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Rupee edges up two paise; Rs 42.47/48

The rupee edged up further by two paise against the greenback in a quiet interbank foreign exchange (forex) market today.

Opening one paise higher at Rs 42.48/49, the rupee eased to 42.50/51 in the morning on some dollar demand from the corporates and banks, later it recovered to the opening level in the mid-session. In the evening, the Indian unit further strengthened on dollar unloading by some corporates and banks and closed at Rs 42.47/48 against the previous close of Rs 42.49/50.

Dealers said the market was very quiet with the rupee moving in a narrow range of three paise throughout the day. State Bank of India was buying dollars in the afternoon, they added.

Forward premiums fell moderately on good receiving and lower paying pressure. Nominal import booking was done in forward dollars, dealers said. Near forward premiums came down by 4-6 paise while far forwards eased between 10 to 14 paise. The third month, 6th month and yearly annualised premiums were quoted lower at 7.79 (8.55), 8.36 (8.90) and 9.01 (9.38) per cent.

Cash/spot business were conducted at 1.00-1.50 paise premium and cash/tomorrow at 0.50-0.75 paise premium. The month-wise premiums in paise were: September 7-9 (10-12), October 35-37 (39-42), November 63-66 (70-72), December 93-96 (101-105), January 124-127 (134-138), February 154-158 (164-169), March 187-192 (200-204), April 222-227 (234-139) and March 256-261 (270-275).

Meanwhile, the Reserve Bank of India revised the reference rate for US dollar by two paise at Rs 42.49 against Rs 42.51 of the previous day.

In the domestic money market, the call money interest rates opened steady at 9- 9.25 per cent ruled in the same range till noon with equal demand and supply, later eased to 8-8.50 per cent level at close on better liquidity and lower demand.

The rupee also strengthened marginally against sterling, deutsche mark and Japanese yen and were quoted for sterling at Rs 71.11 (71.47), for DM at Rs 25.01 (25.20), and for yen at Rs 31.37 (32.01). The US dollar was steady against sterling, while it strengthened slightly against DM and yen.

UNI