Rupee touches 40.23 per US dollar

Mumbai, July 23: Braving the Reserve Bank blockades and turning deaf on exporter woes, the rupee touched 40.23 per US dollar, a fresh nine-year high, during the intra-day trade.

The rupee had reached this level last in May 1998. After touching the historical mark, it came down to close the day at 40.28/29 per USD.

The surge of the domestic unit happened despite Reserve Bank kept a close eye on its appreciation throughout the day and bought dollars rampantly through public sector lenders State Bank of India, Bank of Baroda and Canara Bank.

Foreign Investment Inflows (FIIs) has crossed USD 9 billion so far this year, as compared to USD 7 billion last year.

The home currency kicked off the day's trade weaker at 40.35/37 per dollar but showed signs of large scale appreciation gradually.

It gained a massive 12 paise by noon to mark the record nine-year high. A bullish market, which gained 250 points today, also stood highly correlated with rupee's upward move, said dealers.

''There was ample liquidity in market and inflows were enormously high. Reserve Bank was also seen favoring rupee's strenghtening up to an extent,'' said Sudharshan Bhatt, Chief Forex Dealer of Corporation bank.

During the day, the rupee touched a day's low of 40.38. Forward premia stood weaker today with six-month premia ending at 0.65 (1.50) per cent, while annualised premia ended at 1.24 (1.72) per cent.

The rupee was weaker against major world currencies today.

Against Euro it ended at 55.58(55.54), against Pound Sterling it closed at 82.85 (82.66) while againt Japanese Yen it was quoted at 33.19 (32.96).

Reserve Bank today fixed the reference rate at Rs 40.34 per USD, down by a paise, as compared to its Friday's rate of Rs 40.33 per USD.

UNI