Fixed interest rate home loans have staged a comeback in the market, with Axis Bank — the third largest private sector lender in the country — being the latest to roll out one such product. The bank has introduced a fixed home loan product for the tenure of 20 years, priced at 10.4 per cent.

However, this Lifetime Fixed interest home loan is available only for loans up to Rs 50 lakh for property up to Rs 65 lakh in metros and for borrowing up to Rs 40 lakh for property of Rs 50 lakh in other locations.

When most private sector banks have seen the share of low-cost current account and savings account (Casa) deposits grow in their deposits pool, HDFC Bank, the country’s second largest private sector lender, has witnessed a fall in the share of Casa in the same period.

At the end of March 2013, Casa ratio in total deposits was at 47.4 per cent, which in the next six months slipped to 45 per cent (September 2013). At the end of March 2014, the ratio declined marginally to 44.8 per cent. It dipped to 43.2 per cent in quarter ended September 2014.

Maruti Suzuki is best placed to benefit from a recovery in passenger vehicle sales on the back of falling fuel prices, new product launches and a strong distribution network. The success of its recent launches, coupled with new products, is expected to ensure a robust double-digit growth in volumes going ahead. The management expects a 10 per cent volume growth in the current financial year. Analysts say given the 13 per cent growth in domestic volumes for FY15 (year-to-date), the company should grow between 11 per cent and 14 per cent in the current financial year.

While a recovery will help all automobile makers, Maruti Suzuki will benefit the most given the higher growth for entry level models in a turnaround. Jinesh Gandhi of Motilal Oswal Securities says, Fuel price deflation, after 11-14 per cent annual growth for petrol/diesel since FY10, coupled with improving macro environment and consumer sentiment, would help in reviving passenger vehicle demand, especially for entry-level cars.

The Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) said on Tuesday the norms covering research analysts' recommendations would also apply to journalists.

"Sebi (Research Analyst) Regulations, 2014, cover any person, including journalists, who make public appearance or make comments through the public media for giving opinion or recommendations concerning securities or on public offers," Sebi stated on its website on Tuesday.

New Zealand awarded 15 oil and gas exploration licences on Tuesday, with US giant Chevron and India's ONGC Videsh joining the hunt in the South Pacific country for the first time.

Chevron is partnering with Norway's Statoil to explore three prospects off the lightly explored south-east coast of the North Island.

Markets are likely to open lower tracking losses in their Asian peers and sharp overnight decline on Wall Street.

At 8:20AM, the early indicator SGX Nifty was down 30 points at 8,452.

Markets are also likely to react to the current account data (CAD) which at 2.1% of the GDP for the July-September quarter is higher compared to same quarter last fiscal when the figure was 1.2%.

Concerned that ‘self-trades’ are disturbing market equilibrium, the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) is planning penal action against market participants doing this.

Sources say the market regulator has seen an increase in such trades, with the aim of creating artificial volumes and to manipulate prices. Trades where the buyer and seller are the same and not resulting in a change of ownership are termed self-trades. Typically, these occur when multiple dealers from the same broking house carry out trades using the same client code.

The Kerala High Court today directed the government to take immediate steps to pull down the parts of the DLF's apartment complex, near Chilavannoor backwaters in Kochi, that was allegedly built in violation of the Coastal Regulation Zone [CRZ] Act.o

The court also ordered to immediately stop any further construction of the apartment complex, which has several huge towers.

Infosys co-founders N R Narayana Murthy, Nandan Nilekani, Dinesh K and S D Shibulal’s wife , Kumari Shibulal, along with their families, sold 32.6 million shares in the country’s second-largest information technology services company on Monday, for an overall amount of Rs 6,484 crore.

The share sale led to a sharp plunge in the IT heavyweight’s share price, eroding about Rs 12,400 crore (at 62/$) from the company’s market capitalisation. The Infosys stock hit a month’s low during intra-day trade on Monday, before ending five per cent lower at Rs 1,972 on the National Stock Exchange.

General Motors will raise car prices to the tune of 1 per cent from January 1 to offset its input cost pressure, the company said in a release today.

The Delhi-based company will be joining the league of Tata Motors and Mahindra & Mahindra who raised their prices in the range of 1-2 per cent last month.

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