Rupee gains
Mumbai: The rupee gained against the dollar on Friday with the currency opening at 44.20, also the intra-day low, and closing at 44.11/12 against yesterday's close at 44.20.

Dealer said the rupee firmed up due to "tight call money, absence of the RBI, and an across-the-board firming up of all major currencies against the dollar. In forwards, the six-month closed at 3.58 per cent (3.52) and the 12-month at 3.21 per cent (3.20).

Bonds: Bond prices dropped around 19 paise and yields rose by about two basis points on rising inflation. India's inflation rose to 6.46 per cent, for the week-ended March 3 against 6.1 per cent. Total traded volumes on the order matching system were at Rs1,140 crore (Rs1,070 crore).

G-secs: The 8.07 per cent-10 year-2017 paper opened at Rs100.30 (8.02 per cent YTM) and closed at Rs100.35 (8.01 per cent YTM) against Rs100.54 (7.99 per cent YTM) on Thursday.

The 7.37 per cent-7 year-2014 paper opened at Rs96.30 (8.08 per cent YTM) and closed at Rs96.34 (8.06 per cent YTM) against the previous close of Rs96.35 (8.05 per cent YTM) on Thursday.

Call rates: Call soared to close at 9.5-10 per cent on Friday against Thursday's close of 5.4-5.5 per cent.

Reverse Repo: In the first four-day reverse repo auction, the RBI received and accepted one bid for Rs20 crore. In the first four-day repo auction, it received and accepted 20 bids for Rs11,080 crore. In the second four-day reverse repo auction, the RBI received and accepted one bid for Rs150 crore while in the second four-day repo auction, it received and accepted 17 bids for Rs8,625 crore.

CBLO: The CBLO market saw 394 trades aggregating Rs18,303.15 crore in the 3-8.96 per cent range.
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Online trading in corporate bonds to start from July 1
Mumbai: Investors will be able to buy and sell corporate bonds online on BSE and NSE from July 1. The Securities and Exchange Board of India is expected to come out with guidelines for the purpose shortly. SEBI's move to facilitate online trading in bonds assumes significance in the context of the Government's plan to develop a corporate bond market to help raise long-term funds for infrastructure. This move is expected to help improve liquidity in corporate bonds. Trading system for corporate bonds is being developed as per the R.H. Patil Committee recommendations.

According to BSE officials, the exchange, which already has a reporting platform for trades in corporate bonds, will be ready with the trading platform soon.
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Forex reserves down $224 million to $194.41 billion
Mumbai: The country's forex reserves fell by $224 million to $194.410 billion during the week ended March 9 as against $194.634 billion during the week ended March 2.

The reserves were up by $1.51 billion during the week ended March 2 compared to the preceding seven-day period.

The foreign currency assets also decreased by $224 million to $187.058 billion during the seven-day period ended March 9, according to figures released by Reserve Bank of India (RBI).

Foreign currency assets in dollars include the effect of revaluation of non-US currencies such as Euro, Sterling, Yen held in reserves.

Reserve position in the IMF, SDRs and gold reserves remained unchanged at $467 million, $2 million and $6.683 billion respectively.
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