This is an intraday call for the day traders who want to make sound profit in today’s trading session.

According to the analysts, ICICI Bank can be purchased with the stop loss of Rs 418 to achieve the intraday target of Rs 442. If the stock remains positive then the stock may be purchased for the next intraday target of Rs 450.

London- Barclays Bank Monday reported pre-tax profits of 6.08 billion pounds (9 billion dollars) for 2008 as a fierce debate about bonus payments in the banking industry raged in Britain.

The result, boosted by last year's acquisition by Barclays of assets of Lehman Brothers, the failed US investment bank, remained nonetheless 14 per cent below its 2007 figures.

Barclays chief executive John Varley described the results as "quite good" given that 2008 had been an "extraordinarily challenging year" for the banking sector.

Indian Consumers will be happy to know that finance ministry, along with Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and the Indian Banks Association (IBA) are presently in talks to bring interest rates further down.

The rate cut are expected to reflect in segments like home, auto and personal loans.

London  - Britain's Barclays Bank Monday reported pre- tax profits of
6.08 billion pounds (8.9 billion dollars) for 2008, a drop of 14 per
cent compared with the previous year.

The figure exceeds expectations in the City of London, and include an
"accounting profit" of Barclays' acqisition of assets of collapsed US
investment bank Lehman Brothers of 2.4 billion pounds.

Barclays, which has declined to take up the British government offer to
recapitalize the banking system, has insisted that its finances are
sound.

Leading public sector bank, Punjab National Bank, formally launched the Global Credit Card, acceptable in over 29 million merchant establishments and one million ATMs in the world.

The gold credit card, launched by the Deputy Chairman of the Planning Commission Montek Singh Ahluwalia on Friday, will also have access to e-commerce sites besides hosting features such as photo card and SMS alerts.

Islamabad - The World Bank (WB) is to provide a loan of two billion dollars to cash-strapped Pakistan, a senior official of the bank said on Saturday.

"The Bank Group plans to provide up to two billion dollars in credits during this fiscal year to support economic growth and the government's poverty-focused programs," said WB's country director for Pakistan Yusupha Crookes.

"These projects will support the immediate challenges in education, health, safety nets and community-led development, while laying the foundation for investment in infrastructure to foster long term growth and job creation," he added.