The rupee recovered 26 paise to end at 61.44 against the dollar over the previous close after the European Central Bank expanded the stimulus plan keeping the interest rates unchanged. The rupee had closed at 61.70 per dollar on Thursday.

The ECB president Mario Draghi announced an expanded stimulus plan and kept benchmark interest rates at record lows, boosting speculation flows of foreign capital into emerging-market assets will increase. The ECB will buy €60 billion worth of assets per month, more than markets had been hoping for, in a program that will last through September 2016, agency reports said.

The Indian currency opened at 61.45 per dollar on the back of heavy inflows into the domestic equity markets and robust Asian currencies.

After rising over 400 points, the BSE-benchmark Sensex ended 273 points higher over the previous close to end at about 29,280.

The rupee weakened to 61.60 during the day due to mild inflows from the equity markets after which it recovered to 61.35 per dollar.

The currency market will remain closed on Monday due to public holiday on account of Republic Day.

Calls and Bonds

The interbank call money rates, rates at which banks lend each other for daily mismatches, ended flat from Thursday’s close of 7.85 per cent. Intra-day, the call money market moved in the range of 7.40 per cent to 7.85 per cent.

The yield on the benchmark government security (8.40 per cent G-Sec, maturing in 2024) ended higher at Rs 104.62, while the yields softened at 7.69 per cent from a close of 7.71 per cent on Thursday. Bond yields and prices move in opposite directions.

Related Topics
comment COMMENT NOW