Business

Markets became jittery over reports that France could be the next in line to be downgraded after the United States.

Asian stocks fell 1-2 percent on Thursday as the fallout from Wall Street's 4 percent drop overnight.

A sharp jump in Chinese inflation further spooked the equities market.

Sharma was named President of S&P's in 2007 and also chairs the board of S&P's Indian subsidiary Crisil.

But S&P also says a fresh global financial crisis could hurt some Asian sovereigns harder this time around.

The Bank of America and the Citigroup continued their declines, with both stocks hitting a new 52-week low.

PN Vijay also said that Friday may be the last tough day for investors.

Metal, PSUs, capital goods and oil stocks staged a moderate recovery on Thursday.

The hike is likely to dampen further the demands for home and car loans.

The net profit was at Rs 5,661 crore compared to Rs 4,851 crore in Q1 of last year.

Qatar has been ranked 26th in the Global Innovation Index, securing the highest position in the West Asia.

The Sensex recovered as investors accumulated oil and gas, banking, auto and metal sector stocks.

Indian Oil Corp also saw buying interest, with the scrip shooting up by 6.79 per cent to a month's high of Rs 360.

Stocks of realty, IT and metal companies remained under pressure.

The IMF raised its growth view for the euro area in 2011 to 2.0 per cent from 1.6 per cent.

The latest fall, although very marginal, is likely to be seen as a silver lining by the government.