SENSEX SURGES 291 POINTS AT MIDSESSION

In volatile trading, the benchmark Sensex surged over 291 points at midsession on the Bombay Stock Exchange today on emergence of buying by funds amid brokers covering their short positions.

The key index moved in a wide range of 14,280 and 13,870 points on heavy alternate bouts of trading in fundamentally strong stocks led by heavy-machinery and information technology company stocks.

The Sensex gained 291.22 points at 14,280.33 at 13:00 hours, while the wide-based National Stock Exchange's Nifty gained 87.50 points at 4,162.40. The Nifty had fallen to 4,040.15 in morning deals.

The Sensex had plunged 438 points yesterday on political developments over the nuclear issue after the last week's bearish trend over widening sub-prime mortgage problems in US markets.

"The fresh firmness in the market came on speculations that the US Federal Reserve cutting the discount rate might help the market to defuse a crisis in the credit markets and revive demand for riskier assets like equities, Mumbai-based broker Ratnesh Gupta said.

Asian stocks rose on the back of rebound in US stocks for the fourth day yesterday, giving positive signals to the Indian markets, even discounting the political crisis at home, Gupta said.

Reliance Industries, which has the world's third biggest refinery and is the heaviest on the Sensex, jumped Rs 8.15, or 0.5 per cent, to Rs 1,755.5.

Infosys Technologies rose Rs 10, or 0.6 per cent, to Rs 1,771. India's second-largest software exporter expanded into Latin America by setting up a software development and sales unit in Monterrey, Mexico. These two companies carry almost one-fifth of the total weightage on the Sensex.

IT RAID UNEARTHS RS 20 CR UNACCOUNTED MONEY FROM 3 MUMBAI BUILDERS

The Income Tax department has unearthed Rs 20 crore as undisclosed income from three Mumbai builders after a raid on their premises.

"We conducted raids on three builders last week on the basis of specific information regarding concealed income. Our information turned out to be true after Rs 20 cr was recovered as undisclosed income," said a senior I-T official.

The builders will be told to explain the source of income and if found that there was tax evasion, they have to pay 40 per cent tax on it.

"Along with it, they have to pay penalty of 100-300 per cent on the amount of tax. They will also have to pay interest on the tax amount," the official said.

He also added that apart from the undisclosed sum, little over a crore of rupees was found in cash with the builders at their premises.

"We are still assessing as the total undisclosed income could be higher. What we have got now is from our preliminary assessment," he said.

KISS KISS KI KISMAT: TABU AND UPEN PATEL GO KISSING ALL THE WAY IN MUMBAI CLUB

Tabu has the whole of Bollywood and Mumbai agog with rumours with her romantic escapades. We hear that she was in this club, Poison, in Bandra, Mumbai, to do what else, have a gala time. She is in her thirties and single, and wouldn't anyone want to mingle with the right company? And so she did too. We hear she stumbled upon the hunk Upen Patel, and both of them instantly got hooked to each other: that is they got talking. And talking and talking and talking. After a while, they got bored with talking and wanted to do something exciting. Tabu too was in high spirits and with your spirits roaring, can you stop yourself from having a ball? Definitely not. So, one thing led to another and, both of them, we hear, got into a marathon kissing spree. So much so, that they forgot about their other friends and had a gala night together. We hear that they have put the serial kisser Emraan Hashmi to shame with their passionate kiss.

BOYS FROM MUMBAI'S DHARAVI SLUMS BEAT FERRARI F1 TEAM HOLLOW!!

Ferrari's F1 Team was facing a disturbing problem with its Pit Crew. Ferrari decided to take advantage of India's high nemployment rate and hire unemployed Indian youths from the Dharavi slums in Mumbai.

The decision to hire them was brought on by a recent documentary on how they were able to remove a set of wheels from a car parked in the street in less than 6 seconds without proper equipment.

Ferrari's erstwhile crew took more than 8 seconds with the right equipment. This was thought to be an excellent, yet bold, move by the Ferrari management, and, as most races are won and lost in the pits, Ferrari would have an advantage over every other team.

However, Ferrari's expectations were exceeded, as during the crew's first practice session; not only were 'da boyz' from Mumbai able to change the tires in under 6 seconds, but within 12 seconds they resprayed the car, filed off the chassis number, and sold the vehicle over to the McLaren Team!!!

Wanna fly? Now is the time

With monsoons round the corner, domestic airlines are offering tickets at throw-away prices. Several of them have announced special offers to woo passengersto travel during the rainy season which is considered a lean period. Despite incurring heavy losses, airlines are offering tickets atRs 225 or 99 paise.

Budget carriers like Air Deccan, GoAir and SpiceJet have even offered free tickets to passengers. Full service carrier Jet Airways is also joining the monsoonoffer bandwagon to fill space during the lean season.

These cheap fares are tactics to stimulate passengers to travelmore, say industry analysts, and fill as many seats as possible. The rainy season is the worst time for airlines. Therefore, airlines areselling seats in advance by offering cheaper fares.

According to estimates, domestic airlines posted a net loss of about Rs 2,000 crore during last financial year. Jet Airways, the country's largest private airline, is offering special advance fares in 40 sectors, including Delhi, Mumbai, Hyderabad, Chennai, Bangalore and Goa.

The airlines' monsoon fares are priced lower than normal economyor check fares. Under the scheme on offer, passengers can bookflights on certain domestic routes 10, 15, 20 and 25 days before thetravel date, and the journey should be undertaken by September 30.

(Courtesy: UNI)