 1st October 2008 to 31st December, 2008

Notice no :20080930-22
Notice date :Tuesday, September 30, 2008
Subject :Index based market wide circuit breaker for the Quarter 1st October 2008 to 31st December, 2008
Segment Name Equity

Contents :

Trading Members of the Exchange are hereby informed that the Exchange implements on a quarterly basis (SEBI circular SMDRPD/Policy/Cir-37/2001 dated June 28, 2001) the index based market wide circuit breaker system. The system is applicable at three stages of the index movement either way at 10%, 15% and 20%. This circuit breaker brings about a coordinated trading halt in all equity and equity derivative markets nationwide.

The market wide circuit breakers would be triggered by movement of either SENSEX or the NSE S&P CNX Nifty whichever is breached earlier.

· In case of a 10% movement of either of these indices, there would be a 1-hour market halt if the movement takes place before 1 p.m. In case the movement takes place at or after 1 p.m. but before 2.30 p.m. there will be a trading halt for ½ hour. In case the movement takes place at or after 2.30 p.m. there will be no trading halt at the 10% level and the market will continue trading.

· In case of a 15% movement of either index, there will be a 2-hour market halt if the movement takes place before 1 p.m. If the 15% trigger is reached on or after 1 p.m. but before 2 p.m., there will be a 1 hour halt. If the 15% trigger is reached on or after 2 p.m. the trading will halt for the remainder of the day.
· In case of a 20% movement of the index, the trading will be halted for the remainder of the day.

The percentages are calculated on the closing index value of the quarter. These percentages are translated into absolute points of index variations (rounded off to the nearest 25 points in case of SENSEX). At the end of each quarter, these absolute points of index variations are revised and made applicable for the next quarter.

On September 30, 2008, the last trading day of the quarter, SENSEX closed at 12860.43 points. The absolute points of SENSEX variation (over the previous day’s closing SENSEX) which would trigger market wide circuit breaker for any day in the quarter between 1st October 2008 and 31st December 2008 would be as under:

Percentage (+/-) Equivalent Points (+/-)
10% 1275
15% 1925
20% 2575

Sanjay Saksena
Sr. General Manager- Knowledge Management


SOurce:NSE,BSE websites.

RIL to sell KG oil at $5 discount to Brent

RIL to sell KG oil at $5 discount to Brent

Company’s Q3 turnover may rise by Rs 1,400 crore on new sales.Reliance Industries (RIL), the country’s largest company by market capitalisation, will sell its Krishna-Godavari (KG) basin oil at a discount of around $5 per barrel to Brent crude oil, the global benchmark.
The company, which had reported sales of Rs 41,579 crore in the first quarter of the current financial year ended June 2008, may add around $300 million (Rs 1,400 crore) to its turnover in the October-December quarter as it begins sale of the KG oil to Indian refiners.

At present, Brent crude oil, which is produced primarily from oil fields in the North Sea near Norway, is trading at around $100-105 per barrel.
“Our oil will be priced at around $5 per barrel discount to crude oil. Tests have shown the quality of our oil is similar to that of Brent crude oil,” said a senior RIL official.
RIL will produce around 35,000 barrels of crude oil per day from the field at peak rate. This is around 5 per cent of the total crude oil produced in India. The company will initially produce around 10,000 barrels per day and increase it to peak rate in a month’s time.
As per the terms of the agreement, the government will earn profit from the sale of oil only after Reliance Industries recovers its $2 billion investment made towards producing the oil.
The cost of production per barrel of oil is not known. RIL share price on the Bombay Stock Exchange has fallen 9.3 per cent in the last month as world markets have tumbled on fears of an economic crisis.
RIL projects oil and gas sales from the Krishna-Godavari basin to boost its revenues and profits significantly. The company started test production of oil from the basin around 10 days ago.
“We are not yet selling the crude oil. The flow of oil from the well will stablise in the next two-three days and then we will start sales,” said the RIL official. “Full production will take another month or so,” he added.

An official with Indian Oil Corporation, the country’s largest refiner, said that refineries which are not very complex can process this crude oil at low costs. “The crude oil will yield mainly petrol and diesel and there is less residue,” he said.

The RIL official said that the crude oil from its field will not be refined by the company’s refinery in Gujarat. “The economics will not work out as our refinery is designed to create value from very cheap and low quality crude oil,” he said.

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Tata Steel to acquire 19.9% stake in Canadian firm
Govt considering hiking FDI in DTH services to 74%: I&B Min
Govt's first priority to insulate India from financial crisis
India's exports up by 27% in August

Merrill sale still seems shaky to some
August trade deficit at $13.94 bn
Inflation seen at 12.13%: Poll
Imports exceed exports by $13.9 bn

Rupee recovers from fall to 5-yr low
Blackstone, JP Morgan in $1 bn deal
BoE pumps $40 bn into money mkts
Moser Baer gets $500 mn export order

Bajaj motorcycle sales up 6 pc in September
Hero Honda sales up 22.47 pc in September
TVS Motor September 2-wheeler sales up 19 pc
Sistema to invest over $1.5 bn to expand Shyam Telelink network

India may allow 74 pc FDI in DTH TV - official
BSE plans to boost derivatives volume
Gold ends at more than 2-mth high at Rs 13,410


Source:ET,BS

Republican members forging new bailout plan: Sources

Republican members forging new bailout plan: Sources

Sources tell CNBC that a group of US Republican members are forging an alternative bailout plan after the previous one failed to pass muster.
The proposal will be an alternative to that proposed by US Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson.

Components of the alternative plan including the following, according to sources:
· Require the Treasury Department to guarantee, at up to 100 percent, bank losses resulting from failed mortgage-backed securities originated prior to the plan's enactment. Such insurance, supporters say, would provide immediate value to the securities and a foundation for which they could then be sold. The Treasury Department would finance that insurance by assessing a premium on outstanding mortgage-backed securities.
· Allow companies to carry back losses arising in tax years ending in 2007, 2008, or 2009 back five years, generating a tax refund and immediate capital
· Allow a "repatriation window" for profits earned by U.S. firms overseas. Such repatriation amounts would not be taxed if invested in distressed debt (as defined by Treasury) for at least one year
· Allow banks to treat losses on shares of preferred stock in Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac as ordinary losses, not as capital losses
· Suspend the capital gains tax rate for two years
· Limit backing of high-risk loans by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac
· Schedule Fannie and Freddie for privatization
· Suspend "mark-to-market" accounting until the SEC can issue new guidelines that will allow firms to mark these assets to their true economic value.
· Stabilize the dollar by repealing the Humphrey-Hawkins Full Employment Act, which alternative bailout supporters say diverts the Federal Reserve's attention from long-term price stability to short-term economic growth
· Require the Treasury to write rules prohibiting excessive compensation or golden parachutes to executives of failed companies
· Task the SEC with regular, annual audit reports of entities the federal government has brought under conservatorship or now owns

------------------------------------------------
Republican group forging alternative bailout plan: Report
US stocks pull back as caution returns after rally
ICICI has never squandered capital: K V Kamath
Markets continue winning streak; Sensex reclaims 13K
Sensex reclaims 13000 on IT, banking gains, Nifty misses 4000 mark
Sensex rallies nearly 200pts; banking, IT stocks lead
Govt considering hiking FDI in DTH services to 74%: I&B Min

RIL to sell KG oil at $5 discount to Brent
Govt mulls 100% FDI in single-brand retail
Current account deficit widens to $10.72 bn

Source:ET,MC,BS

Three Indian women among International Power 50

Three Indian women among 'International Power 50'

Three Indian women -- ICICI Bank's Chanda Kochhar, HT Media's Shobhana Bhartia and JPMorgan Chase's Kalpana Morparia -- have been named in "International Power 50" list complied by US magazine Fortune. The International power list is topped by global diversified mining and natural resource group Anglo American's CEO Cynthia Carroll, followed by Australian financial major Westpac's CEO Gail Kelly and Netherlands-based Royal Dutch Shell's Linda Cook. ICICI Bank's Joint Managing Director Kochhar has been ranked at the 25th position, followed by HT Media's Chairman and Editor-in-Chief Shobhana Bhartia (34th rank) and JPMorgan Chase's India CEO Kalpana Morparia is at the 44th place in Fortune's international list of powerful women. "The women at the very top of our list do not just preside over huge businesses they also stand out in what remains male-dominated industries. By changing the face of international business, these women also are helping change the world," Fortune said. Quoting insiders, the magazine said, 46-year old Kochhar, would become CEO and Managing Director of ICICI Bank this month and added that ICICI faces slowing growth. "The retail credit business has gone from yearly gains of 35 per cent to single-digit increases. Kochhar is pursuing new business such as corporate credit," it stated. Writing on Bhartia, the magazine said she has raised India's standards of business journalism with Mint, a venture with the Wall Street Journal that mirrors the US paper's mix of market news, corporate profiles and lifestyle features. Describing Morparia as a lawyer-turned-banker, the report stated, "She aims to expand the bank's corporate loans business and later help develop a corporate debt market."
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Other Top stories:
India, France ink N-deal
France ends India's nuclear isolation
Don't panic: ICICI
India, France to bolster defence

Pix: Sensex booms amidst global gloom
Ashok Leyland in JV with John Deere
Don't panic, rumour baseless and malicious: ICICI Bank
ICICI says financial position sound; RBI backs claim
BHEL bags contract worth $211 million

FM assures markets are sound and attractive for investors
RIL offers to sell diesel in domestic market
Goyal to sell 10% in Jet Airways
Adani in JV with Chemoil for marine fuel supply
Re breaches 47-mark, hits five-year low

1,000 stocks hit 52-week lows
Aztecsoft soars on MindTree swap ratio announcement
Forex reserves of 8 Asian countries down by $36 bn

Inflows will be affected
US plans for a new bailout plan
Post Session Commentary - Sep 30 2008
India Construction Sector
Markets brave it out
BGR Energy Systems
India Financial Sector

BSE Bulk Deals to Watch - Sep 30 2008
NSE Bulk Deals to Watch - Sep 30 2008
Asian Equities Slide As Wall Street Tumble
Sensex bounces back from 2 year lows
Dr Reddy's Labs
India IT Services
India Economy, GSPL, ICICI Bank, Sun TV Network

Panic strikes US Market
ICICI Bank - UK investment has zero exposure to US...
Am-Bushed…Time to bid Good Buy!
Gold rallies
ICICI FII Holdings

Real Estate Stocks at 52 week lows
Bailout shattered, House rejects US financial-resc...
Jaiprakash Associates Ltd
Cairn India
Bloodbath on Wall Street


Source:ET,BS,Deadpresident blog

Markets rebound on FM, SEBI remarks; ICICI shines

Markets rebound on FM, SEBI remarks; ICICI shines
Sensex snaps losing streak, ends 265 pts up

MUMBAI: In a panic situation, the markets always look to the authorities for assurance. And the RBI, SEBI and finance ministry did just that on Tuesday, as the indices hit bottom in the early half of the day. Indian stocks made a stupendous recovery as players covered shorts following confidence building statements from the regulators and on a rebound in European markets.

Bombay Stock Exchange’s Sensex ended the day 264.68 points, or 2.10 per cent, higher at 12,860.43. Intraday, the 30-share benchmark touched a low of 12153.55, before it shot up to high of 12995.20—just 5 points short of the 13K mark. National Stock Exchange’s Nifty settled at 3921.20, higher by 71.15 points, or 1.85 per cent from Monday’s close. The index slumped to a low of 3715.05 and high of 3966.85 during the day.

Banking, realty and capital goods led the market rally while metal and FMCG ended in the red. European equities also bounced back on speculation US government’s financial rescue package will be reviewed. The US senate possibly will review the $700 bailout package as it is essential given the crash in global stock markets. Back home, RBI's assurance about ICICI Bank’s financial strength, SEBI chairman's comment that Indian markets are resilient and Finance Minister Chidambaram’s statement that Indian markets remain attractive, boosted investor sentiment. Chidambaram assured “there is nothing to worry about. The regulations that are in place are adequate. Regulation would be tightened if needed to deal with the consequences of a widening global financial crisis”. On the F&O front, Nifty October futures provisionally closed flat to spot, signaling investors aren't optimistic on the pull back rally. Call buying was observed from strikes 3900 to 4500. However, bears bought puts at 3900 and 3800. “Stocks which were beaten down most during recent sessions, like banking and realty, were picked up at attractive valuations. Fresh buying emerged in these counters. ICICI Bank, which was down 12% Monday, was among the top gainers. Monday's closing price of Rs 493 comes to 1.15(x) of BVPS. That is a valuation no fund manager can ignore,” said V Theegala, analyst at local brokerage. “Hopes of US bailout package also revived. Dow Jones futures, up 149 points, indicate a positive outcome. Indian markets, if helped by a dose of sentiment boost from US, will rally further,” Theegala added. Realty stocks like Orbit Corporation and Unitech, which were worst performers during recent sessions, went up by 8 per cent and 7 per cent, respectively. However, Ankit Sinha of Raxson Wealth is sceptical about the rally. “On Monday, players bought calls and went long on Nifty futures. Given today's pull back, it seems players safeguarded their long positions on speculation US will possibly come out with some solution. But, if US government fails to decide on a constructive rescue plan, we might slump Wednesday as de-leveraging may push markets lower,” Sinha said. Meanwhile, the cost of borrowing in dollars overnight surged after the US Congress rejected a $700 billion bank rescue plan, heightening concern more institutions will fail. London Interbank Offered Rate, or LIBOR, that banks charge each other for such loans, climbed 431 basis points to an all-time high of 6.88 per cent today, the British Bankers' Association said.

Europe rescues more banks as bailout rejected
Stock futures bounce after Wall Street slide
Bush battles to save finance rescue after Congress rejection
India, France sign landmark nuclear deal30 Sep, 2008, 1750 hrs IST, PTI
France is the first country to open nuclear commerce with India after the Nuclear Suppliers Group granted a waiver to New Delhi on September 06.
Market rebounds on new US bailout hopes, FM, SEBI remarks
Sensex recovers nearly 700 points from day's low

Sensex just 58 points short of 13000, ICICI Bank lends support
No need to panic, action to be taken against violators: SEBI
Markets shrug off global blues; Sensex, Nifty in green
ICICI Bank has enough funds: RBI

Nothing to worry
P. Chidambaram assured investors that Indian market is 'sound and attractive' and promised them to take necessary action if needed ‘All Indian banks are safe’

US stocks: Futures rise on hopes for reviving bailout


Source:ET,Sify

Dow Sinks 777 pts as Stunning Defeat for Bailout Plan Torpedoes Stocks

Stunning Defeat for Bailout Plan Torpedoes Stocks; Dow Sinks Over 750

Dow 10,365.45 -777.68 (-6.98%) - 3 yr low.......
Nasdaq 1,983.73 -199.61 (-9.14%)
S&P 500 1,106.42 -106.59 (-8.79%)

Wall Street's worst fears came to pass Monday, when the government's financial bailout plan failed in Congress and stocks plunged precipitously -- hurtling the Dow Jones industrials down nearly 780 points in their largest one-day point drop ever. Credit markets, whose turmoil helped feed the stock market's angst, froze up further amid the growing belief that the country is headed into a spreading credit and economic crisis.

Stunned traders on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, their faces tense and mouths agape, watched on TV screens as the House voted down the plan in mid-afternoon, and as they saw stock prices tumbling on their monitors. Activity on the floor became frenetic as the "sell" orders blew in.

The Dow told the story of the market's despair. The blue chip index, dropped by hundreds of points in a matter of moments, and by the end of the day had passed by far its previous record for a one-day drop, 684.81, set in the first trading day after the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks.
The selling was so intense that just 162 stocks rose on the NYSE -- and 3,073 dropped.

It takes an incredible amount of fear to set off such an intense reaction on Wall Street, and the worry now is that with the $700 billion plan fate uncertain, no one knows how the financial sector hobbled by hundreds of billions of dollars in bad mortgage bets will recover. While investors didn't believe that the plan was a panacea, and understood that it would take months for its effects to be felt, most market watchers believed it was a start toward setting the economy right after a credit crisis that began more than a year ago and that has spread overseas.

"Clearly something needs to be done, and the market dropping 400 points in 10 minutes is telling you that," said Chris Johnson president of Johnson Research Group. "This isn't a market for the timid."

The plan's defeat came amid more reminders of how troubled the nation's financial system is -- before trading began came word that Wachovia Corp., one of the biggest banks to struggle due to rising mortgage losses, was being rescued in a buyout by Citigroup Inc. It followed the recent forced sale of Merrill Lynch & Co. and the failure of three other huge banking companies -- Bear Stearns Cos., Washington Mutual Inc. and Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc.; all of them were felled by bad mortgage investments.

And it raised the question: Which banks are next, and how many? The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. has a list of over 110 banks that were in trouble in the second quarter, and that number surely has grown in the third.

Wall Street is contending with all these issues against the backdrop of a credit market -- where bonds and loans are bought and sold -- that is barely functioning because of fears that anyone lending money will never be paid back. The evidence of the credit markets' ills could again be found Monday in the Treasury's 3-month bill -- investors were stashing money there, willing to take the tiniest of returns simply to be sure that their principal would survive in what's considered the safest investment. The yield on the 3-month bill was 0.15, down from 0.87, and approaching zero, a level reached last week when fear was also running high.

On Wall Street, according to preliminary calculations, the Dow fell 777.68, or 6.98 percent, to 10,365.45. The decline also surpasses the 721.56-point intraday decline record also set during the first trading day after the terror attacks. Still, in percentage terms, the decline remained well below the more than 20 percent drops seen on Black Monday of October 1987 and the Depression.

Broader stock indicators also tumbled. The Standard & Poor's 500 index declined 106.85, or 8.81 percent, to 1,106.42.

The technology-heavy Nasdaq composite index fell 199.61, or 9.14 percent, to 1,983.73.
New York Stock Exchange: http://www.nyse.com/
Nasdaq Stock Market: http://www.nasdaq.com/
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AT A GLANCE: US House Defeats Bailout Plan; Stock Mkts Dive
US stocks slide, Dow plunges 777 points, as bailout bill fails
Bailout Delay Stuns The Street
House ignores Bush, rejects $700B bailout bill -
U.S. bailout rejected; fear seizes markets
Bush to meet economic team after bailout rejected

Oil drops nearly 10 percent as House rejects bailout
Dow in record drop 5:40pm ET
The Dow index plunged, marking its biggest one-day point drop ever, after lawmakers rejected a $700 billion financial bailout. Full Article Video
Analysts: "Market left to own devices"
Factbox: Key points of bailout plan
Blog: Disaster or vote for the people?
House Rejects Bailout Package, 228-205; Stocks Plunge
$US700b bailout deal voted down

Why the Bailout Bill Failed
US House rejects massive Wall Street bailout
US Treasury vows to protect financial mkts30 Sep, 2008, 0200 hrs IST, AGENCIES
Treasury vowed to protect financial markets after the House rejected a proposed $700 bn rescue bill for the financial system. In pics: US House rejects bailout bill
US House ignores Bush, rejects $700 bn bailout bill
Dow sinks 770 points after US lawmakers reject bailout

Oil drops nearly 10 pc as US House rejects bailout30 Sep, 2008, 0200 hrs IST, REUTERS
Oil prices dropped nearly 10% after the US House of Representatives rejected the $700 bn rescue package for the financial sector. Chronology of US financial crisis
Gold surges on safe-haven buying, failed bailout

A Dangerous Moment
Why the Bailout Failed
Most Texans in House vote against rescue bill
Bailout failure shows Bush's weakness


SOurce:all related sources.