Hectic trading activities were observed in the local currency market during the last week. The rupee was seen moving both ways against the dollar and euro. The demand for greenback was high during the last week of the FY 2007. But sufficient supply of dollar resisted any sharp decline in the rupee value.

Firmness prevailed in the inter-bank market on the opening day of the week in review, as the rupee held its week-end level against dollar and traded at Rs60.61 and Rs60.63 on June 25. The rupee managed to recover some ground due to easy supply of dollars on June 26, as it picked up four paisa against dollar to trade at Rs60.57 and Rs60.59.

On June 27, the rupee extended its overnight gains against dollar recovering four paisa for buying and five paisa for selling to trade at Rs60.53 and Rs60.54, as high inflows of dollars enabled the rupee to retain its gain. On June 28, stability was witnessed in the inter-bank as the rupee did not show any variation against dollar which remained traded at Rs60.53 and Rs60.54.

The rupee extended its firmness over the dollar on the fifth day of trading and gained another seven paisa against dollar for buying and six paisa for selling to trade at Rs60.46 and Rs60.48. The rupee resisted pressure as the importers were buying dollars to clear the payment bills after the central bank offered dollars to the market from its reserves to keep rupee intact on June 29. During the week, the rupee in the interbank market lost 15 paisa against the dollar.

In the open market, the rupee commenced the week on a negative note, as it lost five paisa over its previous weekend’s levels of Rs61.05 and Rs61.12 and traded at Rs61.10 and Rs61.18 on June 25. The rupee continued its downtrend versus the dollar on June 26, shedding two paisa on buying counter and four paisa more on selling counter. It traded at Rs61.12 and Rs61.22.On June 27, the rupee further extended its weakness against the dollar for the third consecutive day. It shed six paisa on buying and three paisa on selling, changing hands at Rs61.18 and Rs61.25. However, on the following day, the rupee managed to recover three paisa on buying counter, while it continued unchanged on selling counter and traded at Rs61.15 and Rs61.22 on June 28.

The rupee continued its upward rising trend versus the dollar and made a sharp gain of 25 paisa in single day trading at Rs60.90 and Rs61.00 on June 29. During the week in review, the rupee in the open market gained 15 paisa over the US dollar.

Versus the European single common currency, the rupee was almost unchanged on the first trading day of the week, as it traded at its previous week’s levels of Rs82.00 and Rs82.10 on June 25. On the second trading day, the rupee moved up slightly, gaining one paisa against the euro, which traded at Rs81.99 and Rs82.09 on June 26. On June 27, the rupee made a sharp recovery on euro, as it managed to gain nine paisa to trade at Rs81.90 and Rs82.00.

On June 28, however, the rupee lost eight paisa against the euro, changing hands at Rs81.98 and Rs82.08. The rupee further picked up 60 paisa on June 29, when it traded at Rs81.37 and Rs81.47 as the dollar managed to advance against other leading currencies in the world market. During the week, the rupee managed to recover 63 paisa versus the euro.