Re ends lower at 44.48/$

MARKETS REPORT

Forex market

Outlook:
The spot rupee is expected to open in the range of 40.43-49 to a dollar.

Sentiment: Bearish

Concern on global economic slowdown and equity market crash weakened the rupee that opened at 40.42/44 against a closing of 40.37/39 to a dollar.

Thereafter, dollar buying by custodian banks led to the rupee to reach an intra-day low of 40.55 before closing for the day at 40.47/48 to a dollar.

The annualised premium for six-month and one-year forward dollars closed at 1.82 per cent and 1.79 per cent against 1.57 per cent and 1.66 per cent on Tuesday respectively.

Money market

Sentiment: Bearish

The CRR hike and cap on reverse repo have pushed up short term yields across markets since the dealers feel the liquidity to tighten next week.

Prices of government securities fell by 15-20 paise in the short term, whereas prices of medium-term papers, especially the ten year benchmark, fell by 35-40 paise.

The yield on the 10-year benchmark paper closed at 7.91 per cent against 7.85 per cent on Tuesday.

Abundant liquidity kept call rates at current levels of 0.10 per cent.

The yield on the 91-day t-bill went up by almost 200 basis points from 4.46 per cent last week to 6.48 per cent at the auction held on Wednesday.