Rupe hits three week low, ends at 39.69/70 per USD

Mumbai, Feb 11 (UNI) The Rupee today further weakened by about seven and half paise agianst the US Dollar to hit a three week low at 39.69/70 from its previous close of 39.625/635 on excess outflows from the local forex market.

After opening the day almost flat, the partially convertible Indian currency tracked the movement in the Indian equity market and ended on a weak note against the greenback. The local equity market fell sharply by 834 points on strong buying interests following the global turmoil on concernS over US recession, dealers said.

'' It was being expected that today there was huge pull out of funds from the market by the financial institutional investors (FIIs), which also reflected in the interbank foreign exchange (Forex) market,'' a senior forex dealer with a leading private bank said.

The local unit today traded in a wide range band between 39.62 and 39.74 per dollar under extreme volatile conditions in the market during the day trade, he added.

Meanwhile, the forward primia for six months closed lower at 0.8 per cent and annualised primia closed at 1.2 per cent. The Reserve Bank of India today fixed the reference rate for the US dollar at Rs 39.73 from previous Rs 39.55.

The Indian unit ended weaker at 57.78/79 (57.33/35) against the Euro. Rupee closed weaker at 77.43/44 (77.07/090 per unit against the Pound Sterling. It ended the day at 37.21/22 (36.77/78) per hundred units against the Japanese Yen.

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