 "10 things you need to know before the opening bell")
Global cues:
Asian shares stabilized on Thursday after two days of steep losses as fears abated that US-led forces would soon launch a military strike on Syria, and oil prices retreated from a six-month peak.
Wall Street rose on Wednesday as energy shares rallied on higher oil prices as the United States and its allies edged closer to military action against Syria.Trading volume was thin and came after a drop in the S&P 500 index on Tuesday to its lowest in two months.
[caption id=“attachment_1068427” align=“alignright” width=“380”]  Reuters[/caption]
The safe-haven yen on Thursday trimmed some of the recent chunky gains that had taken it to three-week highs against the dollar, while a rebound in the Brazilian real offered hopes that emerging market currencies in Asia may find a bit of a reprieve.
Oil and gold prices surged for a second straight day on Wednesday as speculation of an imminent military strike on Syria raised worries about Middle East oil supplies and pushed safe-haven investors toward precious metals.
Business/Stock news:
In a senior level rejig,Bharti Airtel appointed Christian de Faria as the new CEO for African operations while Manoj Kohli, MD and CEO (International) will relocate to India.Kohli, who is in-charge of Africa, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka operations, is based in Airtel’s Africa headquarters in Nairobi.
Infosysannounced yesterday that Ashok Vemuri, a member of the company’s board of directors and head of its operations in the Americas, has resigned.Vemuri, who was also the company’s global head of manufacturing and engineering services, was widely considered to be a contender for the top job at the company when current chief executive SD Shibulal’s term ends in 2015.
With some files relating to coal mines allocation still missing, an inter-ministerial panel is expected to meet today to review the situation and decide on future course of action.
Economy news:
Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Wednesday opened a special window to help the three state-owned oil marketing companies needing about USD 8.5 billion every month meet their daily foreign exchange requirementin a bid to check the rupee’s free fall.
With therupeefalling to new lows against the dollar and the Syrian crisis pushing globalcrudeoil prices higher, the concerns that Indian oil marketing companies might again start losing money onpetrolsales are back.
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