Standard Chartered Bank plans to raise at least $1 billion through an Indian Depository Receipts (IDR) issue in the local markets.

According to latest reports, the lender has already appointed JM Financial and UBS AG as lead managers for what could be the first IDR issue by a global player.

Apart from this, the bank has also appointed Goldman Sachs, Bank of America and Kotak Mahindra to manage the issue.

Mumbai, Apr 24: The Bombay Stock Exchange benchmark Sensex on Friday climbed to a six-month high at 11,329.05.

The Sensex, which touched the high level of 11,362.88 during the day, ended with a gain of 194.06 points at 11,329.05.

The National Stock Exchange’s Nifty also rose by 57.05 points to 3,480.75.

Daily trading on the BSE increased to 5,723 crore rupees from 4,743 crore rupees in the previous session.

India's national carrier, Air India, and the recently-created Airport Economic Regulatory Authority, AERA, will likely have new chiefs named on Friday, after a high-profile meeting - under the chairmanship of Cabinet Secretary K M Chandrasekhar - takes a decision regarding the persons to be at the helm of affairs of the two organizations.

Other known dignitaries to participate in the top-level meeting include Prime Minister's principal secretary TKA Nair, civil aviation secretary M Madhavan Nambiar, and public enterprises selection board chairman Naresh Narad.

U. S. crude futures were steady under $50 a barrel, after finishing up the previous day as a fall in the dollar and stock market gains boosted oil prices.

Natural Gas with almost more than double built as compared to last week’s data and hit lower freeze on MCX and price remain under pressure.

Base metals witnessed correction during yesterday session where most of them fell by 3-4%. Weak housing numbers coupled with rising jobless claims raised concerns about demand for non ferrous metals.

Japan's output of rolled copper products fell by a record 60 percent from a year earlier in March, data showed on Friday, illustrating the sharp collapse in industrial demand from the world's fourth-biggest consumer. Japan's output of rolled copper products fell to 32,338 tonnes in March on a seasonally adjusted basis, down 60.2 percent from a year earlier, preliminary industry data from the Japan Copper and Brass Association showed.

Gold inched up on Friday, keeping gains above $900 after rallying to a three-week high the previous day, while holdings of the world's biggest gold-backed exchange-traded fund dipped further away from a record high. Prices were supported as physical demand from India, the world's largest consumer, has picked up ahead of the Akshaya Tritya festival on April 27, an auspicious time for gold buying.

Holdings at the world's largest gold-backed exchange-traded fund, the SPDR Gold Trust dropped to 1,104.45 tonnes as of April 23, down 1.53 tonnes or