Market intervention and current policy measures of the Reserve Bank of India might not rescue the currency's downward slide alone, even as analysts now say the rupee will slide even further to touch the 57-mark.

New York's main contract, West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude for delivery in June, was down eight cents to $92.48 per barrel while Brent North Sea crude for July shed 53 cents to $106.96.

European leaders are set to discuss an upcoming G8 meeting of industrialised countries, but also to consider the situation in Greece and elsewhere across the 17-nation eurozone.

\"We pitched for a rating upgrade. We told them look at FDI inflows, look at the returns in the market. We said we are committed to capping subsidy at 2 per cent,\" said a finance ministry official.

The BSE Sensex on Thursday rose 210 points on strong Asian trends but pared some of the gains to close at 16,070.48, a rise of 40.39 points.

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Extending initial losses, shares of Aditya Birla Nuvo ended at Rs 756, down 6.35 per cent on BSE. During the day, the stock lost 6.47 per cent to Rs 755.05.

Asian benchmarks recorded sharp losses earlier in the day. Japan's Nikkei 225 index dropped 1.1 per cent to close at 8,801.17, its lowest close since January 30.

This is the weakest level of rupee recorded so far. The earlier record low of 54.30 against the dollar was hit in December last year. It has slumped almost 10 per cent since March, the biggest fall among the major Asian currencies.

IB Director Nehchal Sandhu in his monthly report on commodity and financial markets had given specific inputs to government on pulses, potato and milk prices, which are all headed for the stratosphere. April Wholesale price index numbers mirrored this phenomenon.

The 30-share BSE Sensex, which had lost nearly 700 points in last five sessions, gained 112.41 points, or 0.69 per cent to 16,328.25 after touching the day's high of 16,370.12.

a survey by consultancy firm Knight Frank says residential property prices in Mumbai declined 9.1 per cent last fiscal, recording the first price fall since the 2008 global financial crisis.

Asian stocks also endured losses, although one notable exception was Japan, where the benchmark Nikkei 225 index rose 0.2 per cent to close at 8,973.84.

Nissan annual global sales reached a record 4.85 million vehicles, showing a remarkably quick recovery from the March 2011 earthquake that ravaged much of northeastern Japan.

Japan's Nikkei 225 index fell 0.4 per cent to 8,972.24 and South Korea's Kospi lost 1.3 per cent at 1,919.20. Hong Kong's Hang Seng fell 1.2 per cent to 19,989.54.

Total income of the company stood at Rs 1,865.57 crore for the quarter ended March 31, 2012 as against Rs 1,667.74 crore for the corresponding period of previous fiscal.

Japan's Nikkei 225 index rose 0.2 per cent to 9,065.73 after opening lower. South Korea's Kospi also opened lower before settling flat at 1,950.0.

The fund would be used to finance goods and services procured from German suppliers as part of RIL's petrochemicals expansion projects at Jamnagar, Hazira, Silvassa and Dahej.

Wipro has announced the acquisition of Australian analytics product firm Promax Applications Group in an all-cash deal of A$35 million, its 17th in the IT business since 2002.

Japan's Nikkei 225 index fell 1.5 per cent to hit a three-month intraday low of 9,021.20 as traders pulled away from big exporters whose fortunes are partly linked to demand from Europe.