Cash-for-votes: Amar Singh, 3 others sent to jail

Rajya Sabha MP and former Samajwadi Party leader Amar Singh has been sent to 13-day judicial custody in the cash-for-votes scam. Amar Singh and three other accused - Faggan Singh Kulaste, Mahavir Singh Bhagora and Ashok Argal - will remain in jail till September 19.

The Tees Hazari court of Special Judge Sangita Dhingra Sehgal rejected Amar Singh's plea of ill-health and his interim bail application. While Bharatiya Janata Party leaders Faggan Singh Kulaste and Mahavir Singh Bhagora are former MPs; Argal is also from the BJP and currently a Lok Sabha MP.

Earlier, Amar Singh tried to skip the court proceedings claiming that he was not well but the court asked his lawyer to ensure that he (Singh) was brought before the court.

BJP leader LK Advani's former aide Sudheendra Kulkarni also failed to personally appear before the court in response to its summons for his alleged role in the 2008 cash-for-vote scam.

Kulkarni's counsel sought the exemption on the ground that he was currently in the US and even court summons had not been served on him.

Amar Singh's lawyer Ashgar Khan sought exemption from appearance before the court urging that his client has recently undergone a kidney transplant and was suffering from various health problems including kidney infection and high blood pressure.

As the counsel filed a formal application for exemption for Singh from appearance, the court asked him to submit to it all the medical papers related to Singh's medical condition.

"Kindly show me the paper (medical report) when kidney transplant took place and what is his condition right now," the judge said.

At this, Singh's counsel sought two days to furnish all the medical papers to the court, but the judge ordered him to submit them by 12:30 pm on Tuesday itself, following which the Rajya Sabha MP appeared before the court.

Gold futures hit fresh peak of Rs 29,091 on global cues

Gold futures climbed to a fresh high of Rs 29,091 per 10 grams today, tracking a firming trend overseas as concerns about slowing economic growth and Europe's debt crisis spurred demand for the precious metal as a safe haven investment.

At the Multi Commodity Exchange, gold for delivery in far-month February shot up by Rs 156, or 0.50%, to Rs 29,091 per 10 grams, with a business turnover of six lots.

The metal for delivery in October also rose by Rs 88, or 0.26%, to Rs 28,573 per 10 grams in 1,934 lots.

In a similar fashion, the precious metal for December delivery spurted by Rs 78, or 0.23%, to Rs 28,833 per 10 grams, clocking a business turnover of 183 lots.

Market analysts attributed the skyrocketing gold futures prices, which hit an all-time high, to a firming trend overseas as renewed fears over the euro zone debt crisis and concerns about stalled global growth boosted the attractiveness of the precious metal in investors' eyes.

Meanwhile, spot gold prices gained 0.6% to USD 1,911.07 an ounce in the Asian region, inching toward their all-time high of USD 1,913.50 per ounce achieved on August 23.

IOC says needs to raise petrol prices

State-run Indian Oil Corp said petrol prices need to be raised as revenue losses from selling the fuel at government controlled rates have widened more than seven-fold this month, head of finance PK Goyal said on Tuesday.

Revenue losses on petrol sales now stand at about three rupees compared to about 0.41 rupees a litre in the fortnight ending Aug. 31 due to an increase in Singapore spot prices of the fuel, he said.

"There is scope to raise petrol prices," Goyal told Reuters in an interview on the sidelines of the Asia Pacific Petroleum Conference (APPEC). "In the last fortnight (ending Aug. 31), our revenue loss was 41 paise a litre. It has now risen to about three rupees."

State-run firms last raised petrol prices in mid-May by a record. The increase of 5 rupees a litre made the fuel costlier than in the world's biggest oil consumer United States, hurting local consumption. Slowing car sales in Asia's third-biggest economy has also curbed sales.

The government last year gave state-run firms permission to fix gasoline prices on their own, while retaining control over diesel, kerosene and cooking gas to protect the poor and tame stubbornly high inflation. Still, these companies need a nod from the government to increase gasoline prices.

State-run retailers get cash subsidy from the government and discount on crude and products purchased from state-run upstream firms to partly offset the losses.

ONGC's 42.8 cr shares FPO to open on Sept 20

Finally after several postponements, follow-on public offer of state-run Oil and Natural Gas Corporation(ONGC) will open for subscription on September 20, 2011.

Government will offer 42.8 crore shares through this FPO, which will close on September 23. A total of 8.5 crore shares are reserved for employees of the company.

After the news, the share erased some gains to trade at Rs 258.40, up just 0.56%, with volumes of 6,628,580 shares. It was up nearly 2%.

If we consider FPO price at Rs 250 a share, the issue size comes to Rs 10,700 crore. Market capitalisation of the company stands at Rs 221,073.86 crore.

In the financial year 2010-11, the company reported sales turnover of Rs 66,154.88 crore and net profit of Rs 18,924.00 crore.

Oil & gas, tech, capital goods push Sensex in green

The market bounced back in the afternoon trade led by oil & gas, technology, capital goods and auto (four-wheeler) stocks. European markets, which lost 3.5-5% yesterday, too gained further on the back of short covering; France's CAC, Germany's DAX and Britain's FTSE were up over 1%.

The 30-share BSE Sensex was trading at 16,753, up 39 points and the 50-share NSE Nifty rose 13 points to 5,029. But the market breadth was in favour of declines; about 616 shares gained while 784 shares dropped.

Reliance Industries recovered all its losses and gained over 2%. ONGC too rose nearly 2%.

In the technology space, TCS, HCL Tech and Wipro were up 1-2%; Infosys went up 0.5%. M&M, Tata Motors and Maruti from auto pack rallied 2-3%.

BHEL, HDFC Bank, HDFC, Kotak Mahindra Bank, L&T, Axis Bank, SAIL and Hindalco were other gainers.