The Hindu Business Line : Rupee steady; gilts move up

The rupee opened at 44.37/40 and moved between the intra-day high of 44.29 and the intra-day low of 44.47. While there was less corporate demand for the greenback unlike yesterday, FIIs are suspected to be buying up dollars in the market through foreign banks in order to exit from the equity markets. FIIs were net sellers to the extent of Rs 595 crore on Monday.

In the forwards market the discount in the short-term steepened further as exporters sold new forwards to enter at lower levels of discount. The six months forward closed at - 1.16 per cent (-0.86 per cent) and the one-year closed at - 0.52 per cent (-0.39 per cent).

The government securities prices gained as public sector banks came in to buy. Prices gained by 15-20 paise on the longer term papers. Traders are looking towards the election results tomorrow hoping to see NDA win 240-250 seats.

The 8.07 per cent 2017 paper which opened at Rs 123.58 closed higher at Rs 123.85 up from Tuesday's close of Rs 123.70. The ten-year yield ended the day a tad lower at 5.18 per cent down from 5.19 per cent on Tuesday.

Traded volumes were at Rs 4,200 crore and liquidity was ample with call rates stable at 4.30-4.50 per cent.

Through the LAF window, the central bank sucked away liquidity worth Rs 11,000 crore at the repo rate of 4.5 per cent.