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June 24, 1998

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Rupee goes positive, gains 23 paise

The statement made by Finance Minister Yashwant Sinha yesterday that the Reserve Bank of India will intervene to check volatility in the forex market, today arrested the free fall in the rupee value as the Indian unit staged smart recovery of 23 paise against the US greenback in a rangebound interbank foreign exchange market today.

Opening higher at Rs 42.83/88, the rupee moved only upwards, without any slide and closed higher at Rs 42.67/69 against Rs 42.90/92 of the previous close.

The statement by Sinha that the RBI would intervene to check volatility in the rupee and take whatever steps are needed, changed the market sentiments considerably, reducing panic in the market, said dealers in the forex market. They added that the earlier statement that the government would not defend the rupee, had created panic in the market, pushing the rupee steeply down to an all-time low of Rs 43.03 yesterday.

Though the State Bank of India was not seen in the market, exporters and corporates sold dollars, both in spot and forwards while dollar demand was less, dealers said. In merchant interest, more exporters were in the market today.

The forward premiums were also come down as the importers booking was less today and exporters were selling forward dollars. The six-month premium and yearly premiums were quoted lower at 11.53 per cent and 11.15 per cent respectively as against the previous rate of 12.30 and 11.85 per cent.

Cash/spot business were done 1.5 and 2 paise premium, while cash/tom was down at 0.75-1 paise premium. The monthwise premium were June 1-3 paise, July 47-50 paise, August 91-95 paise, September 131-134 paise, October 171-175 paise, November 210-215 paise and December 252-254 paise.

The RBI has revised the reference rate for us dollar at Rs 42.71 against Rs 42.92 the previous day.

The rupee strengthened marginally against almost all world currency and quoted for pound sterling Rs 71.16 (71.64), for mark Rs 23.72 (23.89), and for the yen Rs 30.51 (31.07).

The sterling pound and mark weakened a bit against the dollar while the yen slightly strengthened against the US currency today.

UNI

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