Rupee down 12 paise against dollar.

MUMBAI: The rupee depreciated by 12 paise to close at 45.36/37 against the US currency due to increased capital inflows amid weak equity markets.

Sustained dollar demand from importers amid better dollar overseas too impacted negatively the rupee, dealers said.

In fairly active trade at the Interbank Foreign Exchange ( Forex) market, the local currency opened higher at 45.20/21 a dollar from 45.24/25.

It later moved in a range of 45.14 and 45.44 before ending the day at 45.36/37.

In a choppy trade, the BSE benchmark Sensex today finished sharply lower by 322.38 points or 1.68 per cent over its fall of 351.28 points or 1.80 per cent yesterday, mainly putting pressure on the rupee.

Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) continued their selling for the seventh straight day and sold shares worth USD 814.33 crore since January 5.

The dollar index was up by 0.03 per cent against a basket of currencies in European market today.

Global crude oil was trading above USD 90 a barrel in London today.

Meanwhile, the overall inflation for December 2010, measured on the basis of wholesale prices, rose to 8.43 per cent from 7.48 per cent in the preceding month.

The Reserve Bank is widely expected to hike key policy rates by 25-50 basis points in its quarterly monetary policy review meeting on January 25, a dealer said.

The rupee premium for the forward dollar closed slightly lower on sustained receivings by exporters. The benchmark six-month forward dollar premium payable in June closed a tad lower at 128-1/2-130 paise from 129-131 paise previously.

Far-forward contracts maturing in December also eased to 243-245 paise from 244-246 paise on Thursday.

The Reserve Bank of India fixed the reference rate for the dollar at Rs 45.30 and the euro at Rs 60.40.

The rupee moved down further to Rs 71.85/87 against the pound sterling from Thursday's close of Rs 71.24/26 and also plunged to Rs 60.61/63 per euro from Rs 59.46/48 previously.

It too dropped against the yen to Rs 54.76/78 per 100 yen from yesterday's close of Rs 54.48/50.

Source : timesofindia.indiatimes.com