Rupee moves up
Mumbai: The rupee moved up by 30 paise and closed at 43.45 against the dollar on Wednesday against Tuesday's close of 43.75. The rupee opened at 43.67, went to a low of 43.72 in intra-day trading, and finally closed at 43.45.

In forwards, the six-month closed at 4.73 per cent (4.41) and the 12-month ended at 3.74 per cent (3.61).

Bonds: Bond prices rose by around 25 paise in anticipation of liquidity improving ov the next few days. Total traded volumes on the order-matching system were around Rs635 crore.

Dealers said sentiment was bearish during the first half of the day. But as news came in about the possibility of the bank strike being called off, traders began buying in the market.

G-secs: The 8.07 per cent-10-year-2017 paper opened at Rs99.80 (8.097 per cent YTM) and closed at Rs100.20 (8.04 per cent YTM), against Tuesday's Rs99.95 (8.07 per cent YTM).

The 7.37 per cent-7 year-2014 paper opened at Rs96 (8.12 per cent YTM) and closed at Rs96.18 (8.09 per cent YTM).

Call rates: Call rates touched an intra-day high of 75 per cent when RBI stepped in to cool the overheated call money market where rates continued to soar. RBI allowed banks to use funds borrowed from its own repo window for their inter-bank lending operations.

The RBI's clarification came as a breather for banks, which are currently in a tight squeeze for cash. The inter-bank call rates were at a 10-year high for the second consecutive day at 60-70 per cent on Wednesday.

News of the three-day bank strike being deferred also eased concerns about the cash shortage, as banks had been covering in anticipation of the shutdown next week. Analysts now expect call rates to ease to 15-20 per cent in the next few days.
Back to News Review index page  

Bank unions call-off strike
New Delhi: The proposed three-day all India bank strike from March 28 was called off on Wednesday after reconciliatory proceedings between the striking trade unions and the Indian Banks Association (IBA) at the Labour Ministry succeeded in convincing both sides to resolve the impasse through a mutually-agreed methodology.

After a meeting the finance minister trade union leaders the General Secretary of the AITUC, Gurudas Dasgupta, had said that the decision to strike work stands till the demands are reasonably met.

More than 10 lakh bank employees under the umbrella of United Forum of Bank Unions had threatened to strike unless their demands regarding a second option of pension, compassionate appointments, halting outsourcing of work and filling up vacant posts are met.

As per the agreement reached today, the unions will give their proposal on pension before April 30 to IBA, which will work out a mutually agreed solution before June 30. On outsourcing, the IBA has asked the unions to pinpoint areas of outsourcing that they are opposed to. While the union leaders insisted that they are only deferring the strike and not calling it off, the Labour Ministry officials say that legally the strike stands withdrawn since the unions would have to give fresh notice before announcing another strike.
Back to News Review index page  

Kotak Mahindra plans to issue $45 million bonds to IFC
Mumbai: Kotak Mahindra Bank said it plans to raise $45 million (Rs200 crore) by issuing bonds to International Finance Corporation, the private sector arm of the World Bank Group. The private sector bank will issue upper tier II subordinated bonds by way of debentures with a final maturity of 15 years.

The investment will help the bank augment its capital base and enhance the bank's long term funding resources and will help increase the bank's lending to small and medium enterprises, and for individual housing, said a statement from IFC.

The bonds qualify as upper tier II capital according to recent guidelines issued by the RBI.
Back to News Review index page  

IDBI Capital signs agreement with Oriental Bank
New Delhi: IDBI Capital Market Services has entered into a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Oriental Bank of Commerce (OBC) to offer e-trading services through www.IDBIpaisabuilder.in.

The portal allows online investment in equities, mutual funds and initial public offerings. Facilities of investing online in equity on the BSE and the NSE, F&O (NSE), mutual funds (including SIP facility), portfolio tracker, two equity trading platform to all customers and custom stock screener are among the features on offer.

The new platform offers a host of facilities including a corporate library that provides company information of more than 4,000 companies including balance sheet for five years, profit and loss statements among others.
Back to News Review index page