New Currency pairs for Euro, Pound Sterling and Japanese Yen with Indian Rupee will allow hedging against non-US Dollar exposures too
Mumbai, 29th January’10
MCX Stock Exchange (MCX–SX) has decided to launch futures trading in Euro-Indian Rupee (EUR-INR), Pound Sterling-Indian Rupee (GBP-INR) and Japanese Yen-Indian Rupee (JPY-INR) currency pairs with effect from Monday, February 1, 2010. This was made possible based on the policy and approval of RBI and SEBI.
The exchange will currently offer 12 contracts and 6 spread contracts for each of the new currency pairs. All the contracts will have a tick size of 0.25 paise or INR 0.0025. These contracts will be cash settled in rupees.
Speaking about the launch of new currency derivatives segments, Mr. Joseph Massey, MD&CEO, MCX-SX, said, “We are grateful to SEBI and RBI for allowing us to launch new pairs in exchange-traded currency derivatives. The move will go a long way in helping market participants, especially international traders, hedge against cross-currency volatility and mitigate risk in export and imports across all major traded currencies.
MCX-SX has made significant efforts through education and awareness creation to ensure participation in this market by market participants having exposure to currency risk. MCX-SX is currently the market leader in the USD/INR segment witnessing a broad based participation from over 478 cities and towns across India through participants, which include banks, corporate, physical market stakeholders and financial sector users. Several pioneering market development initiatives have been undertaken by the exchange to raise service levels to global standards and provide an effective and efficient risk mitigation platform. MCX-SX was the first stock exchange in India to:
Releasing 1st Handbook on currency futures
Providing price updates of currency futures via SMS
Reduce the gap of collections of mark to market (M2M) margins to same day
Deploying superior technology for continued operations during sun outage
Launching website in 11 regional languages
Conducting an average of one education and awareness program per working day
About MCX-SX (www.mcx-sx.com)
MCX-SX, India’s new stock exchange, currently offers futures trade in currency derivates. Through its pioneering market development initiatives, MCX-SX has emerged as the market leader in USD/INR segment within one-year of its inception.
MCX-SX has been the first exchange in India to reduce the gap of collections of mark-to-market margins to same day, deploy superior technology for continued operation during sun outage, promote financial literacy and financial inclusion, release the first handbook on currency and interest rate futures, provide price updates via SMS and launch 11 regional websites.
True to its philosophy of ‘Systematic Development of Markets through information, innovation, education and research’ MCX-SX endeavours to ensure continuous innovation and to introduce products for meeting the needs of various market participants.
For Further Information Contact
Setu Shah, Vice President – Communications, MCX-SX, Board No: +91 22 67318888, Mobile: +91 9930267595, setu.shah@mcx-sx.com or Narayan Bhatt / Ujjawal Punmiya, Adfactors PR Pvt. Ltd., Mobile No: +91 9769226670, Mobile No: +91 9619130947, narayan.bhatt@adfactorspr.com; Ujjawal.punmiya@adfactorspr.com
Hikes CRR by 75bps to 5.75% of NDTL effective 50bps from Feb’13 2010 and 25 bps from Feb 27,2010
SLR, reverse repo, repo rate kept unchanged
Ups end Mar-2010 WPI inflation estimate to 8.5% from 6.5% in October policy
FY10 GDP growth projection increased to7.5% from 6.0%
Cuts FY10 non food credit growth projection to 16% from 18% Oct policy
Cuts FY10 money supply growth estimate to 16.5% vs 17% earlier
Aggregate deposits likely to grow 18% FY10 in the system
Impact Analysis :
We believe CRR hike of 75 bps, without tinkering other key policy rates, on immediate basis is a step to curb the excess liquidity in the system as the banking system are depositing over Rs.1 lakh crore on a daily basis under LAF window. The hike will suck away excess liquidity of Rs.36000 crore from the system which will help curb some inflationary expectations though we believe food inflation can’t be contained via CRR hike directly since it is purely a supply side phenomenon.
We prefer banks like SBI (which has ample liquidity of Rs.75000 crore to combat the hike), OBC (still available at <1x ABV), Bank of Baroda (Excellent results with strong asset quality). Among private sector we remain bullish on Axis Bank and HDFC Bank.
By Vikram Kotak, Chief Investment Officer, Birla Sun Life Insurance
RBI has yet again taken a calibrated move towards supporting economic growth without compromising price stability. CRR hike by 75bp (effective in two tranches) reflects RBI’s active liquidity management.
Given that average Rs.70000 cr is getting parked at LAF window daily, even after the withdrawal of Rs.36000 cr through this hike, there is still adequate liquidity in the system currently.
RBI has left repo and reverse repo rate untouched. In our opinion, RBI will not hike these rates unless a broad-based economic recovery takes place. Credit off-take still remains weak due to which RBI has reduced credit growth expectations for FY10 to 16% (from 18%). Further, given the fiscal deficit expectation for FY11, it seems that RBI would most likely wait for the government borrowing program for FY11 to be announced before sending a rate hike signal which could send bond yields northwards.
RBI has displayed optimism on economic growth by raising baseline FY10 GDP growth forecast to 7.5% (from 6%), However, it sees risk emanating from higher food prices which might transmit into a generalized increase in inflation. It has raised its FY10-end inflation estimate to 8.5% (from 6.5%).
We expect inflation concern to abate post July 2010 if monsoons are normal. We were positively surprised by RBI leaving risk weightages of sectors like real estate untouched.
Overall, while being concerned on inflation, RBI has rightly maintained a pro-growth focus. With the removal of half of the excess liquidity, we expect short-term rates to harden from the current levels.
We also expect this move to mark an end of the war on retail mortgage rates. Going forward, we expect RBI to hike Repo and Reverse Repo rates (50-75 bps in FY11), which we view as a move towards normalization. However, such hikes would be gradual and in a phased manner, in order to ensure sustained economic recovery.
Disclaimer:
The comments made above are informed views rather than firm predictions. BSLI recommend that these general views should be cross-verified and reaffirmed before being used for personal financial planning purpose. Neither Birla Sun Life Insurance Company Limited, nor any person connected with it, accepts any liability arising from the use of this document. The recipients of this material should rely on their own investigations.
The Exchange has successfully completed its 2478thNormal Settlement (Rolling T+2 following SEBI directive) since inception i.e., Settlement Number N – 2010017 on January 29, 2010. The settlement statistics are as follows:
Particulars
Values
N-2010017
Total traded quantity (lakhs)
8813.98
Total traded value (Rs. In Crores)
18715.55
Total value of the settlement (Securities) (Rs. In Crores)
5338.12
Total value of the settlement (Funds) (Rs. In Crores)
2285.05
Shortages for the settlement
0.08%
Retail Debt Market has completed its 1752nd settlement, details of which are as follows:
New Delhi, January 29, 2010: Punj Lloyd Group, a global engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) conglomerate today announced an EPC contract of over Rs 1100 crore from GMR Hyderabad Vijayawada Expressways Private Limited for 116.5 km of National Highway No 9.
National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) had earlier awarded the project on a Build, Operate and Transfer (Toll) basis to GMR Hyderabad Vijayawada Expressways Private Limited.
Punj Lloyd will be widening the highway from two to 4/6 lanes along with 38 km of service roads. The scope of work will also include construction of 2 major bridges, 32 minor bridges, 174 culverts, and 31 vehicular, pedestrian & cattle underpasses, apart from 66,000 Sq M of reinforced earth retaining wall.
Hyderabad and Vijayawada are important commercial hubs of Andhra Pradesh and this project will help boost trade and commerce in the region. In addition to increasing the direct connectivity between these two major cities of the State, Kolkata and Bangalore will also have improved connectivity consequent to the implementation of this highway.
Commenting on the new project, Mr. B S Kapur, President & CEO - Infrastructure, Punj Lloyd, said, “We are committed to the Government’s vision of developing world-class highways in India. We will deliver to the country and the State of Andhra Pradesh, a reliable, high quality infrastructural solution that will be a model showcase for future projects. ”
Punj Lloyd, a diversified global conglomerate providing Engineering & Construction services in Oil & Gas, Infrastructure and Petrochemicals, with interests in Defence, Aviation, Marine and Upstream sectors, has a significance presence in highway construction. Punj Lloyd embarked on its first road project in March 1999 and has come a long way in these years by completing many highway projects falling under the Golden Quadrilateral and East West Corridors for NHAI. Its completed projects include coastal roads in Andhra Pradesh, Jaipur Bypass and a major section of Kota-Udaipur in Rajasthan, Sasaram-Mohania road in Bihar, Belgaum-Maharashtra road in Karnataka and five highway projects in Rajasthan. Six road projects in Assam awarded by NHAI are in progress.
With this contract, the order backlog for the Punj Lloyd Group on consolidated basis has gone up to Rs 24,536 crore. This is the total value of unexecuted orders as on December 31, 2009 and new orders received after that day.
About Punj Lloyd:
Punj Lloyd (BSE SCRIP ID: PUNJLLOYD, NSE SYMBOL: PUNJLLOYD) is a globally diversified conglomerate providing engineering, procurement and construction services in Oil & Gas, Petrochemical and Infrastructures sectors, with interests in aviation, defence and marine. Known for its capabilities in delivering mega projects ‘ontime,’ thereby ensuring repeat customers, the Group possesses a rich experience of successfully delivered projects across the globe, while maintaining the highest standards of health, safety, environment and quality (HSEQ). Further information about the Group is available at www.punjlloydgroup.com
For further information, please contact: Payal Raj/ Bhaskar Majumdar / Vikram Mahajan, Vaishnavi Corporate Communications, 09818849103/ 09811194244 / 9810225845, praj@vccpl.com/ Bhaskar.majumdar@vaishnaviadvisory.com or Louise Sharma/Bhavna Dayal: louise@punjlloyd.com/ bhavnadayal@punjlloyd.com