February 18, 2006	Saturday	Muharram 19, 1427

MUMBAI, Feb 17: The rupee extended losses to a one-month low against the dollar on Friday, hurt by a combination of factors such as a soft yen and worries about a possible slowdown of foreign funds into India.

Dollar-buying by state banks that traders said could be either on behalf of the central bank or corporates also weighed on the rupee. A trader at a foreign bank in Mumbai said dollar buying related to demand for oil imports added to rupee weakness.

There has been huge demand for dollars today, he said. State banks were buying in the morning and selling in the afternoon. So net-net, there doesn’t seem to have been anything specific coming from the RBI.

The rupee fell as far as 44.4975 per dollar, its lowest level since Jan. 18, according to Reuters data. It recovered slightly to close at 44.46/47 per dollar but was still down a quarter of a percent from Thursday’s close and 0.6 per cent lower on the week.—Reuters