MUMBAI, Aug 17: A benchmark index of Indian equities markets on Friday closed nearly 34 points higher, shedding early gains after the Comptroller and Auditor General’s (CAG) reports on coal, power and Delhi airport were placed in Parliament.

The 30-scrip sensitive index (Sensex) of the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), which opened at 17,701.20 points, closed at 17,691.08 points, 0.19 per cent or 33.87 points up from its previous day’s close at 17,657.21 points.

The Sensex had risen 140 points during the day. It touched a high of 17,801.39 points and a low of 17,622.62 points in intra-day trade. The BSE FMCG index was up 64.87 points, and so was the IT index, up 63.65 points.

The wider 50-scrip S&P CNX Nifty of the National Stock Exchange (NSE) closed 0.06 per cent higher at 5,366.30 points.

The major Sensex gainers were Tata Motors, up 2.12 per cent at Rs 240.45; Infosys, up 1.61 per cent at Rs 2,351.40; Hindustan Unilever, up 1.53 per cent at Rs 502.10; ITC, up 1.43 per cent at Rs 261.85; and Wipro, up 1.17 per cent at Rs 353.65.

The main Sensex losers were Jindal Steel, down 4.02 per cent at Rs 402.10; Tata Power, down 3.71 per cent at Rs 97.35; Hindalco Inds, down 2.48 per cent at Rs 113.95; Gail India, down 1.72 per cent at Rs 360.55; and Larsen and Toubro, down 1.48 per cent at Rs 1,452.65.

Among other Asian markets, Japan's Nikkei closed 0.77 per cent up, Shanghai’s composite index closed 0.13 per cent down. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng closed 0.77 per cent up.

At closing bell here, European markets were green too. France’s CAC was up 0.08 per cent. Germany’s DAX was 0.21 per cent up and Britain’s FTSE 100 was 0.19 per cent up. (IANS)

MUMBAI, Aug 17: Reliance Capital, a part of the Anil Ambani Group, on Friday said it has concluded its 26-per cent stake sale to Japan’s Nippon Life for $290 million, pushing its value to $1.1 billion in the largest such deal for an Indian asset management firm.

“The entire transaction proceeds of Rs 1.450 crore ($290 million) has been duly received from Nippon Life Insurance. The transaction pegs the total valuation of Reliance Capital at approximately Rs 5,600 crore ($1.1 billion),” the company said.

The board of Reliance Capital also announced the induction of Yutaka Ideguchi, Nippon Life’s general manager for international planning and operations, as a non-executive director and nominee.

Reliance Capital had signed final agreements with Nippon Life to sell 26 per cent stake in Reliance Capital earlier this year, subject to a series of regulatory approvals all of which were granted recently.

Nippon Life is a 123-year-old Fortune 100 company and manages over $600 billion in assets, among the largest in the world for any life insurer. The company is the 5th largest life insurer in the world and number one in Asia and Japan. Reliance Capital is the largest asset management company in India in terms of assets under management, with a portfolio of $28 billion across mutual funds, government sponsored public funds, managed accounts and hedge funds. (IANS)

NEW DELHI, Aug 17: The government has disconnected over 51,000 telephone numbers of such subscribers who had not registered themselves as a telemarketer but were involved in the activity, parliament was informed on Friday.

Notices have been served on nearly 88,300 subscribers who have carried out similar violations, Minister of State for Communications and IT, Milind Deora said in a written reply in the Rajya Sabha.

As per the Telecom Commercial Communications Customer Preference Regulations, 2010, no subscriber, who is not registered with the sector regulator TRAI as a telemarketer, shall make any commercial communications.

In case it is found that the commercial call was originated by a subscriber who is not registered with TRAI as a telemarketer, the originating access provider shall issue a notice to such subscriber forthwith to discontinue the sending of such communications. If such subscriber sends a commercial communication to any subscriber on a second occasion then his telecom services will be disconnected.

Government is aware that several calls and SMSs are being sent by subscribers, without getting themselves registered with TRAI as a telemarketer, by using normal telephone connections having numbers, other than the ‘140’ number series allotted to registered telemarketers, Deora said. (IANS)