Rupee up 5 paise
Mumbai: The rupee appreciated for the third straight day to close 5 paise stronger at 45.8550/8650, against 45.90/91 on Tuesday.

Forwards Market: The six-month forward closed at 1.52 per cent (1.20 per cent) while the twelve-month forward finished at 1.40 per cent (1.14 per cent).

G-Secs: The ten year benchmark 7.37 per cent 2014 paper closed at the yield of 6.11 per cent at Rs.109.00. The 11-year benchmark 7.38 per cent 2015 paper closed at the yield of 6.17 per cent at Rs 109.55.

Call Rates: At about 4.45- 4.50 per cent.

CBLO Market: 117 trades were transacted worth Rs.3,633.20 crore.
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RBI rejects 58 bids in 91-day Treasury bill sale
Mumbai: In the 91-day Treasury bill auction 58 competitive bids were rejected as merely 12 bids worth Rs.705.00 crore were accepted from 70 bids worth Rs.3,588.25 crore received.

The auction was for a notified amount of Rs.2,000 crore. The weighted average price came at Rs.98.83. For the 364-day Treasury bill auction 47 bids worth Rs.2,000 crore were accepted at the cut-off yield of 5.25 per cent. Bids received were 121 in number worth Rs.5,921 crore.
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LIC bonus at Rs 80 for whole life plans
Mumbai: The Life Insurance Corporation has said that it would distribute Rs.10,388 crore or 95 per cent of its surplus as bonus to holders of 'with-profit' policies that were in force on March 31, 2004. It will pay 5 per cent of the surplus or Rs.547 crore to the Government as yearly dividend.

The number of in force policies has gone up from 14.11 crore to 15.62 crore as on March 31, a growth of 10.7 per cent, an LIC press release said.

The revisionary bonus rates announced by the corporation are: Rs 80 per thousand sum assured for whole life policies, Rs 51 per thousand to Rs 57 per thousand for endowment type policies, and Rs 46 (term 20 years) and Rs 51 (term 25 years) for money back and anticipated endowment policies.

The bonus ranges between Rs 52 and Rs 58 for Jeevan Mitra, Jeevan Sathi, and limited endowment policies. For Jeevan Surabhi policies, the bonus is Rs 48 for a 20-year term and Rs 57 for a 25-year term. The Jeevan Anand plan bonus ranges from Rs 49 to Rs 53 and for Jeevan Raksha, it ranges from Rs 39 to Rs 45.

LIC has also declared bonus ranging from Rs 18 to Rs 24 per thousand notional cash option for individual pension plans - New Jeevan Dhara-I and New Jeevan Suraksha-I, the release said.
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ICICI Bank receives 'Best Bank in India' award
Mumbai: The ICICI Bank has won the Best Bank in India - 2004 award instituted under the "Euromoney Awards for Excellence" by Euromoney magazine.

The award spans over 80 countries across all areas of commercial and investment banking for high quality products and services, said a release
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Union Bank has cushion against bond hits
Mumbai: The Union Bank of India may not be transferring a portion of its SLR securities to the Held to Maturity Portfolio in the immediate future, according to the Bank.

The bank says that it has a sufficient cushion of 'unrealised gains' which along with the investment fluctuation reserve, would help it withstand another 1 per cent to 2.5 per cent rise in interest rates.
Union Bank of India has achieved disbursements of close to Rs.600 crore in the second quarter of this fiscal.

As part of its ongoing retail initiatives, the bank has unveiled `multi-city cheque" facility for its customers whereby they can make payments in other cities through multi-city cheques without having to approach the branches. The facility is expected to expedite the bank's intra-city cheque clearings. These cheque books have been issued for the benefit of the bank's core-banking services branch customers and will enable them to make their payments in 17 cities and this will be gradually extended to other centres.
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Canara Bank makes September a 'Teachers month'
Thiruvananthapuram: The Canara Bank is observing September as 'Teachers Month', according to an official spokesman.

In addition to honouring outstanding teachers, the bank will also provide loans at liberal terms to teachers during the month. They could avail themselves the equivalent of up to 10 months gross salary subject to a ceiling of Rs.2 lakh, whichever is lower, at an interest of 10.75 per cent for 60 months, the spokesman added.
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Citibank sells Polaris shares
Chennai: The Citibank N.A has sold 3.21 per cent of Polaris Software Lab shares in the market between January 2004 and now. Following this, Citibank's shareholding in Polaris will reduce to 43.79 per cent from 47 per cent, said a Polaris official.

In January, Citibank sold 1.20 per cent of Polaris shares and the rest was sold in the last few days, he said.
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RBI cancels licence of Samasta Nagar Co-op Bank
Mumbai: The Reserve Bank of India has cancelled the banking licence of the Mumbai-based Samasta Nagar Co-operative Bank on account of the bank's accumulated losses to the tune of Rs.9 crore.

The bank, which has four branches in Mumbai, has a deposit base of Rs.30 crore.
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Lord Balaji Coop Bank licence cancelled
Mumbai: The Reserve Bank of India has said it has cancelled the licence of the Lord Balaji Cooperative Bank Ltd of Madhavnagar in Sangli district of Maharashtra on September 8.

The bank will not be allowed to accept deposits and allow withdrawals by cheque, draft, order or otherwise and also will be precluded from transacting the business of `banking' as defined in the Banking Regulation Act, 1949, said a news release.

The RBI has cancelled the licence under Section 22 of the Banking Regulation Act, 1949 (as applicable to Co-operative Societies).
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