Gold Advances to Five-Month High

Gold gained to the highest level in more than five months as global data strengthened the case for more central-bank measures to boost growth, increasing demand for the metal. Silver climbed to the highest price since April.
Immediate-delivery gold rose as much as 0.3 percent to $1,697.20 an ounce, the most expensive since March 13, and was little changed at $1,694.18 at 2:26 p.m. in Singapore. Assets in gold-backed exchange-traded products, which reached a record 2,460.462 metric tons on Aug. 29, stood at 2,459.963 tons on Aug. 31, according to data tracked by Bloomberg.


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Intel contributing to TV business

Intel, the world's largest chipmaker, has kept its strategy to launch a slimmed down cable TV service under wraps as the tech giant risks getting into a completely new line of business.
According to five sources who have been negotiating with Intel for months, the company is emphasizing a set-top box employing Intel technology that can distinguish who is watching, potentially allowing Intel to target advertising.
The set-top box pitched by Intel doesn't identify specific people, but it could provide general data about viewers' gender or whether they're adults or children to help target advertising, two sources said.
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Chineese consumers looking for branded items

The thrill of that first-time purchase of a Louis Vuitton bag is long gone. Chinese consumers are no longer innocent, experiencing new products and services for the first time. Rising incomes have allowed the Chinese to become increasingly familiar with brands and made them savvier shoppers - and the world's second-largest market for luxury goods, not far behind the United States.

By 2020 the mainstream Chinese consumer, some 400 million people or 51 percent of the urban population, will have an annual disposable income of between $16,000 and $34,000, according to a McKinsey study. In 2010 this bracket accounted for only 6 percent. 
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Virgin would starts selling iPhone

Sprint Nextel Corp said on Thursday its Virgin Mobile prepaid business would start selling Apple Inc's iPhone later this month, pitching it against smaller prepaid rival Leap Wireless International Inc.

Sprint shares rose about 2 percent after the company said the addition of iPhone to its Virgin brand would not hurt its 2012 earnings and would help it reach its overall $15.5 billion commitment to Apple for a certain phone volume over few years.

Virgin customers, who do not commit to a contract and pay for calls in advance, will pay 2-1/2 times the price for an iPhone that Sprint contract customers pay. Contract customers get a big discount in exchange for staying with Sprint for two years.
Virgin would starts selling iPhone 

Worst Yet To Come:German's

Nearly four out of five Germans say the eurozone debt crisis will get much worse before it gets better but a majority still believes the single currency will survive, a poll indicated Thursday.

Among Germans surveyed this week for ARD public television, 78 percent agreed with the statement that "the worst of the euro and sovereign debt crisis is still to come".

And 56 percent said "I worry about my savings" while roughly the same share (53 percent) said the turmoil buffeting the common currency would hit their personal income or assets in the long run "to some extent".
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unemployment in Greek rose to 21.9 percent

Greece's statistics agency says unemployment in the country rose to 21.9 percent in March, spiking from 15.7 percent in the same month last year and up from 21.4 percent in February.

Greece has been struggling through a vicious financial crisis for the past two years, and has been relying on billions of euros (dollars) in international rescue loans from other eurozone countries and the International Monetary Fund since May 2010. In return, it has made deep spending cuts and imposed major tax hikes, leaving the country mired in a deep recession.
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JP Morgan media banker moves to private equity

JP Morgan's top media sector banker Harry Hampson, who worked on the sale last year of Elisabeth Murdoch's Shine Group to News Corp, is to become head of the bank's Financial Sponsors Group which advises private equity firms, for Europe, the Middle East and Africa, according to a memo seen by Reuters.

Hampson is taking over from Karen Simon, who decided to move back to the United States as vice-chairwoman of investment banking, global oil and gas, an area that she had previously covered earlier in her career with the bank.
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FMCG companies keep fingers crossed over monsoon

Consumer goods companies remain hopeful of good rainfall this year despite the prediction of a possible drought-causing El Niño weather phenomenon in August-September.
India was last hit by an El Niño, caused when there is a shift in ocean temperatures and atmospheric conditions in the Pacific Ocean, in 2009. The last two years were good in terms of rains for India, with the kharif crop output rising 10 per cent and nearly four per cent, respectively.

“Weather reports suggest the rainfall this year will be good. We remain hopeful it will,” says Adi Godrej, chairman, Godrej Group. “Our assessment is that there will be no negative impact as a result of weak rains. In our view, the monsoons will be good,” says Naresh Bhansali, chief executive officer, finance, strategy & business development, Emami Ltd.
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Dow snaps 4-session losing streak

As world leaders searched for a way out of Europe's mounting debt crisis, U.S. investors moved to the sidelines.

The major market indexes closed modestly higher, after wavering between slight gains and losses throughout the morning. Trading volume was light and the stock moves were small. In Europe, markets were mixed.

The Dow Jones industrial average rose 26.49 points, or 0.2 percent, to 12,127.95. It traded within a range of 75 points, one of the narrowest of the year.
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Monsoon arrives; farm output prospects brighten

India's annual monsoon rains have arrived at the southern Kerala coast, a top weather official said on Tuesday, brightening prospects of higher farm output by aiding farmers to plant summer-sown crops such as rice, soybean and cotton on time.

"It's been raining in Kerala for the past few days, but the parameters suggest that the monsoon has arrived today," B.P. Yadav, a director at the state-run India Meteorological Department (IMD) told Reuters.

The annual rains are crucial for farm output and economic growth as about 55 percent of the arable land is rain-fed, and farm sector accounts for about 15 percent of a nearly $2-trillion economy, Asia's third-biggest.
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Wall Street braces for job cuts

Wall Street bankers are bracing for another round of job cuts as a downturn in the global economy cuts into earnings from dealmaking, capital raising and lending.

Investors, consultants and analysts say that the big banks are just not bringing in the revenue needed to keep their workforces at current levels, especially given the cost of complying with new regulations.

The share prices of the big American banks, which are mostly trading below book value, tell the tale. And bank earnings for the second quarter, most of them to be reported next month, are expected to underscore the gloom. Many on Wall Street say pink slips are likely to follow.
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Indian markets losing currency among investors

Now, data relating to equities and currencies shows the country's financial markets too are being exported as investors increasingly trade in Indian assets in overseas markets against the backdrop of retrospective taxation measures, policy paralysis and uncertainty.

Since April this year, a little after Pranab Mukherjee unveiled his budget that proposed a raft of tax measures, including retrospectively taxing indirect transfers, trading volumes in American Depositary Receipts (ADRs), which represent stocks of some of India's top companies such as Infosys, HDFC Bank and Dr Reddy's Laboratories (DRL), have spurted and in some cases are higher than volumes of such stocks on Indian exchanges. 
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Rupee trades lower at 55.71 to the dollar

The rupee weakened in afternoon trade after strengthening to its highest in more than a week on Tuesday, tracking a slight revival in risk-taking in other Asian markets. Dollar purchases from oil firms is limiting sharp gains for the currency.

The euro had strengthened against the dollar too as bear market players trimmed bets ahead of G7 emergency meeting on Europe crisis and hopes of stimulus hit demand for safe haven currencies such as the dollar.

At 9:10 am, the rupee was at 55.39/40 per dollar, up by 0.47 per cent or 26 paise after hitting 55.25 earlier, its strongest against the dollar since May 25. It had closed at 55.65/66 on Monday. However, at 1:08 pm, the rupee traded lower at 55.71 against the dollar, close to the day’s low of 55.74.
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MARKET EYE-Indian shares gain on banks, infrastructure

*India's benchmark BSE index gains 0.5 percent, paring earlier advances of as much as 0.9 percent. The 50-shares NSE Index gains 0.6 percent. * Lenders rise for a second day: State Bank of India up 1.9 percent and HDFC Bank up 1.3 percent. * Infrastructure shares advance on hopes for a pickup in stalled projects following media reports that the finance ministry has called for a meeting with executives in the sector. Larsen & Toubro gains 1.8 percent, BHEL adds 1.6 percent.
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India's Industrial Output Slows

In India the manufacturing activity during the month of May was not in a speed like the previous month as confirmed in a survey on Wednesday. However the output in the entire month was strong. It showed the basic strength in business conditions.
The seasonally adjusted HSBC Purchasing Managers' Index in the May was less than the month of April. It was 58.0 in April but in May it was 57.5. The index was prepared by Markit. But it is known that the figure above 50 refers to the growth.
Leif Eskesen, chief economist for India and Asean at HSBC has stated that the momentum in the manufacturing sector eased in May. This was due to the sequential growth in output and orders
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RIL Gains 1%

India's most valued stock Reliance Industries gained more than 1% on Tuesday. The Hindu Business Line reported that the company has bought back 2.45 crore shares for Rs 1,750.31 crore as of June 1 and the average buyback price per share was Rs 713.68 a share.
In January 2012, board members of the company approved buyback of up to 12 crore shares (7.22%) and the maximum price was fixed at Rs 870 per share. The buyback will remain open till January 19, 2013.
Reliance Brands, a unit of Reliance Industries, announced a joint venture with America's clothing retailer Brooks Brothers to set up the latter's shops in India.
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Stock recommandation for 2012-2013