Rupee gains; bonds flat
Mumbai: The rupee gained against the dollar due to inflows of the US currency as well as negative dollar sentiment. The domestic currency opened at 44.22 and was range-bound between 44.11 and 44.20. It, however, appreciated to close at 44.1350/14, up from Tuesday's close at 44.30.

Forwards: The forward premia moved up sharply with the 6-month closing at 2.3 per cent (1.78 per cent) and the 12-month ending trade at 1.48 per cent (1.37 per cent).

Bonds: Bond prices continued to be flat due to tight liquidity.

G-secs: Volumes in the G-sec market were less due to the lack of trading interest, dealers said. The 9.39 5-year 2011 paper opened at Rs112.2050 (6.69 per cent YTM) and closed at Rs112.20 (6.69 YTM), which was the same as the previous close. The 10.25 15-year 2021 paper opened at Rs126.53 (7.34 per cent YTM) and closed at Rs126.5325 (7.34 per cent YTM).

Call rates: Call rates continued to be above 7 per cent as liquidity remained tight. The call rate opened at 7 per cent, touched 7.5 per cent at spikes and closed at 7-7.25 per cent (7.2 per cent).

Repo auction: In the first one-day repo auction, the Reserve Bank of India received one bid for Rs20 crore in the reverse repo auction and 37 bids for Rs20,630 crore. In the second two-day reverse repo auction, it received three bids for Rs825 crore and 17 bids for Rs7,585 crore in the repo auction.

CBLO: In the CBLO market, there were 293 trades for Rs12,342.10 crore in the rate range of 6.25-6.5 per cent (5.3-6.45).
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ICICI Bank begins operations in Sri Lanka
Colombo: ICICI Bank, India's largest consumer lender, has started commercial operations in Sri Lanka eyeing the growing bilateral trade and inward remittances market. The bank has invested $5 million as seed capital, officials said.

It needs to top up extra capital to reach $25 million by end of 2007 to keep in line with the country's Central Bank capital requirements.
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Aviva launches new unit-linked plan
New Delhi: Aviva Life Insurance has launched a unit-linked fixed protection cum savings plan that offers customers flexibility to customize the policy for individual needs. The 'Freedom Life Plan' offers a guaranteed loyalty bonus of 5 per cent after completing 10 years and 3 per cent for every 5th year thereafter.

Individuals aged between 18-60 years can purchase the policy with the minimum term being 10 years and maximum 30 years as per the requirement, the company said.

The policy offers the freedom to invest in any one of the three unit-linked plans- balanced, growth and secure - with the option of allocating premium in different proportions to them. Also one can make one-time investments through additional single prem ium, it added.
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Western Union in pact with SBI
New York: Western Union, a leading provider of money transfer services, has said that its authorised agent, Kuoni Travels, entered into an agreement with the State Bank of India (SBI) to provide inbound money transfer services.

Through this agreement, Western Union's money transfer services now will be available at more than 200 branches of State Bank of India, with more to be added during the current year.

The World Bank's report on Global Economic Prospects 2006, has said that India receives the highest amount of remittances, with $21.7 billion sent to the country last year. This in addition to Western Union's extensive agent network in India will enable the more than 20 million Indian people living outside of their home country to stay better connected with friends and family, the company said.
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Scope, Cambridge Integrated in pact to offer 'knowledge services' for banks
Chennai: Scope International, a wholly owned subsidiary of Standard Chartered Bank, UK, has entered into a "knowledge partnership" with Cambridge Integrated Services, the business process outsourcing (BPO) arm of Scandent Solution Corporation.

Both companies would offer "knowledge" services, including transaction processing, to the banking and financial sector worldwide with a primary focus on the US, European and Australasian markets.

Scope, with about 4,000 employees has the knowhow for managing a captive unit for Standard Chartered's multiple country operations while Cambridge would leverage this knowhow by using Scandent's employees or designated employees from Scope in short or long term said Chris Sinclair, executive-chairman and CEO, Scandent Solutions.

During the first phase, Scope will provide infrastructure for about 350 seats and increase it to 1,000-1,500 in the medium term.
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