Rupee falls further
Mumbai: The rupee fell further to touch 46.15/16 due to heavy demand for dollars from oil companies. The Indian currency opened at 46.16/18 against the dollar and moved within the range of 46.11-46.16, intra-day, to finally close at 46.15/16.

On Wednesday, the rupee ended at 46.09/10. Dealers said the high price of crude oil coupled with the strong demand from oil companies affected the domestic currency.

Forwards: In the forward premia market, the six-month closed at 1.08 per cent (1.14per cent) and the 12-month at 1.19 per cent (1 per cent).

Bond: Bond prices were down following fears of a likely increase in interest rates and upward movement in inflation as international oil prices rose to $75 per barrel, said dealers.

During mid-session prices fell further following a statement from Dr Rakesh Mohan, deputy governor, Reserve Bank of India, that the central bank may review inflation and GDP targets in the monetary policy in July.

G-secs: The 7.37 per cent 8-year 2014 paper opened at Rs96.02 (8.07 per cent TYM) and closed at Rs95.9 (8.09 per cent YTM) against the previous close of Rs96.15 (8.04 per cent YTM). The 7.59 per cent 10-year 2016 benchmark paper opened at Rs96.25 (8.15 per cent YTM) and closed at Rs96.15 (8.16 per cent YTM). The 9.39 per cent 5-year 2011 paper opened and closed unchanged at Rs106.8 (7.72 per cent YTM). The positive factors for the bond market was the liquidity of around Rs70,000 crore and expectation that headline inflation figures which will be released on Friday would be below 5 per cent.

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 39 bids amounting to Rs41,800 crore and in the second one-day reverse repo auction, 43 bids for Rs29,135 crore. There were no repo bids.

The CBLO market saw 346 trades aggregating to Rs20,990.85 crore in the 5.31 -5.90 per cent range.
Back to News Review index page  

RBI reduces G-Sec auction amount
Mumbai: The Reserve Bank of India has reduced the amount of the government securities auction to be held on July 11 to Rs7,000 crore from the scheduled amount of Rs10,000 crore. In a press release issued on Thursday, RBI announced the sale of the 7.59 per cent G-Sec 2016 for Rs5,000 crore and the sale of the 7.5 per cent G-Sec 2034 for Rs2,000 crore.

The auction amount scheduled earlier for the 10-14 years G-sec was Rs6,000 crore and for the G-Sec having tenure of over 20 years earlier was Rs4,000 crore. "Taking into account all relevant factors, the government of India, in consultation with the Reserve Bank of India, has decided to reduce the size of auction for both securities," said the RBI press release.
Back to News Review index page  

Magma Leasing to raise Rs122 cr through pvt placement
Kolkata: Magma Leasing has approved raising of Rs121.82 crore through private placement with global investors including the UK-based Cambridge Place Investment Management (CPIM) which will invest Rs108.10 crore and the US-based Aeneas Evolution Portfolio with Rs13.72 crore.

According to the company the funds raised will improve the rating and strength of the company's balance sheet, "augmenting our ability to write higher volume of business and enabling us to maintain a strong growth momentum".

The equity shares allotment of 26.7 lakh shares to CPIM will represent 14.99 per cent of the company's fully diluted post-placement capital. Rothschild India has advised CPIM on its investment in Magma. Placement with Aeneas will account for 4.28 per cent of company's post-placement fully diluted equity capital. The US company has assets under management worth over $2 billion.

ENAM Financial Consultants has acted as advisors. Both transactions are subject to shareholders approval at Magma's AGM scheduled for July 31.
Back to News Review index page  

LIC in drive to hold back maturity proceeds
Kolkata: To retain the moneys moving out way of maturity of policies or settlement of claims LIC has launched a drive. It has launched products that may be used to hold back maturity or claim proceeds. Among the policies named by the insurer are Jeevan Tarang and Jeevan Akshay. Some of the others are products that range from whole-life policies to unit-linked plans.

LIC has urged agents to present these plans before customers, particularly those whose policies are getting redeemed. All these plans have single-premium options. Jeevan Tarang is a with-profits whole life plan that pays vested bonuses in a lump sum on survival till the end of the accumulation period or on earlier death. Jeevan Akshay, the fourth in a series of pension plans, allows premium payment as a lump sum, with the minimum purchase price at Rs50,000, which may secure a minimum annuity of Rs3,000.

LIC has framed an incentive scheme for agents who successfully secure fresh mandates by using policies like Jeevan Tarang. The idea is to encourage them to shore up business through select products. LIC is investing in setting up good infrastructure at branches to enable agents to source the right sort of technology for their operations. An agent can offer each of his customers the full suite of LIC's products.
Back to News Review index page