2. US' anti-outsourcing steps to hit Indian IT market: Experts. Rising anti-outsourcing sentiment in the US, evident by Ohio State's ban on outsourcing IT services to foreign lands, is likely to adversely impact the USD 51-billion Indian IT industry, feel analysts. Ohio's ban came just weeks after the US government hiked the fee for H-1B and L1 visas, a move that would hurt Indian IT players. Indian IT companies like Infosys Technologies, Wipro, HCL Technologies and TCS get 60 per cent of their export revenue from the US.
3. 9 of top-10 companies add over 58K crore in mid-cap. Nine of the country's top-10 firms in terms of market cap became wealthier by Rs 58,798.84 crore, amid a strong broader market, with State Bank of India emerging as the biggest gainer. With a market capitalisation (m-cap) of Rs 1,89,385.77 crore, SBI is only behind RIL and ONGC, among the most coveted companies of the country. During the last week, shares of SBI rose nearly 7 per cent to settle at Rs 2,982.50 at the end of Thursday's trade on the Bombay Stock Exchange.
4. Contd… Corporate behemoth Reliance Industries (RIL) yet again ruled the chart and added Rs 10,584.18 crore, the second biggest gain in the chart, to take its market valuation to Rs 3,13,419.21 crore. Oil and gas major ONGC saw its valuation swell by Rs 3,753.71 crore to Rs 2,89,934.52 crore. Two of the IT firms, TCS and Infosys Technologies, together added Rs 13,628.84 crore to their combined m-cap, which stood at Rs 1,70,638.48 and Rs 1,65,931.71 crore, respectively.
5. RBI likely to hike policy rates this week to curb inflation. The Reserve Bank may further hike its key policy rates during the monetary review on September 16, going by the suggestion of Finance Minister PranabMukherjee to the central bank to take more steps to check rising prices. As the overall inflation is still hovering around 10 per cent, economists also expect the RBI to increase the policy rates to tame price rise. RBI's first mid-quarter policy review is scheduled for September 16.
6. Contd… It may further tighten its policy rates to tackle rising inflation, specially food prices. The Reserve Bank's hardening of its lending and borrowing rates could be expected on that day, others believe it would wait a while before hiking policy rates. The RBI has already hiked short-term lending (repo) and borrowing (reverse repo) rates thrice this fiscal, including twice in July. While the repo rate currently is 5.75 basis points, reverse repo is 4.50 basis points .
7. Gold prices may touch Rs 22,000/ 10 grams by year end. Gold prices are likely to touch Rs 22,000 per 10 gms by year end, as the cash-rich financial institutions like mutual funds may divert investments to bullion in view of uncertainty in the stock market. Reason for rising prices is the Euro-zone economy and the US, which are not providing conducive investment options, making way for investment in precious metal. It also said the expected increase in inflationary pressures across the world had forced sizeable investors to invest in gold, further making case for jump in its price.
8. Ford Fiesta: It’s not the least expensive small car you can buy. There are two types of small cars in America. First, there are the bare-bones, price-is-the-entire-object ennui-boxes. These are the cars you end up driving when you stubbornly resist the $2-a-day upgrade at the rental counter. The Ford Fiesta is a subcompact in the ambitious Fit idiom. the 2011 Fiesta hews to the European hatchback ideal, and Europeans hold the bizarre expectation that small vehicles should act like real cars.
9. Contd… Ford’s new baby is available as a sedan or five-door hatchback and offers upmarket equipment like a 6-speed dual-clutch sequential transmission, heated leather seats and the excellent Sync multimedia system. The rear brakes are drums, not discs. But then again, so are they on a Maybach – the 1932 Maybach Zeppelin. There is one engine, a 1.6-liter 4-cylinder that squeezes out an indifferent 120 horsepower. So the Fiesta is slow.
