Rupee rises 19 paise to 46.93/94 against dollar

The rupee on Friday gained 19 paise to close below Rs 47 against the US dollar as exporters sold the American currency amid a positive trend in domestic equity markets and dollar weakness overseas.

The domestic currency concluded the day at 46.93/94 per dollar after opening on a strong note at 46.95/96 a dollar on the Interbank Foreign Exchange, compared with the previous close of 47.12/13 per dollar.

Forex dealers attributed the initial firmness in the rupee to a rally in local equities, with the BSE benchmark Sensex up by over 124 points just after the onset of business.

Profit-taking in the afternoon pulled the Sensex down into the negative terrain, which saw the rupee also touch a low of 47.07 a dollar. But a late recovery in stocks later in the day helped the local unit to rebound to a high of 46.8925 before closing 19 paise higher against the US dollar.

The dollar selling by exporters on expectations of a further decline in the value of the American currency supported the rupee’s rise.

In the New York market on Thursday, the dollar fell against the euro and other major currencies as US corporate and housing reports supported equities and reduced demand for the American currency. Meanwhile, global crude oil was trading below $79 a barrel in London on Friday.

The rupee premium for the forward dollar ended slightly lower on stray receivings by exporters. The benchmark six-month forward dollar premium payable in December eased to 86-1/2-88 paise from 87/89 paise on Thursday and far-forward maturing in June also softened to 157-159 paise from 158-160 paise previously.

The Reserve Bank of India fixed the reference rate for the dollar at Rs 47.00 and for the euro at Rs 60.53.
In cross currency trade, the domestic unit remained weak against the pound sterling and the euro, but recovered against the Japanese yen.

The rupee declined further against the pound sterling to end at Rs 72.41/43 per pound from Thursday’s close of Rs 72.00/72.02. It also slipped to Rs 60.62/64 against the euro from Rs 60.61/63 previously. It, however, rebounded to Rs 53.83/85 per Y100 from its last close of Rs 54.30/32.

ET

Guj Minister Amit Shah resigns

STAFF WRITER 9:24 HRS IST

New Delhi, July 24 (PTI) Facing charges of murder, Gujarat Minister of State for Home Amit Shah, a close associate of Chief Minister Narendra Modi, today resigned from the state ministry.

"As I landed here in Delhi, I have information that Amit Shah's resignation has reached my residence in Gandhinagar. On return, I will accept it and complete the formalities," Modi, who is here to attend the National Development Council meeting, said.

Asked by reporters whether the resignation amounted to accepting that Shah was guilty, Modi said, "He was accepting it because under the Constitution, certain formalities have to be fulfilled".

He said Shah would fight the issue legally and expressed confidence that judiciary would provide him justice.

Shah's resignation comes a day after CBI charged him with kidnapping and murder of alleged gangster Sohrabuddin Sheikh and his wife Kauser Bi in November 2005..

TOI

Lending rates likely to go up after September: ICICI Bank

Lending rates likely to go up after September: ICICI Bank

NEW DELHI, July 19: The country’s largest private lender, ICICI Bank, today said it expects lending rates to go up after September as credit offtake is likely to pick up in the second half of the current fiscal. “My belief is the demand for liquidity will increase substantially in the second half of this year,” ICICI Bank CEO and Managing Director Chanda Kochhar said on the sidelines of a CII function. “So, you would see some gradual increase in interest rate on the lending side over the next one year,” she said. Asked about the initial public offering (IPO) plans of the bank’s subsidiary ICICI Securities, she said, “There is nothing in the offfing. Nothing in this fiscal.” ICICI Securities is ICICI Bank’s broking and advisory unit which has pioneered an online share trading platform in India. On base rate, Kochhar said that it has already been announced and lending rates are getting realligned with base rate. “Immediately you will not see change in effective rate just because of the announcement of base rate,” she said.

On inflation, she said it is something that the economy needs to monitor as it is becoming widespread and is not just food related but has spread to other sectors as well. (PTI)

BJP cancels lunch with PM after CBI summons Shah

BJP cancels lunch with PM after CBI summons Shah

New Delhi, July 23: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Friday cancelled a lunch with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh citing the ‘bitter atmosphere’ following the CBI’s summons to Gujarat minister Amit Shah in the 2005 killing of Sohrabuddin Sheikh in a staged shootout.

“Four BJP leaders were invited for the PM’s luncheon meeting but we decided not to attend it over the bitter atmosphere following the CBI’s summons to Shah,” Sushma Swaraj, leader of the opposition in the Lok Sabha, told reporters. The prime minister had invited L.K. Advani, Arun Jaitley, Nitin Gadkari and Sushma Swaraj for a lunch meeting to discuss issues before the parliament’s monsoon session starting on Monday.

Sushma said they had accepted the invitation but met at Advani’s house on Thursday evening to discuss how the CBI was being misused in Gujarat to harass Shah, Chief Minister Narendra Modi’s close aide and the minister of state for home. “The government is misusing CBI to harass its opponents. The whole political environment is being polluted by it. So, it would have been very embarrassing if we went to the PM’s house for lunch,” she said.

“As far as the misuse of CBI is concerned, the government is saving their own people like Quattrocchi, Jagdish Tytler, Satish Sharma. They just trouble their opponents ... this is a show of sheer dominance by Congress to save its government,” she added. Her colleague Arun Jaitley, who heads the opposition in the Rajya Sabha, added that the CBI was behaving like an extended arm of the ruling party and the timing had been chosen for Congress’ political convenience. “When the Gujarat Police investigated the matter in Gujarat, nothing was found against Amit Shah. The investigations carried out by independent investigators appointed by the Supreme Court couldn’t find anything even in the second phase. Today, on the basis of baseless facts a political agenda is being fulfilled by the CBI and the government has a clear conspiracy in this,” said Jaitely. “This is the policy of the Congress to create such an environment so that limelight shifts away from issues like rising prices of fuel, misadventure of the Indo-Pakistan dialogue and Warren Anderson case,” he said.

The Gujarat Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) has been accused of killing Sohrabuddin Sheikh near Ahmedabad in a staged shootout in 2005. His wife Kauser-Bi has also been missing since then. Police claimed the dead man was a Lashkar-e-Taiba operative. (IANS)

ISRO engaged in satellite mapping of wetlands

New Delhi: The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) is engaged in the satellite mapping of the country's wetlands and will complete the project by the end of August, Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh said on Thursday.

"It is for the first time that all wetlands in the country will be mapped. ISRO will provide us with an upto date inventory of wetlands, estimated at around 7-10 million hectares, by the end of August," said Ramesh while speaking at the launch of a course on "Appreciation Programme on Sustainable Management of Wetlands" at the Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU) here.

Stressing on the need to protect aquatic assets, he said, "They are valuable ecological niches and the concept of sustainable development should be for future generations, including today's generations."

He said the ministry will soon formulate a regulation on wetlands to prevent encroachment of precious biodiversity. IANS