Rupee At 39.36 Against US Dollar

The rupee stayed under pressure due to weakness in Asian equity markets and ended marginally lower at 39.36/37 against the greenback amid weak dollar overseas and a slowdown in capital inflows. In active trade at the Interbank Foreign Exchange (forex) market, the local currency moved in a range of 39.33 and 39.45 during the day after resuming weak at 39.42/44 per dollar from previous close of 39.34/35 per dollar.

The rupee was largely influenced by volatile movements in local equity markets, forex dealers said. Forex dealers attributed the currency''s bounce from initial lows to a stocks rally before the midsession. Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) withdrawals, though in small quantity, in the last couple of days also weighed on the rupee sentiment.

Dollar remained weak in global markets in the light of concerns of widening impact of credit crisis on the US economy after Glodman Sachs downgraded Citigroup shares, forecasting more write-downs by the bank as a result of mortgage losses.Meanwhile, traders expected the rupee to remain stronger against dollar in the near future. The Reserve Bank of India fixed the reference rate for the US currency at Rs 39.34 per dollar and for the single European unit at Rs 57.71 per euro. The rupee premium on forward dollar held steady.The benchmark six-month forward dollar premiums payable in April ended steady at overnight level of 28 - 29-1/2 paise and the far-forwards maturing in October also ended stable at 46 - 48 paise.