Re ends low at 45.98/$

MARKETS REPORT

Forex market

Outlook:
The spot rupee is expected to open in the range of 45.96-46 to a dollar on Friday.

Sentiment: Bearish

The spot rupee opened at 45.90/92 but closed at a low of 45.97/98 following dollar demand from foreign investors in response to a falling equity market.

The premiums on six-month and one-year forward dollars closed at 0.88 per cent and 0.91 per cent respectively.

Money market

Sentiment: Bearish

Private and foreign banks, for meeting statutory liquidity requirement (SLR), turned out to be heavy buyers of government securities on Thursday.

Prices of government securities rose by 25-30 paise across maturities.

The yield on 10-year gilt closed at 7.78 per cent.

Call rates remained comfortable around 5.7/5.8 per cent with the RBI absorbing around Rs 47,485 crore.

The sentiment was bearish owing to expectation of a rate hike in the US in the next FOMC meeting.