MUMBAI: Snapping its five-day gaining streak, the rupee on Wednesday lost four paise against the US dollar, as importers bought dollars which tumbled to near one-year low against a basket of currencies in Asian trade.
Dealers, however, said they expect the rupee to rebound on the back of heavy capital inflows in the past couple of days and sustained weakness in dollar overseas. They also said importers covered their dollar positions, as the dollar tumbled to near one-year low against a basket of currencies in Asian trade.
In lacklustre trade at the inter-bank foreign exchange (forex) market, the rupee closed lower by four paise at 48.51/52 a dollar. The rupee was trapped in a small range of 48.45 to 48.58 in line with erratic movements in the local equity market. The rupee had gained 56 paise, or 1.14%, in the past five straight sessions.
Foreign institutional investors pumped in $456.80 million on September 7-8, as per Sebi data. The Reserve Bank of India, however, fixed the reference rate for the US dollar at Rs 48.47 and for the euro at Rs 70.29. Rupee premia on the forward dollar continued to show small changes with downward bias on stray receiving by exporters.
The benchmark six-month forward dollar premium payable in February ended at 54-56 paisa from 55-57 paisa on Tuesday and far-forwards maturing in August closed at 114-116 paisa from 114-1/2-116-1/2 paisa previously. In cross-currency trade, the local unit recovered against the pound and the Japanese yen while remained weak against the euro.
The rupee rebounded against the pound to end at Rs 80.08/10 per pound from its previous close of rs 80.35/37 and also rose against the japanese yen to Rs 52.47/49 per 100 yen from Rs 52.59/61 previously. It, however, continued to rule weak and ended down at Rs 70.36/38 per euro from Tuesday’s close of Rs 70.23/25.
Source : The Economic Times