GM says 7,500 workers to leave

US carmaker General Motors has said 7,500 union workers have accepted its offer of incentives to leave the firm.

All of the hourly members of the United Auto Workers union working for GM have been offered a voucher for a new car and $20,000 in cash to leave.

GM, which has received at least $13bn (£9bn) in US government loans, is trying to cut its workforce to match lower car sales as the recession bites.

GM shares closed 14% higher in New York following the announcement.

Most of the workers will leave by April, the carmaker said.

"The special attrition programme, along with the many difficult but necessary actions we have taken in recent months will help ensure the long-term viability and future success of General Motors," Gary Cowger, vice president for global manufacturing and labour relations.

Earlier this month, GM said it would not need the $2bn of funding it had previously requested for March from the government because of an acceleration of its efforts to cut costs.

In December the company warned it could run out of cash in a matter of weeks if money were not made available.

GM said the $2bn requested for March would not be needed "at this time", but did not say if the carmaker would cancel or modify its request for $16.6bn in aid asked for last month.

India, Israel sign USD 1.4 billion deal on air defence system

India has signed its biggest defence deal with Israel for the purchase of a state-of-the- art air defence system at a whopping cost of USD 1.4 billion (Rs 7,042).

Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) has officially acknowledged that the defence deal between the two countries was inked on 27th February under which Israel will develop and manufacture seaborne and shore-based systems against missile attack on India, business daily 'Globes' reported.



The signing of the deal comes as India is in advance stage of testing of its own anti-missile shield. The Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) has already successfully test-fired its advanced air defence (AAD) missile.



The two sides have agreed that part of the payment for the systems will be made during the development period and the balance will be paid during the 66 month delivery period, which is slated to begin 90 months from the date the advance payment is received, the report said.



As per the agreement, IAI has also undertaken to procure military or aviation products and services from India. It will invest in defence companies in India up to an amount equal to 30 per cent of the contract.



India is currently Israel's largest arms buyer

Google lays off another 200 staff

The search engine company Google is planning to cut nearly 200 marketing and sales jobs in its second set of lay-offs this year.

Google blamed the cuts on having grown very quickly, which meant it had over-invested in some areas as well as "creating overlapping organisations".

The cuts represent less than 1% of the 20,200 people employed by Google.

Earlier this year, the company decided to lay off 100 of its recruiters because it was taking on fewer people.

"Google has grown very quickly in a very short period of time," Google's Omid Kordestani said on the company's official blog.

"When companies grow that quickly it's almost impossible to get everything right and we certainly didn't."

Google said that staff affected would be given time to find other jobs within the organisation or severance packages if they had to leave.

Sensex improves further after initial volatility

After initial hiccups, the benchmark sensex improved further by 88 points at 10:15 hrs following overnight strong rally on Wall Street amid sustained buying by foreign funds.

The 30-share barometer, which jumped by a whopping 1,036.42 points or 11.56 per cent in the last four-day rally, initially moved erratically in a range of 10,091.18 and 9,914.29 points before being quoted at 10,090.97 at 1015 hours, a rise of another 87.87 points from its previous close.



The broad-based 50-issue Nifty of the National Stock Exchange also moved up by another 24.50 points or 0.79 per

cent to 3,106.75 at 1015 hrs from its last close.



Brokers attributed rally in share values to smart rise on Wall Street on Thursday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average and the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite Index were up by 2.25 per cent and 3.80 per cent, respectively on hopes that the US economy's worst days might be over.



However, Asian indices were trading narrowly mixed in early trade. Metal, capital goods, banking and pharma shares were in keen demand, while IT counters were down on profit-selling

on the first day of the April series.



Continued capital inflows and fall in inflation to 0.27 per cent mainly gave support to the market.

Oil weaker in Asian trade, NY crude above USD 54

Oil weakened in Asian trade on Friday after an overnight rally driven by the surge in US equity markets, analysts said.

New York's main contract, light sweet crude for May delivery dropped 29 cents to USD 54.05.

Brent North Sea crude for May delivery was off 21 cents to USD 53.22.

Crude prices likely ran out of steam amid worries the worst is not over for the US economy, analysts said.

"While the bounce in financials could run on, the broader economy is still in the doldrums and unlikely to turn the corner until next year at the earliest," research house Capital Economics said in a report.

"As such we think the prospects for non-financials remain far from rosy."

Revised data released Thursday showed the US economy shrank 6.3 percent in the fourth quarter ended December, which was worse than the initial estimate of a 6.2 percent decline.

The slump was the steepest since 1982 but not as bad as the 6.6 percent annualised drop expected on average by private forecasters.


Meanwhile, the president of oil-producer United Arab Emirates said in an interview published on Thursday that an oil price of 70-75 dollars a barrel would be "fair."

Japan's retail woes add to slump

Retail sales in Japan saw their biggest fall in seven years in February, adding to fears of a deepening recession.

Shoppers spent 5.8% less than a year earlier, bringing the total value of sales to 9.98tn yen ($101bn), according to government figures.

The figure is more than twice January's year-on-year decline of 2.4% and is the sixth monthly decline in a row.

Meanwhile, South Korea and Vietnam also reported weak economic data, as the slowdown hits Asia's economies.

South Korea's economy grew less than first estimated in 2008, expanding 2.2%, compared with a initial estimate of 2.5%.

Vietnam's economic growth rate slowed to 3.1%, its lowest rate in a decade, according to an estimate for the first quarter.

Deflation fears

In Japan, consumer price inflation remained unchanged for a second month in a row.

The Consumer Price Index (CPI) figures, which exclude volatile fresh food prices, prompted analysts to warn that Japan was on the brink of a return to the deflation that plagued it in the late 1990s.

"We are expecting deflation to last for two years, well into 2010," said Hiroshi Watanabe, an economist at Daiwa Research Institute.

'Worst crisis'

The figures were the latest in a stream of grim statistics charting Japan's economic woes.

The country's exports saw a record plunge of 49.4% year-on-year in February, as worldwide demand for its products collapsed.

Japan's economy contracted by 3.3% in the last quarter of last year - its worst showing since the oil crisis of the 1970s.

Economic Minister Kaoru Yosano has said Japan is facing its worst economic crisis since the end of World War II.

Australia rejects China takeover

Australia has rejected a Chinese state-run firm's $1.7bn (£1.2bn) takeover bid for Australia's Oz Minerals because of national security concerns.

Australia said one of Oz Minerals' key mines was located near a weapons-testing range in the outback.

It said the bid by China's Minmetals could only be approved if the deal excluded this copper and gold mine.

The surprise move jeopardises Oz's future and clouds other Sino-Australian deals still waiting for approval.

"Oz Minerals' Prominent Hill mining operations are situated in the Woomera Prohibited Area in South Australia," Treasurer Wayne Swan said in a statement.

"The Woomera Prohibited Area weapons testing range makes a unique and sensitive contribution to Australia's national defence," he added.

Oz and Minmetals said they would look to revise the deal.

Prime asset

Prominent Hill mine is considered Oz's prime asset and analysts questioned whether Minmetals would be prepared to go ahead with the acquisition without it.

Increased investment by Chinese firms has raised hackles in Australia, which has typically been open to foreign investment.

Australian authorities have yet to decide on Rio Tinto's $19.5bn tie-up with Chinese aluminium firm Chinalco and Fortescue Metals' plan to sell a $770 stake to China's Hunan Valin Iron and Steel.

Australia extended its review of Chinalco's investment until June. Some Rio shareholders have expressed opposition to the deal.

Australian Foreign Minister Stephen Smith, who held talks with his Chinese counterpart Yang Jiechi in Beijing on Friday, defended the decision.

"We encourage overseas foreign investment, capital investment in Australia that is one of the things that the whole of Australia's economy is built on," Mr Smith said

"But from time to time a difficult context passes and we are faced with having to make a decision in the national interest."

Oz Minerals, the world's second-largest zinc miner, is struggling to meet a Tuesday deadline to repay $1.3bn to creditors.

Mining firms are struggling as the global slowdown hits demand for raw materials.

Nano booking to start from 9th April

The booking of the Nano, the Rs one-lakh people's car from the Tata stable, will begin on 9th April and remain open till 23rd April; the delivery of the first lot of Nano cars will begin in early-July.

Announcing this ahead of its launch on Monday, Tata Group Chairman Ratan Tata told editors that the car, which would have the smallest footprint on the road, will be sold to the first one-lakh buyers at a price to be announced later.

The promise that has been made to sell the car at around Rs one-lakh would be kept despite the fact that commodity prices had shot up, Tata said, adding that the fall in commodity prices now may provide some cushion.

The delivery of the first lot of Nano cars will begin in early-July, he said, adding that applications for booking of the car would be available in 30,000 locations in 1,000 cities across India.

State Bank of India would be the qualified banker for collection of bookings in 850 cities, he said.

The car can be booked by just paying Rs 2,999 upfront while the rest can be secured by way of loan, he said.

There would be 15 preferred financiers for the booking whose names would be disclosed in three days.



The initial 50,000-60,000 Nano cars is to be supplied from its Pantnagar plant primarily set up to manufacture Ace trucks, Tata said, adding that the plant to manufacture the Nano at Sanand (Gujarat) is likely to go on-stream by end-this year or early next year.

The first one-lakh customers will be selected by draw of lots from the bookings, he said, adding that those not allotted would have the option to retain their bookings.

The customers who wait for more than one-year will be paid 8.5 percent interest and those beyond two-years will be paid 8.75 percent, Tata Motors' Managing Director, Ravi Kant, said.

No interest would be given to the first one-lakh allotments, Ravi Kant said, adding that the company expects to supply the cars to the first lot in a year's time.

Tata made it clear that Nano production at Pantnagar was, however, an interim solution after the company was forced to shift its production from Singur in West Bengal to Sanand.

"Personally, to say the least, I feel very excited that we were able to go to the last mile to implement Plan B and launch the vehicle in March this year instead of December (this year) or January (next year)," Tata said.



Tata said that all preferred financiers would roll-out their booking schemes within three days.

The rate of interest on the loan would be decided by the banks that provide the loans, Ravi Kant said, adding that several banks would be providing loans including public sector banks.

The Sanand plant would have a capacity of 2.50-lakh units per annum which could later be expanded to half-a-million, Tata said.

The model would meet BS II, III and IV norms which are equivalent to Euro II, III and IV norms, Tata said.

US unveils $1tn toxic asset plan

The US has announced details of a plan to buy up to $1 trillion (£686bn) worth of toxic assets to help repair banks' balance sheets.

The "Public-Private Investment Programme" will purchase the troubled mortgages and securities that have been at the root of the credit crunch.

The Treasury has committed $75bn to $100bn to the programme and said the private sector would also contribute.

Investors welcomed the news, with stocks rising in Europe and Asia.

The Treasury said the plan would help the financial system recover.

US banks still hold many mortgage-related assets that they cannot value or sell.

Having so many of so-called toxic assets on their books has made them reluctant to lend, causing the financial system to freeze up, and pushing the economy further into recession.

Sony Ericsson braced for losses

Sony Ericsson has said that it expects to make a loss in the first three months of this year as sales continue to suffer in the economic downturn.

The company predicts a net loss before tax of between 340m euros (£320m; $466m) and 390m euros for the quarter.

Both retailers and distributors are cutting their stock, said the firm.

Other mobile phone firms have also seen sales fall as demand slows. Earlier this week, Nokia said that it would shed 1,700 jobs due to poor sales.

And previously mobile phone giant Motorola said it would cut 4,000 jobs, roughly 6% of its workforce, to reduce costs.

Sony Ericsson said it was likely to ship around 14 million phones during the first quarter.

It is due to announce its full quarterly results on 17 April.

Oil price soars above 50 dlrs on US Fed plan

Oil prices jumped above USD 50 after the Federal Reserve moved to inject another trillion dollars into the US financial system to boost the world's biggest economy.

New York's main futures contract, light sweet crude for delivery in April, ended USD 3.47 higher from yesterday's close to USD 51.61 per barrel, topping USD 50 for the first time in four months.

In early trading, the contract surged to USD 52.25 - the highest level since 28th November, 2008.

Brent North Sea crude for May delivery rose USD 3.01 to 50.67 in London after breaching USD 51.

Analysts attributed the price jump to Wednesday's announcement by the US Federal Reserve that it would pump USD 1.15 trillion into the financial system. The move also has pulled down the US dollar against key currencies.

"You need to put this action in the context of what has happened in the last few weeks in the market. There has been a shift in market sentiment," said Constanza Jacazio of Barclays Capital.

"From a market where demand was the only driver of price action and sentiment, there seems to have been a shift in a more balanced view," he said.

Crude futures had slid on Wednesday on news of a larger-than-expected increase in US energy reserves that highlighted weak American energy demand, but trimmed losses after news of the Fed plan.