The country's largest bank, State Bank of India (SBI) introduced a special offer for home loan segment in which the bank would provide loan at interest rate of 8 per cent, applicable up to April 30, 2009. It would be the lowest interest rate offered by any bank in India, applicable to all new as well as existing borrowers for one year.

New Delhi, Jan 31: State-run Punjab National Bank (PNB) reported hefty increases in its quarterly profit, helped by treasury gains and rising net interest incomes.

This was disclosed by K C Chakrabarty, Chairman and Managing Director of PNB at a press conference here on Friday.

The Bank registered an 85.8 percent increase in the net profit at 10.06 billion rupees for the quarter ended December 31, 2008, against 5.41 billion dollars for the same period, a year ago.

Stock market analysts have suggested investors to ‘sell’ ICICI Bank stock with a target of Rs 397 as the stock is experiencing heavy selling pressure at higher levels.

According to them, interested investors can sell the stock with a strict stop loss of Rs 418.
 
Today (Jan 30), the stock opened at Rs 401, as against its last closure at Rs 408.40 on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) on Thursday (Jan 29). Current EPS & P/E ratio stood at 37.03 and 10.82 respectively. The share price has seen a 52-week high of Rs 1300 and a low of Rs 282.15 on BSE.

Reykjavik - Iceland's central bank on Thursday said it would keep its key interest rate at 18 per cent, after raising the rates at the end of October.

The central bank, or Sedlabanki, raised interest rates from 12 to 18 per cent on October 28. In mid-October it had cut the rates from 15.5 per cent to 12 per cent.

It said unemployment has risen "much faster" than it predicted in November. Registered unemployment measured 4.8 per cent in December and in January average unemployment was estimated to be over 6 per cent.

Stock analysts have maintained ‘buy’ rating on State Bank of India (SBI) stock with an intraday target of Rs 1134.

According to them, interested traders can purchase the stock on dips with a strict stop loss of Rs 1090. If the stock market remains on positive track, the stock pricing becomes more attractive, and reach above Rs 1155.
 

Wellington  - New Zealand's central bank slashed its benchmark interest rate Thursday by 1.5 per cent to 3.5 per cent, the lowest figure since the so-called official cash rate (OCR) was introduced in 1999.

It was the fifth time Reserve Bank governor Alan Bollard has cut the rate since July after keeping it at 8.25 per cent - one of the highest rates in the developed world - for 12 months in a bid to contain inflation.