ANZ Funds Pty Ltd an affiliate of ANZ Group and Atul Choksey of Atul Choksey and Associates have announced a joint venture to launch mutual funds in India. The new company to be called ANZ Grindlays Asset Management Company which will have a 75 per cent stake by ANZ funds and 25 per cent stake by Atul Choksey. The proposed AMC will focus on launching a range of mutual funds in India and will be part of ANZs Global Fund Manamgement plan. ANZ will be making a fresh investment of $ 5 miilion into India for this venture.

Certification test for intermediaries: NSE proposes to commence, for the first time in India, a certification test for intermediaries in the filed of capital markets from May 1, 1999. This test would be to test the knowledge of intermediaries in the operations, regulatory, and theoretical aspects of the capital markets. The certification test in capital market basic module will be available on daily baisis from NSE offices in 7 citiesMumbai, Delhi, Calcutta, Chennai, Hyderabad, Ahmedabad and Pune.

Asia's first speech-activated stock quote system launched: Investors in Singapore can from Monday enquire about stock prices by speaking to a computer under a speech-activated share quote system -- the first in Asia, officials said. The Stock Exchange of Singapore (SES) launched the system called "SpeechQuotes," based on the English and Mandarin languages. The system lets a caller speak naturally to the computer managed jointly by SES and two other companies - Speech Works International, Inc and Kent Ridge Digital Labs.

NSE plans to popularise gilts: National Stock Exchange (NSE) managing director RH Patil has said that the NSE proposed to popularise central government securities vis-a-vis all other securities, including banks and mutual funds. Addressing a national convention on "Investors' Protection", jointly organised by NSE and Consumer Education and Research Centre, he cautioned the investors to be prudent ininvestments and asked them to protect their own interests as it might take another 25 years before an organised system could emerge.

Prices weaker at CSE: Share prices at Calcutta Stock Exchange today resumed on a weaker note and in the wake of renewed selling pressure prices eroded sharply in most of the counters.