By Nimesh Vora
MUMBAI (Reuters) -The one-day dollar/rupee swap rate climbed on Tuesday on the back of flows related to the quarter-end, while the spot rate was little changed amid weak Asian cues.
The one-day (cash/tomorrow) dollar/rupee swap rate rose to 1.21 paisa, from 0.40-0.46 paisa on Monday. The implied rupee interest rate based on the swap was around 9%, well above the 5.60% call rate.
“This is the typical pattern we’ve seen over the last few quarters,” said a FX swap trader at a mid-sized private bank. “Banks are simply parking the excess dollars on hand.”
Explaining why this happens on the last day of the quarter, he said that banks can place dollar deposits for their excess dollars on other days. However, deposit limits apply on the last day of a quarter.
He pointed out that the situation was particularly severe in December last year, when the one-day swap climbed well above 10 paisa.
Meanwhile, the dollar/rupee spot rate was at 88.76, unchanged from Monday. The pair dipped slightly at the open before encountering dollar buying from jewellery companies and other regular importers, bankers said.
The rupee remains just shy of last week’s all-time low of 88.7975.
“With no further news on the India-US trade, markets are awaiting the RBI policy tomorrow to gauge what it has in mind on the rupee and on the interest rate front,” Anil Bhansali, head of treasury at Finrex Treasury Advisors, said.
On Wednesday, the Reserve Bank of India will decide on whether to cut the key policy rate in the wake of U.S.-India trade tensions or keep it on hold to observe the impact of the Goods and Services Tax cuts.
(Reporting by Nimesh Vora; Editing by Janane Venkatraman)
