Rupee slips down further at 40.93/94 against US Dollar

Mumbai, May 9 (UNI) The Rupee today slipped down further from its earlier heights to close at 40.93/94 per dollar as compared to its previous close of 40.83/84.

In the morning session, the spot Rupee had opened at 40.90/94 and later registered a day's low of 41.00.

The domestic unit later regained strengths to post a days high of 40.86 before closing the trade at 40.93/94.

The Rupee had hit a nine-year high of 40.53 on Monday and has gained more than 8 per cent this year, with most of the gains coming in the past two months, boosted by capital inflows into the fast-growing economy, dealers said.

Foreign funds have bought more than USD 2.9 billion worth of stocks so far in 2007.

The Rupee took its cue from some other Asian currencies, which inched lower against the dollar today, brokers said.

Strong demand for dollars from oil importers and rising crude prices were weighing on the Rupee, they added.

The six-month and twelve-month premias today closed at 5.36(5.49) and 4.83(4.70) respectively.

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) today fixed the reference rate at Rs 40.91 per US dollar, down by 13 paise from its yesterday's rate of Rs 40.78 per USD, according to a RBI spokesperson here.

The domestic unit today showed stronger against the major world currencies. Against Euro, the Rupee closed higher at 55.14/15 (55.10/12) per unit each, against Pound it finished stronger at 81.11/12(80.99) per unit each and the Yen was quoted lower at 33.96/97(33.99) per 100 units each, said dealers.

UNI