Mumbai, Aug 12, 2022:  The Indian rupee and the government bond yield ended almost flat on Friday as most traders remained on the sidelines ahead of the long weekend.

At the interbank foreign exchange market, the rupee ended at 79.66 against the US dollar, as against 79.64 at the close of the previous trading session.

The 10-year benchmark 6.54 per cent-2032 bond yield ended at 7.2894 per cent, marginally higher than 7.2673 per cent close on the previous trading session.

“Looking at the long holiday ahead, there may have been lot of short term USD demand, pushing the USD-INR pair higher. Also, traders usually prefer to be squared during long holidays where liquidity has also been thin,” said Kunal Sodhani, Vice President, Global Trading Centre, Shinhan Bank.

Indian financial markets will remain closed on August 15 and 16 on account of Independence Day and Parsi New Year, respectively.

Brent crude oil prices in the international market has risen sharply in last few days and by the close of market hours it was trading at $100.15 per barrel.

Meanwhile, at the weekly bond auction, the Reserve Bank of India raised Rs 28,000 crore through three bonds viz 7.38 per cent-2022, 7.54 per cent-2036, and 6.99 per cent-2051.

However, the central bank did not accept any bids in GOI FRB 2028 gilts.