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Housing prices in Australia have shown a strong start this year.

This is indicated by the data given by The Australian. Price rose by 4.3 per cent and Melbourne and Adelaide turned out to be the best performers.

The good thing is that the rise has continued for two consecutive months and it has defied fears that the rising interest rates would pull the prices down.

As the finance Minister has proposed a rollback in the standard excise duty rates which have directly impacted the prices of the non-petroleum commodities eventually persuading the steels prices to go up. The steel prices are expected to go in the tune of Rs. 600-800 a tonne with immediate effect.

The expected rise would be an additional increase for consumers, who were expecting to face more rises in the coming months on account of raw material price increase. The proposed implications on the sector will affect other industries as well such as automotives which use steel at a decent level in their products.

The Social Networking bug has bitten all and has spared none be it kids, the MNC officials, the high school students, the celebrities and now even Politicians.

In India already there have been controversies over the Shashi Tharoor's cattle class comment or Bollywood celebrity Shahrukh Khan using it to apologize to his fans or various other celebrities for congratulating cricket star Sachin.

The 30 share BSE Sensitive Index shot up by 237 points ending at a respectable 16, 429 points as the volatile week ends. Amidst welcoming the budget for the fiscal 2010-11 and lower fiscal deficit projection, BSE gained 1.47% over the last week level during the week.

NSE's 50-share Nifty closed 1.6% up i. e. 77 points at 4,922 levels as compared to the last week-end. Pranab Mukherjee pegged the fiscal deficit at 5.5% of GDP for the next financial year during his budget speech. In fact, he also proposed a reduction in surcharge on corporate tax for the domestic companies by 2.5% from the 10% level.

In a country which is dominated by just one sport which is played for more than half of the year, other sports have taken a backseat, be it the national sport Hockey.

The hockey World Cup is just round the corner and there is hardly any one talking about it except the Hero Honda campaign.

But, in a country where cricketers get all the awards, the money and the brand endorsements, a rare gesture by the steel giant SAIL (Steel Authority of India) has announced rewards for the hockey-team.

Lower than anticipated net government borrowing announced in Union Budget for financial year 2010-11 helped government bond yields to soften a little on Friday providing a good selling opportunity for investors who wanted to make an exit.

Government bonds had been stressed over the past month amid expectations and concerns around the congress-led union government's borrowing plans for the next fiscal. Market expectations were pegged at a borrowing of nearly Rs. 360,000 crore. But Finance Minister Pranab Mukherji announced a figure of Rs. 345,000 crore in his budget.