Call money market keeps cool

Country's money market remained stable Sunday, the last working day before the Eid-ul-Fitr festival, because of banks having adequate funds, treasury officials said.
The call rate ranged between 5.25 per cent and 8.25 per cent on the day-unchanged from the previous level. However, most of the deals were settled at rates varying between 6.0 per cent and 6.50 per cent, the market operators said.
The weighted average rate of the call money rose to 7.60 per cent Sunday from 7.57 per cent of the previous working days, according to the Bangladesh Bank (BB) statistics.
It shows that the total turnover on the call-money market came down to 64.79 billion on the day from Tk 67.53 billion of the previous working day.
"The commercial banks did not lend aggressively ahead of the Eid due to lower demand for fresh credits on the market," a senior official of a leading private commercial bank told the FE.
Most of the commercial banks are holding excess liquidity that was used on the money market to meet the growing demand for overnight borrowing amid a business binge ahead of the Eid, he explained.
"We've expedited injection of fresh funds into the market by using different monetary instruments, including assured liquidity support, to keep the money market stable," an executive director of the BB told the FE.
As part of the move to avert any overheating of the market, the BB supplied fresh funds worth Tk 30.85 billion on the day through auction of repurchase agreement (repo) and special liquidity support to the primary dealers (PDs) and non-PD banks.
On July 24 last, the central bank funnelled Tk 17.76 billion into the market by using same mechanisms, according to the central bank officials.
On the other hand, the US dollar remained almost unchanged against the local currency on the inter-bank foreign exchange market due mainly to lower demand for the greenback.
The dollar was quoted at Tk 77.52 Sunday against Tk 77.52- Tk 77.54 of the previous working day.