MUMBAI: Indian government bond yields were marginally lower in early trades on Wednesday, tracking a similar move in US yields, while they awaited auction of the country’s first-ever sovereign green bonds later in the day.

The benchmark 10-year yield was at 7.3384% as of 10:00 a.m. IST, after closing at 7.3453% on Tuesday.

The 10-year US yield eased below 3.50%, as investors looked to next week’s Federal Reserve policy meeting that is widely expected to deliver a smaller 25 basis-point rate increase.

“There is some bullish tilt tracking the move in US Treasuries, but the market would want to watch out the demand and cutoff for the green bonds before taking any more positional calls,” a trader with a state-run bank said.

The government plans to raise 160 billion rupees ($1.96 billion) through the green bonds this fiscal, with the first tranche of 80 billion rupees scheduled for auction during the day.

The green bonds will be issued at a “greenium,” with yields below prevailing market rates, and has identified 400 billion rupees in projects that can be funded with the proceeds, said two government sources.

The Reserve Bank of India will also sell 40 billion rupees each of five-year and 10-year bonds later in the day.

This would be followed by 300 billion rupees of debt sale on Friday, including the liquid 14-year paper. The Indian market will remain closed on Thursday.

Indian bond yields little changed ahead of state debt sale

Traders also awaited the Feb. 1 Union budget announcement, with the government’s fiscal consolidation path and borrowing calendar for fiscal 2024 set to be the next trigger.

The government will borrow a record 16 trillion rupees in the fiscal year ending March 2024, according to a Reuters poll of economists.