Rupee gains
Mumbai: The rupee gained by eight paise on Wednesday due to good dollar supplies.
The rupee opened at 44.20, to finally end at 44.11/12 against Tuesday's close of 44.20/21.

The six-month forward premia closed at 3.62 per cent (3.12 per cent) and the one-year at 3.26 per cent (2.92 per cent).

Bonds: Bond prices received another round of hammering on Wednesday following the CRR hike. Total traded volumes on the order matching system were Rs2,215 crore (Rs1,650 crore). The 8.07 per cent - 10 year-2017 paper opened at Rs99.80 (8.1 per cent) and closed at Rs99.89 (8.08 per cent YTM), down from Rs100.75 (7.96 per cent YTM).

The recently auctioned 7.37 per cent - 7 year-2014 paper opened at Rs96.25 (8.06 per cent YTM) and closed at Rs96.21 (8.07 per cent YTM), against Tuesday's Rs96.85 (7.95 per cent YTM).

Call rates: Call rates closed higher at 7-7.10 per cent today against the previous close of 6.50-6.60 per cent. In the first one-day reverse repo auction under LAF, the RBI received and accepted two bids for Rs40 crore, while it received no repo bids in the first one-day auction.

Reverse repo: In the second one-day reverse repo auction, the RBI received and accepted three bids for Rs85 crore and in the second one-day repo auction, the RBI received and accepted one repo bid for Rs15 crore.

CBLO: The CBLO market saw 399 trades aggregating Rs25,135.30 crore in the 6.77-7.15 per cent range.
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Public sector banks raise lending rates
Mumbai: A number of public sector banks including Bank of India, Bank of Baroda and Punjab National Bank have increased lending rates by 50 basis points (effective from February 15), a day after the CRR was raised to six per cent by the Reserve Bank of India. ICICI Bank and SBI are likely to follow, according to bank officials.

Bank of India has increased its prime lending rate (PLR) to 12.5 per cent from 12 per cent.

Punjab National Bank hiked its PLR to 12.25 per cent (11.75 per cent). The bank had last hiked its PLR on December 28, 2006 to 11.75 per cent. Bank of Baroda has also lifted its rates by 50 basis points to 12.50 per cent (12 per cent).

ICICI Bank is not planning to raise the cost of money for existing home loan borrowers. The revised floating reference rate for consumer loans, including home loans, is 11.75 per cent a year.
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