No trading seen in bonds in first 20 minutes of the market session

While working from home, bond traders are doing bare minimum trade to cover their positions; there is also the expectation of a 50-150-bp rate cut

India’s bond market saw no trading in the first 20 minutes on Tuesday, and the total trading volume as of 11:30 am was just Rs 250 crore, as bond traders worked from home amid expectations of an imminent rate cut.

The market now expects rate cuts of at least 50 basis points, and industry associations have called for a cut of as much as 150 basis points, as the number of coronavirus cases are rising in India and globally, bringing economic activities to a halt.

Some expect India’s gross domestic product (GDP) growth to fall to 3.5 per cent this financial year