Rupee declines
Mumbai: The rupee declined by 36 paise against dollar on sustained buying of dollars by big oil companies according to a bank dealer. The rupee closed at 40.86 down from the previous close of 40.50 and eased away from the Monday's nine-year intra-day high of 40.28. The rupee opened at 40.55 but immediately fell to 40.65/70 level intra-day.

In forwards, the six-month premia closed at 2.07 per cent (3.05 per cent) while the 12-month premia ended at 2.48 per cent (3 per cent).

Bonds: Bond prices fell marginally in anticipation of action from RBI. Total traded volumes on the order-matching system were Rs2,325 crore (Rs3,120 crore).

G-secs: The 8.07 per cent-10 year-2017 paper opened at Rs99.85 (8.09 per cent YTM) and closed at Rs99.78 (8.10 per cent YTM), against the previous close at Rs99.82 (8.09 per cent YTM).

The 7.38 per cent - 10 year-2017 paper opened at Rs95.50 (8.13 per cent YTM) and closed at Rs95.55 (8.13 per cent YTM), against Tuesday's close at Rs95.50 (8.13 per cent YTM).

Call rates: The inter-bank call rates closed lower at 1 - 1.25 per cent on Wednesday against the previous close of 4 - 4.25 per cent `due to easy liquidity in the system said a dealer with a private bank.

Reverse repo: In the first one - day reverse repo auction, the RBI received 28 bids for Rs30,805 crore while it accepted Rs1,999 crore. In the second one - day reverse repo auction, it received 25 bids for Rs18,530 crore while it accepted Rs997 crore. There were no repo bids in the first and second one - day auctions.

CBLO: The CBLO market saw 476 trades aggregating Rs30,364.20 crore in the 0.10 - 2 per cent range.
Back to News Review index page  

Sundaram Finance operating profit up 22 pc
Chennai: Sundaram Finance Ltd (SFL) has reported an operating net profit of Rs100.47 crore for the year ended March 31, 2007 a growth of 22 per cent over the previous year.

The company had reported a net profit of Rs170 crore in 2005-06, but received Rs88 crore from a one-time profit on sale of its stake in Sundaram Asset Management Company. Income from operations was up 25 per cent at Rs1,077 crore.

The company disbursements were up 28 per cent at Rs4,386 crore (Rs3,422 crore). About 59 per cent of the disbursements were towards the commercial vehicles segment, while 25 per cent were towards cars and jeeps and 7 per cent towards construction equipment.

The board of directors of Sundaram Finance Ltd has recommended a final dividend of 20 per cent for the year ended March 31, 2007, which along with the interim dividend of 85 per cent takes the total dividend for the year to 105 per cent.
Back to News Review index page  

Max New York Life launches new unit-linked plan
Chennai: Max New York Life Insurance Co has launched Life Maker Premium, a unit-linked endowment plan, which the company says is tailored to the needs of the middle-income group.

This was the fifth product from Max New York Life's unit-linked portfolio and the first to have the option to invest fully in equity funds. This gives the customers an option to maximise growth prospects.

The features of Life Maker Premium are: flexibility in premium payment, investment flexibility with the customer choosing to invest in five investment funds offered by the company, higher returns and high quality of advice.

The staff of Max Life is trained to educate the customers to the pros and cons of investing in unit linked schemes. The stock market boom is driving unit-linked products. Over 70 per cent of the fund's premium income and 60 per cent of its policies are related to unit-linked products.
Back to News Review index page  

Yes Bank launches $100 m agro fund
Mumbai: Yes Bank has launched a $100 million food and agribusiness India fund and plans to invest the entire amount in the next 1-2 years, with an investment between $5 million and $7.5 million per company. The bank is targeting average annualised returns of between 20 per cent and 25 per cent.

The bank is in talks with 10 investors, including insurance companies, bilateral institutions and commercial banks who have expressed an interest in contributing to the corpus.

The fund will invest in companies operating in fruits and vegetables such as grain-based products, milk and milk-based products, poultry, spirits and beer, tea and coffee, confectionery, farm seeds, food services, food retail, food logistics and agri-infrastructure, including agri-market and cold storages sectors.

The bank will support the fund in deal sourcing, supporting investee companies' growth plans through debt facilities, syndication, mergers and acquisitions, and advisory support to facilitate business expansion.

It will also play an active role in facilitating exit from investments through appropriate routes such as financial or strategic sale and initial public offering.
Back to News Review index page