Volume Zooms To Rs 538.46 Crore

NSE REPORT

The wholesale debt market at the National Stock Exchange witnessed a sharp jump in volumes yesterday. Traded volume touched Rs 538.46 crore, almost four times the previous day's level.

This was mainly due to the two-year loan auction of Government of India. While dealers feel the 11.40 per cent cut-off yield was on the higher side, they preferred not to offload at below-par rates. The loan was yesterday traded at par most of the time with few deals at two paise over the par value. The weighted yield therefore worked out lower at 11.39 per cent compared with the coupon rate. A large chunk of yesterday's volume was generated in zero coupon 2000 (series III) paper which was dealt at Rs 195 crore. Dealers say this was partly due to the fact that PDs were not ready to sell the newly auctioned loans at below-par levels. Compared to the previous trading day, the paper declined in value and, with trades been done at 5 paise lower, the weighted yield actually improved to 11.44 per cent compared with 11.36 per cent.

In the treasury bills market, volume totalled to Rs 56.45 crore of which Rs 29 crore came from two deals in 91-day bills. There were no repo deals yesterday.

And since IFCI remained close, volumes for commercial papers were also low.

Dealers feel today's market will be flat with the volumes settling in the Rs 250-300 crore range.