Rupee ends historically low at 50.00 per US dollar

Mumbai, Oct 24 (UNI) The rupee today plunged by 18 paise to end at 50.00 against US dollar, the historical low, as against the previous close of 49.82, on sustained heavy demand for dollars from importers and foreign banks in view of no incentive in monetary policy by Reserve Bank of India.

The domestic currency opened low at 50.02 on historical low from its last finish. Later, it was quoted in a range between 49.85 and 50.05 per dollar in intra-day trade.

Fears of increased capital outflows amid heavy losses in Asian markets weighed on the rupee sentiment.

The government recently said the rupee is expected to be less volatile with pressure on capital inflows easing.

''The value of rupee is something which is based upon a large number of parameters including capital inflows. With pressure easing on these parameters, the rupee is expected to be less volatile,'' a leading forex-broker said.

Meantime, Union Finance Minister P Chidambaram had attributed depreciation of the rupee to redemption pressures faced by some Foreign Institutional Investors. The partially convertible rupee has depreciated by around 20 per cent since the beginning of this fiscal.

Meanwhile, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) today fixed the reference rate for US dollar at Rs 49.95 per unit, up by 16 paise, against yesterday's rate of Rs 49.79 per dollar. The reference rate for Euro fell by Rs 26 paise to Rs 63.65 per unit from its last close of Rs 63.91 per unit, an RBI release said.

However, the six-month and annualised forward dollar premiums were higher by 2.52 (0.68) per cent and 1.68 (0.56) per cent respectively.

The rupee was today historically low at 63.90/92(63.36/38) per unit against the Euro. It closed at 77.88/90 (79.96/98) per unit against the Pound Sterling and at 53.44/46 (51.20/22 ) per hundred units against the Japanese Yen.

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