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Rupee steady - securities gain
Mumbai: The rupee marginally strengthened against the dollar on Tuesday, closing the day nearly unchanged at 43.57/5750 as compared to Monday's 43.5725/5825.

Forwards market: The 12-month premia closed at 1.25 per cent (1.23) and the 6- month ended at 1.4 per cent (1.35).

G-Secs: The 8.07-12 year-2017 paper closed the day at Rs108.76 (6.95 per cent YTM). The 7.38-10 year-2015 benchmark paper closed at Rs103.65/70 (6.87 per cent YTM) against its Monday closing at Rs103.30 (6.92 per cent YTM).

Call rates: The inter bank rates remained unchanged at five per cent.

CBLO market: 160 trades in the rate range of 4-5.31 per cent aggregating Rs6,237.35 crore were realised.
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Anil Ambani makes open offer for 20 per cent in RCL
Mumbai: Reliance Capital Ltd (RCL) Chairman, Anil Ambani, has made an open offer to acquire 20 per cent of the company's shares at Rs231 per share. The total financial outlay for acquiring the 20 per cent additional holding would be Rs1,188.75 crore.
(See more: Sensex closes well above 7000, helped by Reliance and ONGC )

In a notice to stock exchanges, RCL said Anil D. Ambani and AAA Enterprises Pvt. Ltd were making an open offer to acquire additional 5.14 crore shares of RCL at Rs231 per share.

The offer for 5.14 crore shares was made in compliance with the Securities and Exchange Board of India's takeover regulations. The offer would open on August 11 and close on August 30.

The offer being made to the RCL shareholders is lower than Tuesday's closing price of Rs289.45 on the BSE. However, the stock price had gained sharply on Monday by 25 per cent.

On Sunday, the company's board had proposed a preferential offer of equity shares and equity related securities with an option to convert them into equity shares, up to Rs3,000 crore to Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Enterprises, and long-term institutional investors.

Out of this, Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Enterprises will subscribe approximately Rs2,000 crore through the preferential offer.

The new infusion of funds will rank the company among the top three companies in the private financial services and banking sector in the country, the notice to BSE has said.
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DICGC hikes premium rates by two paise
Mumbai: The Deposit Insurance and Credit Guarantee Corporation (DICGC) has announced a hike in the deposit insurance premium in its annual report for 2004-05. The premium has been increased from eight paise per Rs100 of assessable deposit in 2004-05 to 10 paise per Rs100 of assessable deposits in 2005-06.

According to the report, the premium accruing from commercial banks, including regional rural banks and local area banks in 2004-05, increased to Rs1,211.84 crore from Rs684.28 crore.

The premium accruing from co-operative banks were Rs142.94 crore against Rs86.35 crore. However, the claims paid out to co-operative banks amounted to Rs440.25 crore in 2004-05.

The pressure on margins has forced DICGC to hike premiums this year.

DICGC has also made a provision of Rs1,788.52 crore towards likely claims by depositors of 113 banks that are under liquidation or whose licences have been cancelled by the Reserve Bank of India.
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Bank of Punjab cancels preferential allotment
Mumbai: The Bank of Punjab has decided to cancel preferential allotment of shares to five investors, including Canada's The Bank of Nova Scotia, without providing reasons for the same. The proposed merger with Centurion Bank may be the likely cause.

In a statement to the Bombay Stock Exchange, the bank said that due to various factors, the bank's board would not act on the EGM resolution of March 23, and the proposed preferential allotment stands cancelled.

A group of five investors, led by Canada's The Bank of Nova Scotia and the Delhi-based Bharti Enterprises Pvt Ltd, were to pick up an 18.78 per cent stake in Bank of Punjab for a total consideration of Rs92.28 crore. These were to be allotted preferentially at a price of Rs38 per share. The money raised from the issue was to fund future capital requirements.

Another 38.78 lakh shares, constituting 3 per cent of the total post-issue paid-up share capital of the bank, were to be issued to Jyotsna Sharma, proprietress of B. N. Enterprises, an export house in Delhi. This apart, 10.52 lakh shares comprising 0.814 per cent were to be given to V. N. Koura, a barrister who has had long association with the bank.

Yesterday, the boards of Centurion Bank and Bank of Punjab had decided to pursue the merger of the two banks. Both these boards will meet on June 29 to consider the final terms of the merger. It will be subject to satisfactory due diligence, a fair share-swap ratio and all statutory, regulatory and corporate approvals.

The merged entity will be called Centurion Bank of Punjab and shareholders of Bank of Punjab are likely to get shares of Centurion Bank in accordance with the valuation done by the independent valuers.
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