Rupee closes flat at 44.47/48/USD after falling sharply

Mumbai, Mar 9 (UNI) The rupee today closed flat at 44.47/48 per US dollar unchanged from last close of 44.47/48, a dealer at the forex market here said.

However, the rupee recovered from an intra-day low 0f 44.58/59 on the back of recovery in the stock markets as well as US dollar's weakness against other international currencies.

The rupee weakened sharply by 11 paise to 44.58/59 in the mid-morning session on the back of falling stock market indices and Japanese Yen getting weaker, the forex dealer added.

Stock markets' benchmark index corrected sharply losing 132 points to 10,376, owing to the panic created by the Foreign Institutional Investors(FIIs) selling yesterday in Futures and Options (F&O) side by Rs 2,708 crore.

Later rupee tracked the equity markets and bounced with the recovery in stock markets.The benchmark index closed 64 points up at 10,573 points.

The domestic currency opened slightly weaker at 44.48/49, as against the last close of 44.47/48,the dealer added.

The crude oil prices softened further at USD 60.07 per barrel in the New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX) which did support rupee at lower levels along with Rs 222.5 crore foreign fund inflow on Tuesday in the equity markets.

RBI fixed the reference rate for the rupee at 44.55 per USD.

The six-month forward premia ended lower at 2.56 per cent from Wednesday's close at 2.64 per cent.

The one-year forward premia also closed lower at 1.97 per cent, as compared to the last close of 2.08 per cent.

The cross-currency rate for the rupee against the euro was 23 paise up at 53.05 (52.82), for pound sterling it was 77.31 (77.04), closing up by 27 paise from its last close and for the Japanese yen it was 37.92(37.59), up by 33 paise.

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