Sensex, Nifty slump after military strike on militants in Pakistan

Indian shares, bonds and the rupee fell sharply on Thursday after India attacked suspected militants in Pakistan, raising political tensions just days before the RBI is set to hold a policy review.

India has conducted "surgical strikes" on suspected militants in Pakistan it suspects of preparing to infiltrate into the part of Kashmir it controls, the army's director general of military operations said on Thursday. Investors had already been growing cautious ahead of the Reserve Bank of India's policy review on Tuesday.

The Nifty was down 1.5 percent after falling as much 2.07 percent.

Benchmark 10-year bond yields were up 8 basis points at 7.00 percent from its previous close while the rupee weakened to 66.80/81 from its close of 66.46 on Wednesday.

Suriya 35 title: 'Thaanaa Serndha Koottam'

Suriya’s upcoming film with director Vignesh ShivnN has been titled as Thaanaa Serndha Koottam, the famous dialogue of Superstar Rajinikanth in the 1995 Tamil movie Baashha. Gnanavelraja’s Studio Green is producing this action entertainer, which will have music by Anirudh Ravichander and the team will be soon announcing the rest of the cast and crew. Meanwhile, Gnanvel’s Studio Green will also be announcing one more big Tamil-Telugu bilingual tomorrow at a star hotel here in Chennai. Suriya is currently busy with ‘S3’ shoot and the actor is also planning to hold an auspicious pooja by the end of this month for Thaanaa Serndha Koottam. After Vignesh ShivnN film, Suriya has also signed a project for SR Prabhu’s Dream Warrior Pictures.

Nayanthara strikes back!

Hard work, hard work and more hard work...the rest is blessing and luck.

Nayanthara is in a happy space. She’s drawing strength from a stable personal life and reaping the benefits of a rocking career. If one thought that 2015 was Nayanthara’s peak with three blockbusters in a row, then 2016 seems to be even better.

Nayanthara still continues to be an enigma and will forever be the perfect example of dignity, grace, sensuousness and commitment. It’s for nothing that she’s often referred to as the Lady superstar by her loyal fans. Nayan had four releases so far in 2016. Her first release of the year was the hard hitting Puthiya Niyamam in which she played a rape victim. This Mammootty starrer not only got her critical acclaim but was a hit.

Simbu’s long delayed Ithu Namma Aalu was her next release in Tamil which took a fabulous opening and is a hit. Next release Thirunaal with Jiiva proved to be above average in B and C markets. It was followed by the Telugu film Babu Bangaram with Venkatesh, an average grosser. And now Iru Mugan with Vikram, is turning out to be a super hit. Iru Mugan is doing extraordinary business throughout Tamil Nadu especially in B and C stations. The buzz is that the film which was expected to do well only in cities percolated down to smaller stations on the strength of Nayanthara. Her introduction scene, interval block scene is getting maximum claps along with the Helena song

S Pictures Srinivasan, the man who controls over 70 screens in South and North Arcot, says: “Nayanthara is an important factor that worked big time for the film in Tamil Nadu. She definitely has an opening and is known as the lady superstar”. Nayan is creating magic and is doing it her way. Looking at her line-up of films, the Nayan magic is going to continue to get better, bigger and bolder for her. Her big budget Kaashmora is releasing for Diwali 2016. Nayan has completed the talkie portion of Dora directed by Dass Ramasamy and has resumed shoot for the untitled film based on a powerful National issue directed by Gopi Nainar. She will start work for Ajay Gnanamuthu’s Imaikkaa Nodigal followed by RD Raja produced M.Raja directed Sivakarthikeyan-Fahadh Faasil film. Going by this list, Nayan’s charisma doesn't seem like its going to dim anytime soon.

Ajith Photo Gallery

Ajith Kumar

Ajith Kumar (born 1 May 1971) is an Indian film actor best known for his work in Tamil cinema. In addition to his acting, Ajith Kumar in a sabbatical, participated in the 2004 British Formula 3 season as a Formula Two racing driver and was ranked the third best motor car driver in India at his peak.

He began his career as a supporting actor in a Telugu film before gaining critical recognition in the Tamil thriller Aasai (1995),before going on to establish himself as a romantic hero with Kadhal Kottai (1996), Aval Varuvala (1998) and Kadhal Mannan (1998) being the most notable. He was later seen in Vaali (1999), Mugavaree (2000), Kandukondain Kandukondain (2000) and Citizen (2001) before establishing himself as an action hero with popular films, including Amarkalam (1999), Dheena (2001), Villain (2002), Mankatha (2011), Arrambam (2013), Veeram (2014) and Vedalam (2015). In 2014, Kumar was listed in Forbes India's Top 100 Celebrities

 

Sensex, Nifty fail to hold gains, end flat ahead of U.S. Fed policy

The Indian stock market ended flat on Wednesday, with investors, looking ahead to the outcome of the U.S. Federal Reserve's monetary policy meeting, turning cautious and choosing to trim down positions. Earlier, the market got off to a firm start and stayed notably up in positive territory for a long time, tracking gains in most of the markets across the Asian region after the Bank of Japan decided to modify its policy framework to achieve the inflation target at the earliest possible time. The Japanese central bank said it will control short-term and long-term interest rates, besides expanding the monetary base until inflation exceeds 2%. The bank said it will continue with its negative interest rate of -1% to the policy rate balances in current accounts of financial institutions. As stocks gave up gains in late afternoon trade, the BSE benchmark Sensex declined to 28,462.33 from the day's high of 28,689.36, before eventually closing at 28,507.42 with a loss of 15.78 points or 0.06%. The Nifty50 of the National Stock Exchange ended up 1.25 points or 0.01% at 8777.15, after scaling a high of 8826.85 intraday. In the forex market, the rupee was trading at 67.03 against the U.S. dollar around late afternoon, little changed from its previous close of 67.02. Earlier, after opening at 67.00 a dollar, the rupee declined to a low of 67.14, a three-week low. In a significant move, the Union Cabinet today approved the merger of railway budget with the general budget ending nearly hundred-year old practice of having two separate budgets and agreed, in principle, to advance the presentation of the budget from late February. Following this development, rail related stocks attracted attention today. Telecom and consumer durables stocks closed higher. FMCG stocks were weak. Metal, oil, IT, automobile, bank, capital goods, power and realty stocks failed to hold gains and ended on a mixed note. Midcap and smallcap stocks too closed mixed. Among Sensex stocks, Tata Steel and Hindustan Unilever gained about 1% each. Axis Bank, Bharti Airtel, Wipro, Infosys, Bajaj Auto, Tata Motors and HDFC Bank closed higher by 0.4% - 0.8%. Power Grid Corporation, ITC, State Bank of India, ICICI Bank and ONGC closed lower by 0.6% - 1.5%. Bharti Infratel, the top gainer in the Nifty index, moved up 4.65%. Eicher Motors gained 3.3% and Hindalco ended 2.6% up. Yes Bank, Idea Cellular and Tata Power closed with modest gains. Bank of Baroda, Ambuja Cements, BHEL, UltraTech Cement, Kotak Bank and ACC closed lower by 0.3% - 1.6%. Vardhman Textiles rose sharply after the company sait that its board will meet later this week to consider a share buy-back proposal. Essel Propack hit a new high after the company said that its wholly-owned subsidiary in Mauritius, Lamitube Technologies Limited, will acquire 75.1% stake in Essel Deutschland Gmbh& Co. KG, Germany, a joint venture in which Lamitube already holds 24.9% stake. Flex Industries, MCX, Indoco Remedies, Inox Leisure, Shriram EPC, IRB Infrastructure, NBCC and TeamLease Services also saw some strong buying on stock specific news. The market breadth was slightly positive. Out of 2924 stocks traded on BSE, 1413 stocks moved up. 1312 stocks declined and 199 stocks ended flat. It is widely expected that the U.S. Federal Reserve will keep its benchmark interest rate unchanged at the conclusion of its two-day policy meeting today, given recent weak economic data. The Fed had left the target range for its federal funds rate unchanged at 0.25% to 0.5% for the fifth time during its July 2016 meeting. Meanwhile, in the IPO market, the 13.23 crore shares offer from ICICI Prudential Life Insurance was subscribed nearly 10 times till the penultimate hour on the final day.

Soundarya Rajiinikanth clarifies on her role in AWBI

Soundarya Raiinikanth seems to be always in the news for some reason or the other. Remember, she was recently appointed as the honorary brand ambassador of Animal Welfare Board of India and also as a part of performing animals sub committee. Though the Kochadaiiyaan director is receiving praises for this honor, there were few people saying that her role in AWBI is against animal cruelty and hence, she is opposing Tamil Nadu traditional sports ‘Jallikattu’. In a statement, Soundarya’s officially PR said : “Soundarya’s job is to monitor and survey the use of animals in the films. She will ensure the safety of animals used in the films. Soundarya will also monitor the uses of graphics in the film and will say whether the makers have used graphics or shot with real life animals. This is completely apt for her as she has in-depth knowledge in animation and she has also directed “Kochadaiiyaan", which is an animation film”

Gold gains as investors bet against Fed hike

LONDON: Gold rose for a second straight session on Tuesday as the dollar dropped ahead of a two-day U.S. Federal Reserve meeting that investors are betting will leave interest rates unchanged. Spot gold was up 0.2 percent at $1,314.76 an ounce by 0955 GMT, with U.S. gold futures gaining 0.1 percent to $1,319.10. "Gold should remain supported as long as it holds above $1,300 an ounce ... but that level could be easily broken if the Fed surprises with a rate hike tomorrow," ActivTrades chief analyst Carlo Alberto de Casa said. "If not, we could see a $10 rebound after the Fed meeting." Investors will listen closely to Fed Chair Janet Yellen's speech at the end of the meeting on Wednesday for any hint that the central bank could raise rates before the end of the year. A range of mixed economic figures and conflicting remarks by key Fed policymakers have kept investors guessing over the timing of the next U.S. rate increase. Only a 12 percent chance of a rate rise is priced in now, compared with 24 percent last week, CME FedWatch said. Rising U.S. interest rates increase the opportunity cost of holding non-yielding bullion and boost the dollar, making gold more expensive for buyers holding other currencies. The dollar was down 0.1 percent against a basket of six main currencies as investors also awaited the outcome of a Bank of Japan policy meeting this week. Japan's central bank also meets on Tuesday and Wednesday, and could make negative interest rates the primary focus of its monetary policy, moving away from quantitative easing. Spot gold looks neutral in a range of $1,313 to $1,319 an ounce and an escape could point a direction, said Reuters technical analyst Wang Tao. In other news, Swiss gold imports from Hong Kong last month hit their highest since records began in 2012, while combined shipments to Hong Kong and China hit their lowest since April, data from the Swiss customs bureau showed on Tuesday. Among other precious metals, spot silver rose 0.3 percent to $19.19 an ounce, building on a gain of nearly 2 percent in the previous session. Platinum was up 0.5 percent at $1,026.25 and Palladium rose 0.6 percent to $687, extending a 2 percent increase on Monday.

Actress Anushka Photo Gallery

Anushka Shetty

Sweety Shetty (born 7 November 1981), better known by her stage name Anushka Shetty, is an Indian actress and model who works predominantly in Telugu and Tamil films.

She made her acting debut through the 2005 Telugu film Super. She went on to star in a number of Telugu films such as Vikramarkudu (2006), Arundhati (2009), Vedam (2010), Rudramadevi (2015) and Baahubali: The Beginning (2015). After starring in a series of high-budget productions, she established herself as one of the leading actresses in Telugu cinema.[4] She received critical acclaim for her portrayal of the title character in Arundhati (2009), as Saroja in Vedam (2010), and as Queen Rudramadevi which fetched her three Filmfare, one Nandi and three CineMAA Awards. In the 2010s, Anushka also achieved success in Tamil cinema with the action films Singam (2010), its sequel Singam II (2013) and Yennai Arindhaal (2015). All three of them were big commercial successes, while her performances in Vaanam (2011), Deiva Thirumagal (2011) and Inji Iduppazhagi (2015) won her critical praise.

She was also voted as "Hyderabad's Most Desirable Woman of 2015".

Anushka Photo Gallery

Early life

Born in Mangalore, Karnataka, Anushka is an ethnic Tuluva hailing from the landed Bellipady Uramalu Guthu family. Her parents are Prafulla and A.N. Vittal Shetty. She has two brothers Gunaranjan Shetty and Sai Ramesh Shetty who is a cosmetic surgeon. Anushka did her schooling in Bangalore and her Bachelor of Computer Applications at the Mount Carmel College, Bangalore. She was also a yoga instructor, trained under Bharat Thakur

Aandavan Kattalai

Director Manikandan, who grabbed everyone's attention with National Award winning Kaaka Muttai is all set for the release of his third film Aandavan Kattalai starring Vijay Sethupathi and Ritvika Singh in the lead. Sources say that the basic plot of Aandavan Kattalai is about youngsters who dream to go foreign countries with fake passports and land in huge trouble. Manikandan is said to have done a lot of research in telling the flaw of the system in a lighter vein. Ritika Singh of Irudhi Suttru fame plays the female lead in the film and comedian Yogi Babu will be seen in an important role. ‘K’ is scoring music for Aandavan Kattalai, which is being produced by Madurai Anbu of Gopuram Films.

Gold Loans: Present tense, future perfect?

Gold loans have existed in India for centuries. The market was, and still is, largely controlled by unorganised institutions that include pawn shops and local money lenders, handing out easy cash against gold jewellery, coins, and bars as security. Pawning, recovery, and re-pawning of gold have been prevalent since ages. However, the high interest charged by the lenders that almost bordered on extortion landed many borrowers in a debt trap. That led to organised and formal financial institutions like banks and NBFCs (Non-Banking Finance Companies) to enter the gold loans sector. They have introduced innovative lending methods at cheaper costs and also ensured better customer service. These organisations now command more than 25% of the Indian gold loan market, which has witnessed phenomenal growth rates over the past decade. It was almost as high as 60% at one point of time. Though the unorganised sector still dominates the country's gold loan market, the organised segment is fast catching up. It grew around 60% in the 2011-12 fiscal, and then by 45% in the 2012-13 fiscal. Over the next couple of years, growth was largely stunted because of the decline in international gold prices. When the bad times hit Gold prices rose by nearly 40% between 2008 to 2013 but collapsed to 1.71% in 2014. It further tanked by 2% the next year with investors exiting exchange-traded funds and a fall in consumption pattern of gold in the country, following regulatory measures to put a fledgling economy back on track. Magma Fincorp, a leading NBFC which entered the gold loans market the second half of 2012-13, narrowed down its business to less than Rs 5 crore in the 2014-15 fiscal, from Rs 100 crore earlier. Capital First had to voluntarily shrink its gold loan portfolio from Rs 575 crore in 2013-14 to Rs 179 crore in the year ending 31 March, 2015. Gold portfolio, as a component of the total assests came down to 1.73% in 2014-15 from 5.74% in 2013-14. The yield on gold lending fell to 3% in mid-2015 from 4.4% a few years back. Regulatory restrictions on the value of gold that could be extended as loans made it uneconomical for most companies because it reduced their loan per unit. The loan to value (LTV) ratio tanked to 60% from 90% before the regulatory intervention was imposed. Short-term outlook Better days for the sector could just be in the offing with Manappuram and Muthoot, two leading gold-lending majors, showing signs of a turnaround. These much-talked-about companies had lost their sheen following a sharp fall in the price of gold, the collateral against which they extend loans. The sizes of their portfolio shrank with a rise in the volume of non-performing assets. At the same time, the custom duty imposed by the government on gold imports, increased the minimum required LTV ratio of the lenders. But the macro environment for the gold loan market seems to be turning around in favour of these companies. Gold, having fallen from Rs 31000 per 10 grams in late 2013 to less than Rs 25000 in mid-2015, has seen some recovery in the past few months. The prices gained by 20% to Rs 30000 a few months into 2016, guided by a rise in the price of the yellow metal in the global markets. It has been observed from market trends in the past that gold prices have a strong correlation with the demand for gold loans. Now, if a customer takes a Rs 70000 loan against gold that's valued at Rs 1 lakh and the price corrects by 20%, then the borrower has to deposit additional gold with the lender to maintain the minimum LTV. But with rising prices, the borrower would be eligible for a bigger loan amount with the collateral value now increased. The two leading gold lenders have since reported a steady growth in profit, an indicator that the market is set to recover, at least in the short-term. The overall loan portfolio of the county, in fact, has already grown by over 6% in the first quarter of this year, with gold and auto loans leading the pack along with secured mortgages. The second edition of the Equifax India Consumer Credit Trends report has revealed that 90-plus per cent delinquency rates, in this period, grew to 1.6%; an 0.08% increase from the preceding quarter, largely because of unsecured loan delinquencies. The future India loves its gold. It accounts for more than 10% of the world's total gold stock, of which, rural India owns nearly 65%. This is probably because banking services are yet to reach the farthest corners of the country and people see gold as the safest asset. Besides, farmers, peasants and daily wage earners often buy gold during the months they have a good income and stock it in the form of jewellery and ornaments. They later pledge this gold to moneylenders and local pawn brokers in the lean months to meet their need for money. This is a peculiar phenomenon in our country and likely to continue in the days to come. At the same time, Indians have an emotional attachment to gold and don't want to sell them off unless a big unexpected expense looms large or in the case of an extreme financial distress. This is what makes gold loans a very attractive business for lenders and feeds the demand for gold loans. The Indian gold loan market, according to conservative estimates, is expected to grow at 15% over the next five years. The gold market in India, as has already been said

, is directly linked to the international gold prices. Those prices are all set to go further northwards in the remainder of 2016 because of continuing global uncertainties, caused by UK's exit from the European Union. Gold prices reached the highest level in the last three years on the back of the Brexit referendum in June as people made a beeline to grab safer assets. In India, the price of gold has already breached the Rs 31000 mark. A fair monsoon and good agricultural output has contributed to a good rural income. Gold buying is very much on the cards, leading to increased prices. More loans can now be handed for each gram of gold with rising demands.

Another story for NIFTY : @ close of trade; Nifty 50 up 0.43%

India equities were higher at the close on Friday, as gains in the Fast Moving Consumer Goods, IT and Oil & Gas sectors propelled shares higher. 

 At the close in NSE, the Nifty 50 gained 0.43%, while the BSE Sensex 30 index gained 0.66%. 

The biggest gainers of the session on the Nifty 50 were Eicher Motors Ltd. (NS:EICH), which rose 3.10% or 695.20 points to trade at 23135.25 at the close. Grasim Industries Ltd. (NS:GRAS) added 2.65% or 125.30 points to end at 4853.35 and AXIS Bank Ltd. (NS:AXBK) was up 2.28% or 13.45 points to 602.20 in late trade. 

 Biggest losers included Yes Bank Ltd. (NS:YESB), which lost 4.26% or 52.00 points to trade at 1169.80 in late trade. Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd. (NS:BHEL) declined 2.43% or 3.65 points to end at 146.65 and Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd. (NS:ZEE) shed 2.15% or 11.40 points to 519.45. 

The top performers on the BSE Sensex 30 were Maruti Suzuki India Ltd. (BO:MRTI) which rose 2.25% to 5565.95, AXIS Bank Ltd. (BO:AXBK) which was up 2.11% to settle at 601.15 and ITC Ltd (BO:ITC) which gained 2.08% to close at 260.40. 

 The worst performers were Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd. (BO:BHEL) which was down 2.40% to 146.70 in late trade, TATA STEEL LIMITED (BO:TISC) which lost 2.14% to settle at 359.05 and Vedanta Ltd (BO:VDAN) which was down 2.05% to 162.30 at the close. 

Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones by 793 to 680 and 69 ended unchanged; on the Bombay Stock Exchange, 1399 fell and 1294 advanced, while 188 ended unchanged on the India National Stock Exchange. 

The India Vix, which measures the implied volatility of Nifty 50 options, was down 0.66% to 14.5800. 

 In commodities trading, Gold for December delivery was down 0.22% or 2.85 to $1315.15 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in October fell 1.62% or 0.71 to hit $43.20 a barrel, while the November Brent oil contract fell 1.70% or 0.79 to trade at $45.80 a barrel. 

 USD/INR was up 0.23% to 67.016, while EUR/INR rose 0.00% to 75.2180. 

The US Dollar Index was up 0.20% at 95.47.

Sensex off day's high, but set to end on firm note

The market, which gave up a significant portion of its gains around mid afternoon, has edged up a bit now, regaining some lost ground, and looks heaed for a firm close today. Though Asian markets ended mostly higher, major European markets are slightly weak on profit taking. The Sensex is up 155.99 points or 0.55% at 28,568.88. The Nifty50 is up 27.65 points or 0.32% at 8770.20. ITC is up 2.7%, topping the list of Sensex gainers. Reliance Industries is trading 2% up. Bajaj Auto, Adani Ports, ONGC, Power Grid Corporation, Maruti Suzuki, Hero Motocorp, Axis Bank and GAIL India are up 1.5% - 2%. Cipla, Infosys, HDFC Bank, Dr Reddy's Laboratories, Mahindra & Mahindra, Bharti Airtel and Larsen & Toubro are also trading higher. Eicher Motors, up 3%, is the top gainer in the Nifty index. Grasim Industries is up 2%. Bosch, Ambuja Cements, ACC, Aurobindo Pharma and Kotak Bank are also trading firm. Meanwhile, Yes Bank is down nearly 4%. BHEL, Tata Steel, Asian Paints, Hindalco, Tata Motors, Zee Entertainment Enterprises and Idea Cellular are lower by 1% - 2%. Hinduja Foundries, which plunged 20% on Thursday, is down more than 18% now, extending its losses. The stocks is getting battered after the boards of Ashok Leyland and HFL approved the merger of the two companies.

Competition heats up in telecom space as Reliance Communications, Aircel merge

Well, the Indian telecom space is seeing some brisk activity of late, and customers may well be in for some pleasant surprises with regard to tariffs for mobile data services. May be, there may not be much to cheer about on the rate front once the euphoria over new launches and mergers subsides.
For now, it looks the battle to woo customers with attractive service rates will be in full throttle. Close on the heels of the Mukesh Ambani - led Reliance Industries announcing the launch of Reliance Jio Infocomm's data services at incredibly low rates, sibling Anil Ambani's Reliance Communications has signed a deal for the merger of RCom with Aircel. The move will create the country's fourth-largest phone company in terms of customers and revenue. The merged entity will rank amongst the top 3 operators by revenues in 12 important circles, said a statement from RCom. Also, the merged company will have the second-largest spectrum holding amongst all operators, aggregating 448 MHz across the 850, 900, 1800 and 2100 MHz bands. Once completed, the merged entity will reportedly bring in a third partner by diluting about 25% equity to raise around Rs 6000 crore, and it is said that talks are already on with Russia's Sistema, which currently holds 10% in RCom, to invest in the company. Subsequently, both RCom and Aircel will proportionally cut down their stakes in the entity. The RCom - Aircel deal will result in opex & capex synergies to the tune of Rs 20,000 crore to the two companies. The combined entity, which will have an asset base of Rs 65,000 crore, will come out with a new brand name and announce the appointment of a CEO sometime soon. According to the deal, Reliance Communications will transfer Rs 20,000 crore of its debt (including Rs 6000 crore it owes to DoT) to the new entity. Aircel will transfer Rs 14,000 crore of its debt. It may be recalled that Aircel had recently repaid a portion of its debt through the Rs 3500 crore it raised through the sale of its 4G spectrum to Bharti Airtel in eight circles. Anil Ambani expects this combination to create substantial long term value for shareholders of both, RCOM and MCB, given the benefits of the wide-ranging spectrum portfolio and significant revenue and cost synergies. Reliance Communications Limited shares rose to Rs 53.00 in early trades this morning, but retreated subsequently due to resistance at higher levels. At Rs 51.40, the stock is currently up 0.7% from its previous closing price. Reliance Communications announced today that it posted consolidated net profit of Rs 54 crore for the quarter ended June 2016, up 5.8% compared to the year-ago period. Consolidated total income from operations declined 4.7% to Rs 5259 crore in the April - June 2016 quarter. The company said that results for the quarter were impacted by migration of CDMA customers to 4G LTE.

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