Sensex closes above 17k-level after 10 weeks

   The Bombay Stock Exchange benchmark Sensex on Wednesday gained 81 points to close above 17,000-point level after 10 weeks on positive investor sentiment after the Reserve Bank of India shifted focus to economic growth in its policy review on Tuesday.

The Sensex added 81.41 points to close at 17,077.18, matching the highest level seen on November 14.

On similar lines, the National Stock Exchange index Nifty rose by 30.95 points to 5,158.30.

Traders said investors confidence got a boost after the RBI on Tuesday reduced the cash reserve ratio (CRR) for the first time since 2009, signalling to banks that they cut interest rates. The Sensex had gained 244 points on Tuesday as well.

Buying activity picked up also on account of investors covering their pending positions created on the last day of current month settlement in the derivatives segment.

Reliance Industries rose by 0.89 per cent to Rs. 790.10 and Infosys by 1.51 per cent to Rs. 2,659.75.

Banking sector stocks rose on expectations that the RBI move would boost revenue of lenders. HDFC jumped 1.12 per cent to Rs. 708.30 and State Bank by 0.75 per cent to Rs. 2,056.60.

The metal sector index gained the most, 1.79 per cent, followed by auto index at 1.15 per cent, IT sector index 1.06 per cent, oil and gas 0.57 per cent and banking index 0.33 per cent.

Stock markets will remain closed on Thursday on account of Republic Day.

Upbeat Ponting rules out retirement after century

Ricky Ponting said his exuberant celebration of his 41st Test century in the fourth Test against India on Tuesday was not a sign of any impending retirement.

The 37-year-old became only the third batsman in history to pass 13,000 Test runs on his way to 137 not out in Adelaide — his second ton in three Test innings after a two-year drought. As he reached three figures, Ponting waved his bat in the air wildly, prompting speculation that he might be about to make an announcement about his playing future.

But the 162-Test veteran, unbeaten with captain Michael Clarke (140) at day one stumps with Australia sitting pretty at 335 for three, said he would not be retiring after the match, the last in the series.

“How did I know I'd come here and get asked questions about retirement?” Ponting, 37, laughed at the first question of the close-of-play press conference.

“It was a celebration mate, I usually do a similar celebration when I score a Test match hundred. I won't be retiring at the end of this Test match.”

Ponting joined Indians Sachin Tendulkar (15,432) and Rahul Dravid (13,262), in the exclusive 13,000-run club, but the gritty Tasmanian shrugged off the achievement.

“It's never been about making 13,000 runs or 14,000 runs. It's about doing what I can when it's required of me to get my team through a certain situation in a game. That's what motivates me.

“Winning Test matches and winning games of cricket for Australia is what motivates me to keep playing.”

Ponting said he thought his knock on Tuesday was better than his 134 in the second Test in Sydney earlier this month, which ended a two-year, 34 innings spell without a Test hundred.

“I felt I played better today than I did in Sydney, it was probably a better wicket to bat on today, there wasn't much in it for any of the Indian bowlers,” he said.

“It's been a really good day for us and we have to make sure we win the first hour tomorrow and make sure this first innings is a big one. I'm not going to be satisfied with where I am at. You go through too many ups and downs in your career to let moments like this slip.”

Ponting rejected suggestions of a poor Indian bowling attack in their ill-fated series against Australia.

“I don't think this is a bad attack at all, I just think our batsmen have played particularly well and when you put that kind of pressure back onto bowlers, most bowling attacks would look ordinary,” he said.

“India has nothing to lose in its irretrievable series position and has a license to play its natural game against rampant Australia, spinner Ravichandran Ashwin said.

The Indians found themselves in a familiar position in the fourth Test, slaving away in the field as Australia piled on 335 for three on day one.

Ashwin, who was thrown the ball in the fourth over by stand-in skipper Virender Sehwag, believes all is not lost on the flat Adelaide batting strip.

“I think we have nothing to lose at this point in time,” he said. “Being three-nil down gives us a bit of a license to go out and play our natural game which could be a real blessing in disguise for us and all that's important is to (each) get those first 20-30 runs and stick it out.

“We'll have to look for those initial starts and try to capitalise and that could be the crucial part of this game.”

Ashwin said the tourists did not have a psychological block bowling against Ponting and Clarke, who claimed their second centuries of the series on Tuesday. “I don't think there is any psychological block towards that, but we were definitely telling and egging each other on especially in the second session of play,” he said.

“We had to be really tight in that particular phase after lunch where it was quite crucial and that's where we gave a few easy runs to both of them and they just took off from there. After that it was quite easy to carry the momentum on. It's happened in two Tests now in Sydney and now in Adelaide and we'll look to get a couple of wickets tomorrow.”

Thinking after acting

Though people can misuse this information, there is a compelling need for scientists to be aware of these mutations so that effective drugs and vaccines can be developed. Little wonder that both editors have reacted strongly to censorship and demanded that a mechanism be put in place to ensure that bona fide scientists have full and complete access to the results. This has finally prompted the U.S. government to act. It is also working on an oversight policy to evaluate dual-use research proposals prior to approval and funding. But the biggest concern is the risk of the new strain escaping from the labs. According to Nature, scientists working on SARS at four “high-containment labs” in China, Taiwan, and Singapore were “infected.” And the 395 bio-safety breaches in the U.S. between 2003 and 2009 could have resulted in the “accidental release of dangerous pathogens from high-containment labs.”

Govt accepts Kejriwal's resignation after six years

Government has finally accepted the resignation of Team Anna member Arvind Kejriwal from the Indian Revenue Service (IRS), almost six years after he quit the job.
The acceptance of resignation came 45 days after Kejriwal deposited over Rs nine lakh as dues to settle the issue.

"The government has finally accepted my resignation from the Income Tax Department. I received the letter today," Kejriwal told PTI. He had quit the IRS in February 2006.

Kejriwal, who was a joint commissioner in the IT Department when he quit, had earlier said he will fight in court to retrieve the money he had paid as dues.

He had on November three submitted a cheque of over Rs 9,27,787 along with a letter to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, asking him not to trouble his six friends who had given him an interest-free loan to settle his dues.

The 43-year-old activist, a 1995-batch IRS officer, had decided to settle the dues in an attempt to blunt attacks by his detractors.

Government has claimed that he had violated bond rules by quitting the service before completing mandatory three years of service after going on a study leave on full pay. However, Kejriwal said he took non-paid leave and quit the service after serving bond conditions.

Kejriwal had taken study leave on full pay for two years from November 1, 2000 after signing a bond that he would return the salary if he resigns or retires or fails to resume duty within three years of his study leave. He rejoined on November 1, 2002 but took non-paid leave after 18 months.

Government argued that taking leave after 18 months was violation of bond conditions but this was contested by Kejriwal who claimed that he did not "violate" any bond provisions and resigned from the job after the stipulated three years of rejoining duty following his study leave.

The Office of the Chief Commissioner of Income Tax (CCIT) had on August five issued notice to Kejriwal asking him to pay Rs 9.27 lakh, which Kejriwal and other Team Anna members had termed as an action of the government's "dirty tricks department" under instructions from political bosses.

Kejriwal had said he has been trying to convince the government for the past five years that he has not committed any wrong.

The Income Tax department had set October 27 as the deadline for him to pay the dues but he had failed to comply with it, saying he needed more time to consult his friends to take a final decision on the matter. He finally cleared the dues on November 3.

After retail, Mamata Banerjee eyes pension bill

Trinamool Congress Chief Mamata Banerjee during her press conference at her residence in Kolkata. Special: Tata-Singur rowAfter stalling the rollout of upto 51% foreign direct investment in multi-brand retail, key UPA partner Trinamool Congress is keeping alliance managers guessing on another important issue - the Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (PFRDA) Bill.

Among other things,

opponents contend that the bill fails to provide any assured return to subscribers.

Trinamool Congress parliamentary party leader and union minister Sudip Bandopadhyay told HT from Kolkata on Sunday, "Reforms in areas that affect common people are critical issues. In the case of the PFRDA Bill, our leader Mamata Banerjee has not yet decided if we will support it."

Another union minister from the party, Saugata Roy, told HT: "As it relates to lifetime savings of common people, we have certain reservations about it."

The Congress, however, did not seem perturbed.

"If our allies have any apprehensions, we will definitely talk to them and sort out the issues. This is a key bill," said a Congress minister.

While the Centre sees the PFRDA as a major reform-related legislation and is keen to pass it during the winter session of Parliament, the Left parties have already raised their red flags.

While the row over FDI in retail stalled Parliament all of last week, the CPI-M's trade union wing, CITU, led a delegation to meet Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to ask for drastic changes in the PFRDA Bill, including a provision for minimum assured return for investors.

The union cabinet recently approved the PFRDA Bill but ignored the recommendation of Parliament's standing committee on finance to keep a 26% FDI cap within the legislation.

While the UPA managers want to keep the FDI limit out of the law to allow changes in it through executive orders, the proposed legislation has also irked a section of the BJP.

The CPI-M's Basudeb Acharia told HT, "We are trying to garner support from other political parties against the PFRDA Bill. We will force voting on the bill if the government tries to pass it in this session."

Govt on the mat after putting retail reform on hold

The government will have to pay the price for putting on hold plans to open up the country's $450 billion retail industry to foreign supermarkets. It will be defensive before Parliament, which meets again on Wednesday, and embarrassed before its supporters. The decision to hold back the reform decision in face of vehement of protests by it rivals and allies has put a question mark on whether Prime Minister Manmohan Singh can implement bold decisions. The government was supposed to signal investors and India watchers that it had not been paralysed because of a string of corruption scandals.

The government had been battling the Opposition in Parliament over the reform decision but West Bengal chief Minister Mamata Banerjee punctured any plan it had. The government was likely to release an official statement regarding the issue on Monday.

Analysts and business leaders slammed the Congress party for potentially bungling a crucial policy change that has been a decade in the making, and bemoaned the weak leadership of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in the face of a parliamentary revolt.

"It makes the position of Manmohan Singh even more weak. Clearly the man carries no authority," said Arvind Singhal, founder of Technopak Advisors, a New Delhi-based consulting company.

He said India's lack of leadership was eroding much-needed investment, from domestic businesses as well as foreign. "The impact on investors will be very negative in terms of confidence," he said. "We need FDI, but India needs significantly more investment from within."

Opposition to the measure was "to the detriment of the vast majority," wrote Ashok Ganguly, former chairman of Hindustan Unilever and Deepak Parekh, chairman of Housing Development Finance Corp, in an open letter described as "a call to the saner sections of Corporate India to come out and strongly support progressive measures."

Shares in Pantaloon, whose Big Bazaar supermarket chain is seen by sector analysts as the number one tie-up target for a foreign supermarket, fell as much as 11% in early trade on Monday.

Shares in Shopper's Stop dropped over 9 percent, while Trent, the retail arm of the Tata Group conglomerate which already has an association with UK giant Tesco, saw its stock slide as much as 4%.

The reform, as it was first presented, would allow global chains like Wal-Mart, Tesco Plc and Carrefour into the chaotic retail sector, and is seen improving supply-chains and cold-storage, and helping to tackle stubbornly-high inflation.

US stresses 'importance' of Pak ties after Nato strike

 People shout slogans against Nato air strikes during a protest in Lahore on Saturday. Arif Ali/ AFP PhotoThe United States stressed the "importance" of its ties with Pakistan after up to 26 soldiers were killed in cross-border Nato air strikes on Saturday, plunging already frosty relations into crisis.

In a joint statement, US secretary of defense Leon Panetta and secretary of state Hillary

Clinton offered their "deepest condolences" and said they backed "Nato's intention to investigate immediately."

"Secretaries Clinton and Panetta have been closely monitoring reports of the cross-border incident in Pakistan today," the statement said.

"Both offer their deepest condolences for the loss of life and support fully Nato's intention to investigate immediately."

Islamabad has ordered a review of all arrangements with the United States and Nato, including diplomatic, political, military and intelligence activities, following the deadly cross-border strikes.

The US-led Nato force in Afghanistan admitted it was "highly likely" that the force's aircraft caused the pre-dawn deaths, inflaming US-Pakistani relations still reeling from the May killing of Osama bin Laden.

Pakistan also told the United States to vacate a remote air base reportedly used as a hub for covert CIA drone strikes on areas bordering Afghanistan, though US officials have said no US military personnel are based there.

Clinton, General John Allen, the US commander in Afghanistan, and the chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Martin Dempsey, called their Pakistani counterparts to discuss the situation.

"These US diplomatic and military leaders each stressed -- in addition to their sympathies and a commitment to review the circumstances of the incident -- the importance of the US-Pakistani partnership, which serves the mutual interests of our people," the US statement said.

"All these leaders pledged to remain in close contact with their Pakistani counterparts going forward as we work through this challenging time."

DB Realty, Unitech, RCom shares jump after bail for top executives in 2G case

The Supreme Court today granted bail to five corporates arrested in the 2G scam. Those granted bails include Sanjay Chandra of Unitech, Vinod Goenka of Swan Telecom and three officials of Anil Ambani's ADAG-Group.

The Supreme Court's decision acted as sentiment booster for the companies these officials represented. The gains in stocks of these companies came against a sharp selloff in broader markets. Three telecom firms - Reliance Telecom Ltd, Swan Telecom and Unitech (Tamil Nadu) Wireless Ltd - have been named accused in the case.

At 1415 hours, stocks of DB Realty traded 18 per cent higher on the Bombay Stock Exchange. DB Realty stocks have plunged 45 per cent since the arrest of Mr Goenka who is the MD of DB Realty and director of Swan Telecom.

Unitech was trading with 5 per cent gains. Unitech stocks have fallen nearly 50 per cent since the arrest of Mr Chandra who headed Unitech Wireless when he was arrested in the scam seven months ago.

Reliance Communications was trading 2 per cent higher on the BSE. Three officials of Reliance ADAG Group - Gautam Doshi, Surendra Pipara and Hari Nair - will also walk out of Tihar jail shorty. The stock has fallen nearly 34 per cent since the arrest of these executives.

All five corporates have been asked to furnish a surety bond of Rs 5 lakh each. The Central Bureau of Investigation can move the Supreme Court if it feels the bail is misused.

The five accused had moved the apex court challenging the Delhi High Court and trial court orders turning down their bail pleas. The accused, who have been charged under various offences under the Indian Penal Code and Prevention of Corruption Act, contended that they should be granted bail as the charges have already been framed and there is no chance of them tampering with the evidence.

Other accused in the case include former Telecom Minister A Raja, DMK MP Kanimozhi, former Telecom Secretary Siddhartha Behura and Raja's former private secretary R K Chandolia.

Swan Telecom promoter Shahid Usman Balwa, his cousin Asif Balwa and their colleague Rajeev Agarwal have also been booked in the case.

All the accused have pleaded that they have not done anything wrong and refuted the charge of drawing illegal benefits in allocation of 2G spectrum.