Indian firms' earnings seen weak

Indian firms are expected to report a fall in profits in the
quarterly results season that kicks off Friday, but better times lie
ahead as the country's economic recovery takes hold, analysts
forecast. "The economic fundamentals are improving," Hitesh Agrawal,
head of research at Mumbai's Angel Broking, said Wednesday. For the
three months to September, the 30 companies which make up Mumbai's
benchmark Sensex index could report up to a 12 percent drop in net
profit year-on-year, analysts say. But on a quarter-on-quarter basis,
profits are expected to rise, reflecting a recovery that is slowly
gathering steam in Asia's third- largest economy. "Sequentially over
previous quarters, we see better earnings," Bharat Iyer, India
strategist with JP Morgan, told AFP. India's economy grew by 6.1
percent in the three months to June, picking up pace from the
previous quarter when it expanded by 5.8 percent and signalling the
country's emergence from the global downturn.

Bank of England keeps interest rate at 0.5 pc

The Bank of England is holding its key lending rate at a record low
level of 0.5 percent and maintaining its credit-easing plans amid
signs of improvement in recession-hit Britain, it said on Thursday.
"The Bank of England's Monetary Policy Committee today voted to
maintain the official bank rate paid on commercial bank reserves at
0.5 percent," the BoE said in a statement after a two-day meeting.
"The committee also voted to continue with its programme of asset
purchases totalling 175 billion pounds (194 billion euros, 287
billion dollars) financed by the issuance of central bank reserves."
Earlier this year, in March, the central bank slashed borrowing costs
to the current record low level and launched a radical quantitative
easing (QE) policy in an attempt to lift Britain out of recession.

French economy, exports edge up in Q3

The French economy grew by 0.3 percent in the third quarter of 2009
, the country's central bank said in an estimate published on
Thursday, after the major EU economy emerged from recession. The
figure from the Bank of France followed a slightly higher
third-quarter growth forecast of 0.5 percent by the INSEE national
statistics agency, which estimated a 2.2- percent contraction overall
in 2009 in the worldwide downturn. According to INSEE, France
emerged from recession in the second quarter of 2009 , with 0.3
percent growth in gross domestic product, after four quarters of
contraction. The bank also published on Thursday its monthly
industrial confidence index, which it said strengthened slightly in
September from 89 to 92 points, well up from a low point of 68 at
the height of the crisis in December. Separate figures from the French
customs authorities showed the country's trade deficit -- the amount
by which imports exceed exports -- fell to 3.4 billion euros (five
billion dollars) in August. This was due notably to some major exports
of transport equipment such as Airbus planes.

S Korea aims for 10 pc of global electric car market by 2015

President Lee Myung-Bak Thursday offered full government support to
help South Korean firms secure about 10 percent of the global
electric car market by 2015. Lee said the country should make all-out
efforts to develop the technology. "The government will extend full
support to the auto industry," he said, adding electric cars could
become a new growth engine after computer microchips and ships. His
comment came at a meeting of economic policymakers in the research
institute of the country's leading auto group Hyundai at Hwaseong
south of Seoul. The Ministry of Knowledge Economy said it is now
targeting mass production of electric cars from 2011 instead of
2013. "If all goes according to our plans, local carmakers will be
able to grab 10 percent of the global electric car market by 2015 ,"
Cho Seok, a deputy minister, told reporters. The government says it
will allocate 400 billion won (341 million dollars) between now and
2014 to support development of high- performance batteries and other
related systems. Separately Hyundai Motor and its affiliate Kia
Motors have announced plans to invest 4. 1 trillion won by end-2013
to develop fuel- efficient cars and cut carbon emissions.

Oil rebounds

Oil prices rebounded on Thursday as stock markets rallied on economic
recovery hopes, traders said. New York's main contract, light sweet
crude for delivery in November climbed 93 cents to 70.50 dollars a
barrel. In London, Brent North Sea crude for November gained 98
cents to 68.18 dollars.