WEEKLY NEWS

- Sambhav Jain

Wall Street ends best week in a month

1. The S&P 500 rose 3 percent this week, as investors were reassured by signs the economy is stabilizing and have taken a more optimistic view of Europe's debt crisis.

2. This has helped push the S&P 500 close to a new two-year high.

Mixed reponse from banks on RBI interest rate advice

1. Fixed deposits will now earn more interest after banks responded positively to the RBI's advice to hike interest rates, but their refusal to reduce lending rates means that borrowers will not see their EMIs come down.

2. While the net interest margins (difference between lending and deposit rates) of banks have fallen by 0.5 per cent over the last decade to 2.5 per cent now, they are still higher than those enjoyed by their peers in other emerging markets, even after accounting for expenditure on mandatory corporate social responsibility activities.

LIC to invest Rs 61,000 cr in equity market this fiscal1. This year we are likely to invest around Rs

Rs 61,000 crore (in equity market)," LIC Managing Director Thomas Mathew told.

2. Last year, total profit by churning portfolio was Rs 9,400 crore full year. However, during this year till mid-October LIC has earned Rs 12,000 crore by churning portfolio.

3. State-owned Life Insurance Corporation (LIC) manages assets worth over Rs 12 lakh crore.

World bank approves $45 million loan to NHAI

1. The World Bank has approved a $45 million technical assistance loan for the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) to help improve its operational efficiency.

2. 40% of the total road traffic in India plies on the National Highway (NH) network and this share is likely to increase with vehicle growth touching 10 per cent per annum in recent years.

Food inflation back in single digits at 8.6%1. Food inflation fell to single digit for the

first time since May 2009, but there was little respite for consumers as the prices of several essential items continued to rise.

2. Food prices for the week ended November 20 rose 8.6% from a year ago, down sharply from 10.15% in the previous week.

3. The decline in food inflation to the lowest in 77 weeks, therefore, is largely due to favourable base effect.