Rupee loses 22 paise as Dollar gains

Mumbai, Aug 12: The Rupee extended the loss against the US Dollar for the second straight day on Tuesday, Aug 12 to close weaker at 42.37/38, depreciating by 22 paise from its previous close of 42.15/16 as the US currency strengthened sharply in the international market.

The Indian unit opened the day on a negative note at 42.20/21 and further fell to a day's low of 42.45 in mid-afternoon trade after the greenback surged to a six-month high against a host of currencies overseas, dealers said.

Dollar buyings by large corporates for the oil refinaries coupled with downtrend in local stock market renewed the outflow worries and also pressed down rupee to a weaker end, dealers added.

The dollar has hit a six-month high against a basket of major currencies today as mounting concern that the global economy is headed for a sharper slowdown spurred more selling of the euro and higher-yeilding currencies.

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) today fixed the reference rate for US dollar at Rs 42.40 per unit, up by 40 paise against Friday's rate of Rs 42.00 per dollar.

The six-month and annualised forward premium was quoted lower at 4.21 (4.27) per cent and 3.39 (3.38) per cent, respectively.

The Rupee ended the day stronger at 63.13 (63.61) per unit against the Euro. It closed at 80.53/54 (80.96) per unit against the Pound Sterling. Rupee ended at 38.49/50 (38.42) per hundred units against the Japanese Yen.

UNI