Oil falls below $50 a barrel
New York: Oil fell to below $50 a barrel on Thursday for the first time since May 2005 after a sharp increase in crude supply in the United States, the world's top oil consumer data showed.

US crude futures settled down $1.76 at $50.48 a barrel, after hitting a 20-month low of $49.90 during intraday activity. London Brent fell $1.03 to $51.75 a barrel. This was the biggest price slide over 10 trading days since April 2003, after the US-led invasion of Iraq.

US government data released Thursday showed an increase of 6.8 million barrels in crude stockpiles last week, well above analyst expectations of a 100,000-barrel rise. Distillate supplies, including heating oil, rose 900,000 barrels while gasoline stocks jumped 3.5 million barrels.
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India, UK vow to deepen finance, trade ties
New Delhi: India and Britain vowed to deepen financial and trade ties during a three-day visit to India by Britain's finance minister Gordon Brown, fast becoming a favourite to take over from Prime Minister Tony Blair by July.

In the first meeting of a group of officials and business figures from both countries Brown pushed for greater access for UK firms in India while Indian finance minister Palaniappan Chidambaram said British banks were welcome in India.

Brown said he wanted Britain to become the location of choice for Indian companies setting up abroad.

The two sides also promised to strengthen co-operation on security issues and tackle financing of terrorist activities.
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India, fourth-biggest M&A target
New Delhi: India has emerged as the fourth-biggest target in the Asia-Pacific IT space with deals worth over 3.5 billion dollars in 2006. While total merger and acquisition activities in Asia-Pacific technology sector stood at 35.1 billion dollars in 2006, Indian companies were the target in deals worth 10 per cent of the total value, data compiled by global financial information provider Dealogic showed.

Taiwan was the most targeted nation with deals worth 12.2 billion dollars through 76 transactions, followed by Japan with seven billion dollars in 441 deals and China with 5.1 billion dollars in 275 deals, Dealogic data shows.

The Asia Pacific region witnessed a sharp surge in IT space M&A activities last year as compared to deals worth less than 15 billion dollars in 2003 and 2004 each.
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