Rupee steady in two-way trade

MUMBAI, SEPT. 28. The rupee rallied smartly from early intra-day low and ended quietly steady against the U.S. currency today on renewed exporter dollar sales and late unwinding of long positions by banks.

In moderately active two-way trading at the inter-bank foreign exchange market, the rupee closed at 46.10/11 a dollar, unchanged from Wednesday's level, after dipping to early intra-day low of 46.17/18 on a spillover of overnight dollar short-covering. It opened at 46.11/13.

Banks went long on the dollar in anticipation of demand for the U.S. currency from corporates and importers on account of month- end considerations which pushed the rupee down to 46.17/18 in late morning deals.

However, in the absence of adequate follow-up demand for dollars, banks liquidated long positions in late afternoon hours and enabled the rupee to bounce back, dealers said. Exporter dollar sales and good inflows from foreign institutional investors also helped the rupee to recover from early lows, they added.

Heavy month-end dollar demand exerted renewed pressure on the rupee yesterday, erasing around six paise of its value vis-a-vis the U.S. currency.

Thursday's trades will be settled on Tuesday instead of Monday because of a bank holiday on October 2 for Gandhi Jayanti.

- PTI

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Section  : Business
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