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Rupee remains nearly steady

The Indian rupee remained nearly steady in a quiet and dull Interbank foreign exchange market In Bombay today.

At the fag end, the forward premium strengthened marginally, following heavy demand for short-term loans, raising the interest rate to 11 per cent, market dealers said.

The market opened nearly steady at Rs 39.48-52 per US unit, due to demand from the State Bank of India and other corporate firms, it went up to Rs 39-54. At the fag end profit-booking strengthened the rupee to Rs 39.46-48, dealers added.

The cash-to-spot dollar was quoted at a premium of 3 paise. The monthly forward premiums were quoted in paise: 13-15 for March, 51-54 for April, 83-87 for May, 121-124 for June, 153-156 for July, 191-196 for August and 227-232 for September. The six-month annualised premia was quoted at 10.96 per cent.

A nominal number of export and import bookings were done on a cash and spot basis while marginal export bookings was conducted in near forwards in the merchant section.

The Japanese yen weakened by 100 points against the US dollar, otherwise the market was quiet and dull. The pound sterling quoted at Rs 64.75, the deutschemark at Rs 21.55, the Japanese yen at Rs 30.68 in the cross currency market.

The State Bank of India made transactions both ways, buying and selling. But it did not invest much either way, dealers said.

Meanwhile, the Reserve Bank of India has fixed the reference rate for the US dollar at Rs 39.53 as against the Rs 39.49 on the last working day.

UNI