COMMENTARY
INTERVIEWS
SPECIALS
CHAT
ARCHIVES

As corporates sell dollars, rupee stages a mild rally; Rs 42.73

The rupee staged a mild rally against the greenback on fresh corporate dollar sales and ended two paise higher at a fairly active interbank foreign exchange market today.

The Indian unit opened steady at Rs 42.75/76, eased a bit to Rs 42.77/78 level as the market witnessed good demand for the greenback in the morning.

However, the rupee started moving up on fresh dollar off-loading by corporates at that level, and closed higher at Rs 42.7325/7400 as against Rs 42.75/76 of the previous day, gaining two paise.

Dealers said the rupee came under slight pressure in the morning on good dollar demand, but in the afternoon, it turned out to be a seller's market and rupee appreciated slightly.

Continued foreign institutional investors inflows to the capital market augmented the dollar supply and good receiving in the forward dollar also helped the rupee's recovery, they added.

Forward premia eased marginally on good receiving and nominal import booking. Near forward premia drifted lower by 1-2 paise while far forwards dropped 5-6 paise.

The six month and annualised premia finnished lower at 5.19 per cent and 6.12 per cent as compared to 5.26 per cent and 6.23 per cent of the previous day.

Cash/spot and cash/tomorrow premia closed at 1.50-2.00 paise and 1.00-1.25 paise respectively. The month-wise premia in paise were: May 0.5-1, June 17-18, July 33-34, August 53-54, September 72-74, October 92-94, November 113-115, December 135-137, January 164-166, February 187-190, March 213-215 and April 236-238.

Meanwhile, the Reserve Bank of India revised the reference rate for US dollar by one paisa at Rs 42.75 as against Rs 42.76 of the previous day.

In the cross currency segment, the rupee also edged up against pound sterling and euro while it eased a bit against Japanese yen.

Sterling ended at Rs 68.68 (68.93), euro at Rs 45.29 (45.49) and yen at Rs 34.48 (34.42).

At the interbank call money market, the call rates ended almost steady at 8.00-8.15 per cent in spite of being the fortnight Friday today.

The rates opened easy at 7.50-7.75 per cent, remained in the same level most part of the day, but firmed up towards the end on fresh demand for funds as some participants started covering their position and closed at 8.00 to 8.15 per cent.

In Tokyo, the US dollar slipped against the yen after early gains, falling to 123.76, 0.72 yen below its level late Thursday in Tokyo and also below its late New York level of 124.40 overnight.

Dollar ranged between 123.63 yen and 124.60 yen in Friday's trading. The euro was traded at 131.17 yen, down from 132.44 yen late Thursday in Tokyo.

UNI

Business news