Re ends lower at 44.23/$

MARKETS REPORT

Forex market

Outlook:
The rupee is likely to open at the existing levels on Wednesday

Sentiment: Bearish

The rupee opened the day at 44.23/24 against the dollar and closed marginally lower at 44.22/23 per dollar

The six-month forward premium rose to 2.21 per cent (1.90 per cent) while the annualised premium ended at 1.75 per cent (1.52 per cent)

Money market

Sentiment: Lacklustre

The gilts market saw participants shying away from taking any fresh positions due to the expectations about the auction announcement

The Centre is scheduled to raise Rs 5,000 crore ($1.1 billion) from the market through 10- to 14-year bonds between February 14-22

The yield on the benchmark 10-year paper ended at 7.3580 per cent marginally higher than the previous close of 7.34 per cent

Call rates opened at yesterday's levels of 7.00-7.10 per cent, touched an intra-day high of 7.25 per cent but ended flat at the opening levels

The RBI pumped in a total of Rs 24,145 crore through the LAF windows, and mopped up bids worth Rs 130 crore at the SLAF reverse repo window. However, there was no trade in the morning LAF sessions at the reverse repo window.