June 15, 2002	Saturday	Rabi-us-Sani 3, 1423

MUMBAI, June 14: The rupee finished flat on Friday, rising from lows after corporate dollar buying, which has dragged the Indian unit down since mid-week, petered out.

It closed at 49.00/0025 per dollar, little changed from Thursday’s 49.00/01, rising from a trough of 49.0350.

Importer payments have been on the higher side since Wednesday, said a state-owned bank dealer.

Earlier today also, there were outflows and some banks built up speculative positions, but unwound them later after demand petered out.

The rupee has sprung back to levels seen before May 14, when an attack on an army camp in Kashmir re-ignited war fears.

On May 16, two days after the attack, it had fallen to a lifetime intra-day low of 49.08, but subsequently began bouncing back on central bank support, and, more recently, on peace initiatives.—Reuters