Rupee falls by 13 paise at 40.64/65 a dollar

Fri, May 2 08:05 PM

Mumbai, May 2 (PTI) The Indian rupee continued its slide against the greenback for fourth consecutive day today and ended 13 paise weaker at 40.64/65 a dollar even as the US currency gained against its key rivals after the US Fed Reserve cut interest rates by 25 basis points.

At the Interbank foreign exchange markets, the local currency dropped to the intra-day low of 40.78 a dollar after resuming steady at 40.

52/53 a dollar. It had closed at 40.

51/52 a dollar on Wednesday. Forex dealers said the market witnessed brisk activity with lot of non-delivery forward dollar buying after the US Federal Reserve on Wednesday cut interest rates by 25 basis point and hinted at a pause in rate-cutting cycle.

The rupee premiums on forward dollar ended higher due to some paying pressure from banks and corporates. The benchmark six-month forward dollar premiums payable in October ended at 37-1/2 - 39-1/2 paise, marginally up from 34 - 36 paise on Wednesday and the far-forward maturing in April improved to 63 - 65 paise from 61 - 63 paise previously.

After a holiday on Thursday, gold traders and oil refiners rushed with heavy buy orders for dollars to meet their import commitments as the US currency surged against its key rivals overseas markets after the release of better- than-expected US manufacturing data, dealers said. Meanwhile, world oil prices moved further lower in Asian trade today after the US dollar earlier strengthened to its highest level since late March.

New York's main oil futures contract, light sweet crude for June delivery, slipped 52 cents to USD 112.00 per barrel.

The benchmark Sensex on the Bombay Stock Exchange soared by 312.81 points or 1.

81 per cent on strong global cues. Asian indices were up by about 0.

5 per cent to 5.0 per cent.

PTI.

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