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Rupee loses six paise, 42.58/60

The rupee weakened by six paise against the US greenback on fresh dollar demand from corporates and short covering by banks at the interbank foreign exchange (forex) market today.

The rupee opened unchanged at 42.51/54. The Indian currency headed downwards on dollar buying by certain players and ended lower at 42.58/60 as against the previous close of 42.52/54.

Dealers informed that the demand was due to anticipation among corporates and importers of a further depreciation in the value of the rupee.

However, forward premiums came on receiving pressure and nominal import booking, dealers said. Near forward premiums fell by 2-4 paise, while the far forwards were lower by about ten paise. The six-month and yearly premium were quoted lower at 8.55 per cent (8.78 per cent) and 9.48 per cent (9.80 per cent).

Nominal import booking was conducted in far forward dollars, dealers said. The cash/spot business was conducted between 0.25-0.50 paise level, while the cash/tom was done at level to 0.25 paise.

The month-wise premium in paise were July 6-8, August 32-34, September 64-67, October 95-98, December 163-167, January 200- 204, February 235-240, and March 271-276.

The Reserve Bank of India fixed the reference rate at Rs 42.59 against Rs 42.47 on the previous trading day. The pound sterling and deutsche mark remained nearly steady against the US dollar while the Japanese yen weakened a bit. The rupee weakened slightly against pound and deutsche mark while it strengthened against the yen and quoted for sterling at Rs 69.69 (68.38), for dm Rs 23.54 (23.35) and for yen Rs 29.95 (30.14).

UNI