Business News

Investors redeem $8 bn from emerging market bond, equity funds 6/18/2013 11:39:18 PM New Delhi: Emerging market bond and equity funds witnessed their biggest weekly redemptions since the third quarter of 2011 as they withdrew more than USD 8 billion last week, according to a report. Explaining the outflow, fund-flow tracker EPFR Global said "the prospect of the US Federal Reserve "tapering off" its quantitative easing programme kept the pressure on funds dedicated to emerging markets. Meanwhile, investors pulled out a record USD 14.45 billion out of bond funds tracked by EPFR Global, as fears that US monetary policy will tighten in the second half of the year prompted more investors to head for the exits, it added. At the country level, Japan equity and China bond funds extended their current inflow streak, while flows into Germany equity funds hit a 51-week high. China, Switzerland, Brazil and Russia equity funds experienced fresh outflows, the report said. Energy and industrial sector funds were the only two of the 11 major groups tracked by EPFR Global to post inflows greater than USD 20 million. Overall flows into energy funds climbed to a five week high with funds specialising in alternative energy investments faring better than those focused on oil production. Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA) equity funds, also suffered because of the impact... Samsung to launch faster Galaxy S4 smartphone 6/18/2013 11:38:37 PM New Delhi: South Korean electronics manufacturer Samsung is likely to come up with a faster Galaxy S4 smartphone, as per a news wire report. The phone will reportedly transmit data at nearly twice the normal speed. The new S4 will use LTE-Advanced 4G technology, an upgrade from conventional 4G called LTE, or long term evolution. LTE-Advanced offers data transmission at up to twice the normal 4G speed. The phones will be powered by Qualcomm chips. In December last year, Samsung had said it sold over 10 million Galaxy devices in India since the launch of the first Galaxy device, 'Galaxy S', in June 2010. Its range of Galaxy devices include Galaxy S, Galaxy SII, SIII and now SIV, Galaxy Note, Galaxy Note 2 and Galaxy Y. According to CyberMedia Research (CMR), more than 221 million handsets were shipped to India in 2012. Though smartphones comprised a small chunk of the overall handset market at about seven percent, the high-end category grew at a robust 35.7 percent to 15.2 million devices in 2012 from 11.2 million units in 2011. Samsung was the category leader, followed by Nokia (13.3 percent) and Sony (8.2 percent), CMR said.... New financial products needed to push infrastructure development: FM 6/18/2013 11:38:32 PM New Delhi: Development of infrastructure and expansion of financial products such as Infrastructure Debt Funds (IDFs) and takeout finance are crucial to the country achieving 8 percent growth, Finance Minister P Chidambaram said here on Tuesday. "...To give thrust to investment in infrastructure sector and to attain GDP growth rate of 8 per cent, there is an immense need for financial products such as IDFs, Takeout Finance and Credit Enhancement scheme to fill the financial gap in the infrastructure sector," he said after launching USD 1 billion IDF scheme of IIFCL here today. "For Infrastructure Debt Funds (IDFs), we should try to mobilise resources from insurance and pension sectors as these funds are available for long term horizon," he said. The Finance Minister also handed over in-principle approval letters issued by IIFCL Asset Management Company Limited (IAMCL) to one power project in Jharkhand and one rural water project in Andhra Pradesh. Both the projects are in operational phase. IAMCL, a mutual fund promoted by India Infrastructure Finance Company Limited (IIFCL) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with three public sector banks and two financial institutions - IIFCL and HUDCO- to launch the maiden IDF. This is aimed at catalysing investments by way of se... EasyJet to buy 135 Airbus A320 planes for almost $12bn 6/18/2013 11:38:02 PM London: British no-frills airline easyJet on Tuesday announced a deal to purchase 135 Airbus single-aisle A320 passenger planes, including 100 new generation neo aircraft for USD 11.9 billion (8.9 billion euros), after agreeing sizeable discounts. EasyJet, issuing a statement amid the Paris Air Show where European aircraft maker Airbus is battling for orders with US rival Boeing, said that is has secured an option to buy an additional 100 A320neo planes. "I am delighted that easyJet is able to announce its fleet plans today," said the airline`s chief executive Carolyn McCall. "All manufacturers competed hard for the easyJet business. Both Airbus and Boeing offered us new generation aircraft that met our requirements and offered greatly improved fuel efficiency. "Ultimately, Airbus offered us the best deal, and at a price with a greater discount to the list price than their landmark fleet purchase with easyJet in 2002," she added....