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Last Updated : Jan 05 2015 | 9:00 AM IST

Trading of CNX Nifty futures on the Singapore stock exchange indicates that the Nifty could fall 22.50 points at the opening bell tracking weakness in Asian markets.

Shares of public sector banks (PSBs) will be in focus after PSBs suggested the government to transfer government's stake in PSBs to a bank investment company. At the two day Retreat for Banks and Financial Institutions called Gyan Sangam held at National Institute of Banking Management (NIBM) in Pune, Maharashtra on Friday, 2 January 2015, and Saturday, 3 January 2015, PSBs also suggested that eventually the government should reduce its stake in PSBs to less than 51%.

On the second and last day of the summit on Saturday, 3 January 2015, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said banks would be run professionally, and there would be no interference. But accountability was essential. He said the government had no vested interest, and public sector banks can derive strength from this fact. The Prime Minister said that banks in India should actually compete for achieving maximum cashless transactions, as this would be the best solution to the problem of black money. Speaking at the summit, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said that banks have a major role to play in the financing of infrastructure.

Jaitley said that the government is open to bold decisions for professionalization of the management and autonomy in decision making, rewarding merit, and relooking at the recruitment process at the top management level of PSBs. The government was ready to protect commercial decisions so as to avoid the delay in good decisions, Jaitley said.

Earlier, Chief Economic Advisor to the finance ministry Dr. Arvind Subramanian proposed that the PSBs should be differentiated into weak, good and strong categories and accordingly consolidation and restructuring measures could be applied to them. The current overhang of stressed assets should be resolved by distribution of the pain between promoters, creditors and tax payers, Dr. Subramanian said.

Reserve Bank of India Governor Dr. Raghuram Rajan stated that there is a need for internationalisation of the banking system in the current global environment. In the short term (up to 12 months), he said that there was need to clean up the NPAs and then restructure other stressed loans so as to put the economy back on the track.

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Shares of infrastructure developers will be in focus after Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Saturday, 3 January 2015, said that government has taken necessary steps to change the Land Acquisition act so as to revive infrastructure growth. Growth in power and other infrastructure sectors needs to be revived, Jaitley said. The Finance Minister was speaking at the two day Retreat for Banks and Financial Institutions called "Gyan Sangam" at National Institute of Banking Management (NIBM) at Pune, Maharashtra.

State Bank of India (SBI) after market hours on Friday, 2 January 2015 in a clarification with regard to news item titled "Rs. 84,580 cr in wilful defaults, say bank union", said that SBI is not aware of the source of facts detailed in the newspaper. SBI said that all the events or material information which are required to be disclosed under clause 36 of the listing agreement are first advised to the stock exchanges. SBI further clarified that the bank is under an obligation to disclose the list of suit-filed accounts of wilful defaulters of Rs 25 lakh and above at every quarter to RBI/Credit Information Bureau (India).

Gains in frontline stocks sent key benchmark indices surging on Friday, 2 January 2015. The S&P BSE Sensex garnered 380.36 points or 1.38% to settle at 27,887.90, its highest closing level since 8 December 2014.

Foreign portfolio investors bought shares worth a net Rs 259.82 crore on Friday, 2 January 2015, as per provisional data.

Asian stocks were lower today, 5 January 2015, following a weak lead from Wall Street, and continued jitters in the oil market. Key indices in Japan, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Singapore, South Korea, and Indonesia were off 0.46% to 0.91%. In China, the Shanghai Composite was up 1.34%.

US stocks ended near unchanged on Friday, 2 January 2015, with the S&P 500 down for a third session, after economic reports showed manufacturing slowing but still in expansion mode at the end of 2014.

Factory activity in the United States grew at the slowest pace in six months in December 2014, weakened by declines in orders and production. The Institute for Supply Management, a trade group of purchasing managers, said on Friday, 2 January 2015, that its manufacturing index fell to 55.5 in December from 58.7 in November, which was just below a three-year high reached in October.

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First Published: Jan 05 2015 | 8:15 AM IST

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