Mumbai, Apr 12: The rupee today fell back by 16 paise to close at 51.58/59 against the US currency on fresh dollar demand from importers and some banks despite firm local equity markets.
At the Inerbank Foreign Exchange (Forex) market, the domestic unit opened higher at 51.39/40 a dollar from overnight close of 51.42/43 and immediately touched a high of 51.25 on renewed selling of dollars by banks and exporters.
But, later it reacted downwards to close at 51.58/59 per dollar, showing a loss of 16 paise or 0.31 per cent on fresh dollar demand from importers amidst firm dollar overseas.
“The rupee witnessed a firm opening. It was volatile after weak IIP numbers. The pair reacted to the moves of dollar and remained volatile,” Pramit Brahmbhatt, CEO, Alpari Financial Services (India) said.
The rupee premium for the forward dollar ended lower on fresh receivings by exporters.
The benchmark six-month forward dollar premium payable in September finished down at 164-166 paise from 172-1/2--174-1/2 paise and far-forward contracts maturing in March also ended lower at 301-303 paise from 312-314 paise previously.
The RBI fixed the reference rate for the US dollar at 51.4420 and for euro at 67.6087.
The rupee dropped further to 82.30/32 against the pound sterling from yesterday's close of 81.79/81 and remained weak against the euro to 67.86/88 from 67.55/57 previously.
It, also moved down against the Japanese yen to 63.69/71 per 100 yen from last close of 63.59/61.
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