Rupee closes nearly 2 yrs high at 43.73/75 against USD

Mumbai, Mar 20: The spot Rupee ended nearly two years firm at 43.73/75 against per USD compared to 44.09/11 on sustained heavy selling of Dollar by banks.

However, RBI and oil companies stayed away from markets, dealers said.

The Rupee opened higher at Rs 44.03/05 against its previous close of Rs 44.09. Later it recorded a low at 44.07/08 and a high at 43.75/77 in intra-day trades.

The bond ended weak as banks, primary dealers sold gilts to fund reserve needs as call rate also nearly eight years soars to 25 per cent, bankers pointed out.

The widely traded 8.07 per cent, 2017 paper ended lower at Rs 99.95 against its previous close of Rs 100.28.

A leading spokesperson of head at Citi Bank said, We think it will stabilize, in fact we see the Rupee weakening as we forward next three days perhaps to well above 44 levels. The markets are very nervous as we mentioned call rates at 20 per cent, liquidity is very tight in the market and internationally there is obviously a lot of volatility in the currency internationally which doubles pressure on the impact domestically.

Forward premia displayed an upward trend as importers brought Dollar in forwards at lower levels. Six-month and 12-month forward premia closed at 4.38/40 per cent (3.55/57) and 3.60/62 per cent (3.20/22), respectively.

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) today fixed the reference rate at Rs 43.98 per US dollar, up by 19 paise from its Friday's rate of Rs 44.17 per USD, according to a RBI spokesperson here.

Besides, the domestic unit witnessed a mixed trend against major world currencies. Against the Euro it closed high at 57.84/86 (58.68/70), while Pound finished at 85.16/18 (85.78/80) per unit each and Yen was quoted at 36.96/98 (37.78/80) per 100 units, brokers added.

UNI