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

MUMBAI: The rupee was range-bound against the US dollar on Thursday in the absence of any indication for the market, but gained about 6 paise from the previous close. Itopened at 44.41, the same level as Wednesday's close. During the day it moved in a range of 4 paise, between 44.36 and 44.40, before ending trade at 44.3550.

The major upturn in stock markets also helped the rupee gain.

The forward premia market saw a lot of interest paying. The six-month premium closed at 2.25 per cent (1.92 per cent) and the one-year premium closed at 1.7 per cent (1.4 per cent).

In the bond market, sentiment was bearish and the traded volume was low. Bond prices in short-term papers fell by about 15 paise while the long-term securities dropped by 5 paise. Dealers said the pressure on liquidity as well as the global crude price hardening to $66.50 per barrel meant that there was little trading interest. A dealer at a private bank said that unless RBI intervened to infuse liquidity or the central government increased its expenditure, the situation would not improve.

The 8.07-11 year-2017 paper opened at Rs 106.51 (7.2 per cent YTM) and closed at Rs 106.42 (7.21 per cent YTM), lower than Wednesday's Rs 106.48 (7.21 per cent YTM). The 7.55-4 year-2010 paper opened at Rs 103.60 (6.57 per cent YTM) and ended at Rs 103.50 (6.6 per cent YTM).

The call rate closed at 6.5 per cent (6.4 per cent). In the first one-day reverse-repo, RBI received one bid for Rs 10 crore and 22 bids for Rs 9,985 crore in the repo auction. In the second one-day reverse-repo auction, the RBI received one bid for Rs 210 crore and 18 bids for Rs 4,440 crore in the repo auction.

In the CBLO market, there were 334 trades for Rs 14,433.35 crore in the rate range of 6.15-6.4 per cent.