MUMBAI: The benchmark BSE Sensex fell over 144 points in early trade as investors turned cautious ahead of February derivatives expiry amid sustained foreign fund outflows and mixed Asian cues.

The 30-share index, which had gained 141.27 points in the previous session, slipped 144.23 points, or 0.42 per cent, to 33,700.63.

Calcutta: Close on the heels of picking up a 16 per cent stake in Zoomcar for Rs 176 crore, domestic automobile major Mahindra and Mahindra (M&M) has zeroed in on another automotive technology firm, Carnot Technologies Private Limited.

M&M has signed an agreement to acquire 1,296 equity shares and subscribe up to 6,074 compulsory convertible cumulative preference shares, translating into a 22.9 per cent stake in the Mumbai-based Carnot. The cost of acquisition is estimated at Rs 6.06 crore.

Mumbai: Idea Cellular has fixed an issue price of Rs 82.50 per share for the sale of shares through a qualified institutional placement (QIP).

The QIP issue will raise as much as Rs 3,500 crore.

Mumbai: Oil and Natural Gas Corporation Ltd (ONGC) is set to hire international oil service giants for the first time to boost output from domestic oilfields in response to a government push to increase local supplies and cut expensive imports.

ONGC, India's biggest explorer, has shortlisted US oil service companies Halliburton, Schlumberger and GE subsidiary Baker Hughes to submit proposals on boosting production from two onshore fields, according to a document seen by Reuters.

The rupee weakened by 30 paise to trade at a three-month low of 65.06 against the U.S. dollar in opening session on Thursday due to increased demand for the greenback from importers amid heavy foreign fund outflows.

The dollar’s gain against major world currencies, after U.S. Federal Reserve minutes hinted at hiking interest rates faster than expectations, also impacted the rupee sentiment, a currency dealer said.

The battle lines drawn between incumbent telecom operators and the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) hardened on Wednesday with the former threatening to legally challenge the latter’s recent regulations on predatory pricing and even spoke of approaching the department of telecommunications and the Prime Minister’s Office with their grievances with the regulator.

Biopharma major Biocon on Wednesday said it had received six observations from the US regulator US Food and Drug Administration (USFDA) during an inspection of its Malaysian facility. The US regulator had issued a Form 483 with six observations, said the company in a regulatory filing. “The USFDA has completed a pre-approval inspection of our manufacturing facility in Malaysia and issued a Form 483 with six observations,” Bengaluru-based Biocon said in the filing.

Air India stake sale: After Civil Aviation Minister Gajapathi Raju said earlier this month that any ‘unsolicited expression of interest’ in Air India is no longer relevant, even as many airlines are reportedly queuing up to pick up a stake in the state-run carrier, the minister said on Wednesday that no final decision has been made as yet. Addressing a press conference yesterday, Civil Aviation Minister Gajapathi Raju said that while there is no final decision as yet, there are lots of suggestions and the government is still mulling on the issue.

Shares of state-owned oil marketing companies (OMC) were trading weak with the Indian Oil Corporation (IOCL) hitting a 52-week low of Rs 363.60 on the National Stock Exchange (NSE) in intra-day trade on Wednesday.

Bharat Petroleum Corporation (BPCL) and Hindustan Petroleum Corporation (HPCL) were down 1% to 2%, as compared to 0.07% rise in the Nifty 50 index.

The Facebook-owned Messaging application WhatsApp is set to launch new updates in the coming days. The company which is known to introduce the new features for Android first, will roll out the new features for windows phone this time. The application is reportedly testing new tickers as well as redesigned Stickers notification icon in WhatsApp beta for Windows. Apart from this, the platform can also add live location sharing feature to windows in the coming days.

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