Re to stabilise in a day or two: FinMin.

As the rupee weakened against the US dollar in early trade, the finance ministry said it will stabilise within a few days as strong inflows of NRI deposits and robust export proceeds are expected.

"Strong FCNR (B) inflows, export realisation will strengthen rupee... Rupee will stabilise in 1 or 2 days," Arvind Mayaram, economic affairs secretary, said. The weakness in rupee, he added, was due to shifting 30-40 per cent of state-run oil companies demand to open market. Consistent dollar buying by some state-run banks in recent sessions had led to speculation that refiners were meeting some of their dollar demand directly from the market.

The rupee opened at 62.35 on Thursday but fell to intra-day low of 62.73. However, it clawed its way back to end at 62.41. Earlier in August, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) had opened a special window to help IOC, HPCL and BPCL meet daily foreign exchange requirements and buy dollars directly from RBI. The PSU oil companies are the biggest buyers of dollars, requiring $8-8.5 billion every month for the import of an average 7.5 million tonne of crude oil.

The rupee has recovered over 10 per cent since August 28, when it fell to a record low of 68.85 to the dollar. The gain in rupee followed optimism that the US Federal Reserve would delay the tapering of its bond buying programme.

To attract dollars, RBI in September had opened a special concessional window for swapping foreign currency non-resident (banks) (FCNR-B) deposits and overseas foreign currency borrowings for banks.

Source : indianexpress.com