Sensex plummets 288 pts on US poll fears

Mumbai, Nov 2 :The benchmark BSE Sensex crashed by 288 points and the NSE Nifty dipped below 8,600 mark in early trade as investors cut down their bets, tracking a weak trend in global market after a new US presidential poll showed Donald Trump ahead of market favourite Hillary Clinton.

The 30-share barometer plunged 288.06 points or 1.03 per cent at 27,588.55 with all the sectoral indices led by metal, realty and oil in the negative zone, falling by up to 1.73 per cent. It had lost 64.90 points in the previous two sessions.

Government planning platform for customer feedback on call drops: Minister

Communications Minister Manoj Sinha on Tuesday said the government is planning to set up a platform in the next one month through which subscribers can directly give their feedback on call drops.

"We are setting up a platform through which the consumers will be able to directly give their feedback to the government, especially regarding call drops," Sinha told reporters.

He was briefing media after holding a meeting with telecom service providers CEOs on the call drop issue.

About the 100-day plan floated by the operators where they had assured that 60,000 base transceiver stations (BTS) will be set up with an investment of Rs 12,000 crore, the minister said: "They have met the target of setting up 60,000 BTS... rather exceeded that target."

Bharti Airtel has installed 22,000 BTS, Idea Cellular, 25,382 and Vodafone, 13,870, the minister said, adding that Reliance Jio, which was not part of the 60,000 BTS plan, has additionally set up 35,000 BTS.

Pakistan end Bravo vigil to regain command

Dubai, Oct 16 : Pakistan removed the obdurate Darren Bravo late on the third day of the first day-night Test to reinvigorate their cause after a dogged West Indies batting display in Dubai.

Bravo defied a potent bowling attack to score 87 during a 402-minute stay at the crease while Samuels made 76 as the West Indies closed on 315-6, still trailing Pakistan's first innings total of 579-3 declared by 264 runs.

Shane Dowrich was unbeaten on 27 with skipper Jason Holder 10 not out at the close of play.

West Indies need to reach 380 to avoid following-on, but the duration of their innings suggests Pakistan captain Misbah-ul-haq may not enforce it and bat again on Sunday.

Bravo and Samuels were engaged in a resolute 113-run stand for the third wicket as the Dubai stadium pitch did not offer much help to Pakistan's attack.

India, US would be "best friends" if elected as prez: Trump

Edison (New Jersey), Oct 16 : Terming India as a "key strategic ally", Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump has promised that if voted to power India and the US would become "best friends" and have a "phenomenal future" together.

"India's is the world's largest democracy and is a natural ally of the US. Under a Trump Administration, we are going to become even better friends, in fact I would take the term better out and we would be best friends," Trump, 70, told a cheering crowd of Indian-Americans at a charity event organised by the Republican Hindu Coalition yesterday.

"We are for free trade. We will have good trade deals with other countries. We are going to do a lot of business with India. We are going to have a phenomenal future together," he said.

He praised Prime Minister Narendra Modi for taking India on a fast track growth with a series of economic reforms and reforming bureaucracy, saying it was required in the US too.

19 killed, over 60 injured in Varanasi stampede

At least 19 persons, including 14 women, were killed and over 60 others, injured in a stampede during a religious procession here on Saturday, police said.

The stampede occurred at around 1.30 p.m. at the Rajghat bridge in the Ramnagar area, as thousands of people, who had turned up at a religious congregation organised by disciples of the late spiritual leader Jai Gurudev, took out a procession.

Ramanagar police station incharge Anil Kumar Singh told IANS that 19 people were killed in the stampede and over 60 injured.

Police attributed the stampede to the "impatience" among the participants due to the prevailing heat and humidity, and also noted that while the organisers had sought permission for presence of around 3,000 people, nearly 80,000 had turned up.

India's forex reserves slip to $367 billion

India's foreign exchange reserves dipped to $367.64 billion as on October 7, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has said.

According to data released by the RBI on Friday, the reserves stood at around $367.64 billion as on October 7, as against $371.99 billion on September 30.

On October 7, the foreign currency assets stood at $342.39 billion, gold at $21.40 billion, special drawing rights $1.47 billion and the reserve position in the International Monetary Fund (IMF) at $2.36 billion.

India, Russia seal big ticket defence deals

Benaulim (Goa), Oct 15 : India and Russia on Saturday sealed a number of big ticket defence deals including purchase of missile systems, frigates and joint production of helicopters besides deciding to deepen cooperation in a range of crucial sectors even as the two close allies resolved to fight the menace of terrorism unitedly

Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Russian President Vladimir Putin held wide-ranging talks covering the entire expanse of bilateral engagement following which the two sides signed a total of 16 MoUs and made three announcements to boost ties in sectors like trade and investment, hydrocarbons, space and smart cities

The two leaders also dedicated the unit two of Kudankulum nuclear power plant and witnessed foundation laying of its Unit 3 and 4

No buyer for Twitter as Salesforce quits race

In a bad news for Twitter, its last potential buyer Salesforce has decided not to make a bid to buy the struggling micro-blogging website.

Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff told the Financial Times that he has "walked away" from making a bid to buy Twitter.

Earlier, Google, Apple and Walt Disney also decided not to bid for the website.

Twitter stocks fell significantly this week after Google and Walt Disney reportedly ruled out to acquire the struggling micro-blogging platform.

Reverse disability pension cut, Kejriwal tells PM

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Friday urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to roll back the cut in armed forces disability pension and instead hike it.

The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader also asked Modi to announce Rs 1 crore financial assistance to families of soldiers who die in the service of the country.

While hailing Modi for the army's surgical strikes on Pakistani territory, Kejriwal pointed out in a letter to the Prime Minister that the defence ministry cut the disability pension for soldiers.

He said Indian soldiers had until now received disability pension equal to their last drawn salary for 100 per cent disability.

"But the recent notification turned it into a slab system retrospectively from January 1, 2016, which will result in a heavy financial loss to the soldiers," Kejriwal said.

Govt to sell subsidised pulses through post offices

New Delhi, Oct 14 : In the absence of government outlets in states, the Centre will utilise huge network of post offices across the country to sell subsidied pulses, mainly tur, urad and chana, to ensure availability in the ongoing festival season.

An Inter-ministerial committee, headed by Consumer Affairs Secretary Hem Pande, took the decision at its meeting here today. It was attended by senior officials of ministries of food, consumer affairs, agriculture, commerce and finance.

Officials of state-run MMTC and NAFED were also present.

Rupee recovers 23 paise to end at 66.71 against dollar

Mumbai, Oct 14 : The rupee today staged a smart recovery from its three-week low against the US currency to close up by 23 paise at 66.71 on heavy corporate dollar sales as well as easing inflationary pressure.

Better-than-expected consumer inflation data supported the recovery momentum, a dealer said. However, lackluster performance in domestic equities alongside a strong dollar overseas limited the rupee appreciation, the dealer said.

Retail inflation in September dropped to 13-month low of 4.31 per cent, while

wholesale inflation eased to 3.57 per cent in the month, creating headroom for further rate cut by Reserve Bank in coming months.

The Reserve Bank on October 4 had restarted the easing cycle with a 0.25 pecentage point cut in the key repo rate.

Women prefer smartphones to their spouses: Study

If your wife is spending less and less time with you and the warmth that you shared with her has cooled off, you have a new object to blame -- her smartphone, suggests new research.

Such is the dependence on a smartphone now that a fifth of the respondents in a survey said they would find it more difficult to be without a phone for a week than their partner.

Keeping tabs on the social media, checking emails and sending texts mean women on an average spend 12 hours more a week on their mobiles than with a loved one, showed the Britain-based survey conducted by Bausch & Lomb Ultra contact lenses.

Cinema owners association bans films with Pak artistes

Mumbai, Oct 14 : Amid growing demand for a ban on Pakistani artistes, Cinema Owners Exhibitors Association of India (COEAI) on Friday decided not to release movies starring actors from Pakistan in Maharashtra, Gujarat, Karnataka and Goa.

This announcement puts an uncertainty on the release of Karan Johar's "Ae Dil Hai Mushkil", which sees Pakistani actor Fawad Khan in a supporting role and is slated to arrive in theatres this Diwali.

Addressing the media, COEAI's president Nitin Datar said that the decision was not taken under any political pressure, but rather, keeping public sentiment in mind.

"Today, the meeting of Cinema Owners Exhibitors Association of India took place and it was decided that keeping in mind the patriotic feelings and the national interest of our country, we request all our members and exhibitors to refrain from screening movies which have involvement of any Pakistani artist, technicians, directors, music directors etc," Datar said.

Chinese goods boycott hitting traders on tepid retail demand

New Delhi, Oct 14 : The social media campaign to boycott Chinese goods during Diwali has beaten down sentiment of retail traders as there has been a 20 per cent decline in demand so far, traders body CAIT said today.

Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT) Secretary General Praveen Khandelwal said that Chinese lighting and decorative products are widely used during Diwali and such materials start flooding the Indian markets three months prior to the festive season.

Religious persecution will never be allowed: Rajnath

New Delhi, Oct 14: Describing India as a "university of tolerance", Home Minister Rajnath Singh today asserted that religious persecution will never be allowed in the country.

"Tolerance is essential for peaceful existence. People from all religions live peacefully in India and practise their religion without any fear of discrimination. That is why India is a university of tolerance," Singh said at a meeting of Christian leaders organised by India Christian Council here.

Singh said Christianity came to India almost 2,000 years ago and Kerala is home to St Thomas church which is one of the world's oldest churches. He said India cannot forget the contribution of Christians -- from Saint Thomas to Mother Teresa -- who tried to eradicate evils from our society.

"There were incidents of attacks on churches in Delhi which came up in the run up to elections (to Delhi Assembly).

RBI sets rupee reference rate at 66.8481 against USD

Mumbai, Oct 14: The Reserve Bank of India today fixed the reference rate of the rupee at 66.8481 against the US dollar and 73.6867 for the euro.

The corresponding rates were 66.8473 and 73.6657, respectively yesterday.

Rupee up 11 paise against dollar in early trade

Mumbai, Oct 14 :The rupee appreciated by 11 paise to 66.83 against the dollar in early trade today at the Interbank Foreign Exchange on fresh selling of the American currency by exporters.

Besides, the retail inflation in September dropping to 13-month low of 4.31 per cent and a higher opening of the domestic equity market also supported the rupee, but dollar's strength against some currencies overseas capped the gains, forex dealers said.

Sensex recovers 70 pts on easing inflation

Mumbai, Oct 14: The benchmark BSE Sensex recovered about 70 points in early trade today after investors indulged in fresh buying taking cues from encouraging retail inflation numbers for September, despite weaker revenue guidance by TCS and Infosys for the current fiscal.

A higher trend on other Asian bourses, helped trading sentiment improve, brokers said.

The 30-share barometer was trading higher by 69.68 points, or 0.25 per cent, at 27,712.79 with oil&gas, capital goods, PSU, realty and auto sectors leading the recovery.

The gauge had plunged 439.23 points in yesterday's trade after a slew of global factors such as weak Chinese export data and Fed rate hike talks unnerved investors.

Key Indian equity market indices open in red

Taking cues from global markets, the key Indian equity market indices opened in red on Thursday.

Having closed for last two days on Dusshera and Muharram, the markets resumed on Thursday.

The Sensitive Index (Sensex) of the BSE, which had closed at 28,082.34 points on Monday, opened lower at 28,042.62. Minutes into trading, it was trading at 27,901.78 points, down 180.56 points, or 0.64 per cent.

At the National Stock Exchange (NSE), the broader 51-scrip Nify, which had closed at 8,708.80 points, was quoting at 8,651.35 points, down 57.45 points or 0.66 per cent.

Rupee drops 29 paise against dollar in early trade

Mumbai, Oct 13 :The rupee was trading lower by 29 paise at 66.82 against the American currency in early trade today at the Interbank Foreign Exchange market as the dollar strengthened overseas amid a lower opening of the domestic equity market.

Forex dealers said increased demand for the US currency from importers and the greenback's gains against other currencies overseas after minutes of the Federal Reserve s last meeting pointed at an interest rate hike this year, put pressure on the rupee.