Rupee recoups losses; call rates end lower at 8%

MONEY MARKET ROUND-UP

The rupee recouped all losses and ended up against the US dollar as government-owned banks persistently sold the greenback on behalf of Reserve Bank of India on the second consecutive day.

The Indian unit ended at 43.75 compared with 43.84 on Tuesday. It had fallen to an intraday low of 43.92.

“RBI’s intervened in the market today as well. It had started selling dollars around 43.90 and took the market (dollar/rupee) to 43.70,” said a dealer with a state-run bank. Dollar selling prompted some banks to liquidate their long dollar positions, which in turn lifted rupee, dealers said.

“The moment RBI came to sell dollars, banks no longer wanted to hold their dollar positions and started cutting them,” said a dealer with an Asian bank. These dollar sales lifted rupee to an intraday high of 43.64.

The greenback’s weakness against most Asian currencies also triggered dollar selling by banks, dealers said.

G-Sec: Impressive show

The government bond prices managed to stage an impressive comeback today to end firm on back of the improving liquidity situation.

The 10-year benchmark 8.24 per cent, 2018 paper, which had fallen to an intraday low of 95.36 after a bout of profit taking in early trade, settled at 95.90 or 8.87 per cent yield to maturity.

The 2018 paper had ended Tuesday at 95.85 or 8.88 per cent yield. “Improving liquidity was the theme for today’s rise in gilt prices,” said a senior treasury official with a UK Bank.

The call money rate ended at 8.00-8.30 per cent today, almost 100 basis points lower from Tuesday’s closing rate of 9.00-9.20 per cent, an indication of improvement in cash-supply, dealers said.

Such a sharp swing in call rate would usually impact gilts as banks fund most of their gilt purchases through borrowing in overnight money market.

The better-than-estimated cut-off yield at the Treasury bill auction also aided buying, dealers said.

“The cut-off at the 364-day T-bill issue was very bullish. This indicates that statutory liquidity ratio related buying is still happening,” said a dealer with a private bank.

Big bond redemptions and robust growth in deposits have prompted sustained buying by banks to meet the SLR needs. At the 364-day T-bill tender, Reserve Bank of India set a cut-off yield at 9.18 per cent against the market estimates of 9.25 per cent.

For the 91-day T-bill issue, the central bank set the cut-off yield at 9.06 per cent, marginally lower than market estimate of 9.11 per cent. Earlier in the day, gilt traders ignored comments made by the government’s chief economic advisor, Arvind Virmani on inflation, saying it was mere reiteration of known facts.