Re ends stronger at 44.23/$

MARKETS REPORT

Outlook:
The spot rupee is expected to open in the range of 44.19-24 to a dollar on Wednesday.

Sentiment:Bullish

The spot rupee opened at 44.31/32 but closed at 44.22/23 to a dollar on the back of foreign exchange inflows.

The annualised premiums on six-month and one-year forward dollars closed at 3.82 per cent and 3.23 per cent.

Money Market

Sentiment: Bullish

Prices of government securities fell as market players engaged themselves in selling gilts fearing hike in interest rates in the monetary policy review on January 31.

The yield on the ten-year gilt closed at 7.90 per cent.

Call rates closed lower at 7.75/7.80 per cent with the RBI infusing net liquidity to the tune of Rs 4,400 crore into the system.

There was downward price movement of almost 15-20 paise across maturities. The market is expecting a 25 basis-point hike in repo and reverse repo rates in the forthcoming policy review.