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RBI arrests decline; rupee ends a tad higher at Rs 42.67/68 vs $

The rupee ended nearly steady against the greenback on the Reserve Bank of India's heavy forward dollar selling at the interbank foreign exchange market today.

The Indian currency opened at Rs 42.66/68 per dollar, and ruled in the range of Rs 42.7450/7650 on moderate dollar demand from merchant banks. Looking at the rupee's decline, the RBI resorted to forward dollar selling and indirectly arrested the rupee's fall in the spot section, dealers said.

The rupee also touched the high of Rs 42.63/64 before closing at Rs 42.6750/6850 from the previous close of Rs 42.6800/7000.

Cash-to-spot business was done at 0.50 paise premium while cash-tomorrow was carried out at 0.75 paise premium.

The six-month forward premia drifted lower at 6.83 per cent from yesterday's close of 7.02 per cent while the one-yearly annualised premia also eased to 7.35 per cent from the previous close of 7.42 per cent.

The monthly forward premia in paise closed at: April 10-12, May 34-36, June 57-59, July 83-85, August 109-112, September 136-139, October 165-168, November 195-198, December 223-226, January 250-255, February 277-280 and March 304-307.

The rupee recorded a major fall against dollar yesterday when it fell by 25 paise at Rs 42.6800/7000. However, the RBI intervened in the spot market and reportedly pumped in $ 40-50 million to arrest the further fall in rupee's value.

The central bank today preferred to intervene through outright forward selling particularly in June delivery, dealers said.

The RBI fixed the reference rate for the US dollar at Rs 42.64, ten paise lower from the yesterday's reference rate at Rs 42.51 per dollar.

The rupee declined against all the three major currencies in the cross-currency deals.

The Indian unit closed at Rs 46.07 per euro from the previous close of Rs 45.73. The rupee drifted lower at Rs 68.04 per British pound as against the previous close of Rs 67.93. The currency moved down to Rs 35.32 against the Japanese yen from its previous close of Rs 35.08.

UNI

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