E-Paper
Rupee ends steady at 67.95 against dollar
The exporters and banks stepped up dollar sale amid higher opening in the domestic equity market.
The rupee washed out its initial gains against the US currency and ended steady at 67.95 a dollar on fag-end dollar demand from banks and importers in view of uncertainty in the currency market on Tuesday.
The rupee opened sharply higher 67.77 a dollar against Monday’s closing level of 67.95 at the Interbank Foreign Exchange (Forex) and moved up further to 67.71 a dollar on initial selling of dollars by banks and exporters due to weakness of dollar in the overseas market.
However, it washed out initial gains and dropped to 67.96 on fag-end dollar demand from banks and importers before ending at 67.95 per dollar, showing no change from last close.
The domestic unit hovered in a range of 67.71 and 67.96 during the day.
The dollar index was trading lower by 0.45% against a basket of six currencies in the late afternoon trade.
The Reserve Bank fixed the reference rate for the dollar at 67.8867 and for the Euro at 75.0623.
In cross-currency trades, the rupee dropped against the pound sterling to finish at 90.76 from 89.76 Monday and also fell against the euro to settle at 75.32 from 74.78.
While, the rupee moved up further against the Japanese yen to 66.40 per 100 yens from 66.81.
The US dollar traded mostly steady against its major rivals in early Asian trade, while pound sterling recovered from 31-year lows, bringing a reprieve for the currency after recent sharp declines in the wake of the UK’s vote to leave the European Union last week.
Other major currencies were also steady, while China’s central bank again allowed the yuan to weaken against the US dollar.
“Rupee opened stronger taking cues from weaker crude oil prices as well as negative dollar index. But at higher levels, rupee found some selling pressure that forced rupee to lower levels,” Pramit Brahmbhatt of Veracity Financial Services said.
“Trading range for the spot USD/INR pair will be 68.20 to 67.50/USD,” he added.
In forward market, premium for dollars inched up due to mild buying pressure from corporates.
The benchmark six-month premium for November moved up to 175-176 paise from 174-176 paise Monday and far forward May 2017 contract also looked up to 368.75-369.50 paise from 367-369 paise.
Meanwhile, the benchmark BSE Sensex rose by 121.59 points or 0.46 per cent to close at 26,524.55.
