Re strengthens against dollar
Mumbai: The rupee strengthens against the dollar due to a weak dollar overseas. The rupee opened at Rs46.55 and touched an intra-day high of Rs46.45 to finally close at Rs46.55/56. On Friday, the rupee ended at Rs46.69/70.

Forwards: In the forward premia market, the six-month ended at 1.05 per cent (1.09 per cent) and the 12-month ended at 1.15 per cent (1.17 per cent).

Bonds: The bond market was bearish and prices moved in a range of 20 paise ahead of the auction of government securities paper. Prices opened higher due to US yields touching less than 5 per cent.

G-secs: The 7.59 per cent 10-year 2016 paper opened at Rs95.85 (8.22 per cent YTM) and ended at Rs95.69 (8.24 per cent YTM) against the previous close of Rs95.61 (8.25 per cent YTM). The 7.55 per cent five-year 2010 paper opened at Rs99.65 and ended at 99.55 (7.68 per cent YTM) against the previous close of Rs99.53 (7.69 per cent YTM).

Call rates: Call rates were unchanged between 6.00 and 6.10 per cent.

Reverse repo: In the first three-day reverse repo auction under LAF, the Reserve Bank of India received and accepted 20 bids amounting to Rs23,285 crore and in the second three-day reverse repo auction, 39 bids for Rs21,385 crore. There were no repo bids.

CBLO: The CBLO market saw 299 trades aggregating Rs17,594.20 crore in the 5.82-5.90 per cent range.
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UTI Bank to raise Rs420-crore
Mumbai: UTI Bank is planning to raise Rs420 crore as hybrid tier-I capital and Rs1,352 crore as upper tier-II capital, under its Medium Term Note programme, said the bank in a notice issued to BSE. Of the hybrid Tier-I capital, Rs205.96 crore would be raised in foreign currency and Rs21.43 crore in rupees in one or more tranches by way of bonds or debentures. Of the upper tier-II capital, the bank will raise Rs700.54 crore in foreign currency and Rs652.4 crore in rupee, said the notice. The capital raised will be used for overseas operations of the bank. The bank has branches in Sri Lanka and Singapore.
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PNB to raise Rs2,100-cr additional capital
New Delhi: Punjab National Bank (PNB) plans to raise additional capital of about Rs2,100 crore to fund its expected business growth for the current fiscal. PNB has reported a net profit of Rs367.52 crore for the quarter ended June 30, 2006, reflecting an increase of 2.61 per cent over the net profit of Rs358.16 crore recorded in the same quarter last year. Total income of the bank for the period under review increased by 14.9 per cent to Rs2,922 crore (Rs2,543 crore).

The board of directors of PNB, which met here today, declared a final dividend of 60 per cent (Rs6 per share) for the financial year 2005-06. With the declaration of final dividend, the total dividend for 2005-06 stood at 90 per cent (including the interim dividend of 30 per cent paid in December 2005).
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ICICI Pru Life new biz premium zooms in Q1
Mumbai: ICICI Prudential Life Insurance has posted a growth of 152 per cent in its Q1 new business weighted premium to touch Rs812 crore as on June 30. Of this, Rs690 crore came from retail business premium, a growth of 155 per cent over the same quarter last year. Group business, which grew by 133 per cent, contributed Rs122 crore in premium. According to a press release, the company has underwritten 302,482 policies over the period and total sum assured in force stands at over Rs56,000 crore. Funds under management increased to over Rs9,300 crore.

Weighted received premium accounts for 100 per cent of regular premium and 10 per cent of the single premium. The quarter also saw the company's promoters, ICICI Bank and Prudential plc, infusing an additional Rs150 crore of incremental capital, taking the total infusion to Rs1335 crore. ICICI Prudential has opened offices in 75 new locations over the past quarter and has over 83,000 advisors across the country.
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StanChart to start PD biz
Mumbai: Standard Chartered Bank has been authorised to undertake primary dealer business in government securities with effect from August 1, according to an RBI press release.

Consequently, the authorisation given to Standard Chartered-UTI Securities India Pvt Ltd (SCUTI) as primary dealer stands withdrawn. The fate of SCUTI came into question since UTI Securities was recently acquired by Securities Trading Corporation of India. UTI Securities previously had a 26 per cent stake in the primary dealership subsidiary, SCUTI.
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Vijaya Bank launches long-term deposit
Chennai: Vijaya Bank has launched a long-term deposit scheme titled 'Vijaya platinum Jubilee term deposit.'

The scheme, which comes into effect from July 1, 2006, offers a higher return to the depositors who are willing to invest their funds for a minimum period of five years, the bank said in a release.

Opting for the scheme, a depositor is entitled for an additional interest of 0.50 per cent a year, over the base rate applicable on term deposits of five years and above.
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Navi Mumbai SEZ to have first financial services hub
New Delhi: India's first international finance services centre is expected to be housed at the Navi Mumbai special economic zone (SEZ), which is being promoted by Mukesh Ambani of Reliance Industries in partnership with City & Industrial Development Corporation (CIDCO) and Nikhil Gandhi.

The financial hub would contain various facilities including exchanges for trading in stocks, derivatives and commodities for the larger Asian region, apart from banking and insurance facilities.

According to informal discussions between SEZ authorities and promoters of the Navi Mumbai SEZ, state-of-the-art infrastructure would be set up for enabling delivery of all types of financial services at the international finance centre.

This facility would enjoy an edge over its counterparts in the country due to tax exemptions available for SEZ units. It is also expected to provide an open operational environment as compared to regulations that are faced by the domestic financial service sector.

It is understood that detailed guidelines for international financial service centres would be finalised after consultations between the commerce department, the Reserve Bank, Sebi and the department of economic affairs in the finance ministry.

The proposed facility would be modelled on the lines of international financial centres established in Hong Kong and Dubai but on a smaller scale to start with, the sources said.
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FDs to offer tax sops
Mumbai: If investors park up to Rs1 lakh in term or fixed deposits of commercial banks for five years or more, they will be eligible to deduct the amount from their taxable income.

This will place fixed deposits on par with schemes unveiled by the government such as the National Savings Certificate (NSC) and the Public Provident Fund in terms of offering tax breaks. The tax break on fixed deposits was spelt out by the finance ministry in a notification issued on Monday evening. The move is expected to help banks in building up a stable deposit base, and even lower their cost of fund. In the last monetary policy, RBI pointed out that banks should try to build a durable, retail deposit.
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