Re falls for 1st time in 3 days, down 13 paise at 59.52 on $ demand

Mumbai: The rupee on Monday fell for the first time in three days to end 13 paise lower at 59.52 as fag-end demand of the US dollar from some banks and importers washed out the early gains on account of strong local stocks.

At the Interbank Foreign Exchange (Forex) market, rupee commenced lower at 59.46 a dollar from previous close of 59.39. It recovered later to a high of 58.9650 on sustained dollar selling by exporters and strong rally in stock markets.

The rebound, however, was short-lived as fresh dollar demand from importers, mainly oil refiners, and some banks dragged down the rupee to a low of 59.54. It finally ended at 59.52, a fall of 13 paise or 0.22 per cent.

Attributing the rupee fall in the latter half to dollar demand "by the local industry to repay their debt liabilities", Abhishek Goenka, Founder & CEO, India Forex Advisors said the currency could find support as government plans to unveil reform measures.

In the previous two days, rupee had spurted by 133 paise or 2.19 per cent amid signs of capital inflows and moderation in March quarter Current Account Deficit (CAD).

Meanwhile, Finance Minister P Chidambaram said, "sentiment will turn in favour" of the rupee as the government is "committed to containing the fiscal deficit" within target and is addressing how to finance CAD.

Rupee has lost over 10 per cent in last three months on fears of capital outflows after US Fed hinted it may scale down its monetary stimulus from later this year.

Experts see the short-term trading range for the spot USD/INR pair to be within 58.90 to 59.60.

Meanwhile, the Indian benchmark S&P BSE Sensex today flared up by 181.58 points, or 0.94 per cent. FIIs turned net buyers and pumped in Rs 1,124.31 crore last Friday, as per provisional data with stock exchanges.

"Going ahead, in the immediate term, markets will continue to focus on the rupee, global liquidity and monsoons," said Dipen Shah, Head-Private Client Group Research, Kotak Securities.

The month of June was poor for the rupee which hits all-time low (intra-day) of 60.76 on June 26, before closing at 60.72. The currency, however, recovered a bit to come back to the 59-levels.

Meanwhile, premium for forward dollar ended slightly better on fresh payments from banks and corporates.

Benchmark six-month forward dollar premium payable in December edged up to 174-176 paise from Friday's level of 173-175 paise. Far-forward contracts maturing in June also rose to 341-1/2-343-1/2 paise from 339-341.

RBI fixed the reference rate for the US dollar at 59.1490 and for the euro at 77.0660.

Rupee softened against the pound sterling to 90.56 from last close of 90.54 and also turned negative to close a tad lower at 77.63 from 77.62. It, however, improved further against the Japanese yen to 59.75 per 100 yen from previous close of 59.97.