COMMENTARY
INTERVIEWS
SPECIALS
CHAT
ARCHIVES

Rupee rock-steady amid bank stir; Rs 42.51/52 vs $

The rupee remained steady against the greenback in an extremely dull interbank foreign exchange market here today.

The forex market witnessed only negligible activity as the nationwide strike called by the united front of bank unions received overwhelming response, paralysing the banking activity for the day. Only foreign banks and cooperatives as well as non-banking financial institutions functioned today, but the activity was very nominal, dealers said.

The rupee opened slightly lower at Rs 42.5150/5250, moved in a very narrow range and closed nearly steady at Rs 42.51/52 against Rs 42.5050/5150 of the previous close. Both the dollar demand and supply was nominal, dealers added.

Forward premia also remained steady with very nominal activity.

The six-month annualised premium ended about 6.30 per cent.

Cash/spot and cash/tomorrow finished at 1.00-1.50 paise and 0.25-0.75 paise premium respectively.

The month-wise premia, which moved up slightly in the morning ended nearly steady at the previous day's level.

Meanwhile, the Reserve Bank of India fixed the reference rate for dollar at Rs 42.50 against Rs 42.52 of the previous day.

The interbank call money market remained closed today due the bank strike. However, participants covered their two-days positions yesterday itself in view of today's strike, dealers said.

In the cross currrency market, the rupee fell against the Japanese yen and the euro currency. Yen ended higher at Rs 37.80 (Rs 39.01) and euro at Rs 48.80 (Rs 49.26). Sterling also finished slightly higher at Rs 69.30 (Rs 69.82).

In Tokyo, the US dollar slid to a 28-month low against the yen early Tuesday. The dollar bought 109.28 yen, down 0.94 yen from late Monday. Euro was quoted at 125.01 yen in early trading in Tokyo, down from 127.81 yen of late Monday.

UNI

Business news