The RBI on Friday hiked the implicit cut-off yields on two short-term instruments -- 14- and 91-day treasury bills. The yield on the 14-day T-bill has been hiked by 52 basis points -- from 8.11 per cent to 8.63 per cent -- much higher than the fixed repo rate of 8 per cent. The yield on the 91-day T-bill, in contrast, was hiked by 13 basis points -- from 9.35 per cent to 9.48 per cent -- at Friday's auction. There was no devolvement on the Reserve Bank as well as primary dealers in either of the auctions. Analysts have said that the hiking of yields has been on account of the poor demand for T-bills in the secondary market.

Crisil lowers JK Corp debenture plans to B: Crisil has downgraded two debenture programmes of JK Corp Ltd amounting to Rs 143.68 crore to B from triple-B indicating that the instruments are of high risk nature. The revised rating reflects the adverse business conditions which have affected the realisations of the company in itscore businesses. This has resulted in a significant decline in profitability inspite of the improved operating efficiencies due to investments made by the company in expansions, modernisation and technology upgradation in all its businesses.

RBI rejects two finance firms' registration: The RBI has rejected the application for certificate of registration submitted by two finance companies -- Faldrup Finance of Mumbai and Bright Future Finance & Investment of Calcutta. Both the firms cannot transact the business of a non-banking financial institution.

Icra reaffirms BHEL debt rating: Icra has reaffirmed the triple-A rating assigned to the Rs 300-crore debenture programme of Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd. The triple-A rating assigned to the fixed deposit programme and the A1+ rating given to the Rs 500-crore short-term debt programme has also been reaffirmed. The rating takes into account the company's competitive position in certain product categories, its healthy order book position, lowgearing level, high coverage indicators and improvement in working capital management.