Rupee closes weaker at 45.18/19/USD

Mumbai, Apr 18: Rupee closed weaker by six paise at 45.18/19 per US dollar as compared to the previous close of 45.12/13, said a foreign exchange (forex) dealer here.

Earlier, the rupee opened quite strong at 45.04/06 per US dollar but gave in to dollar's strength and closed weaker by 14 paise from the day's high, the dealer added.

Rupee traded at 45.14/15 in the mid-morning session before slipping further.

Crude oil price in the New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX) hovered above USD 70 per barrel at 70.70 per barrel which did weaken rupee, after it opened bullish.

There was 281 points rally in the stock markets with the Sensitive Index of the Bombay Stock Exchange closing at an all time high of 11,821 points but rupee didn't seem to get much support here.

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) reference rate for the rupee versus US dollar was unchanged at 45.15, from the previous close.

The six-month forward premia ended lower at 1.12 per cent, as compared to previous close at 1.47 per cent.

The one-year forward premia also ended lower at 1.16 per cent, as compared to the last close at 1.44 per cent.

The cross-currency closing rate for the rupee against the euro was 55.36 (55.10), which was 26 paise up, for pound sterling it was 80.00 (79.60), which was 40 paise up and for the Japanese yen it was 38.29 (38.24), which was five paise up from the previous close.

UNI