Rupee moves in range
Mumbai: The rupee moved in a range against the US dollar and traded between 44.43 and 44.45 on Friday.

The rupee opened at 44.40/42 and touched a low of 44.47 on demand in the early session of trade. It ended at 44.43/44, unchanged from Thursday's close of 44.43/45.

Forwards: In the forward premia market, the six-month premium closed at 2.21 per cent (2.05 per cent) and the one-year premium closed at 1.85 per cent (1.72 per cent). Next week, the rupee could appreciate if the Budget has measures to encourage FII inflows, dealers said.

Bonds: Bond prices fell, as there was no fresh buying ahead of the State loan auction of Rs3,700 to be held on February 27.

G-secs: The 8.07 per cent 11-year 2017 paper opened at Rs105.19 (3.36 per cent YTM) and touched a high of Rs105.31 before ending trade at Rs105.07 (7.38 per cent YTM) lower than Thursday's close of Rs105.15 (7.37 per cent YTM).

The 9.39 per cent 5-year 2011 opened at Rs110.20 (7.06 per cent YTM) and touched a high of Rs110.30 before ending at Rs109.85 (7.14 per cent YTM), 30paise down from the previous close of Rs110.15 (7.08 per cent YTM).

Call rates: Call rates were eased at 6.75 per cent (6.8-6.9 per cent) on Friday.

Repo Auction: In the first three-day auction, the Reserve Bank of India did not receive any bids in the repo auction, but received and accepted 14 bids for Rs7,585 crore in reverse repo. In the second auction, it received and accepted two bids for Rs60 crore and 21 bids for Rs5,190 crore.

CBLO: In the CBLO market, there were 317 trades for Rs22,204.2 crore in the rate range of 6.3-7 per cent.
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SBI to spend $100 on foreign acquisitions
Mumbai: The State Bank of India (SBI) is targeting acquisitions worth $100 million overseas.

So far the bank has acquired three small banks — Indonesia's PT Bank IndoMonex, Mauritius — based Indian Ocean International Bank and Kenya's Giro Commercial Bank Ltd. The cost of these acquisitions was less than $10 million.

SBI chairman A K Purwar said Now, "The bank is open to acquiring medium-sized banks overseas," he said. He also announced that out of 14,000 SBI branches, 10,000 have been connected to the core banking solution (CBS).

SBI has identified an acquisition target in Bangladesh, but did not name the entity. SBI is also keen on expanding in the South Asian region by opening branches in Pakistan and is in the process of seeking Reserve Bank of India's nod before approaching the Pakistani banking sector regulator.
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HSBC offloads 7.19 per cent in UTI Bank
Mumbai: In accordance with RBI guidelines, HSBC Bank is trimming its equity stake and has sold two crore shares of UTI Bank in a bulk deal for Rs638.1 crore ($142 million). It sold the shares at Rs318.61 which were originally bought at Rs90 in June 2004 when it acquired 14.62 per cent equity stake for $67.6 million. HSBC's stake in UTI Bank now stands reduced to 4.99 per cent.

RBI norms issued in February 2005 stipulate that foreign banks operating in India cannot hold more than five per cent stake in an Indian bank.

On Friday, the UTI Bank scrip closed at Rs320.2 on the BSE.
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Forex reserves up by $ 811 million
Mumbai: Foreign exchange reserves increased for the fourth week in a row, according to the Reserve Bank of India's Weekly Statistical Supplement.

For the week ended February 17, 2006, the forex reserves increased by $811 million to touch $141.240 billion, against $140.429 billion, as per the latest figures. An official said the reasons for the rise in reserves were FII inflows into the equity market and the strengthening of the euro. The euro strengthened from $1.1860 to $1.120 during the week. The RBI was also seen buying dollars to keep the rupee under check, which also led to an accretion to the reserves, he said.

Foreign currency assets increased by $815 million to touch $134.806 billion in the week concerned. Foreign currency assets expressed in dollar terms include the effect of appreciation or depreciation of non- US currencies such as euro, sterling and yen. Gold and SDRs were unchanged at $5.680 billion and $3 million, respectively.
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Canara Bank bond issue oversubscribed
Bangalore: Canara Bank's bonds issue was oversubscribed and the bank was able to raise Rs425 crore after exercising the green shoe option.

The bank had priced its issue at 8.15 per cent. The pricing was for 9 years and 2 months. It has no early exit options.

The pricing was about 75 basis points above the 9-year benchmark security, the 7.38 per cent 2015 G-Sec. The bank had initially targeted to raise Rs300 crore with an option to retain Rs125 crore in the event of oversubscription. The bonds were raised for reinforcing the bank's capital.
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