Rupee closes at two months low of 41.36/37 per USD

Mumbai, Aug 16: The Rupee today took a fast dip against US currency and closed at 41.36/37 per dollar in an extremely volatile market, which was the lowest level in the last two months.

The Indian unit slided by 61 paise against the US dollar as compared to the previous close of 40.75.

Rupee opened weaker today at 41.06/08 per dollar during the early sessions, touched the low of 41.37 per dollar and high of 41.03/05 against the American Greenback during the intra-day trade, dealers said.

''Capital outflows were high today as Indian stock market crashed and markets across Asia fell on global credit squeeze concerns, and also the US dollar traded strongly against other major currencies,'' a senior Forex Dealer opined.

Forward premia today took lower levels as six month premia ended at 1.72 (2.05) per cent while one year premia ended at 1.83 (1.98) per cent.

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) today fixed the reference rate at Rs 41.09 per US dollar. The reference rate was down by 40 paise, compared to August 14 rate of Rs 40.69 per USD, an RBI spokesperson said.

Subsequently, Rupee stood weaker against Euro it ended at 55.19/20 (55.13) per unit. While, it was stronger against Pound Sterling ended at 80.05/06 (81.20) per unit and against Yen it was quoted at 36.04/05 (34.30) per hundred units.

UNI