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Bharat Heavy Electricals (BHEL) today said it has bagged a Rs 5,040 crore contract from Jindal Power for setting up 2,400 Mw power plant in Chhattisgarh. BHEL would install four units of 600 Mw each in O P Jindal super thermal power plant at Raigarh in Chhattisgarh. BHEL's scope of work in the contract includes designs, engineering, manufacture, supply and erection of boilers, turbines, generators and associated auxilliary.

The index dropped to a low of 9,894 - down 279 points from the day's high. The Sensex finally ended with a loss of 172 points at 9,928. The BSE Oil & Gas index shed 3% at 6,249, and the Bankex dropped 2.5% to 5,492. The Auto and Metal indices slipped around 1.5% each to 2,527 and 5,352, respectively. The market breadth was marginally positive - out of 2,616 stocks traded, 1,275 advanced, 1,258 declined and the rest were unchanged today. ICICI Bank slumped 5.5% to Rs 446. Reliance and Mahindra & Mahindra plunged over 4.5% each to Rs 1,285 and Rs 307, respectively. Maruti tumbled 3.8% to Rs 529. HDFC Bank shed 3% at Rs 1,020. Reliance Infrastructure slipped nearly 3% to Rs 601. BHEL dropped 2.5% to Rs 1,403. Jaiprakash Associates declined 2% to Rs 87. HDFC, ACC and Tata Steel were down 1.7% each to Rs 1,494, Rs 488 and Rs 225, respectively. Tata Motors rallied nearly 5% to Rs 188. DLF surged 2.7% to Rs 316. Ranbaxy gained 2% at Rs 222.

Oil and Natural Gas Corp (ONGC), BHP-Billiton-GVK Power combine and Reliance Industries-BP Plc joint venture were among the firms that signed contracts on Monday for exploring for oil and gas in 44 oil and gas areas, committing $1.5 billion in investment. Production Sharing Contracts (PSCs) for the exploration blocks awarded under the seventh bid round of New Exploration Licensing Policy (NELP) were signed at a ceremony here. A total of 57 blocks were offered in the auction but bids were received only for 45, with about $1.49 billion minimum investment committed towards exploration spend. Cairn Energy's bid for a Mumbai basin deepwater block was, however, rejected. ONGC and partners signed PSCs for the maximum number of 20 oil and gas exploration blocks they won in India's largest ever international bid round that closed on June 30. First-timers BHP Billiton and GVK Power inked agreements for seven deepsea blocks. Reliance Industries forged an alliance with British Petroleum Pl

Cairn India Ltd on MOnday announced that it has made an oil and gas discovery adjacent to the Raageshwari oilfield in its Rajasthan block. Raageshwari East 1/1Z well encountered about 10 metres of net oil pay and 1.4 metres of gas pay, a comp any press statement said here. Cairn has made several oil and gas discoveries in its Rajasthan Block RJ-ON-90/1 and in the first phase is developing Mangala, Bhagyam and Aishwariya oil finds to produce 1,75,000 barrels per day of crude oil in the second half of 2009.

Hit by domestic slowdown and recession in the West, corporate giant Tatas are striving to raise over Rs 15,000 crore on top of the Rs 13,000 crore it got from the sale of equity in a telecom subsidiary. Resource mobilisations through public offer of debt securities, sale of Tata Motors' vehicle loan pool, private equity placement and soliciting public deposits apart, the group is also seeking support from the UK and Dutch governments for rescuing its prized purchases Corus and Jaguar-Land Rover. While Tatas' discussions with the governments in Britain and Netherlands have not taken a final shape either way, the market regulator has asked for clarifications on an open offer related to the sale of 26 per cent equity in Tata Teleservices to Japan's NTT DoCoMo. The company refused to comment on the development. There were also no response on the quantum and options of fund mobilisation, but estimates show that it could be in the range of Rs 15,000 crore to Rs 20,000 crore. Afte

Tata Steel promoted Tata Metaliks today said that its board will meet on Friday to discuss on borrowing money through debentures. The meeting of the board of directors would be held on December 26, 2008, the company said in a filing to the Bombay Stock Exchange. The board members would consider borrowing money by issuing debentures or by the other means, the filing added.

The index touched a low of 9,987, and a high of 10,189 during the day. The Sensex finally ended with a marginal gain of 23 points at 10,100. DLF zoomed nearly 11% to Rs 307. Jaiprakash Associates soared 6% to Rs 89. Mahindra & Mahindra has rallied over 6% to Rs 321. Sterlite and Hindustan Unilever have moved up 3.6% each to Rs 281 and Rs 265, respectively. Tata Motors has surged 3.3% to Rs 179. Reliance Infrastructure and Tata Steel have gained 3% each at Rs 619 and Rs 229, respectively. Reliance Communications and Maruti have advanced around 2.5% each to Rs 216 and Rs 550, respectively. Bharti Airtel and Tata Power have added 1.5% each to Rs 722 and Rs 737, respectively. Satyam plunged nearly 4% to Rs 163. ONGC has slumped over 3% to Rs 709. ACC shed 2.3% at Rs 496. HDFC dropped 1.7% to Rs 1,521, and ITC slipped over 1% to Rs 178.

A cut in petrol and diesel prices pushed inflation down to 6.84 per cent, the lowest in nine months, even as the Finance Ministry said this could help further ease interest rates in the economy. Inflation, measured by wholesale price movement, dipped by 1.16 per cent for the week ended December 6 from the previous week, triggering demands from the industry for further cuts in key policy rates by the Reserve Bank.

A sharp fall in headline inflation numbers, coupled with expectations of the second stimulus package to announced in the near term, boosted the market sentiment. Agressive buying towards the close saw the index rally to a high of 10,110 - up 477 points from the day's low. The Sensex finally ended with a gain of 361 points at 10,076. The BSE Realty and Bankex rallied over 7% each to 2,284 and 5,620, respectively. The Power index surged nearly 6% to 1,845. The market breadth was fairly positive - out of 2,547 stocks traded, 1,490 advanced, 966 declined and 91 were unchanged today. DLF, Jaiprakash Associates and Reliance Infrastructure zoomed around 9.5% each to Rs 277, Rs 84 and Rs 600, respectively. ICICI Bank soared over 9% to Rs 471. SBI surged nearly 8% to Rs 1,296. Satyam, Tata Motors, TCS and BHEL rallied 7% each to Rs 169, Rs 174, Rs 510 and Rs 1,433, respectively. HDFC Bank advanced nearly 6% to Rs 1,060. NTPC and Maruti moved up over 5% each to Rs 183 and Rs 536, respectivel

The OPEC cartel agreed on Wednesday to reduce production by 2.2 million barrels a day, the group’s largest cut ever, in an effort to put a floor on falling oil prices.

 Chrysler said Wednesday that it would close all 30 of its factories for at least one month, starting at the end of this week, in response to plunging vehicle sales in the United States. The company said the plants, which employ 46,000 union workers, would resume production no sooner than Jan. 19. Some will remain closed for several more weeks. Normally, the Detroit automakers close their plants for about two weeks at the end of the year. The company, the third-largest U.S. automaker, said in a statement that it is taking the action to bring its inventories more into line with reduced U.S. demand for new cars and trucks. It blamed its current difficulties largely on customers' inability to obtain financing to purchase new vehicles and said tight credit markets were discouraging would-be buyers.

Woolworths has told staff the entire chain will shut its doors for the last time by 5 January. Administrators Deloitte have failed to find a buyer for the business as a going concern with the retailer now expected to be broken up and its 807 stores sold off in lots to rivals.

Morgan Stanley reported a fourth-quarter loss of $2.36 billion — or $2.34 a share — on Wednesday, as the bank struggled remained battered by old investments. The quarter was Morgan’s first loss this year, though it did not outweigh the profit earned earlier this year. Morgan reported a full-year profit of $1.59 billion, or $1.54 a share.

The index plunged to a low of 9,683 at the fag end of the day, and finally ended with a loss of 262 points at 9,715. Selling was seen across the board, with realty stocks being the major drag. The BSE Realty index slumped 7.8% to 2,120. The Power and Metal indices shed 4.7% each at 1,738 and 5,305, respectively. The IT and Capital Goods indices slipped around 4% each to 2,248 and 6,812, respectively. The market breadth was fairly negative - out of 2,597 stocks traded so far, 1,568 declined, 957 advanced and the rest were unchanged today. Satyam slumped 30% to Rs 158 today following the Maytas deal fiasco. Yesterday the company had announced its plans to diversify into infrastructure by approving $1.6 billion investment in Maytas Infra and Maytas Properties. However, today the company called off the deal following negative feedback from the investor community. Reliance Infrastructure and Reliance Communications tumbled over 13% each to Rs 549 and Rs 203, respectively. Jaiprakash Associa

Fresh buying in late trades saw the index rally past the 10,000-mark to a high of 10,009. The Sensex finally ended with a gain of 145 points at 9,977. The BSE PSU index soared 5% to 5,129, and the Oil & Gas index surged 3.3% to 6,554. The market breadth was fairly positive - out of 2,581 stocks traded, 1,866 advanced, 648 declined and the rest were unchanged today. ONGC soared 6% to Rs 714. Grasim surged over 4.5% to Rs 1,228. ACC and Tata Motors rallied 4.3% each to Rs 536 and Rs 165, respectively. HDFC Bank advanced over 4% to Rs 984. Reliance and NTPC moved up 3.5% each to Rs 1,387 and Rs 174, respectively. SBI gained 2.8% at Rs 1,238. Ranbaxy and TCS added 2.5% each to Rs 219 and Rs 481, respectively. Infosys, Wipro and BHEL were up 2% each at Rs 1,123, Rs 239 and Rs 1,401, respectively. Sterlite slumped 7% to Rs 286. HDFC plunged over 4% to Rs 1,545. Reliance Infrastructure tumbled 2.5% to Rs 637. Reliance Communications shed over 2% to Rs 234. DLF and Larsen & Toubro slip

Mirroring the positive trend in the global markets, the Sensex opened 132 points higher at 9,822, and touched a high of 9,948 in the morning trades. Some profit-taking at higher levels saw the index pare gains and slip to a low of 9,749. The index, thereafter, exhibited range-bound movement and finally settled with a gain of 142 points at 9,832. Out of 2,572 stocks traded today - 1,935 advanced, 556 declined and the rest were unchanged. The NSE Nifty closed 60 points higher at 2,981. Grasim zoomed over 9% at Rs 1,174, and Hindalco soared nearly 6% to Rs 56. Sterlite surged over 5% to Rs 308. Larsen & Toubro and Tata Steel rallied over 4.2% each to Rs 820 and Rs 227, respectively. ONGC gained over 4.1% at Rs 673 while ACC was up 3.9% to Rs 513. Mahindra and Mahindra advanced 3.5% to Rs 303. HDFC Bank and Jaiprakash Associates were up 2.7% each to Rs 945 and Rs 86, respectively. Tata Motors moved up 2.6% at Rs 158. Reliance gained 2.4% to Rs 1,338. Reliance Communications slumped 4.1

T he country's industrial output shrunk for the first time in many years to a record a negative growth of 0.4 per cent in October, stifled by manufacturing sector -- for rescuing which the government announced a stimulus package earlier this mo nth. Output had grown by 5.45 per cent in September, and 12.2 per cent in October, 2007. The Index for Industrial Production numbers for the seven-month period ended October was 4.1 per cent against 9.9 per cent a year ago. Manufacturing sector, which accounts for 80 per cent of the index, declined to 1.2 per cent from 13.8 per cent in the year-ago period. Only earlier this month, the government sought to rescue manufacturers by announcing an across-the-board (barring petroleum goods) four per cent cut in excise duty. Electricity sector grew by 4.4 per cent during the month, bettering 4.2 per cent output of the year-ago period, while mining sector grew by a slower 2.8 per cent against 5.1 per cent in the previous year's comparable period

Global markets were singificantly down today after the US Senate failed to reach an agreement on the auto bailout package. Negative IIP numbers, too,  threathened to take index to lower levels. However, the index soon recovered on the back of fresh buying in Reliance. The recovery intensified as buying spread to select other stocks . The index rebounded in the positive zone and rallied to a high of 9,746 - up 464 points from the day's low. The Sensex finally ended with a gain of 45 points at 9,690. The BSE Realty index surged 4% to 2,128. The Consumber Durables index rallied 3% to 1,743, and the Oil & Gas index gained 2.3% at 6,145. On the other hand, the IT index plunged nearly 3% to 2,291. The market breadth was fairly positive - out of 2,479 stocks traded, 1,544 advanced, 853 declined and the rest were unchanged today. DLF zoomed 7.7% to Rs 277, and Reliance Infrastructure soared 7% to Rs 648. Reliance Communications surged over 4% to Rs 249. Reliance rallied 3.8% to Rs 1,30

India's exports declined by around 10 per cent in November, showing a negative trend for the second month in a row this year, following a recession in the US and several other European markets. Although the government is yet to officially rel ease the November figures, exports showed an almost a double-digit decline on lack of demand in most of the buying markets. India has been facing the ripple effects of the global financial turmoil, which has resulted in slowdown of country's exports. Several developed markets including the US, the UK, Japan and other countries in the Eurozone, are officially in recession. T he government and the RBI have taken several steps including making available cheap credit to exporters, to boost the sector. 

Growth of key infrastructure industries slowed down to 3.4 per cent in October from 4.6 per cent a year ago mainly on account of drop in production of steel and crude oil. The growth in the six core industries - crude oil, petroleum and refin ery products, coal, electricity, cement and finished steel - contracted for the April-October period to 3.9 per cent from 6.6 per cent in the same period last year. After dipping to 2.3 per cent in August, the growth in these industries improved to 5.1 per cent in September, raising hopes of a revival in the industrial growth. However, performance in October belied hopes as the rate of expansion dropped to 3.4 per c ent. The crude oil production remained in the negative territory showing a decline of 0.3 per cent in October. Reeling under the demand recession, steel took the hit and registered a negative trend of 0.5 per cent. However, petroleum refinery products followed the reverse trend by expanding by five per cent against 2.7 per cent. Cement

The Sensex opened marginally (24 points) higher at 9,679. The index touched a high of 9,746 in early trades, but soon slipped into red. Significant weakness in technology stocks saw the index slip to a low of 9,442 - down 304 points from the day's high.  The Sensex, however, recovered smartly towards the close and rebounded into the positive zone. The index finally ended almost flat at green at 9,646 - down nine points. The BSE Realty index surged over 2% to 2,048. The Oil & Gas index moved up 1.7% to 6,005, and Metal index gained 1.4% at 5,253. On the other hand, the IT index shed almost 4% at 2,359. The Consumer Durables index shed 2.6% at 1,693, and the Healthcare index slipped over 1% to 2,818. The market breadth was fairly positive - out of 2,565 stocks traded, 1,561 advanced, 908 declined and the rest were unchanged today. Jaiprakash Associates zoomed 10.6% to Rs 83. Sterlite soared 8.5% to Rs 295. Reliance Communications surged nearly 5% to Rs 239. ACC rallied nearly 3%

Here's how nervous investors have become: At one point yesterday afternoon, people were willing to pay the USA Treasury to keep their money safe for three months. News of weak balance sheets at some of the world's largest companies sent stocks tumbling, and investors fled once again to the safety of U.S. government securities. In trading yesterday, the yield on three-month Treasury bills briefly fell into negative territory for the first time ever. Investors normally expect to earn some interest if they lend money to the government, but that expectation was set aside with the prospect of a deepening recession and new private sector setbacks. The Treasury Department sold $30 billion in four-week bills at an auction at a rate of zero percent for the first time since the bills began regular sale in 2001.

The Sensex opened with a positive gap of 153 points at 9,316, and thereafter exhibited range-bound movement in the morning session. Fresh buying in the afternoon deals saw the index move to higher levels. The index firmed up and extended gains as the day progressed on the back of sharp gains in realty and metal stocks. The Sensex rallied to a high of 9,679, and finally settled with a gain of 492 points at 9,655. The BSE Realty index zoomed 12.5% to 2,005, and the Metal index surged 8.5% to 5,182. The Oil & Gas index gained 7% at 5,906. The market breadth was fairly positive - out of 2,527 stocks traded, 1,529 advanced, 879 declined and the rest were unchanged today. DLF zoomed 19% to Rs 263. Mahindra & Mahindra soared 15.5% to Rs 287. Grasim surged 13.7% to Rs 1,099. Tata Steel rallied nearly 11% to Rs 217. Reliance Communications, ACC and Wipro gained around 10% each at Rs 228, Rs 476 and Rs 262, respectively. Reliance advanced 9.5% to Rs 1,227. Jaiprakash Associates, Sterlite

The Sensex opened with a significant positive gap of 312 points at 9,277 following a double bonanza - RBI cutting rates and the government announcing stimulus package. The index, exhibited range-bound movement with a positive bias for most part of the trading day. Significant weakess in the Reliance counter towards the close saw the index pare gains from a high of 9,432 and slip to a low of 9,096. The Sensex finally ended with a gain of 197 points at 9,163. The BSE Realty index surged over 5% to 1,781. The Metal index rallied 3% to 4,781, and the Power index gained 2.8% at 1,694. The market breadth was positive - out of 2,491 stocks traded so far, 1,381 advanced, 1,021 have declined and 89 were unchanged today. DLF zoomed 8.7% to Rs 221. Tata Steel soared over 7% to Rs 196. Bharti Airtel and HDFC surged over 5% each to Rs 701 and Rs 1,511, respectively. Reliance Communications and Wipro rallied 5% each to Rs 207 and Rs 238, respectively. Reliance Infrastructure gained 4% at Rs 554. Jai

The Reserve Bank of India on Saturday announced a cut in both repo and reverse repo rates by 100 basis points. The reverse repo will be down to 5.0% from 6.0% now effective December 8. The repo rate will be down to 6.5% from 7.5% now effective December 8. The cash reserve ratio (CRR) has been left unchanged at 5.5%. The statutory liquidity ratio (SLR) too is unchanged at 24%. The primary liquidity made available to the system through these measures is worth over Rs 3,00,000 crore (Rs 3,000 billion), RBI Governor D Subbarao said in Mumbai. Besides, the apex bank also pumped in Rs 11,000 crore (Rs 110 billion) in Small Industries Development Bank of India  and National Housing Bank to give a fillip to realty and small and medium sectors.

 Auto makers Tata Motors and Mahindra & Mahindra are closing plants for up to 6 days in December as demand for vehicles is hit by tight financing in a slowing economy. The country's top vehicle maker Tata Motors plans to shut its heavy vehicle plant in Jamshedpur for six days, a spokesman said. It said earlier this week it would to shut a commercial vehicle plant in Pune for three days. Tata Motors', India's top bus and truck maker, November vehicle sales dropped  30% to 32,696 units. The country's biggest utility vehicle and tractor maker Mahindra & Mahindra (M&M) said most of its automotive plants will be shut for up to 6 days in December due to easing demand.

The country's second-largest commericial vehicle manufacturer Ashok Leyland on Thursday reported a 60 per cent drop in sales in November mirroring the slowdown in the industry. The company's domestic sales for the month stood at 1788 units as against 5366 units in the same month last year. Like in the case of market leader Tata Motor's whose medium and heavy commercial vehicle sales declined at a higher clip of 60 per cent during the month, Ashok Leyland's M&HCV sales fell by 67 per cent. The company's production for the month crashed by 79 per cent indicating its problems with high inventories. Overall sales for the April-November period are down by 17 per cent while domestic sales are down 19 per cent. With no hopes of a revival in the near future despite indications of an imminent excise duty reduction on commercial vehicles soon, the company has already deferred its Rs 700-800 crore plans for capacity expansions while cutting its production and reducing the

The country's second-largest commericial vehicle manufacturer Ashok Leyland on Thursday reported a 60 per cent drop in sales in November mirroring the slowdown in the industry. The company's domestic sales for the month stood at 1788 units as against 5366 units in the same month last year. Like in the case of market leader Tata Motor's whose medium and heavy commercial vehicle sales declined at a higher clip of 60 per cent during the month, Ashok Leyland's M&HCV sales fell by 67 per cent. The company's production for the month crashed by 79 per cent indicating its problems with high inventories. Overall sales for the April-November period are down by 17 per cent while domestic sales are down 19 per cent. With no hopes of a revival in the near future despite indications of an imminent excise duty reduction on commercial vehicles soon, the company has already deferred its Rs 700-800 crore plans for capacity expansions while cutting its production and reducing the

USA  employers shed 533,000 jobs in November, the 11th consecutive monthly decline, the government reported Friday morning, and the unemployment rate rose to 6.7 percent. The decline, the largest one-month loss since December 1974, was fresh evidence that the economic contraction accelerated in November, promising to make the current recession, already 12 months old, the longest since the Great Depression. The previous record was 16 months, in the severe recessions of the mid-1970s and early 1980s.

The Sensex opened 25 points lower at 9,205. After the initial nervousness the index rebounded into the positive zone and rallied to a high of 9,341. The index, however, could not hold gains and slipped back into the negative zone. The selling pressure intensified in mid-noon trades mainly on account of significant weakness in technology, realty and energy stocks. The index tumbled to a low of 8,915 - down 427 points from the day's high. The Sensex finally ended with a loss of 265 points at 8,965 today. In the process, the index ended the week with a loss of 128 points. The BSE IT index shed 4.4% at 2,357. The Realty and Metal index plunged 3.5% each to 1,692 and 4,640, respectively. The Oil & Gas index dropped 3.3% to 5,495. The market breadth was marginally negative - out of 2,156 stocks traded, 1,099 declined, 986 advanced and the rest were unchanged. Jaiprakash Associates slumped 6.6% to Rs 66. TCS and Infosys plunged 5% each to Rs 522 and Rs 1,136, respectively. DLF, HDFC,

The International Council of Shopping Centers, an industry group, described November’s figures as the weakest in more than 35 years. Declines were recorded in every retail segment the group tracks, with the biggest coming from department stores, with sales down 13.3 percent compared with November a year ago, and specialty apparel retailers, down 10.4 percent.

 Sembawang Engineers and Constructors Private Limited (Sembawang), a wholly-owned subsidiary of India-listed Punj Lloyd Group, has signed an agreement associated with pre-engineering activities necessary to build a thin-film solar module manufacturing plant in Brunei. Thin-film solar modules convert the sun’s irradiation into electricity. A preliminary works agreement for initial project analysis, design and pre-construction works of the thin-film solar module manufacturing plant was signed with Hamidjojo Development Sdn Bhd (HDSB), a Brunei-based industrial developer. This will be the first such thin-film solar project for both Sembawang and HDSB, and the first in Brunei. The full development cost is estimated at S$250million.

In an unprecedented move, the Communications and IT Ministry has agreed to refund about Rs 112 crore to Reliance Communications (RCom), which the company had paid as part of the entry fee at the time of taking the approval for offering dual technology in 2007. The refund is on account of the company surrendering the permission for dual technology in six circles where it already has GSM services. However, in earlier instances, the Government had refused to give back the entry fee when operators had surrendered their licences. The Unified Access Service Licence terms and conditions also stipulate that the entry fee is non-refundable. While RCom had paid Rs 1,651 crore for rolling out dual technology (both CDMA and GSMs mobile services) in 20 telecom circles (each circle is equivalent to a State), the company already has GSM-based cellular services in six circles in the eastern part of the country. RCom was asked by the Government to surrender the newly acquired dual technology approval i

The Sensex opened 32 points higher at 8,779, and touched a low of 8,727 in the opening deals. The index, thereafter, exhibited lacklustre movement in the morning trades. Aggressive buying in noon trades saw the index break-out of the day's trading range and surge to a high of 9,245. Realty, metal, energy and banking stocks were the major gainers today. The Sensex finally ended with a gain of 482 points at 9,230. The BSE Realty index soared 12.5% to 1,754. The Metal index surged 8% to 4,804, and the Oil & Gas index rallied nearly 6% to 5,683. The market breadth was fairly positive - out of 2,226 stocks traded, 1,496 advanced, 671 declined and the rest were unchanged today. Tata Steel and Jaiprakash Associates zoomed nearly 14% each to Rs 188 and Rs 71, respectively. Tata Motors soared over 13% to Rs 151. DLF surged over 11% to Rs 214. Sterlite rallied 10% to Rs 257. ICICI Bank moved up nearly 9% to Rs 364. Reliance and Larsen & Toubro added around 8.5% each to Rs 1,159 and R

The Sensex opened 112 points higher at 8,851 following positive cues from the global markets. The index touched a high of 8,855, soon pared gains and slipped into negative territory.The index, thereafter, exhitbited range-bound movement throughout the day. The Sensex touched a low of 8,601 - down 254 points from the day's high - recovered at close and finally ended almost flat at 8,712 - down 27 points. The BSE Metal and Realty indices surged 3.3% each to 4,451 and 1,570, respectively. The IT index, however, plunged 3% to 2,400. The market breadth was marginally positive - out of 2,188 stocks traded, 1,180 advanced, 930 declined and the rest were unchanged today. Tata Steel zoomed nearly 11% to Rs 165. Jaiprakash Associates soared 8% to Rs 62. Maruti surged 7% to Rs 492. SBI and DLF rallied 5.5% each to Rs 1,097 and Rs 192, respectively. Tata Motors advanced 3.7% to Rs 133, and ICICI Bank added 3.5% to Rs 335. Reliance Infrastructure gained 3% at Rs 508. HDFC, Larsen & Toubro a

(The Hindu Business Line) Better price realisation, efficient cost control and management have led to more than two-fold increase in Tata Steel’s consolidated net profits for the quarter ended September 30, Mr B. Muthuraman, Managing Director, Tata Steel, said here on Tuesday. Overall, we have done well, he said, while conceding that there were concerns in the near term, though not so much in India. Mr Muthuraman said a series of initiatives had been taken to effect cost reduction and improve performance. Three furnaces at Jamshedpur were now producing what six were earlier. Against a targeted cost reduction of Rs 890 crore planned for the year, Rs 450 crore had been achieved so far and the target had been raised by Rs 350 crore and he hoped to make an additional Rs 300 crore on this front. Admitting that prices in India and South Asia had come down by $350 a tonne, he said “we have to wait and see for the January quarter.” There were some signs of the economy picking up. The Governmen

The Sensex opened with a huge negative gap of 304 points at 8,536 following negative cues from the global markets. Nervousness in morning trades saw the index extend losses and slip to a low of 8,467 - down 373 points from the previous close. The index, thereafter, displayed lacklustre movement for most part of the trading day. Renewed buying in the last two hours of trades helped the index recover smartly and touch a high of 8,785 - still down 55 points from the previous close. Realty and FMCG stocks led the recovery, while auto, energy and technology stocks continued to reel under selling pressure. The Sensex finally ended with a loss of 101 points at 8,739. The BSE Realty index surged over 2% to Rs 1,509, and the FMCG index was up 1% at 1,904. On the other hand, the Auto index plunged 3% to 2,155, and theOil & Gas index shed 2.5% at 5,398. The market breadth was negative - out of 2,154 stocks traded, 1,293 declined, 803 advanced and the rest were unchanged today. Reliance Infras

Larsen & Toubro’s (L&T) newly formed Building & Factories Operating company, a part of its construction division, has bagged large value orders aggregating around Rs 1,450 crore in the third quarter of 2008-09 for the construction of IT and office space building including add on orders from on going work at its airport projects.The orders for construction of the above said have been received from major players such as Tata Consultancy Services and Godrej Developers. L&T had bagged Rs 2,460 crore order from Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) for constructing the monorail project in the city last month. The company in association with Malaysia-based Scomi Engineering would build the 20-km monorail in 30 months.

The Sensex opened 70 points higher at 9,163 on the back of slightly positive cues from the global markets. Fresh buying in morning trades - mainly realty, banking, metal and energy stocks - led the index to a high of 9,327 - up 234 points from the previous day.The index, however, could not hold gains as weakness in auto stocks soon spread to banking and later on to realty stocks. Negative cues from the European markets, and the US futures further weighed on our markets. As a result of which, the index slipped into red and slumped to a low of 8,803 - down 524 points from the day's high - towards the end of the day. The Sensex finally ended with a significant loss of 253 points at 8,840. The BSE Realty index slumped 5.3% to 1,478, and the Auto index tumbled 4.6% to 2,222. The Bankex and Power indices slipped nearly 4% each to 4,466 and 1,570, respectively. The market breadth turned negative towards the close - out of 2,195 stocks traded, 1,160 declined, 970 advanced and the rest were

Bajaj Auto, the country's second largest two-wheeler maker, today reported a 37 per cent decline in motorcycle sales during November at 131,681 units against 209,876 units last year.Total two wheeler sales also saw a similar drop of 37 per cent at 132,421 units against 211,600 units in the corresponding month last year. Two-wheeler sales were down sharply, reflecting both an accelerated slowdown in demand and also the immediate correction in dealer inventories, the latter action shall continue into December 2008, the company said. Bajaj intends to counter this trend by an intense new product initiative that will see the launch of a new motorcycle each month for the next six months beginning from January 2009, it added. In the meantime, Bajaj Auto Finance has introduced a retail finance scheme with low interest rates of 7.99 per cent across almost 300 Bajaj dealers all over the country to revive sales in the short term, it said. Three-wheeler sales were, however, up 13 per cent at 2

Exports declined by 12.1 per cent in October, causing concerns of job losses in export-oriented manufacturing units. Exports dropped to $12.82 billion in October from $14.58 billion a year ago. However, imports grew by 10.6 per cent to $23.36 billion in October compared to $21.12 billion in the same month last year. Concerns have been raised over large scale job losses in several export-oriented industries like textile, handicraft and gems and jewellery.