The rupee closed Friday at 330.55/65 to the US dollar in the spot market, firmer than Thursday’s 330.60/70, while government bond yields ended the week broadly unchanged in thin trading.

Dealers quoted the currency stronger for a second straight session, EconomyNext reported, after it had held flat at 330.65/80 on Thursday morning.

Yields drifted up within a flat curve

Four of the five benchmark maturities closed a touch higher even as the shape of the curve held:

The moves were of two to five basis points, small enough that both newsrooms described the curve as steady rather than rising. Mirror Business reported a quiet secondary market with limited activity, with the two 2030 maturities changing hands between 11.15% and 11.20%, the 2031 at 11.25%, the 2032 at 11.70% and the 2034 at 12.00% — levels sitting inside the closing bid-offer spreads EconomyNext recorded.

Liquidity and the wider currency picture

Banking system liquidity expanded to Rs. 360.11 billion, from Rs. 355.13 billion previously, according to Mirror Business. It also reported the rupee stronger against sterling, the euro, the yuan and the Australian dollar, and marginally weaker against the yen.

The two outlets quote the currency on slightly different conventions — Mirror Business put it at Rs. 330.62 against Rs. 330.70 earlier, against EconomyNext’s two-way 330.55/65 from 330.60/70 — but agree on direction and on a move of under 10 cents.

That weekly firmness sits against a much heavier year. The Central Bank says the rupee had depreciated 6.3% year-to-date by end-September, having lost 0.9% in September alone — the month in which the Bank net-bought only US$64.2 million as depreciation pressure returned.

Not reported

Neither report gives Friday’s traded volumes in government securities, and neither states whether the Central Bank intervened in the spot market during the session.