Rupee ends just about stable

"GBP and euro`s slight gain supported rupee to trade stronger against the dollar, but the month-end payments of oil importers and flat local equities restricted the gains.

Looking at the dollar, USD/INR pair is expected to climb 45.50 in coming days," Alpari (Forex) India CEO Pramit Brahmbhatt said.

"The trading range for the USD/INR will be between 45.00- 45.50 tomorrow," he added.

In a lacklustre trading at the Interbank Foreign Exchange (Forex) market, the local unit opened higher at 45.17/18 from yesterday`s close of 45.22/23 and touched a high of 45.12 due to initial recovery in stocks and weak dollar overseas.

Sustained capital outflows, too, helped the rupee to rebound from overnight close.

However, dollar demand from importers in the later part of the day weighed on the rupee and it fell back to a low of 45.265 before closing at 45.21/22. In last two sessions, it had fallen by 25 paise.

Importers bought dollars to meet their monthly needs.

Indian benchmark Sensex, which was up by about 117 points in afternoon deals, reacted downwards and closed slightly up by 18.64 points, or 0.10 per cent, at 18,012.

The dollar index was down by 0.3 per cent against basket of currencies, while New York crude oil was trading below USD 99 a barrel in European markets today.

Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) sold shares to the tune of USD 30.50 million yesterday, pulling out about a total USD 1.7 billion this month so far.

The rupee premium for the forward dollar recovered smartly on fresh paying pressure from banks and corporates.

The benchmark six-month forward dollar premium payable in October rose to 111-113 paise from Monday`s close of 106-108 paise.

Far-forward contracts maturing in April also concluded firm at 230-232 paise from 218-1/2-220-1/2 paise in the previous session.

The RBI has fixed the reference rate for the dollar at Rs 45.25 and the euro at Rs 63.58.

The rupee too finished nearly stable against the pound sterling at 72.96/98 from Monday`s close of Rs 72.95/97 and also settled at its overnight closing level against the Japanese yen at Rs 55.25/27 per 100 yen.

It, however, fell back to Rs 63.62/64 per euro from its last close of Rs 63.42/44.