Rupee falls sharply by 26 Paise against Dollar.

MUMBAI: The rupee on Monday depreciated by 26 paise to close at 44.36/37 against the US currency after moving erratically in line with volatile local equities.

In a see-saw trade at the Interbank Foreign Exchange (Forex) market, the local currency opened lower at 44.25/26 a dollar from last Friday's 25-month closing high of 44.10/11 but immediately touched the day's peak of 44.15 on mild dollar selling by exporters.

It, however, later fell sharply to a low of 44.42 on steep fall in equities. The Indian benchmark Sensex was down by nearly 255 points in morning deals, which weighed on the rupee.

The dollar was up against its major rivals overseas which also put pressure on the rupee. The dollar index consisting of six major currency was up by 0.25 per cent in London on Monday.

Late recovery in domestic equities coupled with some dollar demand from importers helped the rupee to end at 44.36/37, still showing a fall of 0.59 per cent. On October 15, it had logged an intra-day 25-1/2-month high of 43.97

The Sensex on Monday ended up by 43.84 points or 0.22 per cent.

Meanwhile, global crude oil was quoting below USD 81 a barrel in London on Monday afternoon.

Foreign institutional investors (FIIs), which played a crucial role in the rupee rally, injected a record USD 23.5 billion in 2010 so far.

The rupee premium for the forward dollar remained weak on sustained receivings by exporters. The benchmark six-month forward dollar premium payable in March closed lower at 126-1/2-128-1/2 paise from 131-1/2-133-1/2 paise last weekend and far-forward maturing in September also finished down at 228-1/2-230-1/2 paise from 234-1/2-236-1/2 paise previously.

The Reserve Bank of India has fixed the reference rate for the dollar at Rs 44.26 and the euro at Rs 61.45.

In cross-currency trade, the domestic unit rose against the the pound sterling and the euro while declined against the Japanese yen.

The rupee recovered to Rs 70.49/51 per pound sterling from last Friday's close of Rs 70.74/76 and also bounced back against the euro to Rs 61.63/65 from Rs 62.11/13 previously.

It, however, moved down against the yen to Rs 54.59/61 per 100 yen from its last close of Rs 54.34/36.

Source : timesofindia.indiatimes.com