Stock market analysts are of the view that investors can sell Kotak Mahindra Bank Ltd stock with a target price between Rs 770-760.

According to them, investors can sell the stock below Rs 775 with a strict stop loss of Rs 784.

If the stock fell below Rs 754, it may see more weakness.

Today (Nov 20), the stock opened at Rs 778 on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE). Current EPS & P/E ratio stood at 25.92 and 29.87 respectively. The share price has seen a 52-week high of Rs 835 and a low of Rs 208.05 on BSE.

Abu Dhabi - The Central Bank of the United Arab Emirates said Thursday that 20 banks operating in the country have a combined exposure of 2.9 billion dollars to two troubled Saudi Arabian business groups.

The Central Bank ordered the 13 national banks and seven branches of foreign-headquartered financial institutions to take provisions by the end of the year for the financed and non-financed exposure to the Saad Group and the Al-Gosaibi group.

Barclays Global Retail Banking (GRB) has inaugurated its first subdivision in Hyderabad, the capital city as well as commercial hub of Andhra Pradesh. With the opening of new branch, Barclays has seven branches through out the country situated in Mumbai, New Delhi, Junagadh, Kanchipuram, Nelamangala and Ahmednagar in Maharashtra.

While commenting on the occasion, Mr. Ram Gopal, Interim Managing Director - India, Barclays Global Retail Bank, stated, “The opening of our branch in Hyderabad marks a significant milestone in the history of

New Delhi, Nov 17 : A private investment group on Monday claimed to have suffered a huge loss due to the acute apathy of Axis Bank, and blamed the bank for issuing of duplicate cheques that eventually bounced.

The Managing Director of the Shree Om Sainath Group, Roopesh Verma, told a news conference here on Monday that the alleged fraud had been going on for quite some time.

A World Bank official blamed the state government for delay in implementing the Mumbai Urban Transport Project (MUTP) aimed at upgrading road and rail transport in Mumbai.

Hubert Nove Josserand, Urban Transport Specialist, World Bank said the state government is lagging behind in planning infrastructure projects.

He was addressing a seminar on ‘Physical Infrastructure in Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR)’ organised by citizen group Bombay First.

“The project’s time table was an issue as there was lack of proper planning from the concept stage itself,” said Josserand.

Karvy Stock Broking Limited has maintained 'Buy' rating on ICICI Bank stock to achieve a target of Rs 950-965 in 1-2 trading sessions.

According to Karvy, interested traders can buy the stock above Rs 925 with a strict stop loss of Rs 910.

The shares of the bank on Wednesday, (Nov 11), closed at Rs 924.65 on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE). The share price has seen a 52-week high of Rs 983.70 and a low of Rs 252.75 on BSE.

Current EPS and P/E of the stock stood at 35.33 & 25.72 respectively.

A 32-year-old unidentified man fired four rounds at the multi-storeyed building housing HDFC Bank in Kanjurmarg on Tuesday. Lodha Group of builders owns the site where the bank is located.

“He walked into the compound and indiscriminately fired four rounds at the window panes on the bank’s ground-floor office,” said Inspector Tabaji Pawde.

“While leaving the premises, he dropped a paper with ‘Kumar Pillai’ written on it. The other floors of the bank were occupied, but there was no one on the ground-floor,” said an officer.

Amsterdam - The share value of Dutch financial services group ING rose by 5 per cent per cent Wednesday following the release of third-quarter results that showed a net profit of 499 million euros (680 million dollars).

Last year, the group reported a loss of 478 million in the same period and was forced to seek two bail-out packages from the government amid the financial crisis.

Shortly after the Amsterdam stock exchange opened at 9 am (0800 GMT), share value stood at 10.04 euros per share.

Munich - Troubled German state bank BayernLB warned Tuesday that it will post a more than 1-billion-euro (1.5-billion dollar ) loss this year as it battles mounting risk provisions at its Austrian offshoot.

Germany's second biggest state bank said the expected write downs and credit losses at Hypo Group Alpe Adria would "burden to a considerable extent" its fourth-quarter earnings. However, it is did provide any details.

Country’s biggest lender State Bank of India has lengthened its special home loan scheme at 8% rate of interest by more than 4-months till 31st March, 2010. The decision of the bank would help small home loan receivers.

SBI, which offer the special plan under `My Home Campaign` is providing 8 per cent fixed rate of interest for five years for loans amounting Rs 5 lakh, having an upper limit of 10 years.

Initially, the plan was slated to close this Saturday.

Stock market analyst Ashwani Gujral has maintained 'Buy' rating on Punjab National Bank (PNB) to achieve a short term target of Rs 900.

According to Mr. Gujral, interested traders can buy the stock with a strict stop loss of Rs 815.

Today, the shares of the bank opened at Rs 846 on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE). The share price has seen a 52-week high of Rs 898.70 and a low of Rs 286.20 on BSE. Current EPS and P/E of the stock stood at 115.14 & 7.40 respectively.

Public sector lender Bank of Maharashtra has posted a net profit of Rs 86.68 crore for the July-September quarter, up 22.86 per cent against Rs 70.55 crore reported over the same period a year back.

The Pune-based bank's revenue jumped 14.64 per cent during the second quarter this fiscal to Rs 1,302.69 crore as against Rs 1,136.38 crore posted during the same period last year.

During second quarter of FY 2009-10, the total expenses stood at Rs 254.84 crore as compared to Rs 208.34 crore for the corresponding quarter in the previous year.

State Bank of India, the country's largest lender, has registered a growth of 10.18 per cent in its Q2 net profit for the quarter ended September 30, 2009.

The bank posted a net profit of Rs 2490 crore for the quarter ended September 30, 2009, as against Rs 2260 crore in the corresponding quarter a year ago.

The state-owned lender said its total income for the quarter under review has grown up by 14.19 percent at Rs 17776 crore as compared to Rs 15567 crore in the quarter ended Sep 30, 2008.

On a standalone basis, the bank posted a net profit of Rs 2490.04 crore on a total income of Rs 21,301.04 crore.

Mumbai, Oct 31 - India's largest lender State Bank of India (SBI) Saturday said its net profit for the quarter ended Sep 30 rose 10.19 percent to Rs. 2,490 crore from Rs. 2,260 crore in the like period of last fiscal.

The state-owned bank said its total income for the quarter under review was up 14.19 percent at Rs. 17,776 crore as compared to Rs. 15,567 crore in the quarter ended Sep 30, 2008 .

SBI, which controls about 25 percent of the total loans and deposits in the country, also said gross non-performing assets rose 1.73 percent in the second quarter as against 1.34 percent a year earlier. (IANS)

India has begun tracking down money stashed away in secret bank accounts in Switzerland and Belgium.

The government has finalised dates to renegotiate with Switzerland and Belgium to broaden the scope of the existing treaties. The authorities have also stepped up efforts to bring back money parked illegally in foreign banks.

According to original plans, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee was to meet the Swiss authorities from December 10-11 to discuss the issue.

“But I think the date for the meeting has been advanced by a month,” Mukherjee said at the annual Hindustan Times Leadership Summit on Friday.

New York  - CIT Group, a critical lender to small businesses in the United States, sealed a last minute rescue deal with billionaire investor Carl Icahn, the Wall Street Journal reported Friday.

But the bank remained at risk of bankruptcy and was likely to make its application in court as early as Sunday or Monday, the newspaper reported.

Last week, CIT reached a last-minute deal with creditors for about 3 billion dollars in emergency financing.

Stock market analysts have maintained 'buy' rating on Bank Of Baroda with an intraday target of Rs 520.

According to them, interested traders can purchase the stock above Rs 513 with a strict stop loss of Rs 506. If the stock market remains positive, the stock pricing becomes more attractive, and reach above Rs 525.

Shares of the bank, on Thursday (Oct 29), closed at Rs 512.55 on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE). The share price has seen a 52-week high of Rs 548 and a low of Rs 180.50 on BSE. Current EPS & P/E ratio stood at 74.44 and 7.09 respectively.

Punjab National Bank (PNB), India’s second-major public sector bank, has decided to purchase 63% stake in Kazakhstan-based Dana Bank.

PNB functionaries stated in a communiqué that this acquisition is going to be bank’s first international acquisition which will entail an investment of $24 million (about Rs 115 crore).

The sources informed that the bank is having a representative office in Kazakh city Almaty.

Sydney  - Australia's Macquarie Group Ltd on Friday declared a profit for the six months to the end of September of 479 million Australian dollars (431 million US dollars).

The result is down 21 per cent from the year-ago period but exceeded first-half expectations of industry analysts.

The slump reflects asset write-downs and provisions for bad debts by the home-grown investment bank. (dpa)

Frankfurt - Deutsche Bank performed well in the first nine months of 2009 but faces challenges in the future, management board chairman Josef Ackermann said Thursday.

"Looking ahead, we see challenges and opportunities ... We are well-prepared for both," Ackermann said as the bank elaborated on figures disclosed last week.

Ackermann said financial markets were showing signs of recovery, but the effects of the global crisis were still showing in some banking segments.