FORECAST: Call rates seen at 9.50-9.75 per cent on Thursday.

Spot dollar
The rupee were on slight pressure on Wednesday. Opening at 46.36/37, rupee hovered around 46.3550/3650 at the intra-day trades. "Rupee reversed its fortnight-long firm trend against the dollar and closed two paise lower at Rs 46.36/37 on short covering by banks, ahead of the long week-end holidays", a dealer said. The rupee ended at 46.3650/3750, two paise weaker from the previous day's close of 46.3450/3500. "The outlook continued to be bullish on the back of continuing inflows from foreign funds, a senior banker said. Forex markets will remain close on Friday on account of Republic Day. Meanwhile, the RBI fixed its reference rate for dollar at 46.37, as against the previous fix of 46.35. In cross-currency trades, rupee closed sharply higher by 45 paise against the euro at 43.20 (43.65) and 27 paise higher against the pound-sterling at 67.98 (68.25).

FORECAST: Rupee seen at 46.38/40 levels on Thursday.

Forward premiums
Forward premiums eased a bit on Wednesday. "Despite the softening of rupee, froward premiums eased marginally on scattered receivings", a dealer said. Rupee reversed its fortnight-long firm trend and closed two paise lower at 46.36/37 on short covering by banks. The comfortably liquidity in the money market and slight drop in call rate helped the premium to end lower. Call rates hovered around 9.60-10.10% levels. Most of the deals struck at around 9.80-9.90%. The six-month and one-year annualised premia ended at 4.48% and 4.51% respectively as compared to 4.51% and 4.57% of the previous day. Cash/spot premiums closed higher at 2.50/2.75 paise, while cash/tom premium finished at 0.50/0.55 paise. January dollar traded at 1/1.25 paise while in the far forwards, May dollar traded at 68/69 paise with June dollar quoted at 85/86 paise levels.

FORECAST: Forward premiums seen at same levels on Thursday.

Gilts
Bond prices held down on Wednesday. The 11.40% 2008 paper was seen at Rs 106.21 while the 11.99% 2009 and 11.43% 2015 were pegged at Rs 109.10 and Rs 105.17 respectively. "Gilt prices remained depressed as market players resorted profit booking", a dealer said. . "There was adequate liquidity in the system to meet the scaled-down demand for funds as most of the participants have already squared up their reserve positions for the fortnight. The RBI accepted three bids for Rs 270 crore for its one-day reverse-repo auction at 10%, while no applications were received for repos-auction. On NSE's wholesale debt segment, trades worth Rs 2,733.98 crore were seen. Trades worth Rs 355 crore were seen in the 11.40% 2008 while those in the 11.99% 2009 and 11.43% 2015 amounted to Rs 340 crore and Rs 255 crore respectively.

FORECAST: Bond prices seen holding steady on Thursday.

(compiled by Atmadip Ray)