Rupee range-bound
Mumbai: The rupee traded in a narrow range against the US dollar on Wednesday. The Indian currency opened at 46.07 / 08 and touched a low of 46.09 before ending trade at 45.98 / 99, higher than the previous close of 46.03 / 04.

Forwards: In the forward premia market the six-month closed at 0.86 (0.9 per cent) and the one-year closed at 1.04 per cent (1.09 per cent).

Bonds: Bond prices gained by around eight paise taking a cue from the fall in the US yields.

G-Secs: The 9.39 per cent-5 year-2011 paper opened at Rs108.11 (7.43 per cent YTM) and closed at Rs108.19 (7.41 per cent YTM), higher than Tuesday's Rs108.1 (7.43 per cent). The 7.59 per cent-10 year-2016 paper opened at Rs98.51 (7.81 per cent YTM) and ended at Rs98.65 (7.79 per cent YTM), up from Tuesday's close at Rs98.49 (7.81 per cent YTM).
Call rates: Call rates remained unchanged between 5.75 and 5.85 per cent.

Reverse repo: In the first one-day reverse repo auction under LAF, the Reserve Bank of India received and accepted 26 bids amounting to Rs31,040 crore and in the second one-day reverse repo auction, 34 bids for Rs19,635 crore. There were no repo bids.

CBLO: The CBLO market saw 256 trades aggregating Rs14,424.15 crore in the 5.51-5.70 per cent range.
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Bank of America profits rise 80 per cent in India
Hong Kong- Bank of America Corp's profits from its Indian branches rose 80 percent in the fiscal year ended March 31, on the back if risk management and foreign exchange operations. Last year the bank invested $175 million in its Indian business. The combined net profit from its five branches rose to 1.45 billion rupees ($32 million) from 805 million rupees in fiscal year 2005.

Bank of America, like other global banks is looking at China and India as markets for growth.

Though the bank has a way to go before it catches up with rivals like Standard Chartered Bank, which has more than 100 branches in India and booked an operating profit of $235 million in 2005, it is narrowing the gap in Asia, where it currently has more than 2,500 employees in 13 countries.

StanChart, which is based in London but focuses on Asia and other emerging markets, has more than 10,000 employees in India alone.
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Banks free to appoint treasury chief
Mumbai: Commercial banks can now appoint head of treasury or international division and dealers from outside the industry without taking approval from the Reserve Bank of India. RBI has dispensed with its order passed in 1996, which said that banks had to obtain prior permission from it for appointment to these posts.
However, bank boards should be fully satisfied with the credentials of the appointees before posting, the apex banks said.
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TMB registers Rs 101 crore net
Tuticorin: The Tuticorin-based Tamilnad Mercantile Bank (TMB) has posted a net profit of Rs101.19 crore, while operating profit was at Rs198.91 crore, up by Rs24.70 crore compared to the previous year.

The board has recommended a dividend of Rs100 per share subject to approval by the AGM, said the chairman, S. Radhakrishnan.

The bank proposes to install 50 more ATMs at important locations shortly in addition to the existing 37 ATMs; the bank also provides access to over 5,500 ATMs nationwide.

TMB also proposes to start 31 branches in the coming year, of which 14 would be in Tamil Nadu.
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BoB to expand overseas operations
New Delhi: Bank of Baroda (BoB) plans to expand its overseas operations and is targeting its overseas branches to contribute at least 35 per cent of its net profit and 25 per cent of its business by 2008. Currently, overseas operations, which span 20 countries, contribute about 28 per cent of the net profit and 16 per cent of its business.

Bank of Baroda has no immediate plans to raise interest rates, especially on home loans, on the back of the Reserve Bank of India's recent move to mark up its key short-term interest rates by 25 basis points.

The bank is launching the urban retail loan factory concept in 10 new locations including Chennai, Bangalore, Surat and Lucknow in the next few months. The concept is being ushered in primarily to facilitate quicker processing of retail loan applications. Besides Delhi, the facility of urban retail loan factory has already been launched in Mumbai and Ahmedabad.
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