Rupee strong against dollar
Mumbai: The rupee strengthened against the dollar on Thursday on good dollar supplies into the market.

The Indian currency opened at 44.09/10 and closed at 44.10/11 against Wednesday's 44.11/12. Dealers said the rupee ranged between 44.08 and 44.11 during the day.

In forwards, the six month closed at 3.71 per cent (3.62) and the 12 month ended at 3.36 per cent (.3.26).

Bonds: After losing more than Rs2 in the past few days, bond prices gained 45 paise today on the back of cut in domestic fuel prices and value buying (traders closed short positions and took fresh positions).

G-secs: The market expects 10-year paper yield to be in the 8-8.07/08 per cent range next week. Liquidity is expected to be tight, as the first phase of the CRR hike will be effective from February 17.

The 8.07 per cent 10-year 2017 paper opened at Rs100.10 (8.05 per cent YTM) and closed at Rs100.35 (8.02 per cent), against Rs99.89 (8.08 per cent).

The 7.37 per cent 7-year 2014 paper opened at Rs96.45 (8.03 per cent YTM) and closed at Rs96.50 (8.01 per cent) against Wednesday's Rs96.21 (8.07 per cent).

Call rates: Call rates fell to close at 6.25 - 6.50 per cent today against the previous close of 7 - 7.10 per cent.

Reverse repo: In the first one-day reverse repo auction under LAF, RBI received and accepted two bids for Rs15 crore and in the first one-day repo auction, the RBI received and accepted 19 bids for Rs10,155 crore. In the second one - day reverse repo auction, the RBI received and accepted 28 bids for Rs6,755 crore and in the second one - day repo auction it received and accepted four bids for Rs1,755 crore.

CBLO: The CBLO market saw 377 trades aggregating Rs21,055.30 crore in the 4.49 - 7.95 per cent range.
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SBI raises $700 million at lower rates with S&P support
Mumbai: Standard & Poors has helped the State Bank of India raise $700 million overseas at 15-25 basis points lower than the pre-upgrade rates mainly on the back of the recent ratings India investment upgrade by. The bank raised $400 million via hybrid tier I perpetual bonds and $300 million through floating rate notes.

The bank is also raising Rs1,000 crore through upper tier II bonds in the domestic market. With the $400 million (Rs1,800 crore) bond issue and upper tier II bonds, the total amount of capital raised by the bank has touched Rs10,000 crore in 2006-07.

As on December 31, the bank's overall capital adequacy as a proportion of risk-weighted assets was 11.86 per cent. It has maintained CAR above 11 per cent in 2006-07.

With the $700 million offering, SBI has almost exhausted the $2 billion medium term note programme and will work on fresh MTN plans for the next financial year.
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ICICI raises $500 million through five-year bond
Mumbai: ICICI Bank has raised $500 million (Rs22.05 billion) through dollar-denominated five-year bond overseas. The bank will pay a coupon of 62 basis points above London interbank offered rate. The bank tightened its price guidance earlier today to 62-64 basis points above Libor from the previous guidance of 65 bps above Libor.

The bank had conducted roadshows in London, Singapore, Hong Kong, and Paris. Barclays Capital and Deutsche Bank AG were the lead arrangers of the issue.

This is the second time the Indian bank is tapping overseas market this year. Last month, ICICI Bank had raised $2 billion through a bond issue in three tranches.
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HDFC Bank partners with Italian bank
Mumbai: HDFC Bank has signed an agreement with Italian bank, Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena, to offer banking services to each other's corporate customers engaged in business activity in their respective countries. The two banks will assist their customers on commercial (imports and exports, including shipment services, payment orders, among others) and financial transactions (investment activities, foreign direct investments, pre-export financing and trade financing) between Italy and India. The services will include remittances and bank guarantees. The Italian bank operates in India through its representative office.
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