Top cues: Asian shares fall, oil at 8-month low
Nokia stock has crashed more than 70 percent since it announced in February 2011 it was dropping its own Symbian smartphone operating software and switching to Microsoft's largely untried Windows Phone system.
Asian shares eased on Thursday as weak U.S. retail sales raised concerns about sluggish economic growth, while an Italian debt auction later will test market confidence in whether it can avoid becoming the next victim in the euro zone crisis. MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan edged down 0.2 percent while Japan's Nikkei average opened down 0.7 percent. European shares and Wall Street ended lower on Wednesday, while the dollar fell after data showed U.S. retail sales hit their worst level in two years in May. Safe haven gold rose.
ONGC to invest Rs 440 crore in drilling 40 wells
ONGC is set to invest Rs 440 crore in drilling 40 oil and gas wells in the Krishna-Godavari basin next fiscal, a senior official of the company said on Wednesday. The drilling will be taken up in the next financial year as this year the oil and gas major has already taken up around 14 wells for drilling, the official said.
Britannia probes internal fraud
FMCG major Britannia Industries said on Wednesday that it has initiated an internal probe over alleged irregularities committed by some of its staff and ten employees have already been put on notice. The company, however, did not specify the financial impact of the alleged irregularities nor the positions of the employees, who are on notice, in the firm.
High court admits petition for probe on RNRL-Reliance Power merger
The Madras High Court bench admitted a petition on Wednesday seeking a probe by the Serious Fraud Investigation Office and the CBI into the merger of Reliance Natural Resources Ltd (RNRL) with Reliance Power (R-Power) alleging it caused a loss of Rs 2105.87 crore to shareholders. The court ordered issuing notices to SFIO and CBI and posted the case for hearing on June 25. The petitioner submitted that 1.97 crore investors bought RNRL company shares after the company signed gas supply master agreement with Reliance Industries.
Oil at 8-month low
International Oil prices fell to a 8-month low ahead of a meeting of Organisation of petroleum exporting countries or OPEC. The meeting is expected to discuss production quotas ahead and could decide to keep output levels unchanged. Crude fell nearly 1 per cent on Wednesday to $82.62 per barrel. Brent crude ended at $97.13 a barrel on Wednesday. A drop in U.S retail sales and Spanish downgrade by rating agencies hit crude.