Rupee ended lower against U S dollar closes at 44.12/1250

Mumbai, Feb 7 (UNI) The Indian Rupee closed marginally lower at 44.12/1250 from the previous close of 44.10-11 against U S Dollar on some OIL PSUs dollar demand in an otherwise quiet trading at the Interbank Foreign Exchange (Forex) market today.

The Indian unit made a steady start at 44.850/0925 in the morning, it was moved down to 44.12/1250 when the Oil PSUs came in the market through PSU banks, dealers said.

The Indian Currency finally closed at the same level of Rs 44.12/1250 per dollar.

The Central Bank too was in the market and was buying dollars, a senior forex dealer at the leading PSU bank said.

According to the Forex dealers, it was only one way market, since the RBI holding the Rupee with a continous support. Thus, the decline too was marginaly even on good dollar purchases by the Oil PSUs.

The Central Bank's liquidity support in the money market, also softened the activity in the forwards, dealers said.

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) today fixed the reference rate at Rs 44.09 per USD, up by four paise from its yesterday's rate of Rs 44.13 per USD.

In the forwards, the six month forward premia closed steady at 3.20 per cent as against 3.27 per cent on yesterday.

The annualised 1-year premia ended steady at 2.90 per cent from the previous day's finish at 2.98 per cent.

The domestic unit lost moderately against Euro and Pound Sterling while it recovered gain against Japanese Yen in the cross currency trade.

The Rupee was traded at 57.27/29 per Euro against the previous close of Rs 57.06/08 and it was declined marginally to close at Rs 86.93/95 against the Pound Sterling against the yesterday's finish at Rs 86.77/78 while it was ended firm at Rs 36.53/55 against Yen from the previous level of Rs 36.69/70.

UNI