Calls seen soft in 6-7% range

 "Generally, the demand for call money is low in the second week of the fortnight, and this week will be no exception. Moreover, except State Bank of India (SBI), all other public sector banks were virtually absent in the market which pushed up the call rates. But all these banks are expected to come back to the market in the next week which will further ease the call rate, " a senior dealer of a new private sector bank said.

 Call money rates ruled in a range of 6.80 per cent to 7.25 per cent on Saturday with less supply in the market. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) received two bids of Rs 4,525 crore in the three-day repo auction under the special liquidity adjustment facility. All the bids were accepted at a cut-off of six per cent. The central bank lent Rs 1,015 crore through its three-day reverse repo auction at a cut-off rate of eight per cent.

 The inflow on account of the coupon payments on government paper will be only Rs 789.60 crore.

 The inflow, however, as said by the money market dealers are not significant enough as against the liquidity already available in the market.

 Money market dealers, however said, as the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) is expected to buy dollars from the market to check the rupee's appreciation there will be inflow on account of that. The dealer with a foreign bank said: "This has been the major source of liquidity over the past three months. Hence, even if the inflow on account of redemption and coupon payment on government security is not good, there will be ample liquidity and the call money rates will remain soft."