Rupee closes 11 paise lower at 45.11/12/USD

Mumbai, Apr 26: Rupee today closed weaker by 11 paise at 45.11/12 per US dollar, as compared to the previous close of 45.00/01, a forex dealer in the money market here said.

Hectic buying of dollar by banks and oil importing companies led to weakness in the rupee.

Euro's bounce back against US dollar in global markets also weakend rupee.

Earlier in the opening move Rupee began slightly weaker at 45.01/03 per US dollar as compared to the last close of 45.00/01, added the dealer.

Rupee traded at 45.05/06 in the mid-morning session before slipping further.

The crude oil price in the New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX) softened to USD 72.72 per barrel, still very high level for the Indian economy and will continue to weaken rupee.

The Indian equity market made great recovery from the losses in the previous two days with a gain of 291 points on BSE Sensex to 11,910.

However, upward move of the stock market failed to boost rupee.

Reserve Bank of India (RBI) reference rate for rupee versus US dollar was 45.03, 20 paise down from the previous close.

The six-month forward premia ended higher at 1.26 per cent, as compared to previous close of 1.15 per cent.

The one-year forward premia also ended higher at 1.22 per cent, as compared to the last close at 1.14 per cent.

The cross-currency closing rate for the rupee against the euro was 55.95(55.75), which was 20 paise up; for pound sterling it was 80.45 (80.30), 15 paisa up and for the Japanese yen it was 39.20 (39.24), four paise up from the previous close.

UNI