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Rupee slides two paise; Rs 42.33/35

The Indian rupee weakened marginally by about two paise against the greenback on a quiet interbank foreign exchange market today.

The rupee opened steady at Rs 42.32/33, was moved down to the Day's low of Rs 42.35/36 in the morning on good dollar buying by some corporates and banks at the lower levels. But later in the afternoon the rupee staged a partial recovery on fresh dollar sales and lower demand.

The Indian unit closed at Rs 42.33/35 against Rs 42.32/33 of the previous day. Dealers said the market witnessed some dollar demand in the morning while it was selling in the afternoon session and added that State Bank of India did not actively participate in the market.

Forward premia, after moving up in the morning on some paying pressure, came down in the afternoon on better receiving and closed marginally lower against the previous day.

The third month, sixth month and yearly annualised premia were lower at 6.99 (7.20), 8.29 (8.40), and 8.39 (8.86) per cent respectively.

Near forward premia were lower by about 2-3 paise and far forwards eased by four paise. Cash/spot business was conducted at 0.50-0.75 paise premium while cash/tomorrow was at 0.25-0.50 paise premium. The month-wise premia in paise were: October 9-11, November 32-35, December 58-61, January 87-90, February 117-120, March 152-155, April 186-189, May 219-224, June 252-257, July 287-290 and August 318-323.

Meanwhile, the Reserve Bank of India has revised the reference rate for US dollar one paise lower at Rs 42.35 against Rs 42.36 of the previous day.

The rupee weakened marginally against pound sterling and deutsche mark which were gaining against the dollar. But it strengthened against the yen as the Japanese currency was weakening slightly against the dollar. The rupee was quoted for sterling at Rs 71.96 (71.50), for DM Rs 25.77 (25.62), and for yen Rs 35.41 (35.84).

In the domestic market, the call rates opened higher at 9.25-9.50 per cent, ruled in the same range most part of the day with good demand for funds and eased at the fag end to close lower at 8.75-9 per cent.

UNI