Rupee declines
Mumbai: The rupee fell against the dollar on Wednesday in tandem with other major currencies such as the yen finally closing at 44.25/26, down from the previous 44.23/24.

Forwards: In the forward premia market, the six-month closed at 2.08 per cent (1.79) and the 12-month ended at 1.64 per cent (1.47). Prices in the bond market fell as there were concerns about the tightness in liquidity.

G-Secs: The 8.07-11 year-2017 paper closed at Rs105.32 (7.35 per cent YTM), the same level as on Tuesday. The 7.40-29 year - 2035 paper closed at Rs97.52 (7.61 per cent YTM).

Call rates: The inter bank rates closed at 7.25 per cent (7-7.25).

Repo auction: In the first two-day auction, RBI received no bids in the reverse repo, but there were 33 bids for Rs13,150 crore in the repo. In the second two-day reverse repo auction, it received one bid for Rs100 crore and 13 bids for Rs3,940 crore in the repo auction.

CBLO: In the CBLO market, there were 295 trades for Rs14,880.30 crore in the 6.40-6.54 per cent range.
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ICICI Bank to hike home loan rates by 50 bps
Mumbai: ICICI Bank has said it would increase its home loan rates by 50 basis points "anytime before the end of the current fiscal."

According to V Vaidyanathan the bank's retail banking head interest rates on auto loans may also go up between 25 and 50 basis points, while rates on personal loan and credit card may not be hiked.

Following the hike in repo and reverse repo rates by RBI in its third quarter review of the monetary policy, HDFC Bank increased home loan rates. IDBI Ltd followed the move.
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BoB to set up subsidiary for credit card business
Mumbai: Bank of Baroda (BoB) plans to enter into a joint venture for backroom connectivity of Bobcards, the wholly-owned subsidiary of the bank dealing in credit card issuances.

The bank plans to reach a member base of one million cardholders by '08, while expanding into 100 facilitation centres mainly in Tier-II and Tier-II cities.
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SIB's FPO price band set at Rs.60-66 per share
Mumbai: South Indian Bank's follow on public offer price has been fixed at Rs60-66 per share.

The follow on public offer opens on February 10 and closes on February 15.

The bank expects its public offer of shares to raise Rs150 crore and transfer of investment fluctuation reserves to Tier-I capital will help the bank tide the capital requirement to implement Basel-II norms and meet growth in assets.

The bank has plans to transfer the entire investment fluctuation reserve of Rs83 crore to Tier-I capital from April taking advantage of the RBI guideline.

The old private bank had tapped the market with its initial public offer in 1998 when it had raised about Rs51 crore by issuing 1.6 crore shares at a price of Rs32.
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India Infoline arm gets merchant banking licence
Mumbai: Financial services firm India Infoline's wholly owned subsidiary, India Infoline Securities Pvt Ltd, has received a Category I Merchant Banking licence from the Securities and Exchange Board of India. The license will enable the company to carry out the entire range of merchant banking activities ranging from public issue management to advisory services and underwriting of issues.

India Infoline expects a significant number of small and medium-sized companies to be turning to the capital markets and becoming involved in mergers and acquisitions.

The leading investment banks are targeting the large companies and the `small and medium-sized companies' bracket is a good untapped growth opportunity.

The company recently acquired Marchmont Capital Advisors Ltd and entered into an alliance with Marchmont International for exclusive services and non-compete in India.
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LIC hikes housing loans by 50 bps
Kolkata: LIC Housing Finance plans to hike interest rates by 50 basis points from February 10, taking the minimum lending rate to 8.5 per cent.

LIC HF, which commands roughly 7 per cent of the housing loan market, is eyeing a 24-25 per cent growth in business and a 35 per cent-plus growth in profits in the current fiscal. The company's mortgage loan book now stands at over Rs14,000 crore.

LIC officials said the company has recorded a compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) of over 30 per cent in disbursals over the past five years and the trend is expected to continue.
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LIC HFL invests Rs.50-cr to Kotak realty fund
Kolkata: LIC HF has invested Rs50 crore in Kotak Mahindra's real estate fund. This will be released in tranches depending on circumstances.

Kotak India Real Estate Fund has closed its domestic tranche raising US$100mn.
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Federal Bank to hike FII investment to 49 pc
Kochi: Federal Bank is asking for shareholders' approval for increasing FII investment in the bank to 49 per cent.

The bank feels that greater exposure by FIIs in the bank would be an investor-friendly exercise as it is expected to provide greater liquidity and visibility to the bank's equity in the international and Indian markets.

Through postal ballots sent to its shareholders, the bank is seeking approval to increase aggregate foreign investments up to 74 per cent of the bank's total paid-up capital. Of this, 24 per cent would be from NRI investments and the remaining 49 per cent would be from FIIs, the communication to the shareholders has said. Currently, the NRI holding in the bank is quite minimal.
The bank is also seeking shareholders' consent to increase the number of members on the board from nine to 12.
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