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4 more die in city from Swine Flu

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Aug 312009
 

swine-fluA nine-month-old boy and a 15-month-old girl were among four people who succumbed to swine flu in the city on Sunday, pushing the toll here
up to 31.

The nine-month-old was from the Kasewadi slums in Bhawani Peth here, which had, a few days back, witnessed the death of a 35-year-old woman of swine flu. The child was admitted to the paediatric isolation ICU of Sassoon hospital on August 26 and passed away at 7.30 pm on Sunday, according to joint director of the state health department Ashok Ladda.

The 15-month-old girl, Nikita Shendge, was from Kolhewadi village in Ahmednagar district. She had been admitted to KEM hospital here on August 27. She was shifted to Sassoon hospital in a critical condition on Sunday and died at 7.40 pm.

The third death was that of 42-year-old Vilas Padale of Tungarli village in Lonavla. A railway employee attached to the Lonavala railway station, Padale was shifted to KEM hospital in a critical condition on August 27.

The fourth victim was 26-year-old Anil Nikam of Ramnagar in Dhankawadi, who died at the Bharati hospital at 9.30 pm. All four patients had tested H1N1 positive.

Meanwhile, doctors at Sassoon hospital were upset over the late admission of 15-month-old Nikita from KEM hospital.

Speaking to TOI, Dr Aarti Kinikar, head of the paediatric isolation ICU of Sassoon hospital, said, “The girl was shifted to our hospital at 6.30 pm in a critical condition. She was administered cardio-pulmonary resuscitation, but we were unable to revive her. She passed away at 7.40 pm. The baby could have been saved had KEM hospital started Tamiflu at the right time. Even the X-ray report of the baby showed that her chest was clear at the time of admission to KEM hospital. She developed a bilateral pneumonic patch after two days and became critical.”

When asked about this, V L Yemul, medical administrator of KEM hospital, said, “It’s true that the baby was suffering from high grade fever and breathlessness. But we didn’t suspect her as a possible patient for the H1N1 flu. Since Tamilflu has a high toxicity level, we thought against administering it to the child indiscriminately.”
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Goverment knew of illegal Vedic constructions

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Aug 312009
 

vedic-village-resortsA government report had raised strong objections against Vedic Realty managing director Raj Kishore Modi way back in August 2004 for his
ways of procuring Vedic Village land. But the same government — in January 2009 — allowed him to “acquire” multi-crop farmland and even vested land from poor pattadars.

A copy of this report, whi-ch could open a can of worms, is with TOI. It was filed by the revenue block land and land reforms officer, Rajarhat, on August 18, 2004, after Modi clamoured for retaining the 44 acres of ceiling-surplus land vested by the state in 2002-03.

The land reforms department found out that “construction work was going on in spite of status quo”.
“Such unlawful, illegal construction and its continuity over vested and sub-judice land leads to violation of Section 4C of the West Bengal Land Reforms Act and no conversion was allowed by the collector,” the report said, warning that “the spirit of vesting ceiling surplus land is (being) jeopardized…and serious problem will occur in future”.

The probe revealed that “illegal staff quarters, with boundary wall, covers plots 3742, 3743, 3746, 3748 and 3749”. “An illegally constructed metal road starts from east of plot 3749 and passes through plots 3760, 3769, 3770, 3771 and 3774, all of which are vested to the state in the Bishnupur area of the Vedic Village premises”, the report added, pointing out that “prayer for retention will hamper the state interest in controlling vested land”.

The probe report made specific mention of a “huge decorative entrance” built in Shikharpur mouja “in violation of Section 4C of the WBLR Act and a number of illegal, unauthorized decorative buildings, deliberately violating the same provisions”.

“It is astonishing that a group of cottage-like…buildings, encircling a decorative pool, has been constructed on vested area and the applicant has illegally constructed building and a pucca road covering the southern area of plot number 1376,” the report said.

Land department sources said a section of their own colleagues advised Modi on how to get around the law, which emboldened him to go ahead with ‘illegal constructions’.

“He was told the government would not re-vest a property on which construction had already come up. The project land could then be regularized under Post Vesting Purchase rules, which allows a developer to retain the vested land on lease by paying the market rate,” an official said.

Land and land reforms minister Abdur Rezzak Mollah told TOI: “We applied the Post Vesting Purchase rules in 2005 and leased out the vested land to Vedic Village.” Shockingly, the administration turn-ed a blind eye as ‘illegal construction’ was carried out on the vested land during 2002-05.
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Markets were off lows; Cairn, Unitech, DLF up

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Aug 312009
 

bombay-stock1Markets were off lows but still in the red as low level buying emerged after a poor start. The decline led by IT, metals and capital
goods space while realty sector capped the losses. The market is likely to take cues from the domestic GDP data to be announced later in the day.

“US markets closed in the red and Asian markets too are negative. Asian stocks fell, led by mining companies and Japanese exporters, as the Democratic Party of Japan’s election victory drove the yen higher and Chinese companies reported lower profit. India’s GDP numbers are slated to come out today and we believe that growth will beat the street’s expectations of 6.2%. We expect our market to open down but see a recovery from lower levels. We are positive for the day,” said Religare Securities report.

National Stock Exchange’s Nifty was at 4674.50, down 57.85 points or 1.22 per cent. The index touched an intra-day high of 4730.85 and low of 4662.

Bombay Stock Exchange’s Sensex was at 15732.83, down 189.51 points or 1.19 per cent. The index touched an intra-day high of 15818.31 and low of 15696.66.

BSE Midcap Index was down 0.11 per cent and BSE Smallcap Index was up 0.29 per cent.

Amongst the sectoral indices, BSE IT Index was down 2.17 per cent, BSE Metal Index declined 1.58 per cent and BSE Capital Goods Index slipped 1.29 per cent. BSE IT Index was up 1.11 per cent.

“Trend deciding level for the day is 4709 / 15848. If Nifty trades above this level during the first half-an-hour of trade then we may witness a further rally up to 4767 – 4802 / 16032 – 16142. However, if Nifty trades below 4709 / 15848 for the first half-an-hour of trade then it may correct up to 4675 / 15738,” said Angel Broking note.

Nifty gainers were Cairn India (3.48%), Unitech (2.93%), DLF (1.69%), Siemens (1.42%) and BPCL (0.91%).

Losers were Sterlite Industries (3.35%), Larsen & Toubro (-3.14%), Infosys Technologies (-3.06%), TCS (-2.72%) and Hindalco Industries> (-2.61%).

Cairn India has started oil production from Mangala field in Rajasthan. The company will ramp up oil production up to a peak of 175000 barrels of per day over the next two years.

Larsen & Toubro (L&T) plans to exit from its investment in Mahindra Satyam, formerly Satyam Computer Services, once the lock-in period expires in October, and is aiming to complete the transaction by the end of the current fiscal. The country’s largest engineering company expects to make a profit of up to Rs 250 crore from its 12% stake in Mahindra Satyam.

Market breadth on BSE showed 1210 advances against 948 declines.

China’s main stock index fell more than 5 percent on Monday to a three-month low, breaking below the key 125-day moving average used by Chinese investors to delineate a bull versus a bear market, as a series of negative factors has relentlessly weighed down the market since early August.

US stocks mostly slipped on Friday after a weak consumer sentiment report offset positive news from bell ethers Dell Inc and Intel Corp. The Dow Jones Industrial Average declined 36.43 points, or 0.38 per cent, to end at 9,544.20. The Standard &Poor’s 500 Index lost 2.05 points, or 0.20 per cent, to 1,028.93. But the Nasdaq Composite Index inched up 1.04 points, or 0.05 percent, to close at 2,028.77.
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IT index down 2%

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Aug 312009
 

indian-it-stocks-wallopedThe IT index has shed 2% to 4,182 led by fall in the index heavyweights.
Among the major IT stocks, TCS and Infosys have shed around 3% each to Rs 526 and Rs 2,131, respectively. HCL Technologies and Wipro have dropped over 2% each to Rs 299 and Rs 552, respectively.

Financial Technologies is down 1% at Rs 1,523.

However, Aptech, Mphasis and Tech Mahindra have advanced over 2.5% each to Rs 254, Rs 576 and Rs 941, respectively. NIIT and Patni Computers have added 2% each to Rs 70 and Rs 431, respectively.

The poor demand from the US markets will hamper the business prospects of Indian IT outsourcing services providers even though the industry hopes for a stability in the overall business environment in the secong quarter of financial year 2010.

This delay in recovery of US economy, according to analysts and companies, will affect most Indian IT firms, even as they see a rise in demand from some European countries like UK and France, along with Australia and West Asia. The reason for the Indian IT firms to get affected is because most of the Indian IT services firms derive over 60 per cent of their revenues from the North Americas, including the US.
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Gold futures were almost flat

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Aug 312009
 

gold-hasGold futures were almost flat on Monday morning as support from a weak rupee was offset by a downward push from crude oil, analysts
said.

The most-traded October contract was 0.17 per cent higher at Rs 15,147 per 10 grams.

The Indian rupee dropped in tandem with lower domestic stocks, with mixed Asian currencies providing little direction. A weak rupee makes the dollar-quoted asset expensive.

Oil fell towards $72 a barrel as a drop in China’s key stock index stoked worries about the country’s economy, but hopes that energy demand would soon rebound are on track to push prices up about 4 per cent in August.

Lower crude oil dims the yellow metal’s appeal globally as a hedge against oil-led inflation.

“The local currency is supporting gold, while crude is negating it,” said Krishna Reddy, an analyst with Way 2 Wealth Securities in Mumbai. “Gold’s gains would be capped at 15,145-15,150 (rupees).”

Gold may trade in the range of Rs 14,980 – Rs 15,200,
Open interest for October gold on MCX was at 15,531 lots, down from 15,633 a day earlier.
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Bonds trade strong

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Aug 312009
 

lousy-investment-bondGovernment bond prices are now back to levels they ended last Friday, after the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) raised Rs 12,000 crore
through the sale of government bonds at yields much higher than what the market expected.

The central bank bought back bonds from traders at yields higher than what the market expected. This buyback was an unscheduled one, prompting many traders to speculate that these operations will now become a weekly affair (as against fortnightly currently).

The yield on the 6.90% paper maturing in 2019 ended at 7.34%, four basis points higher than its last day close.

RBI said it had set a cut-off price, corresponding to an yield of 7.44% for the 7.02% bond maturing in 2016, with the market expecting around 7.33%.

Primary dealers had to buy Rs 430 crore of the unsold 2016 bonds. The cut-off for the 7.94% bonds maturing in 2021 also touched 8% against dealers’ estimate of around 7.90%.

On Thursday, the central bank said it had bought back bonds worth close to Rs 2,700 crore through an auction under its open market operation against its announced target of Rs 6,000 crore.

The rupee ended stronger at 48.66 against the dollar, as upswing in stocks kept the month-end demand for the US currency in check.

It closed at 48.91 against the dollar on Thursday. The dollar fell by late evening, as the consumer spending in the US rose in July, with households taking advantage of the government’s stimulus programme to buy new cars.
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Rupee down by 11 paisa on dollar in early trade

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Aug 312009
 

finance3The Indian rupee appreciated by 11 paisa to 48.80 against the American currency in early trade today on fresh dollar selling by exporters
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and stability in local stocks.

The domestic currency resumed lower at 48.83/85 a dollar against its previous close of 48.91/92 a dollar and later touched a high of 48.80 before being quoted at 48.83/84 a dollar in late morning deals.

Dealers at the Interbank Foreign Exchange market said the rupee drew support from sustained dollar sales by exporters amid petering demand from oil refiners.

Stability in local stocks also aided the rupee sentiment, they added.

Indian benchmark Sensex was trading in the green and showed a gain of 82.30 points or 0.52 per cent at 1025 hours.

Meanwhile,the dollar was subdued against the basket of currencies in Asian trade.
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Wall Street reverses early losses,Asian stocks fell

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Aug 312009
 

asian-stock-market1stock market’s rally plodded along Thursday, sustained by gains in financial and industrial shares.
Major indices overcame early losses and finished slightly higher, including the Dow Jones industrial average, which added 37 points to set a fresh 2009 high. The Dow has risen for eight straight days, its longest winning streak since April 2007.
Trading lacked enthusiasm, however, as it has over the past week, with many investors shying away from making greater commitments to stocks.
Volume has been extremely light as many traders go on vacation, adding to the market’s recent choppiness. The day’s economic news, including a slightly smaller-than-expected dip in initial unemployment claims and a benign reading on gross domestic product, did little to excite investors.
Analysts say the market has been running on its own momentum more than anything else, adding that a lot of the improving economic data has already been priced into stocks.
A lot of activity has also been driven by short-covering, analysts say, which tends to amplify gains in the market. Short-covering occurs when investors have to buy stock after having earlier sold borrowed shares in a bet they would fall.
Traders have been anticipating a pullback for weeks, but the dips that have occurred tend to be met with more buying.

After giving up as much as 84 points early on, the Dow rose 37.11, or 0.4 percent, to close at 9,580.63. The Dow’s eight-day advance totals 445 points, or 4.9 percent.
The Standard & Poor’s 500 index rose 2.86, or 0.3 percent, to 1,030.98, while the Nasdaq composite index rose 3.30, or 0.2 percent, to 2,027.73.
Both the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq composite indexes have finished higher seven out of the past eight days, rising about 5 percent over that period.
About eight stocks rose for every seven that fell on the , where consolidated volume came to 5.82 billion shares, compared with 5.10 billion shares on Wednesday.
Despite the run-up in stocks, investors are nervous about overextending the market’s massive spring and summer rally, in which stocks have risen more than 45 percent off of 12-year lows since early March.

Big gains in a handful of financial stocks helped to turn the market around. Shares of American International Group Inc. surged nearly 27 percent, rising $10.15 to $47.84, as analysts speculated the company might be reconciling with former CEO Maurice “Hank” Greenberg, who could help bring private capital to the company. AIG shares have more than doubled in eight days.
CIT Group Inc. jumped 22.8 percent, adding 29 cents to $1.56. Citigroup Inc. rose 42 cents, or 9.1 percent, to $5.05.
Shares of Boeing Co. rose, giving a boost to the Dow, after the company said its long-delayed 787 aircraft will be ready for its first flight by the end of this year. Shares jumped $4, or 8.4 percent, to $51.82.
Energy stocks, which had weighed on the market early in the day, pulled off of their lows as oil prices turned higher. Like stocks, oil prices have been extremely volatile in recent weeks as investors try to determine whether current prices are warranted given still weak demand.
Crude for October delivery added $1.06 to settle at $72.49 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
Among the economic news Thursday, the Labor Department said first-time jobless claims fell 10,000 last week to 570,000, just shy of economists’ expectations. Workers continuing to file for benefits, however, fell more than expected, declining to 6.13 million from 6.25 million in the previous week. It was the lowest level for continuing claims since early April.
Meanwhile, a Commerce Department report showed the economy shrank at a 1 percent annualized rate in the second quarter. The updated figure was unchanged from a preliminary reading on GDP, and slightly better than the 1.5 percent decline that was forecast.
Bond prices were mostly lower even after a strong auction of seven-year notes. The yield on the 10-year note rose to 3.46 percent from 3.44 percent.
The dollar was mixed, while gold prices inched higher.
In other trading, the Russell 2000 index of smaller companies slipped 0.25, or 0.04 percent, to 583.77.
Asian stocks fell after China said it would cut investment in some industries. Japan’s Nikkei stock average lost 1.6 percent, while China’s main index fell 0.7 percent.
Britain’s FTSE 100 fell 0.4 percent, Germany’s DAX index fell 0.9 percent, and France’s CAC-40 lost 0.5 percent.
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stocks lead Sensex higher

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Aug 312009
 

metals-and-it-stocksThe key benchmark index surged trade today led by advances in realty, banking and capital goods stocks. IT stocks, however, were under pressure. The benchmark Sensex rose 140 points to 15,921 levels and the Nifty was up 45 points to 4,733.
The realty index on the BSE rose 3.5 per cent and the banking index was up 1.4 per cent. The BSE metal index advanced 1.3 per cent.
The BSE IT index dropped 0.6 per cent.
Among the Sensex stocks, Bharti Airtel led the gainers. The stock advanced 5.3 per cent. DLF, Reliance Infra and Hindalco were the other main gainers in the pack.
Tata Power, however, lost 2.1 per cent.
Asian markets were trading mixed today. South Korea’s Kospi and Japan’s Nikkei rose over 0.5 per cent each. China’s Shanghai Composite slipped 2.9 per cent.
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Nifty hits fresh year high intraday

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Aug 312009
 

bse-sensexThe index hit a new year high of 4,743 during today’s session as buying in selective frontline stocks and positive global cues helped Indian markets to recover from early losses. The Nifty closed at 4,732, up 44 points while the Sensex gained 141 points to end at 15,922.
Asian stocks were modestly higher on Friday, while European markets were firm in the early trade.
But worries about tighter government policies sent China’s markets lower for a second day. Trade across the Asian region was quiet, with many investors out for summer holidays or waiting for more clues about the strength of recovery in the global economy following the worst downturn in decades.
Investors were hopeful about prospects for Asian exports after a US government report showed the economy shrank at a 1 per cent annualized rate in the second quarter. While unchanged from a preliminary reading on gross domestic product, the updated figure was better than the expected 1.5 per cent decline and added to evidence the world’s largest economy was turning around.
However, gains were capped by fears about China’s measures to prevent the economy from overheating after loose banking policies and frenetic stimulus spending unleashed enormous liquidity that’s helped lift regional markets since March.
Gaurang Shah, chief manager, Geojit BNP Paribas, said, “The Indian markets should consolidate and make a base at current levels before shooting up further. Also, the second quarter numbers will have a much better story to tell,” said.
Back in the Indian markets, realty stocks were sharply up. The BSE realty index rose 3.8 per cent on gains in Omaxe, Unitech and DLF. Omaxe zoomed 10.5 per cent to Rs 124. Unitech and DLF gained over 5 per cent each. Auto, banking and capital goods stocks also saw some buying action.

The BSE auto index rose 1.2 per cent and the capital goods index was up 1.1 per cent. In the auto space, Bajaj Auto, Apollo Tyres and Exide Industries rose over 3 per cent each.

In the 30-share Sensex pack, 21 stocks rose while 9 counters declined. DLF was the top gainer. The stock soared 5.3 per cent to Rs 413. JP Associates gained 5.1 per cent and Bharti Airtel rose 4.4 per cent.
Tata Power and ITC were the major losers. The stocks shed more than 1.2 per cent each.
For the week, both the Sensex and the Nifty closed up nearly 4.5 per cent each. All sectoral indices on the BSE also posted gains. The BSE realty index jumped 10 per cent and the IT index rose 7.8 per cent.
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