Securities decline
Mumbai: The rupee closed at 45.0650/0750 against the dollar on Wednesday after a volatile trade. On Tuesday, the domestic currency had ended at same levels.

Forwards Market: The six-month annualised forward premia closed at 1.10 per cent (1.36 per cent) while the twelve-month annualised premia ended at 0.95 per cent (1.16 per cent).

G-Secs: ended lower with prices falling about 50 paise during the day. Yield on the 7.38 per cent 2015 paper closed lower at 7.18 per cent at Rs101.40. The 7.55 per cent 2010 paper closed about 10 paise lower than previous close at Rs103.15.

T-Bills auction: The cut-off yield was set at 5.28 per cent at the Rs500 crore 91-day Treasury bill auction while it was set at 5.67 per cent at the Rs1,000 crore 364-day Treasury bill auction, as these auctions received good response.

Call Rates: in the inter-bank market softened to 4.60 to 4.90 per cent as liquidity tightness softened.

CBLO Market: 172 trades worth Rs 6,570.20 crore were transacted in the rate range of 4.31-5.25 per cent.
Back to News Review index page   India and Pakistan to establish banking relations
New Delhi: India and Pakistan have decided to establish banking relations and will set up bank branches in each other's country on a reciprocal basis.

Disclosing this, the Foreign Secretary, Shyam Saran, has said that the central bank of the two countries would take the follow-up action to give concrete shape to the decision.

The decision has come during a meeting of the Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh, with his visiting Pakistan counterpart, Shaukat Aziz, here.
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PSU insurance staff wage hike at 8.5 per cent
Bangalore: The wage hike in the public sector general insurance companies has been restricted to only 8.5 per cent in line with the recommendations of the consultants for restructuring the insurance sector.

The consultant, A F Ferguson,was appointed in May 2003 for chalking out a viable, future strategy for the insurance companies.

The low wage increase package, it would appear, was aimed at containing costs. The insurers were presently operating way above the statutorily prescribed management ratio of 19.5 per cent.

It would also appear that the unions have rejected the recommendation made by the consultants. The unions argued that it was considerably lower than what was offered to employees of the public sector banks Moreover, they pointed out that after taking into account the current inflation, this increase suggested by the consultant was barely at 2 per cent.
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HCL Tech to make preferential offer to Deutsche Bank
New Delhi: HCL Technologies Ltd has said that its board of directors has decided to issue 1.93 crore equity shares to Deutsche Bank. The shares, which have a par value of Rs2 per share, will be issued at Rs361 each.

HCL's proposed issue is as per the terms of the company's joint venture agreement with Deutsche Bank in September 2001, when it acquired a 51 per cent stake in Deutsche Bank's Singapore-based unit DSI Financial Solutions Pte Ltd.

At that time, HCL had agreed to acquire Deutsche Bank's remaining 49 per cent stake in DSI Financial at the end of three years by issuing its shares to Deutsche Bank.

Following the completion of the preferential issue to Deutsche Bank, which is subject to regulatory approvals, DSI Financial and its software unit DSL Software Ltd will become units of HCL, said a company release.

The shares that HCL agreed to issue Deutsche Bank constitute around 6.1 per cent of its expanded share capital. The issue price is at a slight discount to HCL's closing price of Rs368 on the Bombay Stock Exchange on Wednesday.

Located in Bangalore, DSL has strengthened HCL's presence and expertise in the banking and financial services domain, said a press statement.
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RBI Governor says call rates have settled down
Mumbai: The Reserve Bank Governor, Dr Y.V. Reddy, has said that the overnight call rates have 'settled' with the easing of pressures on liquidity in the domestic debt market.

Call rates, which settled at around 4.75 per cent levels today, were ruling at around 6 per cent levels until last week. In early November, overnight rates had touched a high of up to 6.50 per cent.

The Governor said that call rates seemed to have settled within a 'corridor' perhaps with better overall liquidity management and that the liquidity balance was where it should be.
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Signature-based debit card from HDFC
Mumbai: HDFC Bank and MasterCard International have together launched a signature-based online debit card. The HDFC Bank MasterCard debit card, has been launched in addition to the PIN-based Maestro debit card, currently being offered in India.

The debit card, which can be used, for all electronic transactions at merchant establishments as well as ATMs will be provided to the customers opening savings and current accounts with the bank. HDFC Bank had a credit card base of around 300,000 at the beginning of this year.
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