P V Sindhu will look to continue her consistent run when she spearheads the Indian challenge at the Hong Kong World Tour Super 500 tournament beginning here on Tuesday. Sindhu finished second best in the last edition after her gallant fight ended in agony against world no 1 Tai Tzu Ying and the Indian will have to once again bring her best to the fore to salvage any hopes of making the podium again in a tough field.

In a gruelling season, Sindhu managed to claim silver medals at the Commonwealth Games, World Championship and Asian Games. She also reached the finals at the India Open and Thailand Open.

At the rear-end of the season, the Indian will have to go full throttle if she has to reach the finals. Sindhu begins her campaign against Thailand’s Nitchaon Jindapol and is likely to face China’s He Bingjiao in the quarterfinals, an opponent who has defeated her thrice this year.

Saina Nehwal, who claimed a second Commonwealth Games gold and a bronze at the Asian Games this season, will have a tough task at hand when she faces the formidable Akane Yamaguchi, the second seeded Japanese.

Saina will have to produce the kind of form that she displayed on way to the Denmark Open final last month. Interestingly, the Indian had beaten the Japanese in the second round at Odense.

In the men’s singles, Kidambi Srikanth will face Hong Kong’s Wong Wing Ki Vincent in the opener and might face compatriot HS Prannoy in the second round if he crosses the opening hurdle.

Prannoy opens his campaign against Denmark’s Anders Antonsen, an opponent he had defeated at the Japan Open last year in their only meeting. Also in action will be Sameer Verma, who won the Swiss Open and Hyderabad Open this season. The 24-year-old will take on Thailand’s Suppanyu Avihingsanon in the first round.

The rupee weakened by 26 paise to 72.76 against the US dollar Monday, owing to increased demand for the American currency from importers amid increasing global crude oil prices.

The international benchmark, Brent crude again breached the USD 71 a barrel mark by surging 1.21 per cent.

Forex traders said besides increased demand of the US currency from importers, the dollar’s strength against some currencies overseas weighed on the rupee but a higher opening of the domestic equity markets, capped the losses.

At the Interbank forex market, the rupee opened lower at 72.74 and slipped further to quote at 72.76 against US dollar, down 26 paise over its previous close.

On Friday, the rupee rose by 50 paise to end at 72.50 per US dollar Friday on increased selling of the greenback by exporters amid softening crude oil prices, which slipped below the USD 70 per barrel mark.

Meanwhile, on net basis, foreign funds bought shares worth Rs 614.14 crore, while DIIs sold share to the tune of Rs 337.28 crore Friday, provisional data showed.

The benchmark BSE Sensex rose 99.26 points, or 0.25 per cent to 35,257.81.

Chinese internet giant Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. registered record sales on its biggest shopping day, the annual Single’s Day, on Sunday generating RMB 213.5 billion (US $30.8 billion) of gross merchandise volume (GMV), an increase of 27 per cent compared to last year.

People from over 230 countries and regions flocked Alibaba’s online portals, helping it surpass the 100 billion yuan mark in less than two hours. Alibaba owned logistic enterprise Cainiao Network alone processed more than 1 billion delivery orders.

Daniel Zhang, the CEO of Alibaba Group, said, “Today we witnessed the strength and rise of China’s consumption economy and consumers’ continued pursuit to upgrade their everyday lifestyles.”

“Participation from the entire Alibaba ecosystem enabled our brand and merchant partners to engage with consumers like never before. Looking ahead, Alibaba will continue to lead the evolution towards the future digital economy and lifestyle,” he added.

With more than 180,000 participating brands, 237 of them exceeded RMB 100 million in GMV, including leading international brands Apple, Dyson, Kindle, Estée Lauder, L’Oréal, Nestlé, Gap, Nike and Adidas. Over 40 per cent of consumers made purchases from international brands.

The top countries selling to China were Japan, the United States, South Korea, Australia and Germany, with the most popular items purchased overseas being dresses, woollen coats, pants and hoodies, Bloomberg reported.

Bengaluru: Union parliamentary affairs minister Ananth Kumar passed away in Bengaluru on Monday at 2 am from complications following cancer and infections. He was 59. Kumar, who also held the portfolio of minister for chemicals and fertilizer in the Narendra Modi government, had been undergoing treatment at a private hospital in the city and was on a ventilator in the ICU for last few days. 

Karnataka government has declared a one-day holiday for today as a mark of respect for Kumar - schools and colleges will remain shut today. The Union Minister's mortal remains will be kept at his residence in Bengaluru till 7 am on Tuesday and his funeral is expected to take place tomorrow. Kumar, who had been suffering from lung cancer, had not been keeping well since the last few months. Following the news of his demise, Prime Minister Narendra Modi posted a series of heartfelt tweets, remembering a "remarkable leader" and extended condolences to his family and friends. PM Modi hailed Kumar's contribution as an "able administrator", adding that he was a "great asset" to the BJP organisation. 

The BSE benchmark Sensex recovered by over 155 points and the NSE Nifty breached the 10,600-mark in opening trade Monday on fresh buying by investors, ahead of release of macroeconomic data later in the day.

Traders said, fresh fund inflows by foreign funds and a bullish trend on other Asian bourses also influenced trading sentiments here.
The 30-share Sensex was quoting 155.14 points, or 0.44 per cent higher at 35,313.69 points. The gauge had lost over 79 points on Friday.
Reflecting the market’s better mood, all the sectoral indices led by consumer durables, IT, healthcare and banking were trading in the positive zone with gains up to 1.66 per cent.

Also, the NSE Nifty was trading higher by 46.55 points, or 0.44 per cent, to 10,631.75. Brokers said, building up of positions by domestic investors ahead of the release of index of industrial production (IIP) data for September and inflation data for October later in the day, buoyed trading sentiment.

Among the Sensex constituents, Kotak Bank, Bharti Airtel, IndusInd Bank, Adani Ports, Infosys, HDFC Ltd, Tata Steel, M&M, TCS, ONGC, Coal India, Asian Paints, Bajaj Auto, L&T, Vedanta Ltd, Sun Pharma, ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank and Axis Bank were major gainers, rising by up to 1.49 per cent.

Meanwhile, on net basis, foreign funds bought shares worth Rs 614.14 crore, while domestic institutional investors (DIIs) sold shares to the tune of Rs 337.28 crore Friday, provisional data showed.

MANCHESTER: Manchester City surged 12 points clear of Manchester United with a 3-1 derby win on Sunday that highlighted just how far Jose Mourinho’s team is from dethroning its neighbour as Premier League champions.

As United was run ragged, and unable to disrupt City’s passing, David Silva swept the league leaders in front in the 12th minute.

United’s sloppiness _ with Jesse Lingard conceding possession on the halfway line _ set Sergio Aguero on the run for a move he completed with City’s second three minutes into the second half.

Although Anthony Martial reduced the deficit from the penalty spot, City remained ruthless and Ilkay Gundogan smoothed Pep Guardiola’s passage to victory by netting from Bernardo Silva’s cross in the 86th.

Runner-up last season, United managed just one shot on target at the Etihad Stadium and is now languishing in eighth place. In a league it was accustomed to dominating until 2013, the 20-time English champions are now further behind City than at any time in the Premier League after 12 games.

At its annual developer conference, Samsung gave the world a glimpse of its upcoming foldable phone with a flexible display. Samsung’s new foldable phone, which has been called Galaxy X in past reports is using the company’s “Infinity Flex” flexible display technology, which allows the tablet-like screen to be folded so that it fits inside the user’s pocket.

While there are many questions about Samsung’s foldable phone, it looks like the company will manufacture at least one million units when these devices hit the market next year. The report comes from Korea’s Yonhap, which quotes Samsung’s President of Mobile Communications Dong-Jin Koh as saying that the company is looking at the one million initial production units.

Koh made the remarks in a press conference, though he said he could not give a release date for the foldable phone. However, Samsung is expected to release in the first half of 2019. “I can not date it, but I will release it until the first half of next year,” he was quoted as saying.

The report further quotes DJ Koh as saying, “The production volume of flagship products is about 1 million units at the same production scale as Samsung Electronics…The volume of folder blueprints will be over 1 million units, and if the market response is good, it can produce more.”

After playing 15 years of competitive cricket former India pacer Munaf Patel has decided to quit all forms of game. In his typical blunt fashion, he summarised his decision: “There is no regret; after all the cricketers I played with have retired. Only Dhoni is left! Baki sab done ho chuke hain. So, there is no sadness as such. Sabka time khatam ho chuka hain, ghum hota jab saare khel rahe hote aur mein retire kar raha hota (everyone’s time is up; there will be sadness only if others are playing and only I had quit!).

Munaf will be making his appearance in T10 League to be held in Dubai and he wants to pursue a coaching career. Still, for a man who has spent all his life playing cricket, the decision couldn’t have been easy. It was one of the reasons he kept lingering on, despite last playing for India many years back. “Mera mann aaj bhi nahi maan raha hai ke cricket chhodoon as I don’t know anything else. Cricket hi samaj mein aata hain.” (I still can’t believe I am quitting cricket as I don’t know anything else. I understand only cricket.”

Munaf says he discussed the decision with his close friend Ismail bhai of Matadar cricket club before he took the call. “There is no special reason, age ho chuka hai, fitness is not the same. Youngsters are there waiting for chances and it doesn’t look nice if I keep hanging on. The main thing is there is no motivation left. I was part of World Cup winning team in 2011; there can’t be a greater high than that,” the 35-year-old told The Indian Express.

The big three of men’s tennis – Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer – were all among the winners at the 2018 ATP World Tour Awards. The trio were named as award winners on Friday in the prelude to the season-ending ATP World Tour Finals in London.

Not so surprisingly, Djokovic won the ‘Comeback Player of the Year Award’, voted by the ATP players, on the back of his glorious run during the second half of the season. Having dropped to World No 22 at one stage after struggling for form following an elbow surgery, the Serb bounced back by winning Wimbledon and the US Open including Masters titles in Cincinnati and Shanghai. His brilliant run saw him replace Nadal at the top of the ranks at the Paris Masters when the Spaniard withdrew due to injury.

Djokovic’s coach Marian Vajda was also named ATP Coach of the Year (voted by ATP coaches) after he guided the Serb back to the top following their reunion in April.

New Delhi: The stage is set for another showdown between the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and the Union government with the Centre sticking to its ground on Friday.

Discussions are underway with the RBI to decide the appropriate economic capital framework of the central bank, Subhash Chandra Garg, secretary of the department of economic affairs, said on Twitter.

The statement comes at a time when the government and RBI are at loggerheads over a range of issues, including norms regarding weak banks, the liquidity problem faced by non-banking finance companies, as well as pressures on the central bank to transfer more of its surplus to the government.

The meeting of the central board of the RBI on 19 November is likely to be stormy with the government determined to take up these issues and press for a decisive outcome.