WASHINGTON: Microsoft and Facebook have joined hands to lay a giant state-of-the-art sub-sea cable across the Atlantic Ocean connecting the US with Europe and beyond so as to facilitate faster speed and access to the Internet.

The new "MAREA" cable will help meet the growing customer demand for high speed, reliable connections for cloud and online services for Microsoft, Facebook and their customers, a media release said.

Maruti Suzuki India is recalling 75,419 units of its premium hatchback Baleno to fix faulty airbag component and fuel filter.

It is also calling back 1,961 units if its compact sedan DZire with auto gear shift technology to replace fuel filter.

Bharat Petroleum Corporation (BPCL) posted a net sales at Rs 44,146 crore for the March quarter, down 14 per cent over the year-ago quarter. Inventory loss was at Rs 990 crore against Rs 1,430 crore in the year-ago period. Overall, revenues were ahead of Bloomberg consensus estimate of Rs 40,522 crore.

Lower crude oil prices, sharp fall in tax rate which came down from 32.7 per cent in March 2015 quarter to 27.1 per cent. This metric registered lower fall than revenues in March quarter.

Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC), state-run petroleum explorer, on Thursday posted a 12 per cent jump in profit after tax (PAT) for the quarter ended March on account of nil under-recovery and part-reversal of impairment provisions made earlier due to the crude price decline.

The company thus posted a PAT of Rs 4,416 crore during the quarter ended March as compared to Rs 3,935 crore in the corresponding period a year ago, and much higher than consensus estimate of Rs 2,380 crore, according to Bloomberg poll of analysts. “While the average crude price was down significantly during the quarter, we could offset its impact by the reversal of provision for impairment and also write-off of wells,” ONGC’s Finance Director A K Srinivasan said.

Mumbai: Stocks gained for the third straight day on Thursday, with BSE’s 30-share Sensex closing 1.88%, or 485.51 points, up at 26,366.68 points and National Stock Exchange’s 50-share Nifty closing 1.7%, or 134.75 points, up at 8,069.65 points.

The last time Nifty touched the 8,000-mark was on 6 November 2015, and the last time it closed above that mark was 4 November 2015. In the last three days, Sensex has gained 4.5%, or 1,136.32 points, while the Nifty has gained 4.38%, or 338.60 points.

Apollo Hospitals is planning to invest around Rs 1,000 crore over the next two years. The healthcare major said this investment will help the company to add around 1,500 beds and will take overall bed capacity to over 10,500.

The company also said it is waiting for approval to raise Rs 750 crore through rights issue.

Ashok Leyland's net profit for the March quarter took a hit due to exceptional items. The commercial vehicle major's net profit fell 66.5% yearly to Rs 77 crore in the fourth quarter due to exceptional loss of Rs 379.3 crore as against Rs 8 crore a year ago and higher tax payout.

During the quarter finance cost were lower than a year ago. A few years ago Ashok Leyland said it has diversfied into few areas including light commercial vehicle (with Nissan), construction equipment business (along with US-based John Deere) and in other areas.

Mumbai: Shares of Larsen and Toubro Ltd on Thursday jumped 11.24%, its biggest gain in five years, after the company posted better-than-expected March quarter earnings and most brokerages increased the target price on the stock and maintained a buy rating on it.

The stock touched a high of Rs.1,436.45 a share, a level last seen on 30 October 2015. It gained as much as 11.24%, the maximum gain since 7 March 2011. This was the third consecutive session when the stock gained. Since 23 May, it has gained 15.8% and so far this year, it has gained 10%.

Wipro Limited, a leading global information technology, consulting and business process services company, on Thursday announced the launch of Total Customer Centricity (TCC), a Master Data Management solution for the manufacturing sector.

The Wipro solution will be powered by the Informatica Master Data Management (MDM) suite of solutions. Total Customer Centricity (TCC) will enable global manufacturers to transition from a product-centric to a customer- centric approach.

YES Bank shares hit their new all-time high in Thursday’s trade after the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs on Wednesday approved YES Bank’s proposal to increase foreign investment limit in the bank to 74 per cent, entailing FDI inflows of $1 billion (Rs 6,885 crore).

At 10.09 am, shares of YES Bank were trading 1.03 per cent up at Rs 1006.50. The scrip opened the day at Rs 996 and has touched a new all-time high of Rs 1009.60 in trade.

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