Rupee gains
Mumbai: The Rupee moved up to touch a seven-month high of 44.72/73 on strong dollar supplies from foreign banks, say dealers.

The rupee opened at 44.86/88 and touched an intra-day low of 44.82/84 but closed at 44.72/73, about 20 paise higher than the previous close of 44.90/91 on Monday.

Forwards: In forwards, the six-month premium closed at 1.79 per cent (1.88 per cent) and the one-year closed at 1.70 per cent (1.74 per cent).

Bonds: Bond prices flared up by almost 25 paise (yields dropped by about four basis points) on comfortable rupee liquidity. Total traded volumes on the order matching system jumped to Rs 6,155 crore (Rs 3,445 crore).

G-secs: The 7.59 per cent 10-year 2016 paper opened at Rs 99.61 (7.65 per cent YTM) and closed at Rs 99.82 (7.61 per cent YTM) against Monday's Rs 99.56 (7.65 per cent YTM) The 8.07 per cent 11-year 2017 paper opened at Rs 102.93 (7.65 per cent YTM) and closed at Rs 103.19 (7.61 per cent YTM) against Rs 102.86 (7.66 per cent YTM) on Monday.

Call rates: Call rates remained unchanged between 6.9 per cent to 7 per cent.

Reverse repo: In the first one-day reverse-repo auction under LAF, the RBI received and accepted two bids amounting to Rs 225 crore. There were no repo bids. In the second one-day reverse-repo auction, the RBI accepted and received nine bids for Rs 7,705 crore.

CBLO: The CBLO market saw 409 trades aggregating Rs 24,969.15 crore in the 5.96-6.75 per cent range.
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American Express launches The Platinum Club
New Delhi: American Express has launched `The Platinum Club' — a premium service targeted at the rapidly-growing affluent consumer segment in India.

Members of the club would automatically receive the new American Express Platinum Card, their key to the host of membership benefits, said Atul Mathur, senior vice-president, ASEAN and South Asia. Membership to the club would be available for a lifetime foundation fee of Rs50,000.

American Express said film personality Abhishek Bachchan would be the first member of the club. He would also endorse the offering through an extensive marketing campaign with the theme "Membership Changes Everything".

"The Platinum Club represents a service innovation that we believe will set a new benchmark in the cards industry. The launch also represents a significant investment by American Express in an aggressive growth strategy to realise the potential of this market. In fact, this is the first time in India, we are appointing a celebrity to endorse our offering," he said.
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Banks hike FCNR, NRE deposit rates
A number of banks have effected an upward revision in FCNR (B), NRE and RFC deposit schemes.

Lakshmi Vilas Bank has revised FCNR (B), NRE and RFC deposit schemes with effect freom November 1. The revision has been negligible under the NRE and RFC deposit scheme. The interest rate for FCNR (B) dollar deposit has been raised to 5.34 per cent (5.3 per cent) for maturity period of 1-2 years; 5.17 (5.09) per cent for 2-3 years; 5.11 (5.01) for 3-4 year and 4-5 year period; and to 5.12 (5.04) per cent for 5-year deposit.

The NRE deposit rate has been revised to 6.34 (6.3) per cent for 1-2 year period and to 6.17 (6.1) per cent for 2-3 years.

South Indian Bank has revised interest rates for NRE rupee accounts of one-year maturity to 6.34 per cent (6.3 per cent), two years to 6.17 per cent (6.09 per cent) and three years to 6.11 per cent (6.01 per cent).

The bank has also enhanced FCNR dollar interest rates to 5.34 per cent (5.30 per cent) for one year, 5.17 per cent (5.09 per cent) for two years and 5.11 per cent (5.01 per cent) of three-year maturity.

The FCNR rates for British pound were revised to 5.44 per cent (5.27 per cent) for one-year maturity, 5.37 per cent (5.18 per cent) for two years and 5.33 per cent (5.13 per cent) for three years.

For euro, the bank announced interest rates of 3.86 per cent (3.71 per cent) for one-year tenure, 3.94 per cent (3.78 per cent) for two years and 3.94 per cent (3.77 per cent) for three years. The interest rate revision is effective from November 1, the bank said in a press release.

Central Bank of India has also hiked NRE and FCNR deposit rates. For FCNR (B) deposits in US dollars, rates have been revised to 5.34 per cent (5.3 per cent) per annum for maturity of one year to less than two years and for maturity of two to less than three years it is 5.17 per cent (5.1 per cent). For deposits with maturity of five years, the rates have been raised to 5.12 per cent (5.04 per cent).

In the case of NRE deposits, the rates have been increased to 6.34 per cent (6.3 per cent) for maturity of one year to less than two years; and for deposits with maturity of two and less than three years, it is 6.17 per cent (6.1 per cent).
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