Business News

Citigroup Inc shares sank to their lowest level in more than nine years on Tuesday after a prominent Middle East investor said the largest U.S. bank needs to raise more capital and an analyst projected a $15 billion mortgage write-down.

Oil tumbled more than 3 percent on Tuesday as a global stock market slide prompted profit-taking ahead of OPEC's meeting in Vienna and dragged prices further from a record near $104 a barrel.

Citigroup Inc shares sank to their lowest level in more than nine years on Tuesday after a prominent Middle East investor said the largest U.S. bank needs to raise more capital and an analyst projected a $15 billion mortgage write-down.

India's silver demand is expected to remain slack this month, with prices seen firm and targeting new highs as more funds in Western markets move to precious metals boosting prices, analysts and traders said.

Greener vehicles drive into the spotlight as Europe's biggest auto show opens in Geneva this week and automakers hit back against a slowdown threatened by a weak dollar and high raw material costs.

The Tata Group said on Tuesday it was important for the group's auto arm to crack the U.S. market.
"(It's) important ...because it is the world's biggest car market," Chairman Ratan Tata told reporters at the Geneva auto show.

Tata Group Chairman Ratan Tata said on Tuesday it was important for Tata Motors Ltd to enter the U.S. market.

Tata Communications will spend $500 million by 2010 to build a WiMAX network and is looking to sell a stake in a unit that provides broadbank services to retail customers, an official said.

An import duty on naphtha could cost Indian polymer makers, including market leader Reliance Industries, about $160 million in 2008/09 but they may pass on the burden to consumers, an industry official said.

IBM Corp plans to boost growth in India as part of its strategy to enhance focus on emerging markets and as local companies spend more on technology to cut costs and improve efficiency, an official said on Tuesday.

French car maker PSA Peugeot-Citroen sees a potential downturn in the European car market in 2008 due to weakness in Britain and Spain, Chief Executive Christian Streiff said on Tuesday.

State-run Union Bank of India plans to raise 6 billion rupees through tier 2 capital, its chief said on Tuesday.

Finance Minister Palaniappan Chidambaram said on Tuesday there was scope for stake sales in state-run firms, but the government was not ready to lower the shareholding in state-owned bluechip companies.

Indian shares fell 2 percent to a 5-½ month closing low on Tuesday, led by ICICI Bank that said investment losses caused by market turmoil could slice up to 9 percent off this year's profit.

Finance Minister Palaniappan Chidambaram said on Tuesday there is scope for stake sales in state-run firms.

Indian utility Tata Power Co Ltd expects to import 2 million tonnes of coal in 2008, mostly from Indonesia, a top company official said on Tuesday.

(Corrects Amulya Charan's designation to managing director of Tata Power Trading Co Ltd, a unit of Tata Power, from Tata Power Co Ltd)

India's 2008/09 budget is storing up public finance problems for the future, economists say, with its $15 billion loan write-off for farmers and no provision for a potentially huge increase in civil service pay.

ICICI Bank, India's largest private-sector bank, said investment losses caused by market turmoil in the wake of the subprime crisis could wipe up to 9 percent off this year's profit.

Microsoft Corp still considers its takeover offer for Yahoo Inc, currently valued at about $40.9 billion, to be reasonable despite Yahoo's rejection of the bid, Microsoft's chief executive said.