Rupee trading lower at 61.43 in intra-day trade

The rupee was trading lower at 61.43 against the dollar in intra-day trade as markets remained largely unimpressed by Finance Minister’s assurance that he will keep the current account deficit lower at 3.7 per cent of the gross domestic product in the current fiscal.

P.Chidambaram on Monday told Parliament that he will restrict the current account deficit at $70 billion in the current fiscal by restricting oil and gold imports.

Markets, however, remained sceptical as India’s current account deficit last year touched a record high of $90 billion.

Also, oil imports will be difficult to contain given the country’s rising energy demand.

The strengthening of the dollar against a basket of world’s major currencies has also impacted the Indian unit.

“The rupee has some support at 61.80 but if it breaches that we can see the rupee touch 67 to the US dollar in about 14-18 months time,” Abhishek Goenka, Founder and CEO, India Forex Advisors, had told Business Line earlier.

The rupee opened at 61.39 from previous close of 61.29.

Call Rates up, G-Sec yield harden

The interbank call money rates, the rates at which banks borrow from each other to meet their short term requirements, opened higher at 10.35 per cent from its previous close of 10.25 per cent. It was trading at 10.30 per cent at 12.25 p.m. local time.

The benchmark 7.16 per cent government security, which matures in 2023, opened flat from its previous close of Rs 92.47, while yields on the security remained at 8.29 per cent from the previous close.

At 12.25 p.m., the benchmark G-Sec was trading lower at Rs 92.27 at a yield of 8.33 per cent.

>satyanarayan.iyer@thehindu.co.in

>deepa.nair@thehindu.co.in

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