Rupee will settle down: Chidambaram

New Delhi: With the rupee declining to a two-month low of 63 to a dollar, Finance Minister P Chidambaram Monday assured the domestic currency will stabilise.

"Rupee will settle down," he told reporters here.

In early trade today, the rupee fell to 63.33 to a dollar, its weakest since September 18.

The Indian currency started weakening since last week after the dollar purchase by oil companies was partly shifted to the market.

"Rupee weakness is due to OMC forex demand being moved to market. 30-40 percent of OMC demand has moved to market," Economic Affairs Secretary Arvind Mayaram had said last week.

The PSU oil companies are the biggest buyers of dollars, requiring USD 8-8.5 billion every month for the import of an average 7.5 million tonne of crude oil.

In August, the Reserve Bank had opened a special window to help the three state-owned oil marketing companies -- IOC, HPCL and BPCL -- to meet daily foreign exchange requirements and buy dollars directly from RBI.

The rupee has recovered over 8 percent since August 28, when it fell to a record low of 68.85 to the dollar. The gain in rupee had followed optimism that the US Federal Reserve would delay the tapering of its bond buying programme.

Rupee to stabilise in a day or two: FinMin

New Delhi: The Finance Ministry Thursday said the rupee will stabilise within a couple of days as inflows of NRI deposits and export proceeds are likely to be strong.

"Strong FCNR (B) inflows, export realisation will strengthen rupee... Rupee will stabilise in 1 or 2 days," Economic Affairs Secretary Arvind Mayaram said.

The rupee weakened to 62.58 against the US dollar in the early trade today.

Mayaram said the weakness in rupee was due to shifting part of dollar purchases by oil companies to open market.

In August, the Reserve Bank had opened a special window to help the three state-owned oil marketing companies -- IOC, HPCL and BPCL -- to meet daily foreign exchange requirements and buy dollars directly from RBI.

"Rupee weakness is due to OMC forex demand being moved to market. 30-40 percent of OMC demand has moved to market," Mayaram said.

The PSU oil companies are the biggest buyers of dollars, requiring USD 8-8.5 billion every month for the import of an average 7.5 million tonne of crude oil.

The rupee has recovered over 10 percent since August 28, when it fell to a record low of 68.85 to the dollar. The gain in rupee followed optimism that the US Federal Reserve would delay the tapering of its bond buying programme.

To attract dollars, RBI in September had opened a special concessional window for swapping foreign currency non-resident (banks) (FCNR-B) deposits and overseas foreign currency borrowings for banks. So far USD 15.2 billion has come from this window.

The window will remain open till the end of this month, and many analysts have pegged the inflows from these instruments to be in the range of USD 20-25 billion.

The plight of the rupee started after the US Fed in its May 24 meeting hinted at shutting the easy money tap- repurchase of USD 85 billion worth of T-bills every month.

This had led to a spike in US interest rates, enticing FIIs to plumb for better returns back home by exiting emerging markets.

FIIs had sold domestic debt worth more than USD 52 billion so far in 2013

Rupee down 27 paise at 61.89 against dollar in early trade

Mumbai: The rupee lost 27 paise to 61.89 against the US dollar in early trade today at the Interbank Foreign Exchange due to appreciation of the American currency against euro overseas.

Increased demand for the US dollar from importers also put pressure on the rupee.

Dealers attributed the rupee's fall to the American currency's gains against the euro overseas but a higher opening in the domestic stock market capped the fall.

The rupee had closed 12 paise higher at 61.62 a dollar in yesterday's trade on selling of the American currency by banks and exporters.

Meanwhile, the BSE benchmark Sensex rose by 48.46 points, or 0.23 per cent, at 21,023.25 in early trade today.

Rupee up 142 paise against dollar in late morning deals

The rupee rose by 142 paise to 61.96 in late morning trade on Thursday on fresh selling of the U.S. currency by banks and exporters triggered by sharp fall in dollar in overseas amid smart rise in the equity market.

In New York market, the U.S. dollar fell sharply against major rivals yesterday, especially against emerging-market currencies, after the Federal Reserve made no change to its monthly asset-purchase programme.

The rupee resumed higher at 61.70 per dollar as against the last closing level of 63.38 at the Interbank Foreign Exchange (Forex) Market and firmed up further to 61.64 before quoting at 61.96 per dollar (1050 hours).

It showed a sharp gain of 142 paise or 2.24 per cent from its last close.

It moved in a range of 61.64 and 62.08 per dollar during the morning deals.

Meanwhile, the benchmark BSE-30 share Sensex rose by 489 points or 2.45 per cent to 20,451.56 at 1050 hours.

Keywords: inter-bank foreign exchange, rupee-dollar trade, forex market, opening trade