Spot Rupee Slides, Forwards Follow

FOREX REPORT

The spot rupee weakened against the dollar yesterday on increased corporate demand, dealers said. It closed at 42.48-50 as against 42.45-46 on Wednesday.

The forward rupee also weakened and dollar premiums crept up for most maturities, traders added.

Dollar premiums closed at 3.88 per cent for one month (3.49 percent on Tuesday), 5.56 per cent for three months (5.22), 7 per cent for six months (6.78 per cent) and 8.34 per cent for 12 months (8.11).

Dealers said the rupee weakened in morning trade following demand from corporate clients. They said that late in the day, the State Bank of India (SBI) sold a small quantity of dollars but it had no impact on the market.

 

The RBI's mid-day reference rate was 42.49 compared with 42.47 on Wednesday.

Cash-tom was 0.125/.25 paise, tom-spot was 0.25/0.75 paise and cash-spot was 0.375/1 paise.

The forward rupee weakened in morning trade following a statement from the SBI chief M S Verma that the central bank was unlikely to cut the bank rate. Dollar premiums ended up to seven paise higher across maturities.

Premiums (in paise) closed at: Aug - 7-9; Sep - 24-28; Oct - 48-52; Nov - 77-80; Dec - 108-111; Jan - 138-142; Feb - 168-172; Mar - 204-208; Apr - 240-244; May - 274-281; Jun - 307-314 and Jul - 340-347.

In the crosses, the rupee closed at 69.51 against the British pound, 24.09 against the German mark and 29.47 per 100 Japanese yen.