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Rupee slips a tad after upswing; Rs 42.44/45 vs $

The rupee, after strengthening initially, ended marginaly lower against the greenback at the interbank foreign exchange market today.

Opening slightly higher at Rs 42.43/44, the rupee showed some sign of appreciation on good corporate off-loading and lower demand for the greenback and moved upto Rs 42.4175/4250 level around noon.

However, fresh dollar buying by corporates and banks, especially State Bank of India at that lower level put some pressure on the rupee, which lost its intra-day gain and even ended a bit lower at Rs 42.4475/4550 against Rs 42.44/45 of the previous day.

Dealers said the market was very quiet in view of the New York holiday today. But as the dollar supply was good in the morning session and the rupee was stronger, corporates and banks started buying it at the lower levels, pushing down the rupee slightly towards the end of the session.

Forward premia moved up marginally on paying pressure and lower receivings. Good import coverings were conducted in far-forwards, dealers said. Near forward premia were nearly steady while far forwards moved up by two-three paise. The sixth month annualised and yearly premia closed a bit higher at 7.11 per cent and 7.61 per cent respectively.

Meanwhile, the Reserve Bank of India fixed the reference rate for US dollar at Rs 42.42 against Rs 42.45 during the previous day.

Cash/tomorrow ended at 0.50-0.75 paise premium while no cash/spot business was done due to the New York holiday. The month-wise premia in paise were: February 6-8, March 29-31, April 56-59, May 79-82, June 108-111, July 134-137, August 161-164, September 189-192, October 217-220, November 246-249, December 274-279 and January 303-308.

In the cross currency, the rupee inched up against Japanese yen while it eased marginally against pound sterling and euro. Yen ended at Rs 37.05 (37.10), Sterling at Rs 69.19 (Rs 69.05) and euro at Rs 47.80 (47.73).

In the domestic money market, the call rates after ruling 9.00-9.25 per cent level, ended steady at 9.00-9.10 per cent, on good demand for funds.

UNI

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