Healthy buying in metals and capital goods stocks along with upbeat economic growth projections for India buoyed the key domestic equity indices during Tuesday’s morning trade session.

However, broadly negative Asian stock markets dented investors’ sentiments.

Index-wise, the Sensex opened at 34,651.82 points from its previous close of 34,474.38 points.

At 9.25 a.m., it traded at 34,631.83 points up by a little over 157 points or 0.46 per cent.

Similarly, the Nifty50 of the National Stock Exchange (NSE) made gains.

The NSE Nifty50 traded at 10,394.75 points during the morning trade session, up 46.70 points and 0.45 per cent.

IANS

 The Mumbai Academy of Moving Image (MAMI) has dropped two films — AIB’s “Chintu Ka Birthday” and Rajat Kapoor’s “Kadakh” — from the line-up of the upcoming 20th edition of the Jio MAMI Mumbai Film Festival in the wake of the #MeToo tide.

“We as an Academy (MAMI) strongly support the #MeToo movement. In light of recent developments, we have decided to drop the following films from our line-up — AIB’s ‘Chintu Ka Birthday’ and Rajat Kapoor’s ‘Kadakh’,” read a statement from MAMI.

It was sent to IANS via Whatsapp by MAMI’s Creative Director Smriti Kiran.

“We want to use this opportunity to open up the conversation, and find solutions to harassment and sexual misconduct in the workplace. Starting with this edition of the festival, we would like to unite the community to find positive and constructive ways to deal with it,” the statement read further.

Actor-director Rajat Kapoor has been called out by two women for inappropriate behaviour. He has apologised.

Comedy collective, All India Bakchod (AIB), on the other hand, landed in a full-fledged controversy after a woman named Utsav Chakraborty — once associated with the group — was named by a barrage of ladies on social media of sexual harassment.

Chakraborty accepted and apologised his misdeeds, but the #MeToo fire soon spread out to reveal how AIB’s CEO and co-founder knew about it all along but did nothing against it. It even opened up a box of complaints against some of the group’s other comedians, notably Gursimran Khamba.

On its part, AIB announced on Monday that Bhat and Khamba are “stepping away” from the group.

IANS

Internet giant Google has said it is shutting down the consumer version of its own social networking site Google+ due to low usage and a bug discovered in March last year that could leak the data of about half a million of its users.

“The consumer version of Google+ currently has low usage and engagement: 90 percent of Google+ user sessions are less than five seconds,” said Google, which is headquartered in Mountain View in northern California, Xinhua reported.

Google on Monday said it is going to close Google+ in the coming months seven years after it was launched as a social networking site of its own name brand.

The demise of Google+ also came as a result of a bug discovered last year but acknowledged for the first time by Google on Monday, and the flaw in one of its Google+ “People APIs” exposed some private user data to third-party developers, including such information as the occupations, genders, ages, and email addresses of many users.

“We discovered and immediately patched this bug in March 2018,” Google said, but the flaw, which has existed since 2015, could potentially affected up to 500,000 Google+ accounts.

“Our analysis showed that up to 438 applications may have used this API,” Google said. However, “We found no evidence that any developer was aware of this bug, or abusing the API, and we found no evidence that any Profile data was misused.”

The Google+ vulnerability was discovered at a time that almost coincided with the notorious privacy leakage scandal of the world’s largest social media network Facebook, which has been widely criticized for its failure to protect its users’ private data.

Facebook has been under heavy scrutiny about its privacy policy after a British data mining firm Cambridge Analytica was accused of illegally accessing the data of 87 million Facebook users without their knowledge.

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg was summoned to a hearing in US Congress in April this year to explain the firm’s security measures and how it handled users’ privacy.

IANS

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) on Tuesday acknowledged the economic reforms carried out under Prime Minister Narendra Modi and projected India to be the world’s fastest growing major economy this year and next.

The World Economic Outlook (WEO) released ahead of the IMF annual meeting in Bali said, “In India, important reforms have been implemented in recent years, including the Goods and Services Tax, the inflation-targeting framework, the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, and steps to liberalize foreign investment and make it easier to do business.”

But citing external factors — “the recent increase in oil prices and the tightening of global financial conditions” — it cut India’s growth projection made in July for next year by 0.1 per cent to 7.4 per cent, which would still be the world’s fastest growth rate for major economies.

It kept the 7.3 per cent growth projection for this year made in July.

Compared to the projections made in April, the current one for 2018 is lower by 0.1 per cent and for 2019 by 0.4 per cent.

Up from India’s growth rate of 6.7 per cent in 2016, the growth projections for this year and the next reflect “a rebound from transitory shocks” of demonetisation and the implementation of the national Goods and Services Tax” and “strengthening investment and robust private consumption,” WEO said.

Beyond 2019, the IMF sees India’s growth rate improving “owing to structural reforms and a still-favourable demographic dividend.”

“India’s medium-term growth prospects remain strong at 7.75 per cent, benefiting from ongoing structural reform,” it added.

For China, the next fastest growing major economy, the IMF said it was lowering the growth projections for next year made in April by 0.2 per cent to 6.2 per cent “given the latest round of US tariffs on Chinese imports.”

This year’s growth for China stays at 6.6 per cent.

Overall for the global economy, the IMF cut the growth projections made in July for this year and the next by 0.2 per cent to 3.7 per cent, as IMF Chief Economist Maurice Obstfeld warned that “there are clouds on the horizon” and “the likelihood of further negative shocks to our growth forecast has risen.”

“In several key economies, moreover, growth is being supported by policies that seem unsustainable over the long term,” he said.

He cited the uncertainties in trade as a result of US President Donald Trump’s policies and the tightening of financial markets in developing countries among factors increasing the risks to global growth,

This was the final WEO released under Obstfelt’s watch as he is leaving the IMF at the end of this year and will be succeeded by Gita Gopinath, the Kerala government’s economic adviser.

For India the IMF recommended “reform priorities include reviving bank credit and enhancing the efficiency of credit provision by accelerating the cleanup of bank and corporate balance sheets and improving the governance of public sector banks”.

It added, “A high interest burden and risks from rising yields also require continued focus on debt reduction to establish policy credibility and build buffers. These efforts should be supported by further reductions in subsidies and enhanced compliance with the Goods and Services Tax.”

Mumbai Asian cues, along with a weak rupee subdued the key domestic equity indices during Monday’s morning trade session.

However, a slight fall in Brent crude oil price aided in arrest of the sharp fall.

In addition, heavy selling pressure in consumer durables, capital goods and auto stocks led the fall. The barometer S&P BSE Sensex dropped by over 260 points and the NSE Nifty50 traded below the 10,300-mark.

Index-wise, the Sensex opened at 34,412.36 points from its previous close of 34,376.99
points on last Friday.

At 9.40 a.m., it traded at 34,116.70 points down by a little over 260 points or 0.76 per cent.

Similarly, the Nifty50 of the National Stock Exchange (NSE) traded in the red.

The NSE Nifty50 traded at 10,250.10 points during the morning trade session, down 66.35 points and 0.64 per cent.

(IANS)

San Francisco Despite claims by a company executive that Microsoft tech support has the tools to help users recover the files deleted by the “Windows 10 October 2018” update, users have not yet been able to avail the facilities, a media report said.

Microsoft on Saturday paused the roll-out of the software update after several users complained that installing the update was wiping off their data.

Later in the day, the head of the Windows Insider program, Dona Sarkar tweeted that Microsoft tech support has the tools to recover the missing files and guided followers how to reach out for assistance.

But the Microsoft tech support team appears to be clueless about these tools, the Bleeping Computer reported on Sunday.

Numerous users who called the support number were told that the bug was still under investigation and that the agents were not aware of any tools, the report said.

On Saturday, Microsoft advised users who manually downloaded the update to not “install it and wait until new media is available”.

“We will provide an update when we resume rolling out the Windows 10 October 2018 Update to customers,” the post added.

Earlier, some users complained that the update wiped out their profiles, including documents and photos.

An alarming number of users took to social media forums and Microsoft’s own support website to complain about the issue.

The Windows 10 October 2018 update rolled out globally on October 2.

(IANS)

The Central government to reduce fuel price by Rs 2.50 per litre, Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy on Thursday said that the Centre had only followed the footsteps of the Karnataka government.

The JD(S)-Congress coalition government led by Kumaraswamy had reduced the tax (sales tax on fuel) by Rs 2 per litre only a month ago.

“The Centre has finally provided some relief to the common man by reducing the fuel price,” said Kumaraswamy speaking to reporters here. He, however, ruled out any further price reduction by the state government citing that fuel prices had been reduced in the state only last month after the nation-wide bandh protesting against the fuel price hike.

Meanwhile, state BJP president B S Yeddyurappa has demanded that the State government should immediately reduce the sales tax on fuel by Rs 2.30 per litre.

PTI

Petrochemicals are set to account for more than a third of the growth in world oil demand to 2030, and almost half the growth to 2050, adding nearly seven million barrels of oil a day by then, the International Energy Agency (IEA) said on Friday.

This means oil demand growth is shifting to petrochemicals, away from motor fuels.

The rising use of plastics is poised to consume an additional 56 billion cubic metres (bcm) of natural gas by 2030, and 83 bcm by 2050.

Petrochemicals — components derived from oil and gas that are used in all sorts of daily products such as plastics, fertilisers, packaging, clothing, digital devices, medical equipment, detergents and tyres — are becoming the largest drivers of global oil demand, in front of cars, planes and trucks, according to a major study by the IEA.

To address these challenges, the IEA’s Future of Petrochemicals report outlines a clean technology scenario, which provides an alternative future in line with key UN Sustainable Development Goals, such as climate action, responsible consumption and life below water, among others.

The scenario provides an ambitious but achievable pathway to reduce the environmental impacts of petrochemicals: air pollutants from primary chemicals production decline by almost 90 per cent by 2050; direct CO2 emissions reduce by nearly 60 per cent; and water demand is nearly 30 per cent lower than in the base scenario.

It also emphasises waste management improvements to rapidly increase recycling, thereby laying the groundwork to more than halve cumulative, ocean-bound, plastic waste by 2050.

In the clean technology scenario, petrochemicals become the only growing segment of global oil demand.

Despite near-tripling in plastic waste collection by 2050, the limited availability of cost-effective substitutes for oil feedstock means that oil demand for petrochemicals remains resilient.

The IEA’s report was developed with input from governments, industry and other key stakeholders, and seeks to bring the sector the attention it deserves in the global energy policy debate.

It also provides ten key policy recommendations to build a more sustainable and efficient petrochemicals industry.

“Our economies are heavily dependent on petrochemicals, but the sector receives far less attention than it deserves,” IEA’s Executive Director Fatih Birol said.

“Petrochemicals are one of the key blind spots in the global energy debate, especially given the influence they will exert on future energy trends. In fact, our analysis shows they will have a greater influence on the future of oil demand than cars, trucks and aviation.”

Demand for plastics — the key driver for petrochemicals from an energy perspective — has outpaced all other bulk materials such as steel, aluminium, or cement, nearly doubling since 2000.

Advanced economies currently use up to 20 times more plastic and up to 10 times more fertiliser than developing economies on a per capita basis, underscoring the huge potential for global growth.

The dynamism of the petrochemical industry is also driving new trends around the world.

After decades of stagnation and decline, the US has re-emerged as a low-cost location for chemicals production thanks to the shale gas revolution, and is now home to around 40 per cent of the global ethane-based petrochemical production capacity.

The Middle East remains the lowest cost centre for many key petrochemicals, with a host of new projects announced across the region.

Petrochemical products provide substantial benefits to society, including a growing number of applications in various cutting-edge, clean technologies critical to sustainable energy systems.

However, the production, use and disposal of petrochemical-derived products present a variety of climate, air quality and water pollution challenges that need to be addressed.

While substantial increases in recycling and efforts to curb single-use plastics are underway, especially in Europe, Japan and Korea, the impact these efforts can have on demand for petrochemicals is far outweighed by sharply increasing plastic consumption in emerging economies, said the IEA.

IANS

Congress President Rahul Gandhi on Friday once again pleaded with Prime Minister Narendra Modi to bring petrol and diesel under the Goods and Services Tax (GST) regime.

Reiterating his year-old request, Gandhi tweeted: “Respected Modiji, the general public is very upset with the skyrocketing prices of petrol and diesel.

“Please bring petrol-diesel under the GST regime.”

His comments came a day after the Centre cut petrol and diesel prices by Rs 2.50 per litre, a decision that was followed by several BJP-ruled states, giving an overall relief of Rs 5 per litre to the consumer.

The Congress had on Thursday described the price cut as “an ant” compared to the hike that was “an elephant”.

Last year in October Gandhi had demanded that fuel should come under the ambit of GST to prevent “excessive profiteering”. A year on, petrol prices have touched Rs 90, while diesel hovers around the 80-mark.

IANS

The key domestic equity indices opened in the red on Friday, as the S&P BSE Sensex dropped nearly 280 points and the NSE Nifty50 traded below the 10,600-mark.

Index-wise, the Sensex opened at 35,097.99 points from its previous close of 35,169.16 points on Thursday.

At 9.20 a.m., it traded at 34,887.23 points down by 281.93 points or 0.80 per cent.

Similarly, the Nifty50 of the National Stock Exchange (NSE) opened at 10,514.10 points after closing at 10,599.25 points. It traded at 10,530.45 points during the morning trade session, down 68.80 points and 0.65 per cent.

IANS