Rupee slips by six paise, closes low at 39.67/68 per USD

Mumbai, Feb 15: The Rupee today suffered a setback by six paise and ended at 39.67/68 against the US Dollar compared to 39.61/62 from its previous close on fresh speculative demand for Dollar from foreign banks. The Rupee today opened nearly four paise weaker at 39.64/66 against US Dollar as compared to its previous close of 39.61/62 per dollar on a weak note in the Indian equity market.

Resuming the day on a weak note, following the down trend in the global market, the local unit was trading in a range of difference of four to five paise against the greenback. Moreover, Rupee was range bounded in the early trade, dealers said. The six months and one year premium of Dollar was quoted at 0.85 per cent and 1.12 per cent respectively.

Meanwhile, the Reserve Bank of India today fixed the reference rate for the US dollar at Rs 39.66 and the reference rate for Euro at Rs 58.09.

The reference rates are based on cross currency quotes at noon, an RBI release said.

The exchange rates of Great Britain's Pound and Japanese Yen against the Rupee were given as Rs 78.1659 per pound and Rs 36.69 per 100 yen.

The Indian unit ended low at 58.23 (57.93) against the Euro.

Rupee closed high at 77.84 (78.04) per unit against the Pound Sterling and it ended the days low at 36.82 (36.62) per hundred units against the Japanese Yen.

UNI