Rupee falls further
Mumbai: The rupee weakened further against the dollar for the second day in a row as the stock market continued with its downward slide. The Indian currency opened lower at over 46 in line with global currencies, which were weak against the dollar and thereafter moved in the range of 45.87 and 46.04. Selling of dollars by exporters pushed the rupee to 45.96/98 at the end of trade, against Tuesday's close of 45.93.

Dealers are watching out for the meeting by the European Central Bank, which is likely to announce a rate hike, a forex dealer said.

Forwards: The six-month closed at 0.78 per cent (0.68 per cent) and the one-year ended at 0.97 per cent (0.87 per cent).

Bonds: In the bond market, prices fell by 10 paise as there was no buying interest. Rise in domestic oil prices is a concern for the market. Dealers said the hike in the oil prices will be soon reflected in the creeping up of inflation figures to 5 per cent in the next two weeks. This will necessitate action from the Reserve Bank of India and key short-term rates might be hiked in July said a dealer. The 9.39 per cent - 5 year-2011 paper opened at Rs108.61 (7.32 per cent YTM) and closed at Rs108.54 (7.33 per cent YTM), lower than Tuesday's Rs108.67 (7.31 per cent YTM). The 7.59 per cent-10 year-2016 benchmark paper opened at Rs99.60 (7.65 per cent YTM) and ended at Rs99.45 (7.66 per cent YTM), down from Tuesday's close at Rs99.65 (7.65 per cent YTM).

Call rates: Call rates remained unchanged between 5.5 per cent and 5.6 per cent.

Reverse repo: In the first one-day reverse repo auction under LAF, Reserve Bank of India received and accepted 31 bids amounting to Rs31,670 crore and in the second one-day reverse repo auction, it accepted 41 bids for Rs34, 875 crore.

The CBLO market saw 304 trades aggregating to Rs15,329.55 crore in the 5.09-5.30 per cent range.
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Bajaj Allianz to raise equity capital
Bangalore: Bajaj Allianz Life Insurance Company plans to further raise its paid-up equity after July, when the new ULIP (unit linked insurance policy) guidelines come into force from next month onwards.

The company is currently capitalised at Rs500 crore. This capital would last up to September, the company chief executive officer Sam Ghosh said.

He said Bajaj Allianz was targeting a growth rate in excess of 100 per cent. Based on this growth in business acquisition, the joint venture partners would have to bring in more capital, he said.

Bajaj Allianz is a 74:26 joint venture agreement between the Bajaj group and Allianz Insurance of Germany. The company reported a premium growth of 400 per cent in the first month of this financial year at Rs146 crore. More than 75 per cent of the accretions, however, came from ULIPs.
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Jeevan Akshay-III to be eligible for Sec 80C benefits
New Delhi: The Central government has said that investments made in Jeevan Akshay-III Plan, an annuity plan of Life Insurance Corporation of India, would be entitled for benefits under Section 80C of the income-tax law.

Under Section 80C, an individual or a Hindu undivided family (HUF) is allowed a deduction from income of an amount not exceeding Rs 1 lakh on investments made in certain specified schemes. This provision, which was introduced in Budget 2005-06, requires the Centre to specify the annuity plans of LIC or any other insurer that would be eligible for benefits under Section 80C.

As a first step in the direction of an exempt-exempt-tax (EET) system of taxation, the Government had in Budget 2005-06 replaced the rebate method (Section 88) with an income-based deduction method (Section 80C).

The investments that qualify for a deduction under Section 80C, within the overall ceiling of Rs1 lakh, includes life insurance premia, contributions to provident funds or schemes for deferred annuities.
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LIC Housing Q4 net up by 100 per cent
Mumbai: LIC Housing Finance has reported a 192 per cent rise in net profit at Rs41.38 crore for the fourth quarter ended March 31, 2006 — against Rs14.17 crore recorded for the fourth quarter of the previous fiscal.

Total income rose by 28.45 per cent to Rs354.4 crore while interest income on housing loans rose by nearly 30 per cent to Rs311.83 crore.

For the year ended March 31, 2006, net profit at Rs 208.57 crore (Rs 143.72 crore) was up by 45.12 per cent.

Total income rose by 21 per cent to Rs1,269 crore, while interest income on housing loans rose by 23 per cent to Rs1,118.99 crore.

Disbursements for the year were up by 11 per cent at Rs4,670 crore and sanctions rose by 13.87 per cent at Rs5,027.28 crore.
The board has recommended a dividend of 60 per cent.
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Gold, silver decline further
Mumbai: Precious metals fell further on the local bullion market on Wednesday trailing a weak overseas market.

Standard gold prices were down Rs160 at Rs9,300 per 10 gm from Rs9,460 per kg. Pure gold (99.99 fineness) was down Rs165 to close at Rs9,350 per 10 gm from Rs9,515. Silver (.999 fineness) price was down Rs425 to close at Rs17,855 from Rs18,280 a kg on weak overseas market.
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