Ace story teller Tapan Sinha, who won 19 National Awards under different categories, and was conferred the Dadasaheb Phalke Award for lifetime achievement last year, died at a hospital in Kolkata on Thursday after a prolonged illness.

According to hospital sources, “Sinha died early Thursday at the hospital. He was suffering from acute bronco-pneumonia and was on life support system.”

“His pulse rates were very low and he had stopped responding to medication since Wednesday night,” the sources added.

To cheer demand amid softening raw material costs, Apollo Tyres has decided to cut product prices by 3-5 percent across categories for the second time in two months.

In a declaration, the tyre manufacturer said that the price cut will come into effect immediately.

In December 2008, the company had slashed prices by 4 percent, passing on to clients a reduction in a manufacturing tax.

Music maestro A R Rahman has really made India proud by winning the high-status Golden Globe Award for Danny Boyle’s Mumbai based saga ‘Slumdog Millionaire’.

But 2007’s highly-acclaimed film ‘Taare Zameen Par’ (TZP) has failed to make it to the Oscar nomination list.

Aamir Khan’s directorial debut TZP, which was India’s official entry to Oscar, did not figure among the nine films (short listed in the foreign language film category) competing for the 81st Academy Awards.

Rate two-way, holds support from yesterday suggesting the bottom may be forming around the 1.3200 area. 50 bar MA failed to offer solid support and selling may have been late-follow-on and will be squeezed out.

Semi-official and sovereign bids seen at the 1.3200 area. Cross-liquidation continues. Sovereign offers seen into the highs last week traders say but those may be covering into the dip this week. Overnight semi-official bids reported by some desks. Aggressive liquidation by EURO-Sterling cross spreaders providing the main selling.

Rate firms after finding support at the 1.4490 area overnight; lower into support level before a "dead cat bounce". Minor signs of the bottom firmly in after holding the 1.4500 handle during the day.

Cross-spreaders continue to sell GBP across the board. 2008 lows likely target but sellers are drying up in my view as volumes have been light on this break.

Spillover from EURO likely but action still technical. Bears took a stand above the 1.5250 area last week; likely they will look to cover into significant lows—look for two-way action into this bottom.