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Late demand from corporates, banks weakens rupee; Rs 42.51/52

The rupee slightly weakened by one paisa against the greenback in a quiet interbank foreign exchange market today.

Opening steady at Rs 42.50/52, the rupee witnessed a narrow movement of about four paise in the day. It rose to Rs 42.48/49 in the pre-mid session on good dollar supply and lower demand, but later slid to Rs 42.51/53 in the afternoon on renewed dollar demand by corporates and banks before closing at Rs 42.51/52 as against Rs 42.50/51 of Friday.

Dealers said that State Bank of India, which stayed away from the market in the morning session, was seen buying dollars in the afternoon.

Forward premia went up a bit on paying pressure by SBI, dealers said. Near forwards remained nearly steady but far forwards moved slightly up.

Meanwhile, the Reserve Bank of India fixed the reference rate for US dollar at Rs 42.49 against Rs 42.51 of the previous day.

Cash/spot business was conducted between 1 and 1.50 paise premia while cash/tomorrow was done at 0.25-0.75 paise premium.The month-wise premiums in paise were: September 11-13, October 41-44, November 70-74, December 101-105, January 134-138, February 164-169, March 199-204, April 233-338 and May 268-273. The sixth-month and yearly annualised premia were quoted higher at 8.83 per cent and 9.39 per cent respectively.

In the domestic money market, the call money interest rates, after ruling in the range of 9-9.25 per cent throughout the day closed steady at 9-9.15 per cent.

In the overseas market, the pound sterling remained steady while the deutsche mark and Japanese yen weakened slightly against the US dollar. The sterling was quoted at Rs 71.30, DM at Rs 24.99 and yen at Rs 32.08.

UNI