BSE Sensex falls 140 points, Nifty sheds 37 pts in early trade on profit-booking

OVERNIGHT NEWS

* India's auction of quotas allowing foreign investors to buy bonds attracted solid demand, reflecting expectations that the central bank will cut interest rates and that the government will deliver a fiscally disciplined budget.

* Indian banks' advances continued to limp at the end of 10 months of the financial year 2012-13 compared with a year earlier, but bankers expect a late demand from corporates and loans to the farm sector to prop up growth before the year-end on March 31.

MAJOR DEALS/ACQUISITIONS

* Malaysia's AirAsia Bhd, Asia's largest budget carrier, plans to launch a regional airline in India in a venture with the Tata group, marking a return to aviation for India's biggest business house.

* The RBI said on Wednesday it accepted all 34 bids for 1.22 trillion rupees at its one-day repo auction, through which it injects cash into the banking system. It also accepted the sole bid for 400 million rupees at its reverse repo auction, through which it absorbs cash from the system.

* Indian banks' refinancing with RBI rises to 209.67 billion rupees.

* Indian banks' cash balances with RBI rise to 2.87 trillion rupees.

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