RBI’s weekly auctions of government securities hit a snag today. Out of the 15,000 cr. for sale today, over 3,500 cr. worth of bids weren’t accepted, and they devolved on primary dealers (PDs). PDs will pay up and buy these bonds instead.
Also read: Strange Things are Happening in the Liquidity Bazaar
In a very strange twist, the bond market rallied massively after the auction, with the 2023 bond ending at 7.93% (a lower yield=higher price). Reportedly, because the Prime Minister said this could be a temporary move. (See Note below)
This is the second worst devolvement ever, since data is available (from 1995).
Source: RBI
Remember that before April 1, 2006, all unsubscribed bonds (devolvement) was bought by RBI and then offloaded at an opportune time. The FRBM act since disallows the RBI from participating (thank goodness).
And then, this is looking like a tough time for G-Sec auctions:
Source: RBI
If the liquidity situation remains tight, further bond auctions will be quite tough, but they have to be – the government will have to accept having to pay higher rates.
While 23.5% of the auction today devolved, it wasn’t really the worst devolvement, even if you consider the post-FRBM period.
Source: RBI
Note: What Manmohan Singh said was:
The Reserve Bank has done its bit to stabilise market expectations. Initially it injected dollars into the market. This helped to some extent. More recently, it took additional steps to raise short term interest rates. These steps are not meant to signal an increase in the long term interest rates. They are designed to contain speculative pressure on the currency. Once these short term pressures have been contained, as I expect they will be, the Reserve Bank can even consider reversing these pressures.
Manmohan Singh is the prime minister, but he can’t really control what the RBI does. So this is largely wishful thinking. If the rupee remains close to the 60 level, as fundamental pressures seem to indicate they will, it’s difficult to see a reversal of these measures.
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