Sensex ends at new high of 15,092 points

New Delhi:

The markets had a good day and ended strong on broad based buying in scrips across sectors.

It was an all time high close for Sensex, Nifty, CNX mid cap and BSE small cap index. Barring technology all the sectors participated in the rally. Power, metal, realty, infrastructure stocks led the up trend.

The 30-share Sensex shot up by 181.42 points at 15,092.04, surpassing the previous record of 15,045.73 reached on July 9. It touched an intra-day high of 15,112.22 and a low of 14,963.53 points.

The Nifty up 59 points at 4446. The BSE Midcap Index ended at 6,782.69 up 78 points or 1.2 per cent.

Asia ended in green and even Europe was trading reasonably in the positive terrain.

Broader markets have continued to outperform the benchmark indices, giving markets an excellent breadth.

GMR was the star performer; the stock was up nearly 14 per cent at Rs 952.

Hindalco, Reliance Energy , BHEL, Reliance Comm , HDFC, ICICI Bank are among the top gainers on Sensex.

Bajaj Auto was up three per cent, as the company seems confident with the second half of the year. Bajaj Auto declared lower than expected quarter one results with margin dipping over 300 bps.

The BSE Smallcap Index ended at 8,215.56 up 1.7 per cent. The BSE Bankex was up 1.7 per cent at 8,215.51. Oriental Bank, HDFC Bank, Bank of India, PNB, Bank of Baroda, ICICI Bank moved upwards.

The BSE Capital Goods Index was up 1.5 per cent at 12,940.79. Astra Microwave, Reliance Infra, Bharat Bijlee, Kirloskar Oil, Alstom Projects, BHEL, Gammon India closed higher.

The BSE Health Care Index was up 1 per cent at 3,868.29. Divis Labs, Sterling Bio, Glenmark, Matrix Lab, Wockhardt closed higher.

The BSE Auto Index closed at 5,006.55 up 1.8 per cent. Apollo Tyres, TVS Motor, Bajaj Auto, Ashok Leyland, Mah and Mah, Maruti Udyog surged.

The BSE Metal Index closed at 11,475.26 up 3.3 per cent. Hindalco, Sterlite Ind, SAIL, Jindal Steel, NALCO, JSW Steel advanced higher.

The BSE IT Index closed flat at 4,870.06. The BSE FMCG Index gained 0.7 per cent at 1,857.37. Marico, Tata Tea, United Spirits, United Brewerie, HUL, Bata India ended higher.

BSE Oil and Gas Index closed at 7,682.19 up 0.8 per cent. Essar Oil, Reliance Petro, GAIL, HPCL, Reliance closed higher.

The NSE cash turnover was at Rs 12865.58 crore and the NSE F&O turnover was at Rs 43187.29 crore. The BSE cash turnover was Rs 6079.16 crore. Total market wide turnover was at Rs 62132.03 crore.

Taj on list of world's seven wonders

Sunday, July 8, 2007 (Lisbon)

Always counted among the man-made marvels of the world by its admirers, the Taj Mahal found pride of place in a new list of seven wonders polled by people around the globe.

The most photographed monument is accompanied by The Great Wall of China, Petra in Jordan, Statue of Christ Redeemer in Brazil, Machu Picchu in Peru, Pyramid of Chichen Itza in Mexico and the Roman Colosseum in the list announced at a gala ceremony in the Portuguese capital Lisbon to coincide with the date 07.07.07.

In a colourful ceremony amid songs and dance, Bollywood star Bipasha Basu announced Taj Mahal as one of the wonders.

Agra Mayor Anjula Singh received the award.

Indians voted overwhelmingly in the polls cast by over a million people. The polling picked up drastically over the last one month, to see the ''monument of love'' through to the final seven.

The worldwide poll, in which people could vote for their favourite monument either on-line or through SMS, was conducted by the New 7 Wonders Foundation, a Swiss non-profit group.

The one-and-a-half-hour-long ceremony at Portugal's largest venue, the Estadio da Luz, saw award-presentation appearances by celebrities like Hillary Swank, Ben Kingsley, Cristiano Ronaldo and Neil Armstrong.

The celebrity-studded event also saw performances by Jennifer Lopez, Chaka Khan and Dulce Pontes.

Global poll

The voting picked up last month and in the latter half of June, eight per cent of all votes came from India, which then further increased to 13 per cent.

According to the voting percentage, India was in the fourth place, while Peru, rooting for the Inca city of Machu Picchu, led with 20 per cent votes towards June-end.

The publicity campaign gathered steam as the deadline drew closer, with many organisations and individuals appealing to vote for the Taj.

Union Culture Minister Ambika Soni cast her vote in favour of the monument of love on June 22 and appealed to Indians to do the same.

While there has been huge media hype surrounding the campaign launched in 2000, the brainchild of Swiss author-filmmaker Bernerd Weber has also drawn criticism, with the UNESCO distancing itself from the campaign and some experts flaying it as a commercial gimmick.

After the launch of the voting campaign in 2000, the nominations were whittled down by public votes to 77 last year, which was shortened to 21 by a panel of architectural experts chaired by former UNESCO chief F M Zaragoza. (With PTI inputs)

Three-month-old gets a PAN card

Location: Rourkela

This could work as a free advertisment for the Income Tax department's drive for Permanent Account Number (PAN) cards for all earning citizens.

A couple in Orissa's steel city, Rourkela, has got a PAN card registered in the name of their three-month-old baby Ayush.

Rourkela-based journalist Saroj Rout and his wife Geetanjali, who works for the LIC, decided to get a PAN card for their baby as Ayush would soon feature in a campaign on children.

''One of my friends who runs an NGO told me that he would use my baby son as a model for his campaign on children and that he would pay a fee for it. Since my baby will earn and file returns he should have a PAN card,'' said Saroj.

Both Saroj and Geetanjali have their own PAN cards and either of them could have filed returns for the income of their son.

But they chose to go by the rulebook under which quoting the PAN is mandatory for everyone opening a bank account.

''It is always advisable for everybody to have a pan card and that too with photo pan card but it can be utilized for many purposes and as per law there is no exemption that for a child of three months no PAN card is needed,'' said Arun Kumar Sabat, Chartered Accountant, Bhubaneswar.

It's not clear how much money little Ayush will earn but this is surely a laudable move. An example that should inspire all those who earn and have a bank account but do not have PAN cards of their own as yet.

Mahatma's Letter

Tuesday, July 3, 2007 (New Delhi)

The Indian government gets possession of a letter written by Mahatma Gandhi, which was originally due for auction in London on Tuesday.

British auction house Christie's called of the auction after the letter was withdrawn by its owner.

The move followed when it was established that the actual ownership of the letter was with the Navjiwan Trust in Ahmedabad.

Gandhi wrote the letter 19 days before he was assassinated by a Hindu activist in Delhi in 1948.

In the handwritten letter published in the journal Harijan, Gandhi pleaded for tolerance towards Muslims and also advocated the importance of Urdu.

Vote for Taj Mahal!

The Indian Wonder, The TAJ has been nominated for the New Seven Wonders at (New Seven Wonders Website). In order to see our National Wonder in the list of Seven Wonders of the World, do cast your vote at www.new7wonders.com

The New 7 Wonders of the World will be announced during the Official Declaration ceremony in Lisbon, Portugal on Saturday, July 7, 2007 - 07.07.07.

Be sure to cast your Vote. Because every single vote matters the world.