Weekly News (25th – 31st Oct )

RELIANCE INDUSTRIES Q2 NET UP 27.8%, BEATS F'CAS

The conglomerate, India's largest listed company,

has been investing overseas in shale gas assets and has been looking to widen its businesses beyond

petrochemicals, refining, oil and natural gas

exploration, and retail. "Improved refining margins and high

operating rates at all our manufacturing facilities led to a record quarter,"

Chairman Mukesh Ambani said in a

statement

Reliance is pumping about 55-60 million cubic metres of gas a day from KG D6, off India's east coast, and the country's oil secretary said in July the company

would be able to pump gas at full capacity during the year to March 2013.

Gross refining margin at Reliance's flagship refining

business in the September quarter was $7.9 per barrel, up from $7.3 per barrel in April-June and in line market estimates of $8 per barrel.

HONDA RECALLS 528,000 CARS FOR CYLINDER SNAG

Honda motor Co said on Friday it was recalling

528,000 vehicles world-wide due to potential

problems with a master brake cylinder seal. Most of the recalled vehicles are Odyssey minivans

sold in the United States. The recall is similar to one issued on Thursday

by Toyota Motor Corp for about 1.5 million vehicles

worldwide.

The same supplier, ADVICS Co Ltd, a privately held Japanese

company with a unit in the United States , made the seals for

both major automakers.

No accidents or injuries have been reported due to to the faulty

seals. Of the Honda recalls, 435,000 of them are Odyssey minivans sold in the United

States

CHINA CUTS DISCOUNT TO MORTGAGE RATES

Beijing has taken a fresh step to

discourage property buying by ordering

banks to charge higher mortgage

interest rates for first home buyers, local media reported over

the weekend.

Lenders were told by China's banking

regulator that they can offer at most 15 per cent, versus the

previous 30 per cent, discount to the

benchmark interest rates to new

mortgage loan applicants, the Beijing News

reported.

China allowed banks to offer up to 30 per cent

discounts of interest rates to home buyers in late

2008 as part of Beijing's policy package to bolster

economic growth. The end of that 30 per cent

discount will put China's bank loan policies

unprecedentedly harsh to mortgagers.

ASIA MUST AVOID 'DISTORTIONS' IN HANDLING HOT MONEY

Developing Asian nations must carefully manage a massive inflow of foreign capital and avoid remedies

that could create destabilising "distortions",

the Asian Development Bank chief warned Saturday.

Haruhiko Kuroda told Asian leaders at a summit in the Vietnamese capital Hanoi

that capital flows are one of two risks that regional economies face as they rebound from the global

downturn that began in 2008

His comments came shortly before the US

Federal Reserve is expected to announce

it will go into a second round of

quantitative easing, injecting more money into the

banking system to further stimulate the

world's biggest economy.

The first risk is that the recovery in the developed

economies could falter, Kuroda told presidents, prime ministers and a sultan, as well as US

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and the Russian

foreign minister. "The second risk is capital flows, which

could complicate macroeconomic

management," Kuroda said in a prepared speech

made available to journalists.