Rupee higher
Mumbai: The rupee moves up against the dollar on Tuesday as supplies of the US currency improved. The currency opened at 45.86/88 to end the day at 45.75, up from Friday's 45.93/94.

Forex dealers said the rupee was tracking the movement of the other major currencies, which appreciated against the dollar.

Forwards: In forwards, the six-month premium closed at 1.40 per cent (1.29 per cent) and the 12-month ended at 1.40 per cent (1.33 per cent).

Bonds: Bond prices moved in range and ended a bit higher on easy crude oil prices.

G-secs: The 7.59 per cent-10 year-2016 paper opened at Rs99.71 (7.63 per cent YTM) and closed at Rs99.89 (7.6 per cent YTM) against the earlier close of Rs99.66 (7.64 per cent YTM). The 8.07 per cent-10 year-2017 paper opened at Rs102.79 (7.67 per cent YTM) and ended at Rs102.88 (7.66 per cent YTM) higher than the previous close of Rs102.67 (7.69 per cent YTM).

Call rates: Call rates were tight at 6.5-6.6 per cent, though lower from the previous close (7.4-7.6 per cent).

Reverse repo: In the first one-day reverse repo auction under LAF, the Reserve Bank of India received and accepted four bids amounting to Rs2,755 crore and 10 bids amounting to Rs14,270 crore in the second auction. There were no repo bids.

CBLO: The CBLO market saw 331 trades in the rate range of 5.8-6.45 per cent amounting to Rs17,224.80 crore.
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LIC's new premium income rises 150-pc
Mumbai: Life Insurance Corporation of India has registered a 150 per cent growth in new premium income for the April to September 15 period.

The first premium income touched Rs 12,309 crore, a growth of 150 per cent over the previous year. The corporation raked in first premium of Rs 8,192 crore in the first quarter, buoyed by the rush for ULIPs, ahead of the guidelines for revised products from July 1.

The guidelines specify that ULIPs should have a minimum lock-in period of three years and the death benefit payable or sum assured under the single-premium product has to be at least 125 per cent of the premium paid.

LIC has, so far, covered over 1.73 crore people under social security schemes.
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Unions oppose LKB, Centurion merger
Kochi: The All India Private Sector Bank Officer's Federation is opposing the move to merge Lord Krishna Bank with Centurion Bank of Punjab. The federation says the merger exposes the double standards of the Government with reference to larger issues of consolidation of banks and financial inclusion.

It said today if a small bank like LKB is targeted for takeover, tomorrow in the name of financial sector restructuring, liberalisation and globalisation, bigger old generation private sector banks in Kerala, which are having a wide presence in the rural and semi-urban areas of Kerala will become a prey, the federation pointed out.
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StanChart to focus on wholesale banking ops
New Delhi: Standard Chartered Bank expects rapid growth in its wholesale banking business in the coming years and is targeting a revenue of $325 million during the calendar year from the segment.

According to the bank the annual revenue (wholesale banking) could be in the region of $325 million in 2006, with the expected year-on-year growth of 25-30 pc for the next 3-5 years.

Last year revenues from this segment stood at $ 240 million and StanChart hopes to grow this to $1 billion by 2011.

Officials said India is Stanchart Bank's third largest market among its franchises and is looking for opportunities to expand but is constrained by regulations at the moment.

Current rules do not permit foreign banks to own more than 5 pc in Indian banks. The bank was waiting for 2010, when the banking sector would be opened up.
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South Indian Bank in acquisition mode
Mumbai: The Kerala-based old private sector South Indian Bank (SIB) is looking at acquiring a bank to double its loan assets from Rs7,360 crore.

The bank's board, which met on Septmeber 30, has set up a four-member team to look for acquisitions.

SIB has a net worth of Rs690 crore, and had a capital adequacy ratio of 12.04 pc as on June 30, 2006. SIB's strong capital base would come in handy in acquiring another small-sized bank with some of them failing to meet the regulatory requirement of minimum net worth of Rs 300 crore so far.

City Union Bank (Rs286 crore), Catholic Syrian (Rs216 crore), Dhanalakshmi Bank (Rs134 crore), Ratnakar Bank (Rs54 crore) and Sangli Bank (Rs84 crore) do not adhere to the minimum net worth requirement of SIB.

SIB is looking at banks with assets size of up to Rs8,000 crore which puts Tamilnad Mercantile Bank on its radar an analyst said.

SIB shares ended almost flat at Rs69.60 on the Bombay Stock Exchange on Tuesday.
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