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SBI purchases pushes rupee down to Rs 36.59

The State Bank of India's late dollar buying pushed the rupee to a further low by about a paisa against the greenback in a volatile trading at the interbank foreign exchange market on Monday.

The rupee opened almost steady at Rs 36.53-55 levels compared to Friday's closing and soon drifted to a low of Rs 36.58-60 levels following good corporate and merchant demand. Some banks were reportedly involved in speculative buying, a dealer said.

As soon as the rupee touched the low of 36.60, the Reserve Bank of India entered the market and arrested the rupee fall by selling the US currency. The RBI sold dollars around 36.58-59, levels bringing the rupee to Rs 36.55-56.

But later, towards the fag end of the day, the SBI entered the market and started bidding for the dollar actively, which again forced the rupee to a low of Rs 36.58-59 per dollar, where it finally settled down for the day, a leading forex dealer said.

Meanwhile, the forward premiums which opened higher, closed 4 to 5 paise lower. The six-month premium opened at 7.49 per cent and ended at 7.22 per cent for the day while the cash to spot dollar was quoted at 0.25 to 0.50 paisa premium.

The monthly premiums were quoted at November 9-12, December 30-35, January 54-49, February 73-80, March 97-102, April 119-124, May 141-148 and June 164-171 paise respectively.

On the other hand, the overseas market witnessed very quite trading with the European currencies moving within a very narrow range, a dealer said.

Elsewhere, the Reserve Bank of India fixed the reference rate at Rs 36.56 per dollar as against Friday's fix of Rs 36.55 per unit.

UNI