Rupee down to 49.37 per dollar

MONEY MARKET ROUND-UP

Rupee ended down, giving up its early gains, against the dollar as some banks bought the greenback noting the fall in the domestic share indices and on demand from some importers, dealers said.

The Indian unit ended at Rs 49.37 per $1 on Monday compared with Rs 48.98 per $1 on Friday.

Demand for the greenback from some importers also put some pressure on the Indian unit, dealers said.

A large private petrochemical company was among the major buyers of dollars on Monday, dealers said.

The petrochemical major is estimated to have bought around $250 million at Rs 48.90-49.05 per $1, dealers said.

Another large private oil company is said to have bought about $100 million at around Rs 48.80 per $1, dealers said.

However, dollar sales from some exporters prevented a steeper fall in the Indian unit, dealers said.

Call rate
Call money rate ended steady around 7 per cent as supply was enough to meet demand, dealers said.

One-day call rate ended at 6.90-7 per cent, compared with Saturday’s close of 6.75-7 per cent for two-day loans.

CBLOs ended at a weighted average rate of 6.28 per cent on Monday versus 5.52 per cent Saturday.Demand, typically, remains subdued in the second week of the Reporting Fortnight as banks meet much of the reserve needs in the first week itself.

Gilt
Government bond prices ended down on Monday because sharp run-up in prices last week prompted investors to book profits amid absence of fresh triggers, dealers said.

Gilt prices rose almost Rs 1.65 last week on hopes of interest rate cuts by Reserve Bank of India, aided by sharp fall in weekly inflation to 8.98 per cent. The most traded 8.24 per cent, 2018 gilt ended at Rs 104.86 or 7.5100 per cent yield-to-maturity compared with Rs 105.10 or 7.4754 per cent on Friday.