India's forex reserves dip to three-year low

By Atmadip Ray, ET Bureau | 6 Sep, 2013, 07.32PM IST

Kolkata: India's foreign exchange reserves have dipped to $275.5 billion, a 39-month low, as Reserve Bank of India continued to sell dollars to support the battered local currency.

The rupee has come under come under severe pressure and been the worst performing Asian currency since global investors offloaded their investment in emerging economies to maximise return from rising US bond prices after the Federal Reserve withdrew quantitative easing.

The rupee depreciated about 27% since April to its record closing low of 68.80 a dollar on August 28. In comparison, Indonesian rupiah fell about 12% this year while Malaysian Ringgit saw 8% depreciation. Japanese yen fell 11.6% this year.

The rupee has however recovered since August 28 level on strong RBI action and improved sentiment after governor Raghuram Rajan took measures aiming to boost dollar inflows. The rupee closed Friday at 65.25 a dollar, nearly 110 paise higher than Thursday's close.

"The sentiment in the market has definitely improved," a forex dealer with a foreign bank said. RBI under Rajan has subsidised swap cost to attract FCNR-B deposits and enhanced limits for exporters to re-book cancelled forward exchange contracts to attract inflows. Rajan's decision to roll back the amount a company can use to invest overseas to 400% of its networth, from 100%, has also made investors' easy.

The forex reserves dipped $2.2 billion in the week ending August 30 to $275.5 billion. In rupee terms, it gained Rs 450 billion to Rs 18.341 billion due to exchange rate movement.

Foreign currency assets feel $3.080 billion to $247.402 billion, Reserve Bank of India said in its weekly report. Foreign currency assets expressed in dollar terms include the effect of appreciation or depreciation of non-US currencies such as euro, pound and yen held in the reserves.

RBI said that the value of country's gold reserve has risen by 977 million to $21,724 billion. India is still a creditor to International Monetary Fund's reserve position although the position fell $113 million to $1.990 billion in the period under review.

Source: http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/markets/forex/indias-forex-reserves-dip-to-three-year-low/articleshow/22372469.cms

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Media picks of the week: The Hobbit, The Pixies, My Little Pony and more!

Each week the editors at iMore find cool media that we really love and bring it to you. Here's our latest roundup - some great music, movies, cartoons and more.

The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey Special Edition soundtrack - Joseph Keller

I love a good soundtrack. Howard Shore's work from the Lord of the Rings trilogy is some of my favorite movie music. It helps define the world we see, and is a major part of what made those movies what they were. While not on the same scale, Shore's Hobbit soundtrack fills the same role. Weaving familiar themes in with new ones, The Hobbit soundtrack is a perfect audio companion to An Unexpected Journey, and as much a prequel to Rings as the rest of the movie. The special edition of the soundtrack is an expanded version of the original release, with six additional tracks. If you love Shore's work, this is the version to get.

• $17.99 - Download Now

The Bourne Collection - Ally Kazmucha

Up until about 6 months ago, I had never seen a single Bourne movie. People kept telling me how good they were and I had every intention of watching them, just never actually got around to it. Then I noticed that iTunes had the entire collection of Bourne movies in HD as a bundle for $40 which means each movie was only $10.

In the end, I watched all of them within one weekend and thoroughly enjoyed all of them. The last one was my least favorite but it was still good. Either way, if you've never seen them or you're a Bourne fan, it's a great deal to take advantage of if you don't already own any of them.

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My Little Pony: Micro Series #7 - Cutie Mark Crusaders - Michelle Haag

My 10 year old daughter is obsessed with My Little Pony, just as I was when I was her age. Unfortunately, unlike me, she doesn't enjoy reading books, so I've been trying to find things for her to read that will hold her attention. Luckily there are a ton of My Little Pony comics and books in iTunes, ranging in price from $1.99 to $9.99. Some of our favorites are in the micro series, with each edition devoted to a specific character, or in this case, group of characters. The Cutie Mark Crusaders are on a quest to find out who they are, and they'll never stop their journey, not until they find their cutie marks! If you have a young lady in your life that loves MLP as much as mine does, you know they will really appreciate learning about the magic of friendship with these beautifully done books.

• $3.99 - Download Now

The Incredible Mr. Limpet - Chris Parsons

Although The Incredible Mr. Limpet came out long before my time, it pretty much became a cult hit for a lot of folks and after having recently watched it, I can see why. This comedy/fantasy stars Don Knotts as a nervous little Brooklyn bookkeeper who has an overwhelming love for fish. After being rejected by the Navy, he actually becomes a fish (through the miracle of animation), meets a snail who shows him the "underwater" ropes, falls in love with a lady fish, and becomes a real war hero. Sounds crazy, right? It is but it's fantastic. Sadly, it's not available for purchase on iTunes but you can rent it for $2.99.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TheIphoneBlog/~3/bxyZi5AlM2k/story01.htm

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Microsoft ?The One Event We Didn?t Expect? For Nokia ? Analysts

By Sven Grundberg and Niclas Rolander

As the dust starts to settle after Tuesday?s announcement that Nokia Corp. is selling its handset business to Microsoft Corp., investors are waking up to a new leaner company with arguably brighter prospects than the old beleaguered business.

Nokia?s handset business used to be the glorious centerpiece of a global technology heavyweight, but its fall from grace the past few years has been rapid and brutal.

Here is a roundup of what analysts around the globe have to say about Nokia?s NSN networks unit and HERE mapping business.

In a note on Wednesday, Nordea's Sami Sarkamies said the sale of the handset business to Microsoft for ?5.4 billion? ?marks the end to one of the worst corporate strategies we will probably experience.? While noting that the reasoning behind Nokia?s tie-up with Microsoft two years ago will continue to debated, Nordea said Nokia got a fair price for the assets given the circumstances, and that it?s now able to kiss goodbye to its worries and start anew as a ?solid, smaller version of Ericsson.?

Mr. Sarkamies added that the new Nokia should now be seen as a likely acquisition target, especially for Samsung Electronics Co. The Korean company has been looking to expand its mobile network infrastructure operations and buying Nokia would be a good opportunity to gain a position on the U.S. market with a solid product portfolio. ? Putting all this together, we see more upside in the share from both an absolute perspective as well as a relative performance potential perspective versus Ericsson,? Mr. Sarkamies said.

Deutsche Bank?s Kai Korschelt said the Microsoft deal is a good outcome for shareholders, although he is concerned about an expected decline of NSN profits in the second part of this year and in 2014. Mr. Korschelt estimates that Nokia in the first quarter of next year will have net cash of around ?7.5 billion, which raises the prospect of a significant windfall for shareholders. If Nokia keeps ?5 billion for general purposes and potential acquisitions, ?excess net cash available for return to shareholders could be ?2.5 billion or a potential cash yield of 15%.? The bank has upgraded its rating to hold from sell.

After disposing the handset business, ?Nokia flips from loss making to profitability,? Jefferies analysts Lee Simpson and Robert Lamb said. Nokia will effectively become a profitable, telecom equipment pure-play, they say, and upgrade their rating to hold from underperform. ?The Microsoft deal also means that cash fears abate, and helps Nokia?s buyout of Siemens? stake in Nokia Siemens Networks. ?There is an additional ?1.5 billion of financing from [Microsoft] to be taken up at Nokia?s discretion,? Jefferies said.

However, Alexander Peterc and Alexandre Faure at Exane BNP Paribas expressed some caution. Although the new company appears clean, profitable and financially stable, the analysts said there is still a risk that the Microsoft deal is delayed or derailed by wary Microsoft shareholders. The bank upgraded its rating to neutral from underperform.

Finally, long-time Nokia bear Pierre Ferragu at Bernstein admitted that the Microsoft deal is ?the one event we thought could not happen.? ?He added that from Nokia?s perspective, the Microsoft deal seems ?very advantageously structured and offers a lot of upside? ?to Bernstein?s valuation framework.? Instead of being stuck with a devices business that would have burnt lots of cash in restructuring and barely returned to breakeven, Nokia has ?offloaded its problem child to Microsoft and is left with an interesting string of assets, including a highly profitable patent portfolio, an astonishing ?7.8 billion net cash on its balance sheet and a stabilizing wireless equipment maker. Bernstein upgraded Nokia to market-perform from underperform.

Source: http://blogs.wsj.com/moneybeat/2013/09/04/microsoft-the-one-event-we-didnt-expect-for-nokia-analysts/?mod=WSJBlog

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