Rupee ends steady at 61.86 against dollar

In a volatile trade, the rupee on Friday recovered towards the fag-end to end steady at 61.86 against the American currency at the Interbank Foreign Exchange due to mild selling of dollars by banks and exporters.

The rupee on Friday resumed slightly higher at 61.84 per dollar as against the last closing level of 61.86 and firmed up further to 61.70 on initial selling of dollars by exporters.

However, the domestic currency failed to maintain initial gains and dropped to 62.03 on month-end dollar demand from importers, mainly oil refiners before ending at yesterday’s closing level of 61.86 per dollar.

It hovered in a range of 61.70 and 62.03 per dollar during the day.

Heavy foreign capital inflows mainly boosted the rupee value against the dollar in the initial stage, a forex dealer said.

The dollar index was down by 0.29 per cent against a basket of major global rivals.

Meanwhile, the benchmark Sensex on Friday dropped by 498.82 points, or 1.68 per cent, to 29,182.95 after hitting an all-time high of 29,844.16 in early trade.

Pramit Brahmbhatt, Veracity Group, CEO said, “Today the rupee ended flat in a see saw trade. It depreciated during the day taking cues from the dollar demand from banks & oil importers which dented the movement of the rupee and forced it to trade low. Though FIIs buying in market supported the rupee and helped it to trade firm against the mighty.”

The trading range for the Spot USD/INR pair is expected to be within 61.40 to 62.40.

The forward premia dropped further on sustained receiving by exporters.

The benchmark six-month premium payable in June ended lower at 186-188 paise from 188-189 paise yesterday while forward contracts maturing in December also fell to 392-394 paise from 398-399 paise.

The Reserve Bank of India fixed the reference rate for dollar at 61.7575 and for euro at 70.0628.

The rupee recovered against the pound to 93.33 per pound from 93.56 previously while dropped against the euro to 70.22 per euro from 69.99.

The rupee also moved down further to 52.59 per 100 yen from 52.48 previously.