Spot rupee closes nearly flat at 43.06/08 against USD

Mumbai, Apr 4: The spot rupee today closed nearly flat at 43.06/07 against the US dollar as compared to its previous day's close of same levels.

The rupee is trading higher at 42.89/90 against a US dollar in intra-day trade, which is nearer to its 8 years high of 42.85/86, as against the previous close of 43.06/07, on dollar selling by banks to generate cash due to scarce liquidity, dealers said.

The rupee opened higher at 43.02/03 against the USD. Later, it surged to its eight years high of 42.85/86. The rupee is at present trading at 42.89/90 per US.

The rupee which ended at 43.06/08 yesterday, had last breached the key psychological 43 mark in June 1999, dealers said.

Later,the spot rupee backed away from its 8-year high as state-run banks once again bought dollars to cap its massive gains. Markets also observed dollar demand coming in from oil importers.

Forward premia ended 20-22 paise weaker as stronger spot rupee in early session compelled exporters to sell forward dollars in the market. Six-month and Twelve-month forward premia closed at 5.00 per cent(5.93) and 4.06 per cent(4.56) respectively.

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) today fixed the reference rate at Rs 42.90 per US dollar, up by 23 paise from its yesterday's rate of Rs 43.13 per USD, according to a RBI spokesperson here.

Besides, the domestic unit witnessed a stronger trend against major world currencies. Against the Euro it closed higher at 57.25/26 (57.20/22), while Pound also finished at 84.64/66 (84.60/62) per unit each and Yen was quoted at 36.06/07 (36.08/10) per 100 units, brokers said.

UNI