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Rupee slips; bond prices fall
Mumbai: The rupee weakened against the US currency on Monday due to the month-end demand for dollars.

The rupee opened at 43.94/95 and went up to 43.9350 but, closed at 43.96, lower than Friday's close at 43.90/91.

Forwards: In the forward market, the 6-month premium closed at 0.85 per cent (0.84) and the 12-month at 0.76 per cent (0.81).

Bonds: In the bond market, prices fell by around 15 paise as there was no buying support.

G-Secs: The 7.37-9 year - 2014 opened at Rs 102.58 (6.96 per cent YTM) and closed at Rs 102.43 (6.99 per cent YTM), down from Friday's Rs102.45 (6.98 per cent YTM). The 10.25-16 year-2021 paper opened at Rs 126.13 (7.40 per cent YTM) and ended at Rs 126 (7.42 per cent YTM), lower than Friday's close at Rs 125.98 (7.42 per cent YTM).

The 7.38-10 year-2015 paper was dealt at Rs 102.71 (6.99 per cent YTM).

Call rate: The call rate closed at 5-5.10 per cent (5.10-5.20).

Reverse Repo; In the one-day reverse repo auction, the RBI received and accepted 34 bids amounting to Rs 18,460 crore.

CBLO: There were 293 trades for Rs 12,773.50 crore in the rate range of 4.85-5.10 per cent.
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PSU banks likely to get go-ahead for pref issues
Bangalore: The proposal allowing PSU banks to raise resources by issuing preference shares might get the nod in the ensuing winter session of Parliament.

This will help banks like Corporation Bank, where the union government's equity holding is less than 60 per cent, to raise additional resources to meet demand growth without the fear of a further dilution of the government's stake.
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SBT to raise funds for Tier II capital
Thiruvananthapuram: State Bank of Travancore (SBT) has informed the Bombay Stock Exchange that the Executive Committee of the board of directors has approved the issue of bonds to raise Rs 235 crore through private placement.

SBT officials said that the authorised capital of the bank was Rs 50 crore, which was already subscribed. The only option now for the bank to strengthen its capital base was through the Tier II route.

As on June 30, the bank's capital adequacy ratio was 10.32 per cent, well above the benchmark level of nine per cent. However, all the banks were trying to raise the CAR to 11 per cent and above and SBT was also joining the league keeping in view the projected increase in business in the months ahead.
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Globus, ICICI Bank mull co-branded card
Mumbai: Rajan Raheja group company Globus Stores is in talks with ICICI Bank for a co-branded card along the lines of a loyalty cum credit card.

Launched in 1998, Globus started its first store in Indore and expects to complete 50 stores within a span of two years.

With a target audience comprising primarily the age group between 18-35, Globus has positioned its store as `fashion for a changing world'.

Globus will be launching its new stores in Thane, Delhi, Kanpur and Pune shortly.
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Merger of Centurion, Bank of Punjab approved by RBI
Mumbai: The Reserve Bank of India has approved the merger of Centurion Bank with the Bank of Punjab, effective from October 1, 2005. The combined bank has been proposed to be called Centurion Bank of Punjab, according to a press release from the bank.

The boards of directors and the shareholders of both banks had already approved the merger on August 3, 2005.

The share swap ratio has been fixed at nine shares of Centurion Bank for every four shares of Bank of Punjab.

According to the press release, post merger, the bank would have 240 branches and extension counters, 386 ATMs and about 2.2 million customers.

As per the pro forma combined figures, as on March 2005, the net worth of the combined entity is Rs696 crore and the capital adequacy ratio is 16.1 per cent.
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Peerless pitches for review of discretionary investment cap by RBI
Kolkata: Peerless General Finance & Investment Co has asked the Reserve Bank of India for a review of limits under discretionary investments.

Peerless is a residuary non-banking company. Its worries stem from a slow removal of investments under the discretionary category, from 20 per cent of the average liability to depositors (permitted till fiscal 2005) to 10 per cent in 2006 and zero after that.

Peerless would now have to allocate the entire depositors' funds to fixed-income securities — a scenario that will put its portfolio yield at risk in view of the over-exposure to a just one class of assets.

The company may end up in trouble in case of unfavourable interest rate movements, compounded by an absence of equity exposure, its latest annual report has indicated.
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