COMMENTARY
INTERVIEW
SPECIALS
CHAT
ARCHIVES

Rupee decline unabated despite RBI's efforts

The rupee weakened further against the American greenback in yet another volatile trading session, characterised by continuous Reserve Bank of India intervention throughout the day at the interbank foreign exchange market on Monday.

Opening at Rs 36.51/53, the rupee touched a low of Rs 36.58 during the mid- session, before recovering to Rs 36.53/55 at the fag end of trading. The rupee has fallen about 18 paise so far this week.

Forex dealers said that there was a hectic rush to cover positions in the forward sections by banks and corporates. The State Bank of India, which was buying dollars in the market in the morning, was on a selling spree at the ending hours of trading.

The Reserve Bank of India was frantically selling dollars in both spot and futures sections in a bid to stabilise the situation.

"The RBI was selling heavily for October, November, and January," a dealer informed.

The rupee, however, recovered against the pound sterling. It opened at Rs 57.88 and closed at Rs 57.75.

Cash spot closed at 0.50-0.75 paise premium, while the tom spot ended at 0.25- 0.50 paise. The monthly premia were (in paise) 17-19 for September, 43-45 for October, 63-66 for November, 90-93 for December, 114-116 for January, 132-135 for February and 153-156 for March.

The six-month annualised premia closed at 8.10 per cent.

In overseas trading, a divergent trend prevailed as the dollar weakened against the Deutsche mark, while strengthening against the pound sterling.

Not much movement was noticed against the Japanese yen, dealers said.

Back home, the Japanese yen closed at Rs 30.34 (per 100 yen) against the rupee, while the mark ended at 20.06 in cross currency transactions.

Elsewhere, the RBI fixed the reference rate at Rs 36.54 from Rs 36.50 on Wednesday.

UNI