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Market active, rupee steady; Rs 42.33/34 vs $

The Indian rupee, after gaining three paise around noon, closed steady at Rs 42.33/34 against the greenback on an active interbank foreign exchange market today.

Opening steady at Rs 42.33/34, the rupee moved upwards to touch the high of the day at Rs 42.30/31 around noon on better dollar sales by corporates and banks while the demand was very moderate.

However, in the afternoon the rupee lost, the initial gain on fresh dollar demand mainly being from State Bank of India which purchased dollar heavily. The rupee fell to the low of Rs 42.34/35 before closing at the previous day's level at Rs 42.33/34, dealers said.

Forward premia eased slightly on better receiving and very nominal import booking in forwards. Near forwards premiums were down by 2/3 paise while far forwards eased by about one paise. The third month, sixth month and yearly annualised premia were quoted at 6.44 per cent, 7.42 per cent and 7.84 per cent respectively.

Meanwhile, the Reserve Bank of India fixed the reference rate for US dollar one paise higher at Rs 42.32 against Rs 42.33 of the previous day.

Premia on cash/spot business was 1-1.50 paise and cash/tomorrow at 0.75-1.25 paise. The month-wise premia in paise were: November 4-6, December 19-22, January 44-47, February 70-75, March 101-106, April 132-137, May 164-169, June 194-199, July 224-229, August 254-259, September 284-289 and October 312-317.

In the overseas market, the US dollar weakened against yen and sterling while it strengthened slightly against deutsche mark. The rupee also weakened against yen and sterling and remained steady against DM. Sterling was quoted at Rs 70.62 (70.28), yen at Rs 34.81 (34.28) and DM at Rs 25.10 (25.11).

In the domestic money market, the call money interest rates opened higher at 8.00-8.10 per cent, however in the same range till noon, later moved slightly up to close at 8.10-8.20 per cent on good demand for funds and comparatively lower liquidity.

UNI

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