Fuel prices are likely to go up today. Petroleum Secretary M S Srinivasan said a change on fuel prices was likely after the Group of Ministers meet later during the day.

He said the ministry has sought duty rationalization to contain the impact of surging crude oil prices.

According to news reports, government may hike petrol prices by 4 rupees per litre and diesel by 2 rupees per litre.

Reliance Industries lost 3.3% to 2,996.25 rupees after the company reported 162.22% increase in net profit to 8,079 crore rupees on 23.01% increase in total income to 34,831 crore rupees during the third quarter of December 2007.

Ambuja Cements slipped 3.9% to 130.8 rupees, DLF fell 3.7% to 1,085.75 rupees, Ranbaxy Laboratories shed 2.9% to 367.90 rupees and Satyam Computers lost 2% to 372.45 rupees.

ITC soared 4% to 217.1 rupees, Grasim Industries climbed 3.05% to 3,360 rupees, Maruti Suzuki surged 2.8% to 867.3 rupees, Larsen and Toubro climbed 2.2% to 4,077.7 rupees and Cipla rose 1.8% to 209 rupees.

ICICI Bank lost 3.5% to 1321.8 rupees. HDFC Bank declined 1.7% to 1647.1 rupees.

Indian Oil Corporation slipped 1.7% to 656.75 rupees and Reliance Petroleum fell 0.8% to 219.3 rupees.

Reliance Energy fell 2.38% to 2212.70 after the company reported 50.02% rise in net profit to 301.6 crore rupees on 1.81% increase in total income to 1,853.41 crore rupees during the third quarter of December 2007.

Reliance Power initial public offering is over-subscribed by 20.84 times a day before the end of subscription period. Reliance Energy controlled by billionaire Anil Ambani will have 45% equity in Reliance Power after the offering.

TCS fell 2.3% to 922.65 rupees. The company posted recorded 6.7% rise in net profit to 1,331 crore rupees during the third quarter of December 2007 over the third quarter of September 2007.


[R]5:00AM New York, 7:00PM Tokyo - Tokyo rebounds 2.07% after four days of decline.[/R]

Stocks in Japan gained on bargain hunting after the Nikkei 225 index fell below 14,000.

In Tokyo trading Nikkei 225 reversed a four day 7.5% slump to close up 2.07% or 278.94 to 13,783, while the broader Topix Index soared 27.21 to 1,329.58.

In the first section of the Tokyo Stock Exchange 11.7 billion shares valued at 1.3 trillion yen changed hands and in the second section 365.8 million shares worth 4.2 billion yen were traded.

Of the Nikkei 225 stocks 184 gained, 35 declined, and 6 were unchanged.

Kyodo news online reported today that the Bank of Japan said yesterday in its quarterly survey an increasing number of consumers are losing confidence in the economy as wage increases fail to rise with the inflation.

The U.S. Federal Reserve Board said yesterday in a statement it had sanctioned Japanese online bank eBank Corporation’s application to set up a office in San Francisco.

The company will explore development of technology for Internet banking and invest in the U.S.

Bloomberg news reported today that according to Morgan Stanley prices the risk of Japanese companies defaulting on their debt rose to a record today. The Markit iTraxx Japan Series 8 Index rose by 2 basis points to 56.5 basis points.

Kyodo news also reported today that Nippon Paper Group President Masatomo Nakamura said he will resign after paper and pulp makers said they used less than the required volume of recycled paper in its products since 1992.