Washington - The US Senate approved a 700-billion-dollar financial rescue package Wednesday night that members said was essential to keep the world's largest economy from near-total collapse.

Senate leaders hoped the 74-25 vote would send a strong message to the lower House of Representatives, which rejected an earlier version of the bail-out plan on Monday and sent US stocks into a free-fall.

"I'm very very happy with this vote tonight," said Majority Leader Harry Reid, the top Democrat in the Senate.

Reliance Money, part of the Reliance Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group, has informed that it has obtained approval from Ministry of Consumer Affairs to acquire a 10% stake in the National Multi-Commodity Exchange of India (NMCE) Board.

The latest development will mark company’s foray into the national commodity exchange space that is expected to cross an annual turnover of Rs 74 lakh-crore (volume) by next year.

New York - After a topsy-turvy start to the week, US stocks fell only slightly Wednesday as investors awaited the outcome of a Senate vote on the 700-billion-dollar rescue plan.

Stocks were driven down by reports that car sales and manufacturing fell sharply in the last month - signs that the availability of credit was tightening across the country.

The Senate was to vote late Wednesday on an amended version of the massive financial rescue package, which failed to pass the lower House of Representatives on Monday. Congressional leaders voiced confidence the new bill would be approved.

Washington - The Senate was to vote Wednesday evening on a new version of the 700-billion-dollar financial rescue plan as politicians warned that the US economy might not survive another failure.

Democrats who control the Senate and minority Republicans hammered out a new deal, increasing guarantees on bank savings and adding tax provisions, after the original bail-out plan was surprisingly defeated in the lower House of Representatives on Monday.

"If the financial bill fails in Congress yet again, the present crisis will turn into a disaster," warned Republican presidential candidate and Arizona Senator John McCain.

Alex Mathew, head - research centre, Geojit Financial Services, said that the stock market, on Tuesday (Sep 30), recovered a lot from its lows on reports from the Finance Ministry that state run banking institutions do not have risky exposure, and the fundamentals of Indian economic system are really strong. 

Mr. Mathew said, “It is very interesting to note that US Chicago Board Options Exchange’s volatility Index has increased by 39% to 48.4% and finally closed at 46.7% yesterday.”