US stocks rise on good results by blue-chips
New York: US stocks rose a bit on Thursday as Coca-Cola Co. and Pfizer Inc., reported healthy earnings, offsetting concerns about weak results of technology companies.

In the tech sector Apple Computer Inc. also posted earnings and revenue that beat street expectations, lending wings to its shares that rose nearly 7 percent to $79.48.

Semiconductor maker Advanced Micro Devices Inc. reported profit margins that had been eroded by a price war with rival Intel Corp. AMD shares plunged 10 percent to $21.80 and dragged other semiconductor shares lower. Intel dropped about 1 percent to $20.94.

Coca-Cola and Pfizer's shares rose after they reported profits that surpassed expectations.
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Nokia profits fall on back of cheap phones
Helsinki: World's biggest phone maker Nokia said profits fell as sales of cheap handsets in China and India eroded margins. Nokia's third-quarter net income dropped 4 per cent to e845m ($1.06bn) from e881m, a year earlier, the Finland-based company said on Thursday.

Nokia said its sales rose 20 per cent to e10.1bn.

The company said its average prices fell 9 per cent as it tapped emerging markets to increase revenue. Nokia and Motorola, which this week posted the smallest sales growth in five quarters, are losing market share in Europe and the US to pricier phones made by Samsung Electronics and Sony Ericsson Mobile Communications.

Shares of Nokia fell as much as e1.06, or 6.7%, to e14.88. The company's shares have risen by as much as 8.7 per cent and lost as much as 11 per cent on earnings days in the past two years, when results beat or missed analysts' estimates. The third-quarter profit decline was the first this year.

To counter slowing growth in Europe and North America, Nokia has added music players, cameras, e-mail devices and faster wireless connections in saturated markets to beef up selling prices.
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Microsoft launches IE version 7
Mumbai: Microsoft has launched its Internet Explorer (IE) browser without much fanfare and one now can download the version 7 from MSN.

Yahoo launched the IE 7 a day before MIcosoft. The browser has features like Yahoo home pages, Yahoo as the default search engine and a Yahoo toolbar. This is the company's first major overhaul of the browser in years. IE 7 adds features such as tabbed browsing, built-in RSS reader and improved printing. The company has included a number of security enhancements as well, including an anti-phishing filter.
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