Rupee keeps falling; Sensex marches on

MUMBAI: India??™s Sensitive index gained, climbing to its fourth straight record. ICICI Bank Ltd, the nation??™s biggest lender by market value, rose after receiving central bank permission to add branches and cash machines.

Reliance Industries Ltd, the nation??™s biggest non-state company, fell after it had its stock rating downgraded by Motilal Oswal Securities Ltd, citing lack of clarity on its new ventures such as retailing and exploration.

The Bombay Stock Exchange??™s Sensitive Index, or Sensex, rose 43.87, or 0.3%, to 13,469.37 at the 3.30pm local time close. The S&P/CNX Nifty Index on the National Stock Exchange added 10.40, or 0.3%, to 3876.30.

ICICI Bank rose Rs23.75, or 2.8%, to Rs881.2. The Reserve Bank of India reversed its decision to withhold permission to ICICI and some other banks to add branches. The ban was ordered after the central bank found they violated rules on lending against share collateral and financing stock purchases, the Business Standard reported. ICICI Bank??™s spokesman Charudatta Deshpande didn??™t immediately have details on how many branches or automated teller machines the bank would start.

Shares of Reliance industries fell Rs15.75, or 1.2%, to Rs1,262.05. Reliance was downgraded to "neutral??™??™ from "buy,??™??™ Motilal Oswal said in a note. "Expectations on the value of new businesses and reserve size of new discoveries have run up well ahead of time as well as available information,??™??™ analyst Varatharajan Sivasankaran said in the note to clients.

Motilal, rated the second-best local brokerage in the AsiaMoney broker survey this year, said it expects Reliance??™s earnings from crude oil refining to fall. It cut its earnings forecast by 4.3% to 68.6 rupees a share for the year ending March 31, 2007.

The rupee fell to its lowest in more than three weeks on speculation state-owned banks will sell the currency on behalf of the central bank. The rupee declined 0.3% against the dollar to 45.3425, the lowest since October 23 as of the 5 pm close in Mumbai. ??“ Bloomberg