Rupee falls marginally against dollar

Mumbai, Feb 15 (PTI) Snapping its two-day-long gainingstring, the rupee today declined by three paise against the UScurrency to close at 45.52/53 following fresh dollar demandfrom importers despite rise in local equities amid a weakgreenback overseas.

Forex dealers attributed the initial surge in the rupeevalue to sustained dollar selling by exporters and some bankson the back of weakness in dollar overseas. However, freshdollar demand from importers and some banks later put pressureon the rupee.

In a see-saw trade, the Bombay Stock Exchange benchmarkSensex today completed its three-session rally, ending up by71.60 points or 0.39 per cent, cushioning the rupee fall.

Fresh capital inflows were also not able to help therupee as Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) injected USD50.19 million on February 14.

Meanwhile, the global crude oil was trading above USD 85a barrel in the European market today.

At the Interbank Foreign Exchange (Forex) market, thelocal currency opened better at 45.44/45 a dollar from lastclose of 45.49/50 and immediately touched a high of 45.38 onfirm opening in stocks.

However, later it turned negative and dropped to a low of45.5450 before concluding the day at 45.52/53.

The dollar index, gauging of six major currencies, wasdown by over 0.2 per cent.

The rupee premium for the forward dollar closed higher onsustained paying pressure from banks and corporates. Thebenchmark six-month forward dollar premium payable in Julyended better at 128-130 paise from 127-129 paise previously.

Far-forward contracts maturing in January also settled upat 260-263 paise from Monday''s close of 257-259 paise.

The Reserve Bank of India has fixed the reference ratefor the dollar at Rs 45.45 and the euro at Rs 61.43.

The rupee remained weak and finished at Rs 73.27/29 perpound sterling from last close of Rs 72.78/80 and also moveddown further to Rs 61.57/59 per euro from Rs 61.28/30previously.

It, however, recovered against the yen to Rs 54.47/49 per100 yen from Monday''s close of Rs 54.61/63.