Rupee weakens at 40.96/97 against dollar

Mumbai, May 15: The Rupee today ended weaker at 40.96/97 againstUS Dollar despite showing signs of moving towards its recent high inthe morning session.

In the early day trade, the domestic unit went up to a day's highof 40.79/80 against the dollar as investors bought the currency to takeadvantage of firm call money rates, caused by a cash squeeze in themoney market.

However, the downtrend in capital inflows and low supply laterturned the market choppy to close the trade at 40.96/97 against theprevious close of 40.87/88 yesterday.

The forward premia was weak today as the six-month and 12-monthfoward premia ended at 4.69(4.90) and 4.11(4.24) respectively.

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) today fixed the reference rate atRs 40.87 per US dollar, up by six paise from its yesterday's rate of Rs40.93 per USD, RBI said.

This apart, the domestic unit today stood weaker against majorworld currencies. Against Euro, the Rupee closed weaker at55.34/35(55.39/40) per unit each, against Pound it finished lower at80.78/79(80.95/96) per unit each and the Yen was quoted at33.95/96(33.96) per 100 units each, dealers added.

UNI