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Rupee gains half paisa

The Indian rupee remained almost steady, recovering only by half a paise against the US dollar, as a squarish trend prevailed during a dull and quiet intra-day trading on the foreign exchange market on Wednesday.

The rupee opened at 42.52/53 per unit in a market which recorded no major activity right from the start. The State Bank of India was seen on the buying counter, but corporates on the selling counter balanced the day's transactions.

Ample liquidity in the market helped the dollar remain steady. However, at one point, it was ruling at Rs 42.52/54. It closed at Rs 42.5150/5250 per unit level, recording an appreciation of about half a paise.

The measures announced by the Reserve Bank of India to mark the depreciation of rupee put a check on speculations in the market, which had been experiencing a dull phase for the past two days, leading dealers said.

The cash spot was quoted at 1.50 to 2.0 paise level while the cash/tom was between 3.75 to 1.75 paise level.

The RBI had fixed its reference rate at Rs 42.53 -- a point higher than its previous fix of Rs 42.52 per US dollar.

The monthly premiums in paise are: 30-33 for September, 66-70 for October, 97-102 for November, 130-135 for December, 165-170 for January, 201-206 for February, 244-246 for March, 281-287 for April, 321-327 for May, 356-363 for June, 394-401 for July and 428-435 for August.

The six-month annualised premia was quoted at 9.90 per cent level. The overseas market was also quiet, but dollar gained moderately against the major currencies in the world.

The rupee equivalent of dollar for pound sterling was Rs 70.88, for Deutsche mark Rs 24.68 and Japanese yen Rs 30.79.

UNI