Rupee falls below 62 level, bonds down

The rupee on Thursday fell for the first time in four sessions and lost 37 paise to close at a more than three-week low against the dollar on month-end demand for the US currency from importers and banks.

At the interbank foreign exchange market, the rupee opened lower at 61.85 a dollar, also the day's high, from the previous close of 61.80. It declined to a low of 62.17 before ending at 62.16, a fall of 37 paise or 0.60 per cent.

Bonds down
Government securities (G-Secs) ended mixed on bouts of buying and selling. The 8.83 per cent government security maturing in 2023 eased to Rs 99.60 from Rs 99.75 previously, while its yield moved-up to 8.89 per cent from 8.87 per cent.

Call rates
The overnight call money rate ended lower at 8.65 per cent from 8.70 per cent previously.It moved in a range of 8.90 per cent and 8.60 per cent.

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) under the Liquidity Adjustment Facility (LAF) purchased securities worth Rs 411.24 billion in 63-bids at the one-day repo auction at a fixed rate of 7.75 per cent, while sold securities worth Rs 11.17 billion from 5-bids at the one-day reverse repo auction at a fixed rate of 6.75 per cent in the evening auction.