Rupee up eleven paise
Mumbai: The rupee rallied for the fourth consecutive session ending at 43.91/92 per dollar on Thursday. The currency closed eleven paise above the previous finish at 44.02/03.

Forwards Market: The six-month annualised premia ended at 2.15 per cent (1.88 per cent) and the one-year forward finished at 1.50 per cent (1.40 per cent).

G-Secs: The yield on the benchmark 7.38 per cent 2015 paper ended at 6.73 per cent, unchanged from previous levels. The 7.55 per cent paper finished at 6.47 per cent.

Call Rates: in the inter-bank market were in a range of 4.75-5.20 per cent. CBLO market: 140 trades aggregating nearly Rs4,900 crore were transacted.
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RBI sets priority sector tag for Nabard bonds only
Mumbai: The Reserve Bank of India has said, effective April 1, 2005, investments by banks in the bonds issued by the specified institutions, except Nabard, shall not be eligible for classification under priority sector lending.

The specified institutions include Rural Electrification Corporation (REC), State Financial Corporations(SFCs), State Industrial Development Corporations (SIDCs), SIDBI, National Small Industries Corporation(NSIC), National Housing Bank (NHB) and Hudco.

In a circular to the chiefs of all commercial banks, the RBI has said that investments, which have already been made or that have to be made by banks up to March 31, 2005, in the special bonds issued by the specified institutions - except Nabard - shall not be eligible for classification under priority sector lending with effect from April 1, 2006.

Investments in the special bonds issued by Nabard shall not be eligible for classification under priority sector lending with effect from April 1, 2007.

At present, investments made by the scheduled commercial banks in special bonds issued by specified institutions, SFCs, SIDCs, REC, Nabard, SIDBI, NSIC, NHB and Hudco, subject to certain conditions, are deemed as indirect finance to agriculture, SSI, housing sectors, as the case may be within the priority sector lending.

The existing guidelines in this regard may continue up to March 31, 2005.
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PNB picks up 3.7 percent stake in Surana Telecom
Hyderabad: The Punjab National Bank has acquired 4,19,996 equity shares of Surana Telecom Ltd, which represents about 3.72 per cent of the total paid-up capital of the company. The company has also seen another investor, Fortis, picking up over one per cent recently.

Promoters' holding, consequently, has come down to about 65 per cent from 69 per cent earlier.

The company is also in the process of hosting an investor meet for FIIs in the UK later this week. This is aimed at raising funds to part fund its CDMA expansion project. The company has received approvals from Telecom Engineering Centre of the Department of Telecommunications for optical fibre cables (OFCs) that conform to new specifications.
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