India's 1-year swap rates up on cash squeeze, profit-taking in bonds

26 Apr, 2013, 1506 hrs IST, Reuters

India's one-year overnight interest swap (OIS) heading for a sixth week of fall, but up 1 basis point (bp) at 7.23 per cent from its previous close.

The five-year swap rate on path for its fifth weekly fall. It is 2 bps lower at 6.95 per cent. Paying in the near-end tailing the cash squeeze in the banking system which jumped above Rs 1 trillion on Friday.

Profit-taking after the recent rally in bonds and the rebound in global commodity prices also weighing on 1-year swaps.

Receivings in five-year swaps follow expectations the Reserve Bank of India will cut interest rates next week for a third time this year, drawing comfort from a fall in inflation, a Reuters poll showed.

Monsoon seen satisfactory except in some parts of South: K V Thomas

26 Apr, 2013, 1217 hrs IST, PTI

"South-west monsoon rains are expected to be "satisfactory" barring some states in South India," K V Thomas told reporters.

NEW DELHI: South-west monsoon rains are expected to be "satisfactory" barring some states in South India, Food Minister K V Thomas today said ahead of an official forecast later in the day.

"We have an assessment of monsoon. Monsoon will be quite satisfactory in India except the southern tip -- Kerala, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu," Food Minister K V Thomas told reporters on the sidelines of an event here.

Monsoon rains in these southern states may be delayed or could be less than the normal level, he said.

Last week, Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar had said India Meteorological Department was expecting normal monsoon. Even forecast from private firm Skymet noted normal rains.

The first monsoon forecast for the June-September period of this year will be officially released later in the day.

South-west monsoon begins from June, when sowing of Kharif (summer) crops like paddy are undertaken.

Noting that normal monsoon rains augurs well for the country's agri-sector, Thomas said: "Our food production will be comfortably good in the coming year. Wheat production will be as it was in the last year and not less than that."

Food production in 2012-13 crop year (July-June) is estimated to touch 250.14 million tonnes, of which wheat is expected to be 92.30 million tonnes.

On foodgrains storage situation, Thomas said all arrangement for procurement of wheat and even storage has been made ahead of monsoon rains.

This year's monsoon is crucial for Maharasthra, Karnataka and Gujarat, which are facing worst drought.

Monsoon rains are crucial for the agriculture sector, which contributes about 15 per cent to the country's GDP, as only 40 per cent of the total cultivable area is under irrigation.

US regulators have issued a formal "air worthiness" directive allowing revamped Boeing 787 Dreamliners to fly again.

The directive from the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) means US airlines can begin using the planes again, provided their battery systems are replaced.
The FAA gave Boeing the go-ahead to replace battery systems with a new design last week.
Concerns over their safety forced the grounding of all 787s in January.
The directive only applies to US airlines, but other regulators are now expected to follow suit.
In the US only United Airlines currently has 787s in its fleet, but there are a total of 50 owned by airlines around the world, and 840 are on the order books.
Boeing is working to replace battery systems that are believed to have been behind fires on two 787s run by Japanese airlines in January.
It said it expected the repairs to be completed by the middle of May.
It is unclear how much the whole 787 saga will cost Boeing.
The FAA said the cost of repairing the six planes operated by United Airlines alone would be about $2.8m (£1.8m).

Samsung Electronics has posted a record quarterly profit, boosted mainly by growing sales of its smartphones.

It made a net profit of 7.15tn won ($6.4bn; £4.2bn) during the period, up from 5.05tn won a year ago. Profits also rose from the previous quarter.
The Korean firm's results are in sharp contrast with rival Apple, which this week reported a drop in quarterly profits for the first time in a decade.
Samsung displaced Apple as the world's biggest smartphone maker last year.
Bryan Ma of research firm IDC said that the South Korean firm was doing "very very well right now".
"They have a lot of momentum behind what they are doing around phones, and clearly from a consumer perspective, they have a lot of excitement around their devices.
"They have a lot of their competitors wondering what they are going to do."

'Great strategy'

Samsung has enjoyed great success with its smartphone division.
According to the latest figures, profits there rose more than 55% to 6.51tn won during the first three months of the year, from a year earlier.

With everything that we have seen from Samsung in the past few months, and more importantly going forward, they are the competitor to beat

Bryan Ma, IDC

Analysts said that a key factor behind Samsung's success is that it offers a much broader range of models than its rival, Apple, which sells only the iPhone.
"It has a great strategy of targeting its devices to multiple consumer at multiple price points," Andrew Milroy of Frost & Sullivan told the BBC.
Mr Milroy explained that by offering a cheaper range of smartphones Samsung had been able to tap into a bigger share of consumers, especially in the emerging markets.
"The hardware Samsung is offering is as good as Apple in the eyes of many," he said.
However, Samsung warned that growth in the lower-end smartphone market may slow in the coming months, not least because other manufacturers are also looking to enter the sector.
"We may experience stiffer competition in the mobile business due to expansion of the mid-to-low end smartphone market," said Robert Yi, head of investor relations at Samsung Electronics.

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Diesel prices to be hiked 40-50 paise monthly: Moily

at Latest Top News - 8 hours ago

Diesel prices will be hiked by 40-50 paise per litre every month till losses on the nation's most used fuel are completly wiped out, Oil Minister M Veerappa Moily said today