The rupee ended 14 paise weaker against the dollar at 62.44 on Monday on fresh dollar demand from banks and importers. The domestic unit had closed at 62.30 on Friday. It opened 13 paise stronger at 62.17 a dollar followingthe support of favourable inflows in emerging markets on weaker than expected US jobs data. The US non-farm payroll report over the weekend showed that the US unemployment rate had fallen to a lower than expected 6.6 per cent in January from 6.7 per cent in December.

Abhishek Goenka, Founder and CEO of India Forex Advisors, said: “The main takeaway from the labour market report was that the US economy continued to recover, albeit at a slower than anticipated pace. In some ways, this was good news because it meant that the Federal Reserve won’t taper asset purchases too quickly.” The rupee strengthened to 62.10 during the first session of trading but declined to 62.48 on dollar demand.

Call rates up

The interbank call money rate, the rate at which banks borrow money from each other to meet short-term liquidity mismatches, closed sharply higher at 9.15 per cent from Friday’s close of 8.75 per cent. Yield on the 10-year benchmark 8.83 per cent Government security, maturing in 2023, softened to 8.69 per cent from 8.73 per cent. Price rose to ₹100.88 from the previous close of ₹100.59. Bond prices and yields move in opposite direction.

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