MUMBAI: Indian government bond yields started the holiday-truncated week a tad lower as the rupee recovered after declining to a record low on Friday, while a record debt borrowing from states will cap any major downward move.

The benchmark 10-year yield was at 7.0860% as of 10:00 a.m. IST, following its previous close of 7.0927%. Indian markets were shut on Monday and will be closed on Friday for a public holiday.

“Since there is no new damage to the currency, sentiment has improved, which can be seen in trading levels, but back-to-back heavy debt sales have ensured we do not see any rally at the fag end of the fiscal,” a trader with a state-run bank said.

The Indian rupee recovered from record lows hit on Friday and was around 83.32 to the dollar, with traders expecting the central bank to stop major depreciation in the currency.

Bond yields rose on Friday as the rupee fell to its record low, pressured by a drop in the offshore Chinese yuan and strong domestic dollar demand close to the end of the session.

Meanwhile, Indian states will aim to raise a record 600.32 billion rupees ($7.20 billion) through a sale of bonds later in the day. The amount is more than double of what was scheduled.

The bond sale comes after states raised over 742 billion rupees last week through two debt auctions, and will push up the gross supply for the fiscal to above 10 trillion rupees.

India bonds not reacting to strong domestic growth, yields little changed

States are likely to gross borrow a record 11.1 trillion rupees in the next financial year starting April, according to ICICI Securities Primary Dealership.

Meanwhile, US yields continue to remain elevated, with the 10-year yield trading close to the 4.25% mark on Friday as recent data continues to raise concerns around monetary policy easing, even as the Federal Reserve maintained its outlook for three cuts in 2024.