Indian rupee recovers from initial losses vs US dollar, up 6 paise

The rupee recovered from initial losses against the American currency and was quoted higher by 6 paise to 62.00 on fresh selling of dollars by banks and exporters in view of strong foreign capital inflows into equity market.

The rupee resumed lower at 62.08 per dollar as against the last closing level of 62.06 at the Interbank Foreign Exchange and dropped further to 62.20 on initial strong dollar demand from banks.

However, it recovered from initial losses and was quoted higher at 62.00 on selling of dollars by banks and exporters.

It hovered in a range of 62.00 and 62.20 per dollar during the morning trade.

In London, the euro fell to its lowest level against the dollar since September 2003 yesterday after the Swiss National Bank scrapped its exchange rate floor of 1.20 francs to the euro.

Meanwhile, the Indian benchmark Sensex moved down by 31.77 points or 0.11 per cent to 28,043.78 at 1000hrs.

US Eyes Important Drone Deal With India for Barack Obama Trip

Washington, United States:  The United States aims to secure agreements with India to start pilot projects for joint production of drones as well as equipment for transport planes in talks next week ahead of a visit by President Barack Obama, a US industry source said on Wednesday.

Frank Kendall, US undersecretary of defense for acquisition, technology and logistics, will be making his fourth visit to India to promote collaboration on defense technologies and co-production of weapons systems in an effort to finalize the projects.

An industry source familiar with US-India discussions on the defense initiative said Mr Kendall aimed to finalize two pilot projects, one involving unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) and the other involving systems for the C-130 military transport aircraft built by Lockheed Martin Corp.

The source said the drone project involved the RQ-11 "Raven" built by AeroVironment Inc, a small US firm. Raven is the world's most widely used unmanned aircraft, a lightweight plane that can be used manually, or for autonomous operations.

The U.S. government strictly controls foreign sales of larger UAVs, but has approved sales of unarmed systems like the Raven, which are used purely for surveillance to a range of countries, including Uzbekistan, according to a US source.

The transport plane project involves manufacturing of roll-on, roll-off modules that allow C-130s to be used for surveillance, and as VIP transports or hospitals, according to the industry source, who did not want to be named due to the sensitivity of the discussions.

US and Indian officials have declined to comment publicly on the systems under discussion, but the industry source said the aim was to announce the pilot projects during President Obama's planned visit to India to attend the Republic Day holiday, which is marked by a big military parade.

The United States is keen to develop its political and strategic ties with India, with which it shares concerns about China's increasingly assertive territorial claims in the Asia-Pacific region.

ISIS sympathizer allegedly plotted terror assault against US Capitol

An alleged sympathizer of the Islamic State terror group was arrested in Ohio on Wednesday after authorities learned that he was plotting a shooting and bombing attack on the U.S. Capitol.

Christopher Lee Cornell, 20, of Green Township, considered members of Congress as "enemies," and planned to travel to Washington to kill employees and officers working in and around the U.S. Capitol, according to a criminal complaint. Authorities said he had two semi-automatic rifles and about 600 rounds of ammunition, and planned to build and detonate pipe bombs at and near the U.S. Capitol.

A Justice Department official, however, told Fox News that Cornell was "aspirational and not operational," adding that the public was never in danger.

The investigation relied heavily on the use of a source, who the criminal complaint said began cooperating with authorities last fall to gain favorable treatment for his prosecution on an unrelated case.

The complaint adds that Cornell said he thought he was fulfilling the directives of the Islamic State group, also known as ISIS, or ISIL.

"I believe that we should just wage jihad under our own orders and plan attacks and everything," Cornell told the source, according to the papers. "I believe we should meet up and make our own group in alliance with the Islamic State and plan operations ourselves."

Cornell was charged with the attempted killing of a U.S. government officer and possession of a firearm in furtherance of attempted crime of violence.

Along with the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Cincinnati Police Department, Colerain Police Department, Green Township Police Department and the U.S. Capitol Police were involved in the investigation.

AirAsia plane 'fuselage located' - officials

The main body of the crashed AirAsia plane has been located and photographed in the Java Sea, say officials.

Singapore's Defence Minister Ng Eng Hen posted pictures taken by a Singaporean search robot on his Facebook page.

He said the words painted on the side of the wreckage confirmed the plane was flight QZ8501.

AirAsia lost contact with the flight on 28 December as it was flying from Surabaya in Indonesia to Singapore with 162 people on board. 

Dozens of bodies have been found but many of the passengers and crew are thought to still be inside the plane, which made finding the fuselage so important.

So far the plane's two flight recorders and a tail section have been found and brought to shore. Investigators are analysing the information in the "black box", as the data recorders are known, to piece together the cause of the crash.

The pilot of the AirAsia flight had asked for a route change because of stormy weather before contact was lost, but it is not yet known for certain what brought down the plane.

"The MV Swift Rescue has located the fuselage of the AirAsia plane in the Java Sea," Mr Ng said on Facebook, adding that Singapore had informed the Indonesian search and rescue agency so that recovery operations could begin.

He said images taken by a remotely operated vehicle, which he posted as well, showed part of the wing and words on the fuselage that matched with those on the AirAsia flight.

The AirAsia slogan "Now everyone can fly" could be seen on the wreckage in the pictures.

Too heavy' 

The head of Indonesia's search and rescue agency, Bambang Soelistyo, had said what they suspected was the fuselage had been spotted by search teams on Tuesday but that they were waiting for confirmation.

He said it was not yet clear whether there were bodies inside, but that authorities hoped that was the case.

Earlier in the day when the wreckage was being investigated by divers, the official co-ordinating the search, SB Supriyadi, said raising the fuselage would be a tricky operation and authorities would have to determine the best course of action.

"If it is not too heavy, we may lift the whole piece and evacuate the victims," said Mr Supriyadi.

"If it's too heavy, we may then swim into the fuselage and pull out the bodies one by one before lifting it."

Since the plane disappeared a multi-national search has been under way involving aerial searches and more than 30 ships. However, strong currents, high waves and poor visibility have slowed down search and rescue efforts.

Sensex holds 400 pts gains; Bank Nifty hits record high

10:25am PC Jeweller in News

Leading jewellery firm PC Jeweller today said the government has designated the company as nominated agency for direct import of precious metals to be used for domestic business.

The move would help the company to reduce its cost to buy precious metals, P C Jeweller Managing Director Balram Garg said.

In a filing to the BSE, PC Jeweller informed that the "company, has been designated as Nominated Agency under Paragraph 4A.4 of Foreign Trade Policy 2009-14 (RE-2012), by the Additional Director General of Foreign Trade (CLA), Ministry of Commerce & Industry, Department of Commerce."

"This permission makes the company eligible for direct import of Precious Metals (gold/silver/platinum) for domestic business," it added.

When contacted, Garg said: "We were buying precious metals from banks as only nominated agencies are allowed to import directly for domestic business. Now we are allowed to import directly from foreign suppliers". He noted that the company's would save on the margins paid to banks for buying precious metals, reports PTI.

10:15am Nomura on RBI rate cut

The Reserve Bank of India’s decision today to cut the repo rate – the rate at which it lends to banks – by 25 basis points, or 0.25 percent, “is a surprise” as the market was anticipating monetary policy action after the Budget, Nomura India MD – Fixed Income Neeraj Gambhir.

The central bank cut interest rates today, about 20 days before it meets for its bi-monthly policy review, and said that it expects inflation to be lower than the 6 percent it is targeting for January next year, judging from its steep fall recently.

Inflation, as measured by the consumer price index basket, has fallen from a peak of 11.16 percent in November 2013 to 5 percent in December 2014, thanks to the recent fall in international crude prices and economic activity slowed during the recent downturn.

“Inflation is clearly on a path lower than what the central bank had envisaged,” Gambhir said, adding that while he earlier expected it to slash rates by a total of 50 basis points (0.5 percent) this year, that thesis may now need to be revisited. “This is a switch in the regime. The RBI has now moved away from managing inflation to boosting growth.”

10:00am Market Check

Equity benchmarks maintained uptrend by rising 1.6 percent in morning trade as Reserve Bank of India slashed repo rate by 25 basis points to 7.75 percent ahead of its February policy. Banking & financials, realty, auto and capital goods stocks gained strength.

The 30-share BSE Sensex climbed 439.07 points to 27785.89 and the 50-share NSE Nifty Nifty jumped 133.30 points to 8410.85. More than 3 shares advanced for every share declining on the Bombay Stock Exchange.

Bank Nifty touched fresh record high of 19,410.40 intraday today, up 533.85 points or 2.87 percent to 19,137.65 as ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank, State Bank of India and Axis Bank rallied 2-4 percent.

The Indian rupee appreciated by 38 paise to 61.80 a dollar post RBI rate cut.

Globally, Asian markets were mixed with the Shanghai and Nikkei rising 1 percent each. In commodities, Brent crude fell 0.94 percent to USD 48.23 a barrel, recovering from its six-year low of around USD 45 a barrel. US crude was down 0.7 percent to USD 48.14 a barrel.