Newcrest, Zijin Rise After Gold Surges to Record

(Bloomberg) - Newcrest Mining Ltd., Australia's largest gold-mining company, rose to a record and led gains in Asian producers including Zijin Mining Group Co. after the price of the metal reached its highest ever.

Bullion extended a seven-year rally as the dollar weakened and crude oil reached $100 a barrel for the first time, stoking expectations for inflationary. Gold surged to a record $860.10 an ounce yesterday.

Rising jewelry demand in China and India and from investors seeking a hedge against inflation helped gold more than double in the past five years. Gold miners in China and Australia, the world's second and third-largest producers, are opening new mines and hunting for acquisitions to meet demand.

Read more at Bloomberg

UPDATE 1-India's Pantaloon to add stores, sees group rev $2bln

(Reuters) - MUMBAI, Aug 6 - Pantaloon Retail India Ltd., the
country's top listed retailer, is launching small and large
stores and the group is exploring deals with foreign partners
to take on growing competition, its chief executive said on
Monday.




The group is looking at joint venture opportunities with
foreign firms in the business-to-business segment, similar to
the one it has with U.S. office supplies retailer Staples Inc.
, Kishore Biyani told Reuters.


Read more at Reuters.com Mergers News

IFC Plans Record India Lending as Rising Rates Lure Power, Oil Companies

(Bloomberg) -- The World Bank arm that invests in
companies said funding for India, its biggest recipient, will
surpass last fiscal year's record $1 billion as interest rates
at a five-year high deter companies from borrowing at home.

The International Finance Corp. will commit $500 million of
the funds in the year ended June 30 to infrastructure, focusing
on oil, transportation, power and gas projects, said Anita
George, chief investment officer of the World Bank division that
lends to companies in emerging markets.


Read more at Bloomberg Emerging Markets News

India's Reliance Q1 net up 28% on refining margins

(Reuters) - "While our existing businesses continue to deliver a robust
operating performance, our new initiatives provide us a platform
to deliver superior shareholder returns in the future," Chairman
Mukesh Ambani said in a statement.




Reliance's 660,000 barrel per day refinery in western India
and sales of gas produced from its deep-sea fields off the east
coast are expected to drive the company's future earnings
growth.


Read more at Reuters.com Market News

Rupee rise may hurt Indian tea exports - minister

(Reuters) - Indian tea exports are likely to be hurt by the rupee's strength against the dollar, the junior trade minister said on Saturday.

"Indian tea exports have undoubtedly come under pressure due to the appreciation of the rupee," Jairam Ramesh told reporters in Kolkata.


Read more at Reuters Africa

UPDATE 1-GE sees 30-40 pct growth in emerging markets

(Reuters) - GE sold $30 billion in the emerging economies of China,
India, Southeast Asia, Middle East and Africa, and Latin
America last year.




"By 2010, we're estimating sales of $50 billion," said GE
International's chief executive, Ferdinando Beccalli-Falco.


Read more at Reuters.com Mergers News

BHP, Kia Motor, Korea Zinc, TMB Bank, Unicom: Asia Ex-Japan Equity Preview

(Bloomberg) -- The following stocks may rise or fall
in Asian markets, excluding Japan. This preview includes news that
broke after markets closed. Prices are from the local market's last
close. Stock symbols are in parentheses after company names.

Ambuja Cements Ltd. (ACEM IN): India's fourth-biggest cement
maker, which is partly owned by Holcim Ltd., may say today profit
in the quarter ended June increased 32 percent to 4.01 billion
rupees ($99.3 million), the median profit estimate of seven
analysts surveyed by Bloomberg News. Ambuja Cements was unchanged
at 138.8 rupees.


Read more at Bloomberg Stocks News

UPDATE 2-India's Wipro says Q1 profit up 16 pct, shares fall

(Reuters) - BANGALORE, July 19 - India's third-largest
software services exporter, Wipro Ltd. ,
reported a weaker-than-expected 16 percent rise in quarterly
profit on Thursday as a stronger rupee hit margins, sending its
shares down 2 percent.




Wipro, which offers IT solutions such as system
integration, software development and back-office services to
companies looking to cut costs, said it hoped to maintain
margins in the current quarter by improving efficiencies, but
analysts doubted they would recover significantly for the rest
of the year.


Read more at Reuters.com Market News

Alcan agrees to sell Utkal alumina venture stake

(Reuters) - Alcan did not disclose terms of the transaction, which it expects to close in the third quarter of 2007. Hindalco owns the other 55 percent of Utkal, which was established in 1992 to develop a new bauxite mine and alumina refinery in the Indian state of Orissa.







Read more at Reuters.com Mergers News

Tata Consultancy Predicts Operating Margin Improvement If Rupee Is Stable

(Bloomberg) -- Tata Consultancy Services Ltd.,
India's largest computer-services exporter, said it expects
operating margin to widen this financial year if the local
currency maintains its level.

``If the rupee is stable, we should be able to improve the
margin,'' Chief Executive Officer S. Ramadorai said in an
interview in Mumbai today, a day after the company announced its
first-quarter earnings. ``I think the rupee will be in the
region of 40 to 41 or so. The wages have been factored in. The
first quarter had the maximum impact in terms of wages.''


Read more at Bloomberg Emerging Markets News

BP Shuts Largest Crude Unit at Whiting Refinery in Indiana, Person Says

(Bloomberg) -- BP Plc is shutting down the largest
of three crude units at its Whiting, Indiana, refinery, the
biggest refinery in the U.S. Midwest, a person familiar with the
plant's status said.

The unit, which can process 250,000 barrels of oil a day,
is being shut for unplanned maintenance, the person said. A date
for the restart of the unit has not been determined.


Read more at Bloomberg Energy News

Indian firms eye Devon's West Africa assets - sources

(Reuters) - Four state-run Indian oil firms are weighing up whether to enter the race for some of the West African oil and gas assets held by U.S.-based Devon Energy, sources close to the potential bids said on Monday.

A source said exploration firm Oil India Ltd. and refiner Indian Oil Corp. (IOC) were jointly evaluating data for a possible non-binding bid for Devon's Angolan assets and "would submit a bid if the data meets expectations".


Read more at Reuters Africa

"Losers club" sought to derail India deal-Vodafone

(Reuters) - Arun Sarin, the chief executive of global wireless operator
Vodafone Group Plc , called for greater transparency in
India's merger approval process to defeat backroom efforts by
vested interests to manipulate India's political bureaucracy.




"I really did not expect people -- the 'good and great' of
India -- to be calling cabinet secretaries, ministers, to say,
'You have to unwind this deal, because we want a piece of it,'"
Sarin told a conference of Indian business and academic leaders
taking place in Silicon Valley this weekend.


Read more at Reuters.com Government Filings News

India's October-June Coffee Exports Drop 15 Percent as Rupee Strengthens

(Bloomberg) -- Coffee sales from India, which makes
up 4.5 percent of global output, fell 15 percent by value in the
October-to-June period after the rupee rose to a nine-year high.

Companies including local units of Switzerland-based Nestle
SA sold $268 million of coffee overseas between Oct. 1 and June
30, from $314 million a year ago, the Coffee Board said on its
Web site. Exports were little changed at 183,637 metric tons.


Read more at Bloomberg Commodities News

Reliance Beats Wal-Mart to Indian Grocery Market, Boosting Sales and Stock

(Bloomberg) -- Ram Pukar doesn't need Wal-Mart Stores
Inc. to make him worry about his fate as a fruit salesman in a
New Delhi suburb. Homegrown stores owned by Reliance Industries
Ltd. have already cut his profit in half.

India's biggest company by market value is ``trying to drive
us out of business by offering cheap rates,'' said Pukar, who
sells mangoes and pomegranates from his cart a kilometer from
where a Reliance Fresh convenience store recently opened.


Read more at Bloomberg Exclusive News

India's Oil & Natural Gas Scraps CEO Search After Pay Deters Applicants

(Bloomberg) -- Oil & Natural Gas Corp. may confirm
acting Chairman R.S. Sharma to lead India's most profitable
company after a 14-month recruitment drive failed to attract a
single applicant from the private sector due to low pay.

Sharma, 56, may get approval from the Prime Minister's
Office as early as today, replacing Subir Raha who stepped down
in May, 2006, company spokeswoman Narayani Mahil said yesterday.
The state owns 74.14 percent of Oil & Natural Gas's shares. All
71 applicants for the post were from the government or public
sector, Raha said. Sharma wouldn't comment.


Read more at Bloomberg Emerging Markets News

Sugar Futures Fall in New York on Speculation Global Oversupply Will Widen

(Bloomberg) -- Sugar declined in New York on
speculation that rising Brazilian and Indian production will
widen a global surplus.

World production will exceed demand by 9.8 million tons this
year, according to London-based ED&F Man, the biggest trader of
the sweetener. Brazil and India, the largest producers, are
growing more sugarcane partly to meet rising demand for the
alternative fuel ethanol.


Read more at Bloomberg Commodities News

UPDATE 2-India's ONGC Q4 net falls 13 pct, lags f'cast

(Reuters) - NEW DELHI, June 25 - India's state-run Oil and
Natural Gas Corp. Ltd. said its fourth-quarter
net profit fell 13 percent, lagging forecasts, due to higher
mandatory discounts to refiners and one-off staff costs.




ONGC, India's second most valuable listed company with a
market cap of $48 billion, also said it was in talks with oil
majors Chevron , Total and Royal Dutch Shell
to swap stakes in oil blocks and planned to spend $10.3
billion in acquiring and developing overseas assets by 2012.


Read more at Reuters.com Market News

UPDATE 1-ICICI share sale well covered, pricing seen high

(Reuters) - MUMBAI, June 22 - India's second-largest lender
ICICI Bank is set to price its $4.9 billion share sale at the
top end of the range after the local order book was filled more
than 11 times, bankers said.




Demand for the country's biggest ever share sale was boosted
by a significant bid from Singapore's Temasek Holdings [TEM.UL]
and private equity firm Warburg Pincus, but retail interest was
less strong.


Read more at Reuters.com Bonds News

Korea Exchange, Datung, PECD and Yue Yuen: Asia Ex-Japan Equity Preview

(Bloomberg) -- The following stocks may rise or fall
in Asian markets, excluding Japan. This preview includes news that
broke after markets closed. Prices are from the local market's last
close. Stock symbols are in parentheses after company names.

Abbott India Ltd. (BOOT IN): The Indian unit of U.S.-based
Abbott Laboratories said fiscal second-quarter profit rose 35
percent. Net income increased to 183 million rupees in the three
months ended May 31, the company said in a statement to the Bombay
Stock Exchange. Abbott India slid 0.6 rupee, or 0.1 percent, to
497.6.


Read more at Bloomberg Stocks News