Rupee weakens 20 paise against USD on sharp fall in stocks

Mumbai, June 9 (UNI) The Rupee today closed weaker at 42.86/87 against the dollar, depreciating by 20 paise from its previous close of 42.66/67 following the sharp fall in the local equity market on worries over soaring global crude oil prices.

The partially convertible Indian rupee held near the day's lows for most of the time during the session as Indian bourses witnessed heavy losses, dealers said.

Rupee touched an intraday low of 42.95 per dollar on sustained demand of dollars from the oil companies in the afternoon session, dealers added.

Meanwhile, the benchmark Sensex plunged 506 points or 3.2 per cent to close near the 15K level today. Global crude oil prices had hit a fresh high of USD 139 per barrel, which may further boost up the dollar demand in the currency market, a senior dealer with a leading private bank said.

The Indian unit is expected to be under pressure of depreciation against the dollar as global cues did not seems to be positive.

However, the suspected intervention by the Reserve Bank of India would prevent a sharp fall in the rupee, he added.

Reserve Bank of India (RBI) today fixed the reference rate for US Dollar at Rs 42.79 per unit, seven paise lower than the previous day's rate of Rs 42.86 per USD.

The six-month premium was quoted higher at 2.55 (2.28) per cent and annualised premium closed at 2.15 (1.82) per cent.

Meanwhile, Rupee ended the day weaker at 67.42/43 (66.47/48) per unit against Euro. It closed at 84.64/65 (83.43/44) per unit against the Pound Sterling and ended firm at 40.45/46 (40.11/12) per hundred units against the Japanese Yen.

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