Daily News Roundup - Nov 17 2008

Apollo Tyres plans to invest Rs30bn in next five years to set up greenfield plants and abroad as well as expanding its existing facilities.(BL)

- BHEL in talks with Areva T&D form a JV for manufacturing nuclear reactors.(BL)

- Temasek yet to take a final decision on whether to exit Tata Teleservices, but is likely to stay invested.(BL)

- Mastek is in the process of closing down its BPO practice.(BL)

- GMR, GVK seek to raise airport fees by 10%.(TOI)

- Kingfisher Airlines plans 25% stake sale.(ET)

- Tata Chemicals is buying 600 acres of land for soda ash unit expansion.(BS)

- Wipro, Infosys and TCS eye IT captive units in Germany.(ET)

- L&T in talks with Antwerp Port Authority of Belgium to build new port.(ET)

- Hyundai, GM may enter 800cc segment in India.(ET)

- Infrastructure projects may get loan relief.(Mint)

- Iran says it has scrapped a US$22bn deal to sell 5mtpa LNG to India due to a dispute over prices and lack of required approvals. (Mint)

- Projects worth US$18bn shelved in six months due to slowdown. (TOI).

Global News This Morning

Japan's economy, the world's second largest, unexpectedly shrank in the third quarter, entering the first recession since 2001 as companies cut spending.

Japan's GDP fell an annualized 0.4 percent in the three months ended Sept. 30, the Cabinet Office said today in Tokyo. Economists predicted the economy would grow 0.1 percent after contracting a revised 3.7 percent in the previous period.

Meanwhile, the yen and the dollar rose against the euro after the Group of 20 nations failed to agree on specific measures to combat a global financial crisis, prompting investors to sell higher-yielding assets funded in Japan.