Rupee ends at nearly 5 and half years low at 47.80 per USD

Mumbai, Oct 6 (UNI) The Rupee today ended at a nearly five and a half years low at 47.80/82 against the US dollar as the local bourses nosedived by about 6 percent, triggering fears of an accelerated outflow of foreign funds.

The partially convertible Rupee resumed low at 40.40/42 per greenback and later widely fluctuated between 47.28 and 47.86 during the session to finally end at 47.80/81 per dollar, 1.5 percent weaker than 47.0750/0850 at close on Friday. It slumped to 47.85 during the session, its lowest since Feb 14, 2003.

The rupee has lost 17.6 percent so far this year.''The rupee was very volatile today as the Sensex was down. The dollar is stronger overseas. Importers and oil firms were buying dollars and there are no dollar inflows,'' a leading forex broker said.

''If this trend continues, then we may see the rupee touch 49 against the dollar in the near-term,'' he added. India's main share index or Sensex ended down 5.8 percent as concerns grew of an acceleration in foreign fund withdrawals amid fears the credit crisis could lead to a global recession.

Foreign funds have pulled out a net USD 9.4 billion from Indian stocks so far in 2008 after buying a record USD 17.4 billion last year. Oil fell below USD 90 a barrel to its lowest in eight months, pressurised by expectations that the global credit crisis would bring a sharp fall in oil demand.

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) today fixed the reference rate for US dollar at Rs 47.46 per unit, up by 58 paise, against Friday's rate of Rs 46.88. The reference rate for Euro fell by 53 paise at Rs 64.46 per unit from Friday's rate of Rs 64.99 per unit, a RBI release stated.

However, the six-month and annualised forward dollar premium was quoted lower at 0.04 (0.48) per cent and 0.03 (0.59) per cent respectively.

The rupee weakened since the last few days at 65.06/08 (64.82/84) per unit against the Euro. It closed at 84.18/20 (82.70/72) per unit against the Pound Sterling and at 46.33/35 (44.18/20 ) per hundred units against the Japanese Yen.

UNI AR OBB NP1936