NEW YORK: Social networking site Facebook, whose 900 million user strength is only behind China and India's populations, went public on Friday as its much sought- after shares got listed at Nasdaq and the stock is trading at $41.10, much above its IPO price of $38 in early trade.

What began in a Harvard dorm room as a platform to connect college mates in US eight years ago, Facebook today is valued at 109.36 billion after it raised a whopping $16 billion in a much-trumpetted IPO (Initial Public Offer) billed as America's second-largest ever, eclipsing the likes of General Motors and Citigroup.

The market potential of Facebook is reflected in the fact that its founder Mark Zuckerberg, still in his twenties, and his team was able to mop up billions of dollars at a time when US is recovering from a painful recession and investors worldwide are staying away from risky assets like stocks.

Earlier in the day, Zuckerberg in a symbolic gesture rang the opening bell at Nasdaq, an exclusive bourse for technology companies like Microsoft and Google, marking the listing of Facebook under the ticker symbol 'FB'.

Investor appetite for FB shares was mirrored in the listing price of $42 apiece, 10 per cent more than the IPO offer price of $38.

To mark the IPO, Facebook is expected to organise an "hackathon" where engineers stay up all night writing programming code to come up with new features for the site.

Facebook put up 421 million shares of its common stock up for sale. The company has also granted the underwriters a 30-day option to purchase up to 63,185,042 additional shares to cover over-allotments, if any. With the over-allotment quota, the total IPO mop up could touch $18 billion.

Agencies

Posted: Friday, May 18, 2012 at 1300 hrs IST

: Taking markets, analysts and investors by huge suprise, country's largest bank SBI today posted nearly 200-time increase in profit at whopping Rs 4,050.27 crore for January-March period -- the highest ever in its history-- on a sharp fall in provisioning for bad loans.

SBI profits had taken a big hit in the same period of 2010-11 at Rs 20.88 crore on account of higher provisioning for bad loans and increased tax outgo.

Terming its performance as "blockbuster" State Bank of India's (SBI) Chairman Pratip Chaudhuri said it is the highest ever quarterly profit for the lender. Its net profit of Rs 11,707.29 crore for the entire fiscal ended March, 2012 is the third highest profit of any corporation in India, he added.

"In the Indian context, this (SBI's annual profit) is to my mind is the third highest profit of any corporation. We have Reliance Industries and ONGC whose profits are in the

... contd.

Mumbai: Tata Steel posted a bigger-than-expected drop in its consolidated quarterly profit, as weak prices, lower volumes and high raw material costs depressed margins in its main European market.

“The continuing eurozone crisis kept European steel demand well below pre-crisis levels. In addition, operational difficulties caused the European operations to perform worse,” Karl-Ulrich Kohler, head of its European operations, said in a statement.

The world’s No.7 steelmaker, whose European operations account for two-thirds of its global capacity of about 28 million tonnes, reported net profit after minority interest and share of associates, of Rs433 crore ($79.4 million) for its fiscal fourth quarter ended March.

A year earlier, it had posted profit of Rs4176 crore, but this included a one-time gain of Rs2280 crore due to sale of a plant in England.

A Reuters poll of brokerages had forecast quarterly net profit of Rs1030 crore for the March quarter.

Net sales rose 1.2% to Rs33860 crore.

Global crude output grew at a slower pace in 2011, and demand this year has been squeezed by the eurozone debt crisis and tight credit conditions in China, the world’s biggest steel consumer and producer.

Last week, ArcelorMittal, the world’s largest steelmaker, said it saw strong demand from the United States and said demand environment had improved since last November.

Earlier, world No 3 POSCO and Japan’s Nippon Steel both forecast an improvement in markets in the latter half of 2012, but warned of high raw material costs.

India boost

Sales at the company’s Indian operations, which account for a quarter of its global capacity, rose 13.8% to Rs9375 crore.

It posted a 3.3% increase in Indian volume for the fourth quarter, helped by improved demand from the automobile and consumer goods sectors.

The company said its expansion of steelmaking capacity in India to 9.7 million tonnes from 6.7 million tonnes, is likely to boost performance in 2012/13. It has started trial production at the expanded facility.

The company held total net debt of $9.4 billion at end-March, much of it from its $13 billion acquisition of Anglo-Dutch steelmaker Corus in 2007. Its debt stood at $9.2 billion at the end of December.

Its consolidated operating margins for the quarter fell to 10.1% from 14.1% a year earlier, while steel deliveries fell to 6.22 million tonnes from 6.65 million a year earlier.

Shares in Tata Steel, valued at $7.3 billion, closed down 1.5% ahead of the results. The stock has risen about 19% so far in 2012, compared with a 4.5% rise in India’s benchmark index.

Adopting a 'carrot and stick' approach towards the 11-day Air India pilots' stir, government on Friday indicated it could take back all those sacked, barring the Indian Pilots Guild (IPG) office-bearers, if they resumed duty, as it alerted the IAF to set up medical boards to check pilots who have reported 'sick'.

After sending doctors to the homes of all pilots who have reported sick, the Civil Aviation Ministry has alerted the Indian Air Force to set up special medical boards to check the agitating pilots, who have reported 'sick' during the past 11 days.

As the per laid down norms to retain their flying licenses, the pilots would have to compulsorily undergo a thorough check-up by a specially-established medical board, if they remain 'sick' beyond 14 days, a deadline that would expire on Monday.

If these pilots are found medically fit by this board, they would have to join duty immediately, the sources said, expressing hope that the agitators would resume work in the next couple of days.

The sources, referring to civil aviation minister Ajit Singh's statement in Parliament two days ago, said the Ministry and Air India would not be vindictive towards pilots if they resume duty soon.

With Singh offering unconditional talks once they resumed duty, the IPG has also said it was ready to negotiate if the sack orders of 71 pilots were revoked.

Noting that the courts had also declared the strike illegal, the sources maintained it would be difficult to take back the IPG office-bearers or restore recognition to their union. The other sacked pilots could be reinducted.

The agitation has led the ailing national carrier to drastically curtail its international flight operations, particularly those to North America and Europe, with airline officials saying the restricted schedule was in operation and there has been no cancellation in the past two days.

The airline has already lost around Rs 190 crore in the past ten days only due to the stir that has caused several of international flight cancellations.

  

Fri May 18, 2012 11:14am EDT

* TSX up 49.99 pts, or 0.4 pct, at 11,380.67
    * Gold miners, energy shares lead gains
    * Moody's downgrade of Spanish banks weighs


    By Jon Cook 
    TORONTO, May 18 (Reuters) - Canada's main stock index rose
on Friday as gold miners and energy firms continued to rally
after a month-long swoon, offsetting jitters about a deepening
Spanish banking crisis and uncertainty over Greece's future in
the euro zone.  
    Eight of Canada's 10 main sectors were higher. The
heavyweight materials group led the charge, up 1.5 percent as
miners were boosted by higher gold and copper prices. 
        
    "Gold stocks are responding nicely to the performance of the
gold commodity," said Sid Mokhtari, director of institutional
equity research at CIBC World Markets. "Everybody was expecting
gold to go lower from these levels, but it has managed to hold
very well."     
    Canada's gold mining sub-index has gained nearly 9
percent the last two days. Friday's most influential gainers
included Goldcorp Inc, up 3.5 percent at C$36.72, Barrick
Gold, up 2.3 percent to C$39.02 and Eldorado Gold
, which climbed more than 4 percent to C$11.47. 
    At 10:30 a.m. (1430 GMT), the Toronto Stock Exchange's
S&P/TSX composite index was up 49.99 points, or 0.4
percent, at 11,380.67.  
    Energy stocks rose 0.5 percent, as surging U.S. natural gas
prices offset a drop in oil, which hit a 2012 low on Friday.
        
    Canadian Natural Resources rose 1.3 percent to
C$30.14 and Enbridge Inc edged up 0.5 percent at
C$40.34.        
    The TSX was still down 2.5 percent for the week and has
fallen more than 7 percent in May.      
    Conditions in Europe continued to weigh on financial
markets. Investors were spooked by a ratings downgrade of 16
Spanish banks by Moody's Investors Service and fears the sector
may need a bailout that would strain Madrid's already stretched
finances.       
    "There's a lot of talk about what the downgrades are going
to bring from the banking sector in the European community so
people are still sitting on the sidelines," said Mokhtari.
"Investors are still expecting darker days ahead and that's
what's going to keep a cap on the market."      
    The European Commission and the European Central Bank are
working on scenarios in case Greece has to leave the euro zone,
EU trade commissioner Karel De Gucht said on Friday.
        
    Canadian financial shares were flat with investors holding
positions ahead of a G8 meeting of leaders of major industrial
economies where the euro zone crisis was expected to dominate
discussions.    
    Royal Bank of Canada shares rose 1 percent to
C$52.49, but was offset by Bank of Nova Scotia, which
fell 0.6 percent to C$51.40, and insurer Sun Life Financial
, down 0.8 percent to C$21.16.  
    Market watchers in North America were looking ahead to
Facebook's Wall Street debut after the world's No.1
online social network raised about $16 billion in one of the
biggest initial public offerings in U.S. history.

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Notice no :	20120518-16	Notice date :	Friday, May 18, 2012
Category :	Company related	Segment :	General
Subject :	Daily Bulletin

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