In a bid to restore calm to the forex market, it first placed overnight overseas investments of banks within the overall ceiling for overseas investments of 15 per cent of unimpaired tier one capital. Next, it barred banks from holding overnight positions on the dollar. All these actions were apparently aimed at stopping banks from speculating. These measures shocked the market, not the least because of their stringency but because they revealed a shocking lack of understanding of the modus operandi of the forex market at the decision maker's end. The moves only served to hamper liquidity in the foreign exchange market. While the first move hurt the forward market, the second did damage to the spot market. Bankers say that if the RBI wasn't sure of the nitty-gritty of market procedures, they would be only to happy to enlighten the RBI. If only it would ask!