FE Report

The inter-bank call money rate remained unchanged Monday, as the market was comfortably liquid. The US dollar was mostly steady against Bangladesh taka (BDT) in the inter-bank foreign exchange market because of adequate supply of the greenback, fund managers said.

The call rate in extreme range fluctuated mainly between 8.0 per cent and 12.0 per cent complying with previous trading day's range.

Most deals were, however, transacted at rates varying between 8.0 per cent and 8.70 per cent against previous day's range of 8.0 per cent and 8.50 per cent indicating almost steady pressure on liquidity, they said.

The borrowing of cash by some financial institutions from inter-bank market at high rates to meet immediate needs of their clients, however, raised the call rate above main trend in stray deals, fund managers said.

The impact of injecting Tk 18.58 through repurchase agreement (repo) auctions at an annual interest rate of 8.75 per cent supported the market for maintaining the demand- supply balance, they said.

The central bank, however, withdrew Tk 4.25 billion holding auctions of reverse repo at an interest rate of 6.75 per cent per annum.

The dollar remained mostly steady against taka and the exchange rate of the dollar ranged between Tk 68.90 and Tk 68.91 against previous trading day's rate of Tk 68.90.

The market was active due to beginning of trading in international market after weekend.

The greenback was also stable in public deals and the cash dollar was transacted at rates varying between Tk 67.80 and Tk 70.85 maintaining previous trading day's range.

In the informal market, the dollar remained steady and it was traded mainly at rates varying between Tk 68.20 and Tk 68.50 against previous day's range of between Tk 68.20 and Tk 68.40. The informal market experienced moderate demand for the foreign currency, money dealers said.

The exchange rate of the Indian rupee against the taka fluctuated between Tk 1.3685 and Tk 1.4548.

In the regional market, most currencies were steady. The exchange rate of the dollar against the Indian rupee moved between Rs 48.2550 and Rs 49.2550 and the Pakistani rupee between Rs 79.30 and Rs 80.00. Besides, the exchange rate of the dollar against the Malaysian ringgit varied between 3.5969 ringgit and 3.6345 ringgit and that against the Thai currency between 34.59 baht and 35.63 baht.

In the international market, the exchange rate of the dollar against the Japanese yen mainly varied between 91.0980 yen and 92.0080 yen, while the euro moved between 1.2796 dollar and 1.2888 dollar against the greenback.