Indian Railways has raised transportation charges for cement, coal and coking coal by up to 8 per cent. The Railway’s move would increase the input cost of housing, power and steel sectors that have been identified for special focus by the government. 

The cement industry said that this could lead to, on average, around Rs one per bag increase in transportation cost of the construction material, thinning the relief to consumers that could have resulted from yesterday's 4 per cent excise duty cut.

Union Home Minister P Chidambaram visited the headquarters of the Intelligence Bureau on Monday.

There he had a meeting with top officials to have an in-depth idea about information gathering network.

The hour-long meeting was attended by IB chief P C Halder and others.

Chidambaram was briefed about various wings of IB, their functioning and the chain of informants.

The new Home Minister's visit to the IB headquarters assumes significance as it reflected his seriousness in strengthening the intelligence gathering mechanism at the Centre and the state levels.

The holiday spirit of moviegoers, has pushed 'Four Christmases' to the top of the box-office chart, second weekend in a row. Despite unfavourable reviews, the Reese Witherspoon / Vince Vaughn romantic comedy, a hit with audiences, has racked up $18.2-million in ticket sales, taking its two-week total to $70.8-million.

A faltering economy, weak consumer spending and no major new movie opening, did not prevent it from being a solid weekend at the box office, with revenue up over 2007 for the fifth weekend in a row.

Rate continues to hold at support, possible sovereign interest on the bid. Spillover from GBP helps hold the rate above support at 1.2750 area. Buyers are willing on dips. Possible reversal now in play but the rate needs to firm above the 1.2850 area in my view.

Bids are building under the 1.2600 area as expected; sell-off likely to be bought hard now. OK to try the long side again on a dip if not already long. Aggressive traders can ADD to open longs again under the 1.2750 area near-term. Traders note stops building above the market around the 1.2950 area in size likely to help create some two-way action.

The USD is lower to start New York after a quiet steady open in Asia overnight; traders note trading was subdued in early trade but appetite for the Yen crosses finally began to push the USD lower. Technical trade was the rule as no real unexpected news was released . Falling back from Friday's highs the Greenback failed at several key technical support levels across all major pairs to start the week on the defensive. Equities were higher across the board with all major bourses in the black by several percent helping to support their respective currencies.