Rupee ends the week stronger

Mumbai, July 22 (UNI) Adding yet another spell of panic among exporters, the week saw a sharp appreciation in currency value.

Rupee rose much close to the recent nine year high of 40.28 per dollar when it closed the trade at 40.32/33 against the US currency on Friday.

However, it failed to get past the record mark as the Reserve Bank paved road blocks on Rupee's path.

With a massive gain of 6 paise over the week, Rupee's upward move largely coincided with the predictions from dealers that the unit is moving towards a fresh nine-year peak of 40.25 in near term.

Rupee's pace was vivid in the market movements as foreign investors continued to prefer Indian equities as reliable investment platforms.

Inflows continued to the market in past week and according to sources total inflows has jumped to more than nine billion USD so far in the year, with a major part coming in last two weeks.

Rupee started at 40.38/39 per dollar on Monday and gained from major Asian currencies throughout the week as well as from a generally weak dollar.

According to some senior dealers, the Reserve Bank may prefer the unit to stabilize in the range of 40.25 - 75 margins.

Rupee stood highly correlated to the stocks which gained almost 262 points over the past week and touched an ever-time high of 15,680 during the intra-day trade.

''Inflows were enourmously higher during the week and shares were performing unprecedently well. The bullish market has definitely added upthrust to the unit's pace,'' said a leading dealer with a public sector bank.

Rupee stood stronger against major world currencies in past week.

It ended at 55.54,82.66,32.96 against Euro, Pound Streling and Japanese Yen (per 100 units each) respectively on Friday.

Forward premia fell further during the week as six month premia ended at 1.50 percent (started at 1.77 on Monday) while annualised premia ended at 1.72 percent (1.86).

UNI