Rupee closes low against dollar at 44.24/25

Mumbai, Jan 23: The Rupee closed lower today at 44.24/25 against the US dollar as compared to the previous day's close of 44.19/20, dealers said.

Expectations of strong inflows into local stock markets helped the Rupee to hit a high of 44.16/ USD. Later, suspected central bank intervention pushed the Rupee beyond the levels of 44.20/USD.

Volatile premia fell in the session as exporters continued to take advantage by booking profits at higher levels. Six-month and Twelve-month premia closed at 3.68 per cent and 3.16 per cent respectively.

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) today fixed the reference rate at Rs 44.21 per US dollar, an RBI spokesperson said here.

However, the performance of the domestic unit against other currencies was mixed. The Rupee was down against the Euro at Rs 57.56/58 (57.20/22) per unit, it was Rs 87.78/80 (87.24/26) per unit against Pound Sterling, and at Rs 36.42/44 (36.28/30) per 100 units against the Japanese Yen, dealers said.

UNI