Financial Market Analysis

The Financial Markets over the world have suffered from the problems of heavy inflationary pressures in the recent times, which has compelled to the respective Central banks for raising the rate of interests. Increasing rate is mainly marked among the advanced economies over the world.
The European Central Bank (ECB) has increased its rate by 25 basis points each on October 5, 2006 and December 7, 2006 respectively. The United Kingdom raised its rate by 25 basis points on November 9, 2006 and January 11, 2007 respectively. In the same direction, other advanced economies such as Australia and Sweden have also raised their rates since September 2006.

Apart from this the short-term interest rates in various emerging economies over the world have also declined.

The Short-term rates among various countries over the world are as follows:

Short Term Interest Rates
Region/Country	End Of March 06	On Jan 17, 2007
Advanced Economies
Euro Area	2.80	3.75
Japan	0.04	0.48
Sweden	1.99	3.14
UK	4.58	5.52
US	4.77	5.24
Emerging Market Economies
Argentina	4.56	10.19
Brazil	19.25	13.19
China	2.25	2.80
Hong-Kong	2.79	3.99
India	5.37	7.14
Malaysia	2.82	3.73
Philippines	7.25	5.63
Singapore	2.06	3.41
South Korea	4.26	4.93

Note: Data for India is calculated on 91-day Treasury Bills rate and for other countries 3-month money market rates.

Source: The Economist.