MUMBAI: Gold prices zoomed up on the bullion market here today as standard gold rose by Rs 175 per ten gram and 22-carat gold rallied by Rs 160 per gen gram due to sharp upswing in overseas prices. In Hong Kong, the yellow metal shot up by $ 13 to close at $ 312/314 per troy ounce due to fresh buying in the global market and absence of any selling. In the local market, standard gold opened firm at Rs 4600 and shot up further to Rs 4725, showing a steep rally of Rs 175 over the previous close of Rs 4550. 22-carat gold quoted smartly higher at Rs 4370 from Rs 4210 and ten-tola gold bar (.999 purity) showed a huge rally of Rs 1,500 at Rs 55,500 from Rs 54,000. Silver, in sympathy with gold, also firmed up as ready silver (.999 fineness) rallied by Rs 60 to Rs 8460 as against Rs 8400.

Asian Paints buys Sri Lankan firm

MUMBAI: In order to make its presence felt in the emerging markets, Asian Paints has acquired 76 per cent stake in Sri Lanka's second largest paint companyDelmege Forsyth & Co (Paints) Ltd. The acquisition has been made through ASL's subsidiary Asian Paints International Ltd. Delmege Forsyth enjoys 12 per cent share in the island country's paints market with a turnover of SL Rs 26.1 crore (INR Rs 16 crore). This is Asian Paints' first acquisition in international operations, as its other overseas ventures are green-field operations and also the first major step towards expansion of its international operations after the unveiling of vision 2003 plan, to emerge as one of the top 10 decorative coatings companies in the world.

Goutam Rakshit becomes ABC chief

MUMBAI: Goutam Rakshit, MD of Advertising Avenues, is the new chairman of the Audit Bureau of Circulations (ABC). Aroon Purie, Publisher and Editor-in-chief of India Today has taken over as deputy chairman. An ABC statement says that the challenges for the duo will be to strengthen the ABC in an era where media is becoming increasingly competitive. Ad revenue for the press media alone has crossedRs 4,000 crore in 1998-99, and advertisers and ad agencies depend on the ABC and its autonomous division NRSC to provide them with realistic circulation and readership figures.