Rupee unchanged against dollar
Mumbai: The rupee was unchanged against the dollar on Tuesday. The Indian currency opened at 44.18 and thereafter moved in the range of 44.15-44.22 to close at 44.21, against the previous close of 44.20/2050 on Monday.

The six-month forward premia closed at 3.41 per cent (3.24 per cent) and the one-year ended at 3.11 per cent (3.01 per cent).

Bonds: Bond prices fell by around 10 paise on profit-booking.

Total traded volumes on the order matching system were Rs3,125 crore (Rs3,000 crore).

G-secs: The 8.07 per cent-10 year-2017 paper opened at Rs101.25 (7.88 per cent YTM) and closed at Rs101.21 (7.89 per cent YTM), almost unchanged from Monday's Rs101.22 (7.89 per cent YTM).

The 7.37 per cent-7 year-2014 paper opened at Rs97.15 (7.90 per cent YTM) and closed at Rs96.98 (7.93 per cent YTM), against Monday's close at Rs97.11 (7.90 per cent YTM).

Call rates: Call rates closed at 6.10-6.20 per cent on Tuesday against the previous day's close at 6.15-6.25 per cent.

Reverse Repo: In the first one-day reverse repo auction, the RBI received and accepted eight bids for Rs2,270 crore. In the second one-day reverse repo auction, the RBI received and accepted twenty-nine bids for Rs21,200 crore. There were no repo bids.

CBLO: The CBLO market saw 381 trades aggregating Rs21,101.90 crore in the 5.60-6.00 per cent range.
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Survey: pension reforms sorely needed
New Delhi: The Economic survey has said pension reforms would be a "highly beneficial force" in the financial system. It said, "Pension funds are natural vehicles for long-term investments, including equity. A modern, well-regulated pension sector, populated with professional pension fund managers will be a highly beneficial force in the financial system and improve resource flow in the form of long-term debt and equity to sound projects particularly in infrastructure," the survey said.

The survey feels that pension reforms could also benefit the insurance sector in that it could become a major customer of insurance companies for the purpose of converting a stock of pension wealth at retirement date into a flow of monthly pension in the form of annuities the Survey said.
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Standard Chartered registers $403 million profit
Mumbai: Standard Chartered Bank's Indian operations have registered a profit of $403 million in the year 2006, up by 69 per cent from 2005. The Indian share in the group's profits has increased to 12.6 per cent from 8.8 per cent in December 2005, the bank said while announcing the results of Standard Chartered Plc.

The operating profit before tax of the wholesale banking showed a growth of 75 per cent to $327 million while income rose by 61 per cent or $187 million to touch $494 million, the bank said in a release here.

On the consumer banking front, Standard Chartered India clocked an operating profit before tax of $76 million, up by 49 per cent while the income stood at $323 million, a growth of 13 per cent, it added.

The growth in consumer banking was led by a strong growth in SME business and wealth management. The wealth management grew strongly with good growth in investment services and insurance sales.
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