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SBI dollar selling trims early rupee losses; up one paisa, Rs 42.56/57 vs $

The rupee, after touching an intra-day low of Rs 42.62/63, ended one paise higher at Rs 42.56/57 against the greenback at the interbank foreign exchange market today.

Opening steady at Rs 42.57/58, the rupee remained at that level for some time as the market was very quiet in the morning. Later, around noon, the rupee came under pressure on renewed dollar demand from corporates and banks, pushing it down to touch the low of Rs 42.62/63 level.

However, heavy dollar selling by State Bank of India at that level, helped the Indian currency to recover the intra-day loss and closed one paise higher at Rs 42.56/57 against Rs 42.57/58 of the previous day.

Forward premiums, after moving up in the day, came down later on off-loading by SBI. The monthly premia were lower by around 4/5 paise. The third month, sixth month and yearly annualised premia were quoted lower at 6.86 per cent, 7.85 per cent and 8.62 per cent respectively.

Cash/spot ended at 0.75-1.00 paise while the cash/tomorrow between level rates to 0.25 paise. The month-wise premia in paise were: December 16-18, January 40-43, February 65-68, March 96-99, April 129-133, May 161-164, June 192-197, July 225-229, August 259-264, September 293-298, October 326-331 and November 359-364.

Meanwhile, the Reserve Bank of India has fixed the reference rate for the US dollar five paise higher at Rrs 42.58 against Rs 42.63 of the previous day.

The dollar strengthened slightly against pound sterling, deutsche mark and Japanese yen. The rupee ended marginally higher against sterling while it weakened a bit against DM and yen. Sterling ended at Rs 70.16 (Rs 70.32), DM at Rs 25.23 (Rs 24.96) and yen at Rs 34.70 (Rs 34.49).

In the domestic money market, the call money rates opened and closed steady at 8.00-8.10 per cent. The rates remained at the same level throughout the day with matching demand and supply.

UNI

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