Home loan interest rates are all set to be cheaper as all public sector banks are planning to cut rates on small-ticket home loans by up to 300 basis points. RBI may also help the banks by relaxing the risk weight age norms. It is expected to revise the capital adequacy ratio (CAR) for every loan, which is currently 9 per cent.

Washington  - Bank of America Corp, the third-largest US bank, said Thursday it planned to eliminate between 30,000 to 35,000 jobs over the next three years because of the weak economic environment and its acquisition of Merrill Lynch.

The final number of jobs to be cut is to be determined early next year, said the Charlotte, North Carolina-based bank, which will be the country's largest financial services firm when the deal with Merrill Lynch closes over the next few weeks.

The Reserve Bank of India has indicated further revision of growth forecast for the financial year 2009. The apex bank has earlier forecasted 7.5-8% growth target, which seems hard to achieve, following the impact of global slowdown. The growth rate for the financial year 2009-10 may even slide, under such hard economic conditions. The country registered a growth rate of 7.8% in the first half of the current fiscal as compared to 9.3 percent a year ago.

Paris - After last-minute adjustments to secure EU approval, France on Thursday began implementing its bank bail-out plan.

Under the plan, the state will subscribe to subordinated five-year debt totalling 10.5 billion euros (13.75 billion dollars) issued by the country's six largest banks.

The debt subscription concerns the banks Credit Agricole (3 billion euros), BNP Paribas (2.55 billion), Societe Generale (1.7 billion), Credit Mutuel (1.2 billion), Caisses d'Epargne (1.1 billion and Banques Populaires (0.95 billion), the French Finance Ministry said.

In exchange, the French banks have committed themselves to increasing their loans to individuals and companies by 3 to 4 per cent by the end of 2009.

Today, the country’s second largest private sector lender HDFC Bank lowered prime lending rate (PLR) 50 basis points and state-owned Union Bank 75 basis points to 12.5 per cent. It comes just two days after the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) announced 100-basis point cuts in key lending rates.

It was informed by HDFC Bank that its benchmark prime lending rate (BPLR) will fall to 16 per cent in two stages. From 15th December, the 25 basis point reduction will come into effect and from 1st January, 2009, a similar cut will also come into effect.

Karvy Stock Broking Limited has maintained ‘buy’ rating on ICICI Bank stock with an intraday target of Rs 390.

According to Karvy, interested traders can purchase the stock above Rs 370 with a strict stop loss of Rs 360. If the stock market remains on positive track, the stock pricing becomes more attractive, and reach above Rs 395.