Moderate recovery in rupee, up by 3.50 paise vs dollar

Mumbai, Aug 10 (PTI) The Indian rupee on Monday
surrendered a major part of its early gains following
sustained weakness in equity markets, but still ended 3.50
paise up against the American currency.

At the Interbank Foreign Exchange market, the domestic
unit resumed higher at 47.80/81 a dollar from last Friday's
close of Rs 47.84/85.

It touched a high of Rs 47.64 on the back of a smart
recovery in local share markets, where the benchmark Sensex
was quoting up by over 257 points in initial trade.

Later, it went down to 47.95, in line with the fall on
the domestic bourses on concerns over the spread of swine flu
and worries over the below normal monsoon.

The key barometer ended lower by 150.47 points or 0.99
per cent, completing three sessions of losses.

Finally, the rupee ended the day at 47.8050/8150 against
its previous close.

A strong dollar, which was up on strong US jobs data,
weighed on the rupee.

Meanwhile, global crude oil prices were trading below USD
71 a barrel in Asian trade on Monday.

The Reserve Bank of India, however, fixed the reference
rate for the US dollar at Rs 47.81 and for the euro at Rs
67.83.

The rupee premiums on the forward dollar ended higher on
fresh paying pressure from banks and corporates.

The benchmark six-month forward dollar premium payable
in January ended up at 63-65 paise from 57-1/2-59-1/2
paise on last Friday and the far-forwards maturing in July
also closed higher at 115-117 paise from 109-1/2-110-1/2
paise previously.

In cross-currency trade, the local unit remained firm
against the pound while recovered against the euro and the
Japanese yen.

The rupee hardened against the pound to end at Rs
79.49/51 from last weekend's level of Rs 80.07/09 while the
euro recouped to close at Rs 67.87/89 from Rs 68.66/68
previously.

It also bounced back against the Japanese yen to Rs
49.16/18 per 100 yen from its last close of Rs 50.21/23.
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