Rupee closes 20 paise weak against USD

Mumbai, Oct 17: The Rupee today closed weaker by almost 20 paise against the US Currency at 39.55/56 per dollar as compared to the previous close of 39.34/36 per dollar due to low inflows.

Mirroring the sharp slide in the Stock Market, the Indian unit made a weak start at 39.82/84 per dollar during the opening sessions. It slumped to one-month low on the proposed curbs on the flow of foreign funds into equities by the stock market regulator.

The local currency traded in a wide range of 39.50 and 39.95 during the intra-day trade, dealers said.

Yesterday late evening, the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) in consultation with the government proposed some changes in the policy on participatory note (PN) issuance, a route foreigners can use to buy shares and bonds.

However, after the news of confirmation by the government that there was no such proposal to ban participatory note (PN) today, rupee recovered slightly against dollar in the late trade, dealers added.

The six months premium closed at 1.31 per cent while annualised premium ended at 1.08 per cent. Meanwhile, The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) today fixed the reference rate at Rs 39.68 per US dollar. The reference rate was down by 37 paise as compared to yesterday's rate of Rs 39.31 per USD.

The Indian currency against euro ended at 56.10/11 per unit, against Pound Sterling, it closed firm at 80.47 per unit, while Japanese currency (Yen) was quoted at 33.78/79 per hundred units.

UNI