COMMENTARY
INTERVIEW
SPECIALS
CHAT
ARCHIVES

Rupee gains slightly

The rupee staged a modest rally against the American greenback in narrow-range trading at the interbank foreign exchange market in Bombay today.

The rupee opened at Rs 39.23-25. It remained in the range of Rs 39.20 and Rs 39.26 on account of lacklustre demand from importers and corporates. Fresh inward remittances by exporters aided the uptrend. The rupee finally closed at Rs 39.18-20.

State Bank of India's dollar selling at the fag end of trading helped the rupee to close stronger, dealers informed.

The Reserve Bank of India also reportedly sold nominal amount of the US unit in the forward section, notably for December and January.

The rupee saving measures announced this week by RBI has calmed the troubled and choppy forex market. The RBI, on Wednesday, directed banks to charge a minimum 20 per cent interest on overdue export bills and imposed a 15 per cent surcharge on interest on bank credit for inessential imports.

The covering cost for the next 2-3 days opened at sky-high levels and later drifted lower reflecting trends at the call money market. Cash/spot opened at 8-10 paise and closed at 5-6 paise. Cash/tom opened at 6-8 paise and ended at 3-4 paise. Tom/spot closed at 1.50-3 paise.

The monthly premiums (in paise) were 9-10 paise for December, 41-42 for January, 78-79 for February, 117-118 for March, 157-159 for April, 179-181 for May and 199-201 for June. The six-month annualised premia closed at 9.94 per cent.

The RBI fixed the reference rate at Rs 39.23 as against the previous close of Rs 39.27.

Overseas trading was dull with negligible movement in major currencies.

Back home, the pound sterling opened at Rs 65.33 and ended at Rs 65.40. Deutsche mark closed at Rs 22.16 and yen at Rs 30.50 (per 100 units).

UNI