Rupee gains
Mumbai: The rupee strengthened by about 4 paise against the dollar due to sustained dollar inflows into the domestic market. The domestic currency closed at 40.87 on Friday, up from the previous close of 40.91/92. The Indian currency opened at 40.92/94, a tad weaker than the previous close of 40.91/92 and saw an intra-day low of 41.0150 before ending the day at 40.87. Market participants expect the rupee to trade in the range of 40.75- 41.25.

Bonds: The bond prices went up by 30 paise and yield for the 10-year-paper fell by about six basis points due to "easy liquidity and better than expected cut-off from the auctions," said a dealer with a private bank. The total traded volumes on the order matching system were Rs4,915 crore (Rs4,965 crore).

G-secs: The 7.49 per cent 10-year-paper opened at Rs94.30 (8.35 per cent YTM) and closed at Rs94.71 (8.28 per cent YTM) against Thursday's close of Rs94.38 (8.34 per cent YTM).

The 8.07 per cent 10-year-paper opened at Rs99.10 (8.21 per cent YTM) and closed at Rs99.50 (8.14 per cent YTM) against the previous close of Rs99.07 (8.21 per cent YTM).
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UBI completes Rs575 cr bond issue
Kolkata: The United Bank of India (UBI) will complete the mop-up of Rs575 crore upper tier-II bonds. The bonds are being raised to meet the capital adequacy requirements and fund the business growth in the current financial year.

The 15-year bonds are being taken at a coupon rate of 10.65 per cent. The Bank has a call option to pay half a percentage extra as pre-closure charges at the end of 10 years. The bond has AA rating from credit-rating agencies CARE and Icra.

The bank was targeting a business of Rs73,000 crore in the current financial year, with advances of Rs29,500 crore and deposits of Rs43,500 crore. It has a credit-deposit ratio of 65.5 per cent as against 61 per cent last year.
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Jones Lang LaSalle to start India operations in Q3
New Delhi: Jones Lang LaSalle Hotels is entering the Indian market to offer its hotel investment services in an equal stakes joint venture with the real estate services and money management firm Jones Lang LaSalle Meghraj.

Jones Lang LaSalle Hotels provides services such as investment sales, acquisition services, valuations, financing, asset management, development services to global hotel chains and investors.

Jones Lang LaSalle Hotels has strong relationships with global hotel operators, many of which are looking to enter or expand footprint in the Indian market officials said company officials of the real estate firm.

The hotel industry in India has sustained its growth momentum. According to a latest report by Jones Lang LaSalle, the room demand grew by 5.3 per cent in 2006 as opposed to supply, which grew by 4.9 per cent. Thus the occupancy rates improved from 72.1 per cent to 72.4 per cent during the same period. Bullish on the hospitality sector in the country, a host of real estate companies have charted out plans to foray into the sector.
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YES Bank to offer direct forex trading
Mumbai: YES Bank has announced the launch of direct foreign exchange trading service for corporate clients through a tie up with Reuters for Reuters Trading for Foreign Exchange (RTFX) - an electronic trading platform.

Earlier Union Bank and, more recently, Standard Chartered Bank had announced such a facility for their clients also through a tie up with Reuters.

Through this service, a corporate client can view the foreign exchange prices offered by various banks and execute a deal for sale or purchase.

Yes Bank has 500-550 corporate customers. There is no additional cost to the customers for using the system.

YES Bank officials said the bank will manage the risk arising out of the portfolio of the client who trades in foreign exchange similar to what was done earlier. The bank plans to distribute the foreign exchange prices to customers across 40 branches. The official said accuracy, transparency and prompt execution were some of the benefits of electronic liquidity over telephonic market.

The portal will provide 24-hour service to the customers.
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StanChart begins offering private banking services
Mumbai: Standard Chartered Bank has begun to offer private banking services in India. The focus will be on high networth individuals who have $1 million (around Rs4 crore) and above of investable wealth.

The bank expects 200 of its existing clients to migrate from consumer banking to private banking and it hopes to have 1,000 private banking clients by the end of next year. Standard Chartered Bank hopes to tap its existing wholesale bank, small and medium enterprises and high networth base.

The bank currently has 25 relationship managers who will offer advisory services based on the risk appetite and the financial goals of the investor. The relationship managers will be doubled to 50 by the end of next year, said bank officials.
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Forex reserves rise $1.17 bn
Mumbai: India's country's foreign exchange reserve rose $1.174 billion to touch $209.547 billion in the week ended June 8 mainly due to the intervention of RBI in the forex market. The reserves had surged by $3.439 billion in the week ended June 1. They have now gone up by $5.56 billion in the past three consecutive weeks.

Foreign currency assets rose $1.175 billion to $202.177 billion, according to RBI's Weekly Statistical Supplement.

Treasury officials said that the RBI had been buying dollars in the forex market to prevent the undue appreciation of the rupee.

Foreign currency assets, expressed in dollars, include the effect of appreciation or depreciation in non-US currencies (euro, sterling and yen) held in reserves.

Gold reserves and SDRs remained the same at $6.911 billion and $1 million, respectively.

The country's reserve position in the IMF also remained unchanged at $458 million.
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Govt to buy RBI`s stake in SBI
New Delhi: The Union Cabinet has cleared the transfer of the Reserve Bank's 59.7 per cent stake in State Bank of India to the government by the end of June.

The Union Cabinet approved of an ordinance to amend the State Bank of India Act, 1955, as the transaction has to be completed by June 30 (the end of the RBI's financial year).

A Bill will be moved in the coming session of Parliament to replace the ordinance.

The market value was determined taking the SBI share price at Rs1,300 in January. However, the actual cost will be determined by the market forces as the current SBI share price is hovering around Rs1,323.

The government will make the payment in cash as the commercial bank is a listed entity. However, the transaction will have no revenue impact as the money paid to the RBI will come back to the government as dividend. There will be no net outflow from the exchequer.
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