Rupee strengthens to 60.48 against dollar

Our Bureau Updated - March 25, 2014 at 07:02 PM.

The rupee continued to appreciate on Tuesday to end at yet another eight-month high of 60.48 against the American dollar on persistent foreign inflows.

The domestic unit had jumped to an eight-month high 60.78 against the dollar on Monday.

The unit opened stronger at 60.60 per dollar on the back of sustained inflows into the domestic equity market.

The BSE Sensex ended flat from Monday’s rally that breached the 22,000 levels, hitting its life-time high.

It continued to surge to 60.48 against the greenback tracking the Asian currencies. Further, exporters also sold dollars that propped up the rupee.

Rupee sentiments are boosted by foreign investors’ continuous interest to invest dollars in the emerging markets, especially India.

Since the beginning of this year, the rupee has gained about 2.2 per cent.

Call rates weaken, bond yields flat

Amid high liquidity, the inter-bank call money rate, interest rate at which banks borrow money from each other to overcome short-term liquidity mismatches, ended sharply weaker at 7.25 per cent from its previous close of 8.95 per cent on Monday.

The 8.83 per cent 10-year benchmark bond, maturing in 2023, closed a tad lower at Rs 100.25 from a close of Rs 100.27, while the yield ended flat from Monday’s close of 8.78 per cent. Bond prices and yields move in opposite directions.

beena.parmar@thehindu.co.in

Published on March 25, 2014 04:23