MUMBAI, July 18 (Reuters) - Indian government bonds ended largely unchanged on Friday, as traders eased back after a brief rally post-debt sale, in absence of fresh triggers.
The yield on the benchmark 10-year bond IN063335G=CC ended at 6.3058%, compared with Thursday's close of 6.3010%.
India's ultra-long bonds rallied during the day, led by the 30-year paper, with the yield down 4 basis points after stronger-than-expected demand at New Delhi's debt sale.
India's Bajaj Finserv mutual fund and Bandhan mutual fund find this space attractive and are running positions in the 30-year paper.
New Delhi sold bonds worth 270 billion rupees ($3.14 billion) during the day, including 120 billion rupees worth of 7.09% 2054 bond IN070954G=CC at 6.98% yield, which was lower than market estimates.
Meanwhile, rate-cut bets in the market are inching up after a six-year low inflation print in June, traders said.
"Other than the base-effect driven decline in food inflation, most other measures of underlying inflation are already around 4%, indicating scope for just one more rate cut. While we anticipate it in October 2025, the risk is it can be brought forward," ANZ Research said in a note.
Lower US Treasury yields aided sentiment during the day, with the yield on the 10-year bond US10YT=RR at 4.43% in Asian hours, down 3 basis points from previous close.
RATES
India's overnight index swap rates $(OIS)$ saw receiving pressure during the day, amid rising rate-cut wagers and lower U.S. Treasury yields.
Activity in India's one-year overnight index swaps, however, has dried up since the central bank started conducting operations to remove liquidity from the banking system.
The RBI began conducting these variable rate reverse repos from June 27.
The one-year INR1YMIBROIS=CC OIS rate was down 1 basis point at 5.50% and the two-year OIS rate INR2YMIBROIS=CC similarly fell to 5.47%. The liquid five-year INR5YMIBROIS=CC dropped 2 basis points to 5.70%.
($1 = 86.1120 Indian rupees)
($1 = 86.1070 Indian rupees)
(Reporting by Khushi Malhotra; Editing by Vijay Kishore)
((Khushi.malhotra@tr.com))
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