HAWKISH RBI MINUTES 

Dollar closed at 66.1200 against its opening at 66.0500.Dollar ends up Fri on oil bids, hawkish RBI minutes.USDINR pared gains during afternoon trades Friday on selling by nationalised banks likely for Reserve Bank of India amid dollar selling by exporters."Nationalised banks sold dollar on RBI's behalf to curb volatility in FX market. Also, exporters selling followed. Foreign banks were selling on their behalf,".Dollar open higher Friday on buying by oil importers as Brent hovered near $75/barrel amid overseas funds outflow from local bonds following the release of hawkish Reserve Bank of India-led Monetary Policy Committee (RBI) minutes. "Surprisingly hawkish RBI minutes may lead to more sell-off from bonds, weighing on rupee. Also, oil importers will continue to buy dollar as oil prices remains near $75/bbl," Gilt prices may open down Friday after RBI-MPC minutes signalled a change in policy stance from June policy.Apart from Deputy Governor Viral Acharya's view of starting withdrawal of accommodation, even Urjit Patel, governor of RBI noted build up of upward risk to inflation."There seems to be total disconnect between the statement, and the minutes. This has put the investors into conundrum over the stance of central bank, and no one will bear the risk of adding more position,", who sees the 10-year bond yield to rise to 7.75% levels today.

On Thursday, RBI Deputy Governor Viral Acharya in the minutes made a case to shift decisively to vote for a beginning of "withdrawal of accommodation" in the next MPC meeting in June.

BSE Sensex closed lower by 11.71 points at 34,365.07, while the Nifty 50 edged down 1.25 points to close at 10,564.05.

INTERNATIONAL

Shares in Asia traded lower Friday after two days of gains, as technology stocks came under the pressure of earning related pressure and also following a downbeat outlook from Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co.

Crude oil price lingered near three and half year peak on optimism that Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and Russia may cap output and protect prices.