COMMENTARY
INTERVIEWS
SPECIALS
CHAT
ARCHIVES

Quiet trading continues, rupee up one paisa; Rs 42.53/54 vs $

The rupee after moving in a narrow range edged up by one paisa against the US greenback on a quiet interbank foreign exchange market today.

Opening steady at Rs 42.54/55, the rupee moved up slightly to Rs 42.52/53 in the morning on lower dollar demand and scattered off-loading by corporates.

But with fresh dollar buying by banks at that lower levels, the rupee eased from its morning level and closed at Rs 42.53/54 against Rs 42.5400/5450 of the previous day, appreciating by one paise.

Dealers said the market was very quiet and the activities were moderate. State Bank of India was not participated actively in the market, they added.

Forward premia eased marginally in the absence of paying pressure and better receiving. The monthly premia on an average went down by 3-4 paise. The sixth-month and annualised premia were quoted lower at 7.28 and 8.22 per cent respectively as compared to the previous day's 7.42 and 8.25 per cent.

Cash/spot and cash/tomorrow premium ended at 1.00-1.25 paise and 0.25-0.50 paise respectively. The month-wise premia in paise were: December 1-4, January 18-21, February 39-42, March 67-71, April 98-102, May 125-129, June 157-161, July 187-191, August 222-227, September 255-260, October 289-294 and November 322-327.

Meanwhile, the Reserve Bank of India fixed the reference rate for US dollar at Rs 42.53 against Rs 42.55 of the previous day.

The overseas market also remained quiet today with lower activity.

The US dollar remained nearly steady against pound sterling and deutsche mark while it firmed up marginally against the Japanese yen. The rupee ended a bit higher against sterling, DM and yen and were quoted for sterling at Rs 71.46 (71.57), for DM Rs 25.44 (Rs 25.56) and for yen at Rs 36.37 (Rs 36.80).

In the domestic money market, the overnight call money interest rates ruled between 8.95 and 9.20 per cent and closed steady at 9.00-9.10 per cent as the market continued to witness some tightening of liquidity due to the outflow of advance tax.

UNI

Business news