Forex reserves fall by over $1.2bn
According to RBI's Weekly Statistical Supplement, forex reserves decreased by $1.177 billion to touch $165.305 billion, for the week-ended September 29, mainly due to a fall in foreign currency assets and gold.

In the previous week, reserves had increased by $940 million to touch $166.482 billion.

Foreign currency assets decreased by $835 million to touch $158.34 billion during the week. The gold reserves dipped by $336 million to touch $6.202 billion.

Non-US currencies weakened against the dollar. The euro traded between $1.2669-$1.2774. FII inflows into the domestic equity market were about $501.6 million during the week.
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Rupee strengthens
Mumbai: The rupee strengthened against the dollar due to good supplies. The rupee opened at 45.66 and ended at 45.59, six paise higher than Thursday's 45.65. The market was seen awaiting the non-farm payroll data of the US, which will hint at the direction of dollar against the rupee.

Forwards: In forwards, the six-month premium closed at 1.32 per cent (1.38 per cent) and the 12-month ended at 1.36 per cent (1.40 per cent).

Bonds: Bond prices fell slightly in line with US trends. Total traded volume on the order-matching system was Rs3,280 crore (Rs 3,150 crore). Bond prices recovered during the day on buying.

G-secs: The 7.59 per cent-10 year-2006 benchmark paper opened at Rs99.92 (7.60 per cent YTM) and closed at Rs99.95 (7.60 per cent YTM) down from Thursday's Rs100.01 (7.58 per cent YTM). The 8.07 per cent-11 year-2107 paper opened at Rs102.90 (7.65 per cent YTM) and closed at Rs102.97 (7.64 per cent YTM), against Thursday's Rs103 (7.64 per cent YTM).

Call rates: The call rates closed at 6.35 -6.45 per cent (6.4-6.5).

Reverse repo: In the first three-day reverse repo auction under the LAF, the Reserve Bank of India received and accepted seven bids amounting to Rs16,995 crore and in the second three-day reverse repo auction, 13 bids for Rs12,075 crore.

CBLO: The CBLO market saw 327 trades aggregating to Rs18,805 crore in the 5.90-6.18 per cent range.
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CorpBank Homes merges with parent
Mangalore: CorpBank Homes, a subsidiary of Corporation Bank, has merged with the parent bank. The Karnataka High Court has approved the scheme of amalgamation and the same has become effective from October 4.

CorpBank Homes earned an operating profit (profit before tax) of Rs1.09 crore for 2005-06 as against Rs5.96 crore for the previous year. At the end of 2005-06, the provisioning doubled to Rs8.90 crore as against the cumulative provisioning.
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SBI deposit growth flounders
Mumbai: The State Bank of India (SBI) group deposit mobilisation fell in the first quarter ended June 30, 2006, against the trend in other public sector and private sector banks.

SBI's year-on-year growth in deposits fell to 12.5 per cent at Rs4, 96,382 crore as on June 30, 2006, from 15.5 per cent as on March 31, 2006, according to quarterly statistics on deposits and credit of scheduled commercial banks.

The deposits of nationalised banks grew by 21.9 per cent as on June 30, 2006 against an increase of 16.2 per cent as on March 31, 2006.

Private sector banks' deposits base as on June 30, 2006 was 40 per cent, up from 28.1 per cent at the end of 2005-06. Foreign banks' deposits rose by a sharp 43.1 per cent at the end of the first quarter of 2006-07, but the increase was marginally slower from 44.9 per cent as on March 31, 2006.

As on June 30, 2006, the total deposits of nationalised banks stood at Rs10,54,021 crore, private sector banks Rs4,33,483 crore, foreign banks Rs1,18,358 crore and regional rural banks Rs69,832 crore.
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DCB IPO subscribed over 30 times
Mumbai: Development Credit Bank's public issue of 7.15 crore shares, which closed on Friday was oversubscribed more than 30 times.

The investment bankers expect the IPO to be priced at the top end of its price band of Rs 22 to Rs 26 per share, which would take the total issue proceeds to over Rs185 crore.

The IPO was oversubscribed in both the retail as well as institutional investor segments.

The issue witnessed particularly robust response from the Qualified Institutional Buyers (QIBs), which included foreign institutional investors, domestic financial institutions and mutual funds, the investment bankers said.

The IPO, which opened on September 29, received bids for more than 214 crore shares, the latest data available with the stock exchanges shows.

The bids were evenly spread across the entire price band o f Rs22 to Rs26 per share.
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AAI to raise funds for upgradation of non-metro airports
New Delhi: AAI is gearing up to raise huge quantum of funds for the upgradation of 35 non-metro airports. The public sector organisation has also obtained 'AAA' rating from Crisil so that it can float debt instruments.

The authority has appointed AK Capital Services as financial advisor-cum-lead arranger for raising debt.

UTI Bank, ICICI Securities and Allianz Securities have been selected as arrangers to help AK Capital, government sources said. The advisors would assist AAI in placement of bonds, other debt funding options, and in identifying the suitable time to tap the market.

Official sources said the government will need about Rs 40,000 crore to expand and modernise airport infrastructure across country.

Civil aviation minister Praful Patel said that apart from expansion of airports the authority was also investing in modernisation of navigation facilities.
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ICICI Bank looks to get licence from Qatar financial centre
Dubai: India's largest private bank, ICICI Bank, is seeking a licence to operate from the Qatar Financial Centre (QFC) and has made an application with the Reserve Bank of India for the go-ahead to operate from QFC. Officials said if it RBI's green signal, it would approach QFC for the licence. ICICI has enhanced its presence in the region by setting up a branch in Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC). It also has Representative office in the UAE.
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