The rupee further strengthened to 55.12 against the dollar on the back of a stronger euro and relaxation of overseas borrowings norms.
At 1.33 pm, the Indian unit was trading at 55.21 per US dollar.
The Indian unit opened higher at 55.26 against the dollar from its previous close of 55.49. The rupee gained as the euro touched a seven-week high on hopes of monetary easing by the US Federal Reserve and the European Central Bank.
Further, on Wednesday, the Finance Ministry relaxed the External Commercial Borrowings (ECB) norms that will allow foreign investors to invest up to $5 billion in rupee bonds.
The rules were relaxed in areas including corporate bonds, low-cost housing and refinancing of rupee loans by infrastructure and manufacturing sectors.
Call Rates and G-Secs
The overnight call money rates had opened lower at 8 per cent from its Wednesday’s close of 8.10 per cent. At 10 am, the rates were trading steady at 8 per cent.
Currently, the 8.15 per cent government security maturing in 2022 was trading at Rs 99.52 (yield: 8.21 per cent) from its previous close of Rs 99.51 (yield: 8.22 per cent) on Wednesday.
The 8.33 per cent security maturing in 2026 was trading at Rs 99.53 (yield: 8.38 per cent) from Wednesday’s close of Rs 99.56 (yield: 8.38 per cent).