Amazon.com Inc shares surged more than 17 percent on Thursday as the online retailer posted an unexpected quarterly profit, pushing its market value above that of Wal-Mart Stores Inc, the world’s largest retailer.

Combined with a bullish forecast for the third quarter, upbeat comments from company executives on Amazon’s Prime delivery service and rapid growth in its cloud computing service, Amazon delivered the kind of results Wall Street is looking for.

BSE Sensex ended 258.53 points down at 28,112.31 while NSE Nifty fell 68.25 points to settle at 8,521.55

At 3:10 pm, BSE Sensex trades 264.81 down at 28,106.03. NSE Nifty trades 74.10 points down at 8,515.70.

At 3:00 pm, BSE Sensex trades 219.32 down at 28,151.52. NSE Nifty trades 55.50 points down at 8,534.30.

India has earned about $100 million launching 45 foreign satellites till date and revenue from its commercial space missions is poised to grow with another 28 foreign satellites planned to be put into orbit between 2015 and 2017.

This information was given by Science and Technology Minister Jitendra Singh in a written reply in the Lok Sabha on Wednesday while providing details of revenue earned by Antrix--the commercial arm of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO)--from launch of foreign satellites.

Benchmark indices continue to trade in the negative zone due to persistent selling on the back of weak corporate earnings amid weakness in the global peers.

At 12:15 PM, the Sensex was lower by 84 points at 28,286 and Nifty slipped by 20 points at 8,569.

Falling for the third consecutive day, the rupee weakened by another 20 paise to trade at 63.97 against the dollar in early trade today on appreciation of the American currency against other major currencies globally as the US Federal Reserve prepares to hike rates.

Besides, increased demand for dollar from importers and a lower opening in the domestic equity market, weighed on the local currency, forex dealers said.

Axis Bank, the country’s third-largest private sector bank, today reported a 18.72% rise in net profit to Rs 1,978 crore in the April-June quarter as compared to Rs 1,666 crore in the same quarter of the previous financial year.

Gross NPA came in at 1.38% compared to 1.34% q-o-q. Net NPA was 0.48% compared to 0.44% q-o-q.

The slow real estate market is now driving even the largest developer DLF to offer a variation of a typical ‘’subvention scheme’’. While companies have been using the scheme as a marketing tool to attract buyers, it is for the first time that DLF is offering such a plan. It’s starting with a 20:20:60 plan for a project in Gurgaon.

Although subvention refers to the government paying a certain portion of home loan interest in affordable real estate projects, the industry is using the scheme in different ways to make it easier for the buyer in terms of structuring of payment for the house.

IT services, consulting and business solutions company, Tata Consultancy Services Limited (TCS), will be setting up a research and development (R&D centre) at the International Institute of Information Technology, Hyderabad (IIIT-Hyderabad) with an investment of Rs 20 crore.

Called the FC Kohli Centre on Intelligent Systems (KCIS), the 60,000-sft centre will act as an umbrella organisation at IIIT-Hyderabad to both strengthen the existing groups and facilitate new technologies.

Air India will, for the first time, raise $330 million (Rs 2,000 crore) through the external commercial borrowings (ECB) route. The money will spent on aircraft maintenance, said civil aviation ministry officials.

“Once this money is raised, Air India will utilise it on improving fleet maintenance,” said officials. At any point of time, Air India has only 52-54 of its narrow body aircraft in working condition, in an overall fleet strength of 62 aircraft.

South Korea’s Hyundai Motor Co said its net profit slumped for the sixth quarter in a row, in line with forecasts, as weak sales in key markets like China and the United States and the won’s strength continue to shackle the automaker.

The firm, which with affiliate Kia Motors ranks fifth in global auto sales, said on Thursday its net profit fell 24 percent to 1.7 trillion won in April-June from 2.2 trillion won a year earlier. That matched the average estimate of 14 analysts polled by Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

Inviting Real Estate Agents, Job Placements Agents, Educational Institutes, Software Service Providers, Real Estate Builders, Marriage Bureaus, Travel Agents, Restaurant Owners, Health & Fitness Centers and other Local Businesses to Post a FREE Classified Advertisement on Cootera.com Classifieds Website.