The National Stock Exchange said it has postponed its proposed launch of trading in interest rate futures, earlier set for Friday.\n\n\n\n
'Margins will be an outcome of that. They will likely remain somewhat range-bound.'
Reserve Bank of India Governor Bimal Jalan on Wednesday said the apex bank's stance on soft interest rate environment will continue while it will remain flexible for repo rate.\n\n\n\n
Millions of small savers and PPF account holders will earn less on their post office savings schemes, with the government deciding to reduce interest rates on them marginally by 0.10 per cent.
Following the footsteps of other banks, Lord Krishna Bank has hiked interest rates on domestic deposits by 25 to 50 basis points.
Among the 30 Sensex firms, Adani Ports and Power Grid climbed over 3 per cent each. Tata Steel, JSW Steel, Infosys, Mahindra & Mahindra, Maruti, and Larsen & Toubro were the other big gainers. IndusInd Bank, Bharti Airtel, Hindustan Unilever, Tech Mahindra and Titan were the laggards.
While inflation has stayed in the negative territory for past several weeks, analysts are wondering whether the interest rates have bottomed out with signs of economic recovery.
She said 30 basis points (0.30 per cent) rate cut has already happened.
Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia, on Wednesday allayed fears over significant hardening of interest rates in view of the high government borrowings, pegged at around Rs 4.5 lakh crore (Rs 4.5 trillion) this fiscal.
FMPs remain an option for investors who believe interest rates could head downward over time and wish to lock in the current rates. TMFs have very low expense ratios, which makes them cost-efficient.
He feels that RBI could be waiting for a period or an opportune movement when there could be sustained reduction.
The finance ministry and the Reserve Bank of India will work together to ensure price stability and benign interest rates in the economy, Finance Minister P Chidambaram said on Saturday.
Investors need to carefully assess country-specific risks. 'This is especially true of a market that is less transparent than the US.'
The Union finance ministry on Thursday said the falling inflation rate would result in further lowering of interest rates. "The trend is clear for falling inflation and this will translate into lower interest rates," Economic Affairs Secretary in the Finance Ministry Ashok Chawla said while commenting on the inflation data.
Private banks may lower deposit rates. The Reserve Bank of India on Friday prodded banks to reduce interest rates after the monetary policy measures announced by it over the last five months have failed to result in lower cost of funds for the economy.
Bankers see upward pressure on interest rates after the Reserve Bank raised two key short-term rates in the busy season credit policy of October.
"Any payment above EMIs is considered as payments towards the principal and would result in shorter tenure. This, in turn, will lower the total interest amount you pay on your home loan."
Equity benchmark indices Sensex and Nifty settled higher on Thursday, powered by a rally in banking and power stocks amid a largely firm trend in global markets. The stock markets mostly traded range-bound in the absence of any major trigger and persistent foreign capital outflows, traders said. The 30-share BSE Sensex rose 144.31 points, or 0.18 per cent, to settle at 81,611.41.
Enthused by government's commitment to act proactively and ensure more liquidity to promote economic growth, ICICI Bank managing director K V Kamath on Monday promised to review interest rate in the next few days.
While inflation dropped to 0.44 per cent for the week ended March 7, the BPLR of the top five Indian banks was in the range of 12.25-16.75 per cent. In the corresponding period last year, inflation was estimated at 7.78 per cent, while lending rates were in the range of 12.25-12.75 per cent. Real interest rate is the difference between WPI-based inflation and the prevailing benchmark prime lending rate.
High oil prices are expected to push up inflation to 3.9 per cent in the next three months, hardening interest rates, economic think-tank IEG has said.
Meanwhile, ICICI Bank chairman KV Kamath, however, said he expects interest rates to go up only towards of the end of this year.
Allocation to bank deposits -- fixed deposits, savings account deposits, and current account deposits -- came down.
The Reserve Bank of India on Tuesday left all the key interest rates unchanged in the first quarterly review of the monetary policy.
Credit rating agency ICRA expects interest rates in the Indian economy to harden, which together with a slowdown in agriculture growth, will put pressure on industrial activity and profitability of the banking sector.
Inflows into gold exchange-traded funds (ETFs), which manage a total of Rs 37,390 crore, have surged sharply in recent months. This trend is likely to continue, especially after the reintroduction of long-term capital gains tax (LTCG), which is likely to attract smart money into mutual fund offerings amid a robust outlook for the yellow metal. Smart money, also known as opportunistic flows, refers to strategic investments that are generally of a short-term horizon.
FDs are not advisable for long-term wealth creation as their post-inflation, post-tax returns are not very attractive.
From the Sensex pack, Adani Ports & Special Economic Zones, Mahindra & Mahindra, Reliance Industries, HDFC Bank, Larsen & Toubro, NTPC, State Bank of India, UltraTech Cement and Kotak Mahindra Bank were the major gainers. In contrast, Tata Steel, Titan, Bajaj Finserv, JSW Steel, Bajaj Finance, Hindustan Unilever, ITC, Tata Motors and Tata Consultancy Services were among the laggards.
Expressing dissatisfaction over the RBI decision to keep interest rates unchanged, India Inc today said rate cuts were needed to make the industry invest more and drive economic growth.
'Invest only in stocks of those companies that deliver on earnings and there is earnings visibility too for the next few quarters.'
Traders rejoice when the Fed drops the rate, but...
The Reserve Bank is likely to hike interest rates marginally in the fourth quarter of this fiscal to give a signal to the market, a top financial sector expert said.
Foreign investors have injected close to Rs 33,700 crore in domestic equities in this month so far primarily due to interest rate cut in the US and resilience of the Indian market. This also marks the second highest inflow in a month in this year so far, the last one being in March, when Foreign Portfolio Investors (FPIs) infused Rs 35,100 crore, data with the depositories showed. Going ahead, the trend of FPIs buying is likely to continue in the coming days, V K Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist, Geojit Financial Services, said.
The government on Tuesday said it is not in favour of regulating interest rates charged by micro-finance institutions but emphasised that there should be transparency in amount they charge from the borrowers.
RBI interest rate decision, macroeconomic data and global trends would guide markets' movement this week, analysts said. Besides, trading activity of foreign investors and the last batch of Q1 earnings announcements would also guide trends in equities. HSBC PMI (Purchasing Managers' Index) for the services sector is scheduled to be announced on Monday.
Pranab Mukherjee has projected government borrowings of Rs 4.51 lakh crore for the current fiscal.
Economists are of the opinion that interest rates are likely to remain stable or moderate this year.
There's only a slim chance of a substantial drop.
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