Rupee rises for 4th week; closes at five-month high of 52.85 Vs US dollar

October 1, 2012   ·   0 Comments

NEW DELHI

The rupee continued its north-bound journey for the fourth week in a row and closed the week under review up by 60 paise at five-month high of 52.85 against the American currency on sustained dollar selling by exporters and some banks amid heavy capital inflows.

Positive closing in local equities and late weakness in dollar overseas following Spanish government’s crisis budget for 2013 to help the debt-stricken nation manage its debt imbalances also aided the market sentiment.

At the Interbank Foreign Exchange (Forex) market, the local currency commenced nearly stable at 53.44 from last weekend’s close of 53.45.

It moved in a wide range of 52.49 and 53.63 before concluding the week at 5-month high of 52.85, a rise of 60 paise, or 1.12 percent.

The last time rupee settled below this level was on April 30 this year, when it ended at 52.73.

In straight four-week of gaining streak, the rupee has spurted by 267 paise or 4.80 percent. Falling steadily for a period of time, the rupee on June 22, 2012, had hit an all-time low of 57.31 against the dollar.

Continued dollar selling by exporters and some banks on hopes of further fall in dollar value overseas helped the rupee rally.

The BSE benchmark Sensex closed the week slightly up by 9.91 points, or 0.05 percent, while FIIs infused USD 118.46 million on Thursday, taking the total to USD 3.56 billion in the current month till September 27, as per Sebi data, which mainly kept the rupee on upbeat note.

The rupee sentiment also got buoyed by government’s remark on Thursday that it will raise Rs 2 lakh crore in the second half of the fiscal and try to keep the fiscal deficit target.

Pramit Brahmbhatt, CEO, Alpari Financial Services (India) said, “The active policy reforms agenda of the government induced sharp gains in rupee. The domestic market continued to attract a major chunk of the ample liquidity from global markets and was the preferred destination for investments in the emerging markets pack.”

He added, “The last week witnessed the restructuring of debt in State Electricity Boards (SEB) as a part of the power sector reforms.

“The UPA II emerged from the black shade of the Coal scam to initiate restructuring Coal India Limited after the Supreme Court verdict which justified the auction pricing of the natural resources and with holding public benefit maximisation over profit maximization.”

The RBI fixed the reference rate for US dollar and euro at Rs 52.6970 and Rs 68.1485 from Rs 53.9055 and Rs 70.0095 last weekend, respectively.

The benchmark six-month forward dollar payable in March settled at 165-167 paise and far-forward contract maturing in September ended at 311-313 paise.

The rupee continued to rule firm against Pound Sterling to end the week at 85.59 from preceding weekend’s level of 86.93 and shot up further against the Japanese yen to 68.10 per 100 yen from 68.37.

It also remained firm against the euro to 68.32 from last weekend’s close of 69.35.

By Web Editor

Tags: debt, level, Rs, rupee, Thursday, time