Rupee Loses 24 Paise against Dollar on weak equities.

MUMBAI: The rupee  lost 24 paise to close at nearly a week's low of 44.66/67 against the US currency following weakness in equities on lower factory output.

Good dollar demand from banks and importers, mainly oil refiners, too put pressure on the rupee value, dealers said.

In fairly active trade at the Interbank Foreign Exchange ( Forex) market, the domestic unit resumed lower at 44.46/48 a dollar from last close of 44.42/43.

It later moved in line with local equity market and touched the day's low of 44.76 before ending at 44.66/67, a net fall of 0.54 per cent.

After opening slightly better, the BSE benchmark Sensex closed down by 136.55 points, or 0.67 per cent, on lower-than-expected IIP data. IIP growth rate nearly halved to 5.6 per cent in August from 10.6 per cent a year ago.

Dollar was up against its major rivals in London today on short-coverings ahead of the release of the US Federal Reserve's meeting minutes later in the day.

However, fall in the rupee was capped by sustained capital inflows. Foreign funds injected a record USD 21.8 billion in equities in 2010 so far.

Meanwhile, global crude oil prices were trading below USD 82 a barrel in London.

The rupee premium for the forward dollar remained sluggish on sustained receivings by exporters. The benchmark six-month forward dollar premium payable in March closed down at 122-124 paise from 126-1/2-128-1/2 paise on Monday and far-forward maturing in September also finished sharply lower at 223-225 paise from 233-235 paise previously.

The Reserve Bank of India has fixed the reference rate for the dollar at Rs 44.74 and the euro at Rs 61.81.

In cross-currency trade, the domestic unit recovered against the pound sterling and the euro while ended lower against the Japanese yen.

The rupee recouped to Rs 70.76/78 per pound sterling from Monday's close of Rs 70.82/84 and also rebounded to Rs 61.70/72 per euro from Rs 61.94/96 previously.

It, however, remained weak against the yen to close at Rs 54.52/54 per 100 yen from its last close of Rs 54.22/24.

Source : timesofindia.indiatimes.com