Asian shares advanced in morning trade helped by rising optimism on the technology industry in Wall Street. US$ also edged up to one-month high versus the yen. The Shanghai Composite is up 0.32% while the Hang Seng is up 0.27%. The Nikkei 225 is trading up by 0.70%. Meanwhile, US markets closed on a positive note and pushed the Nasdaq Composite to another record high.

Meanwhile, share markets in India have opened the day higher tracking Asian markets. The BSE Sensex is trading up by 103 points while the NSE Nifty is trading up by 25 points. The BSE Mid Cap index opened up by 0.3% while BSE Small Cap index has opened the day up by 0.6%.

All sectoral indices have opened the day in green with stocks from metal sector and realty sector leading the gains. The rupee is trading at 64.22 to the US$.

Maruti Suzuki share price surged 2% after the company posted the best domestic monthly sales in April, selling 144,492 units and registering a 23.4% growth over 117,045 units of April 2016.

Bank stocks opened the day higher with Central Bank and United Bank of India leading the gainers. As per an article in a leading financial daily, State Bank of India (SBI) and Bank of Baroda and private sector lender Axis Bank have reduced interest on fixed deposits on various maturities from the end of April as the banking system is flush with liquidity.

SBI has cut interest rates on term deposits by up to 50 basis points. The revision in interest rates came into effect from April 29 and takes into account the growth in deposits following the merger of associate banks. The bank has also not changed its key lending rates. Its one year marginal cost of lending rate (MCLR) stands at 8%.

Interest Rates Finally Headed Down South?

Since SBI is the largest bank with a market share of close to a fourth of total bank deposits, the reduction in deposit rates could result in other banks following suit.