Asian markets traded firm on Wednesday on optimism that Greece will commit to austerity measures. Greek politicians have said that they would deliver a letter of commitment to lenders. The Japanese Nikkei index broke above the 200-day moving average or DMA. Overnight US markets ended flat after opening weak earlier in trade. US January 2012 retail sales were less than forecast.
RIL Gas output
Gas output from India's Reliance Industries' KGD6 block may decline to 27 million standard cubic meters a day (mscmd) from April 2012, compared with 37-38 mscmd now, according to oil ministry officials . Reliance has already informed the government raising worries about the shortfall in the gas production. KG-D6 production till Tuesday was 35.5 mmscmd. This fall will come in as a huge set back for several fertilizer, steel and power plants that have invested in projects that are to be fuelled by this gas.
Diesel prices
Oil Minister Jaipal Reddy said that the time was not apt for revision of diesel prices. The Government on Tuesday said that it would look into the issue of diesel price deregulation "at an appropriate time." At present, state-owned oil firms like Indian Oil Corp, Hindustan Petroleum and Bharat Petroleum sell diesel at price lower than the imported cost. If the government decides to free pricing of diesel, the hike will be above Rs 11 per litre.
Jet Airways ‘SOS’
Naresh Goyal, chairman, Jet Airways, has written to the civil aviation ministry and banking secretary seeking additional unsecured credit of Rs 550 crore for fuel supplies and three month credit period from oil marketing companies. Present bank guarantee of Rs 825 crore covers only 54 days of credit period. The airline has also sought Rs 1,000-crore working capital loans from banks. Jet has already applied for loans from PNB, SBI, Dena Bank, Corporation Bank and Canara Bank.
Dhanlaxmi Bank
Dhanlaxmi Bank slipped into a net loss at Rs 36.87 crore for the December 2011 quarter against a profit of Rs 7.26 crore in the year ago period. The net interest income fell 13.7 per cent at Rs 63.5 crore. A workers’ union at the bank has appealed to the government to nationalize the private bank over corporate governance issues. They suggest taking over of the bank by a bigger public sector bank.
India’s telco policy
The telecom commission is likely to meet on 27 February 2012. The commission will decide on the new telecom policy in the meeting. The policy seeks to separate licensing from allocation of spectrum. The telecom spectrum would be auctioned under the new telecom policy going forward. This follows a release of the draft of the policy.