Call rates fall to 8

Dealers quickly added that things were not all that rosy and might be a lull before a storm.

The central bank had mopped up about 150 million through passive intervention in the forward market where it bought dollars in the spot market and sold forwards from some banks having excess dollars. The modus operandi which started off on Friday last has broughtin about Rs 750 crore into the system. This along with the fact that Rs 500 crore has flowed in by way of maturity of various Treasury bills today.

8220;Moreover the swaps that the Reserve Bank entered in August are maturing now,8221; P H Ravikumar, executive vice president treasury of ICICI Bank said. Rough estimated put the amount maturing to Rs 1500 crore which will enter the system next week. 8220;All indications are that the forward contracts will not be rolled over,8221; senior treasury officials said.

On Saturday, the overnight call rates opened at 15 per cent but came down to 8 per cent after dealers said that the State Bank was lending.