The Hindu Business Line : Rupee unchanged; bonds range-bound

MUMBAI: The rupee ended unchanged on Wednesday but the trend was weak. The home currency continued its losses against the US dollar as the greenback gained more than 100 points against major global currencies overnight. The US currency gained on housing data, which was the strongest in several years, said dealers.

Due to this, the rupee opened weak at 45.38 and was around the 45.35 levels for most of the day. Dollar buying by exporters and equity inflow pushed the rupee up to close at 45.23, unchanged from Tuesday's close of 45.22/23.

In the forward premia market, the six-month premium closed at 1.25 per cent (1.4 per cent) and the 12-month at 0.95 per cent (1.02 per cent).

The bond market was range-bound, though volumes were better than on Tuesday, said the dealers. Prices opened 10 paise higher, but ended five paise lower. There is more supply and less demand, they added.

"Dealers perhaps don't want to offload their positions or don't have funds for fresh positions. This is also evident from the T-Bill cut-off, which was very high," said a dealer with a private bank.

The 8.07 12-year 2017 paper opened at Rs 106.22 (7.22 per cent YTM) and closed at Rs 106.31 (76.23 per cent YTM), marginally higher than Tuesday's close of Rs 106.26 (7.23 per cent YTM). The 10.25 16-year 2021 paper opened at Rs 125.98 (7.39 per cent YTM) and ended at Rs 126.09 (7.38 per cent YTM) against the previous close of Rs 125.94 (7.40 per cent YTM).

The call rate closed at 6.25 per cent (6.25-6.30 per cent). In the first one-day reverse repo auction, the RBI received and accepted two bids amounting to Rs 1,120 crore, and six bids for Rs 1,580 crore in the repo auction.

In the second one-day reverse repo auction, the bank received three bids for Rs 805 crore, and seven bids for Rs 1,460 crore in the repo auction. In the CBLO market, there were 323 trades for Rs 15,614.10 crore in the range of 6.00-6.40 per cent.