Zee Media Bureau
The Indian rupee continued to fall against the American currency for the third consecutive week, slipping by another 10 paise to end at nearly one-month low of Rs 61.72 on sustained dollar demand from banks and importers.
However, persistent foreign capital inflows restricted the rupee's fall.
The rupee opened higher at 61.45 per dollar as against last weekend's level of 61.62 in the Interbank Foreign Exchange (Forex) Market on initial selling of dollars by banks and exporters in view of good foreign capital inflows.
However, it failed to maintain its initial gains and dropped to 61.83 on fag-end dollar demand from banks and importers before finishing the week at 61.72, disclosing a loss of 10 paise or 0.16 percent.
This is its lowest close of the India currency since October 16, 2014.
It has lost 45 paise or 0.73 percent in the three weeks.
It hovered in a range of 61.43 per dollar and 61.83 per dollar in the week.
"Rupee depreciated sharply on last day of the week and marching towards 62 after breaking 61.75. USD index also inched higher suggesting strength in USD against major world currencies. Most Asian currencies remained weak against USD," said Kiran Kumar Kavikondala, Director & CEO, WealthRays Securities.
The US dollar rose against its major rivals in the global market. It ruled at a fresh seven-year high against Japanese yen, bolstered by rising Japanese equities.
Meanwhile, the benchmark Sensex rose by 178.03 points or 0.64 percent to end at an all-time closing high of 28,046.66 after touching a record high of 28,126.48.
In the forward market, premium firmed up on fresh paying pressure from banks and corporates.
The benchmark six-month forward dollar premium payable in April moved up to 215-217 paise from preceding weekend's level of 212.5-214.5 paise while far-forward contracts maturing in October 2015 also rose to 443-445 paise from 422- 424 paise.
The RBI fixed the reference rate for the USD at 61.6475 and the euro at 76.6957 from last weekend's level of 61.5205 and the euro at 76.1562 respectively.
The rupee improved further against the pound sterling to 96.65 from 97.53 from last weekend level but dropped to 76.82 per euro from 76.40 per euro previously.
It rose to 53.01 per 100 yen from the last weekend's level of 53.50.
With PTI inputs
