Skip to main content

Bond prices up despite tight cash conditions

Tax Saving Mutual Funds Online

Current open Infra Bond Application form

 

BOND prices stayed on the ascent through last week with the inflation on the reversal and mounting risk aversion among the banks and funds.

The rise in the bond prices was despite the tight cash conditions. The price of the benchmark 8.79 per cent sovereign bond falling due in 2021 rose to Rs 102.44 (par value Rs 100) last week end translating into a yield of 8.42 per cent.

The previous weekend this security was priced at Rs 101.78 (8.51 per cent).

Last week's yield brought the security within the Reserve Bank of India repurchase rate band. The yield retreats were also triggered by RBI comments that a reversal in policy rates could be considered, though the statement came with the rider, that inflation risks remained. Yet most traders ignored the riders and instead pushed down yields.

Bank economists agreed and said there was little the RBI can do at this juncture.

This is especially in an environment where growth had already slowed down. Canara Bank's chief Economist Manoranjan Sharma said, The risk of inflation remains, particularly from imported commodities,

particularly energy. Energy imports pass through will impact prices across all commodities." The soft bond yields were despite the high bank overnight borrowing from the RBI last weekend of Rs 1.17 lakh crore, far beyond the comfort zone of the RBI. Last weekend the borrowings were close to 2 per cent of the aggregate deposits as against a ceiling of one per cent and comfort zone of just 0.5 per cent.

The main source of the cash deficit bankers was from the high government borrowings. Government's ways and means advances from the RBI till December 09 was Rs 34,717 crore.

The high cash deficit has prompted speculation that the central bank was likely to follow up the pause in rate hikes with liquidity easing measures. ING Vysya bank's economist, Upasana Bharadwaj said, "We expect the RBI to support its ongoing open market purchase programme with a Cash Reserve Ratio cut of 25 basis points in the March meeting. However if the European crisis were to worsen substantially, the action may be sooner." Risk aversions in the markets remained a dominant drive of sovereign bond prices. A trader said, "For the moment there are no safe investment avenues. Credit at the moment is high risk and we banks are conserving capital for the moment."

The aversion to credit was apparent from the low non-food credit off take this year so far. Non-food credit was Rs 2.76 lakh crore this year so far or about Rs 65,000 crore lower than the corresponding period of last year. Deposits on the other hand grew by over 1.5 lakh crore for the year. The increase deposits also contributed to a demand for government securities for meeting the statutory liq uidity ratio (SLR) obligations. SLR is the mandated investments of banks in government securities as a component of their deposits. Last week alone banks raised Rs 17,400 crore through issue of certificates of deposit.

Bulk of the credit off take presently was from working capital draw down by public sector refineries.

Refineries drew down their credit limits for meeting payment obligations to crude suppliers. With limited supplies of dollars, with exporters postponing inflows, the RBI was forced to act, by imposing controls on cancellation and rebooking of forward contacts. This was expected to provide some respite to the foreign exchange markets. The move was also followed up by deregulation of non-resident rupee deposits. The move would now allow NRIs to obtain competitive rates on their domestic savings and at the same time improve the flow of foreign currency into the markets.

However, Rupee continued to remain under pressure as downside risks mounted. The mounting downside risk was from low foreign inflows. Traders said that real yields in the countries, like Italy, Spain and Portugal that have low risk credit risk ratings are upwards of 3 per cent.

India despite being at the bottom of the investment risk pyramid has a negative yield of over per cent.

The pressure on rupee showed up in firm forward premia that remained. One month premium at 7.67 per cent (Rs 53.15) was the highest since the beginning of this year. So was the three month premia. Non-deliverable forward (offshore trading in rupees where settlement is in dollars) was lower than the domestic spot rate at Rs 52.70 the dollar, indicating some inflows in the coming weeks.


Yet despite the possibility of some inflows, oil and year end settlement payments was likely to exert pressure on exchange markets.

---------------------------------------------

Invest in Tax Saving Mutual Funds ( ELSS Mutual Funds ) to upto Rs 1 lakh and Save tax under Section 80C.

Invest Tax Saving Mutual Funds Online

Tax Saving Mutual Funds Online

These links can be used to Purchase Mutual Funds Online that are regular also (Investment, non-tax saving)

Download Tax Saving Mutual Fund Application Forms from all AMCs

Download Tax Saving Mutual Fund Applications

These Application Forms can be used for buying regular mutual funds also

Some of the best Tax Saving Mutual Funds available ( ELSS Mutual Funds )

  1. HDFC TaxSaver
  2. ICICI Prudential Tax Plan
  3. DSP BlackRock Tax Saver Fund
  4. Birla Sun Life Tax Relief '96
  5. Reliance Tax Saver (ELSS) Fund
  6. IDFC Tax Advantage (ELSS) Fund
  7. SBI Magnum Tax Gain Scheme 1993
  8. Sundaram Tax Saver

---------------------------------------------

Application form for Tax Saving Infrastructure Bond and more information

Current open Infra Bond Application form

Submit filled up application Collection canter near you

Popular posts from this blog

Mutual Fund Review: Religare Tax Plan

Tax Plan is one of the better performing schemes from Religare Asset Management. Existing investors can redeem their investment after three years. But given the scheme's performance, they can continue to stay invested   Given the mandated lock-in period of three years, tax saving schemes give the fund manager the leeway to invest in ideas that may take time to nurture. Religare Tax Plan's investment ideas revolve around 'High Growth', which the fund manager has aimed to achieve by digging out promising stories/businesses in the mid-cap segment. Within the space, consumer staples has been the centre of attention for the last couple of years and can be seen as one of the key reasons for the scheme's outperformance as compared to the broader market. It has, however, tweaked its focus and reduced exposure in midcaps as they were commanding a high premium. The strategy seems to have worked as it returned a 22% gain last year. Religare Tax Plan has outperformed BSE 100...

Mutual Fund Review: L&T MIP

        This fund won't deliver chart-topping returns. However, over the long run it will not disappoint and end up beating the category average The fund has seen numerous changes at the helm. When Katare took over in October 2007, he made dramatic alterations to the portfolio. On the equity side, he increased the number of stocks to 11 (November) from 2 (September). On the debt side, he added Certificates of Deposit (CDs), while earlier Treasury Bills (T-Bills) and cash accounted for 88 per cent (September 2007) of the portfolio. In November 2007 he exited T-Bills for good. The results impressed. In the last quarter of 2007, it delivered 12.83 per cent (category average: 6.12%). In 2008, the first quarter performance was nothing short of impressive, a return of 9.93 per cent (category average: -3.97%). While other players increased their portfolio maturity, Katare maintained a low maturity profile. While the average maturity of the category was 2.81 years that quarter, th...

Reconfigure investments to reap benefits in DTC

    Investing for tax benefits under the new Direct Taxes Code ( DTC ) will be different in several ways from what taxpayers are familiar with right now. This will require some reconfiguration in the nature of investments for the investor and they need to be ready to tackle the changes that will come about once the new DTC is implemented from financial year 2012-13.One area of interest for most taxpayers is the manner in which they can extract the maximum tax benefit. Here is a look at the situation and also how it changes from the existing position. Basic deduction: At present, there is a deduction of Rs 1 lakh that is available for an individual when they make investments under specified areas such as provident fund, public provident fund, national savings certificates, equity linked savings scheme and insurance premium, among others. This benefit is available under Section 80C of the Income Tax Act. This has been replaced by a new Section 68 under the DTC where there is a deduct...

PF e-Passbook

  Provident Fund e-Passbook   The Employees Provident Fund Organisation now runs an e-passbook service that enables members to log in and access their provident fund accounts . This facility enables tracking of the money and ensuring that the employer's contribution has been deposited into the account. This facility is available to those whose accounts are with the central provident fund commissioner for maintenance and can be availed at members.epfoservices.in . Registration A member can register at the portal easily by using PAN , Aadhar or passport number as the log in and the mobile numbers as the PIN . This combination enables easy retrieval of information. Accounts After logging in, the member has to choose the state where the employer is located, and enter the code number of the employer, account number and name. These details can be obtained from any existing PF document . PIN To download the passbook, the member will request...

ICICI Prudential Balanced Fund

 ICICI Prudential Balanced Fund scheme seeks to generate long-term capital appreciation and current income by investing in a portfolio that is investing in equities and related securities as well as fixed income and money market securities. The approximate allocation to equity would be in the range of 60-80 per cent with a minimum of 51 per cent, and the approximate debt allocation is 40-49 per cent, with a minimum of 20 per cent. An impressive show in the last couple of years has propelled this fund from a three-star to a four-star rating. The fund has traditionally featured a high equity allocation, hovering at well over 70 per cent, which is higher than the allocations of the peers. But in the last one year, the allocation has been moderated from 78-79 per cent levels to 66-67 per cent of the portfolio. ICICI Prudential Balanced Fund appears to practise some degree of tactical allocation based on market valuations. Within equities, well over two-thirds of the allocation is parked i...
Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...
Invest in Tax Saving Mutual Funds Download Any Applications
Transact Mutual Funds Online Invest Online
Buy Gold Mutual Funds Invest Now