In the currency market last week, participants seemed unwilling to take fresh positions due to political uncertainty. The rupee/dollar parity stayed stable amid minor variation.

In the interbank market, the week commenced in negative mode as the rupee gave up its weekend gains and inched down by one paisa on Monday to trade against the dollar at Rs110.55 and Rs110.56 against the last closing at Rs110.54 and Rs110.55.

On Tuesday the parity traded unchanged at Rs110.55 and Rs110.56. Sufficient forex inflow and dull demand helped the rupee stay firm.

On Wednesday, the rupee posted one paisa gain against the dollar before retracting to Rs110.54 and Rs110.55. On Thursday, the parity stayed stable at Rs110.54 and Rs110.55 as the dollar did not show any change against the rupee.

On Friday, the rupee inched down by one paisa and closed the week at Rs110.55 and Rs110.56. Thus on a week-on-week basis, it managed to gain one paisa against the dollar on the interbank market last week.

In the open market last week the parity hovered in a narrow range, moving both ways. The rupee turned negative on Monday as the dollar shed 30 paisa at Rs111.50 and at Rs111.80 against the prior weekend level of Rs111.20 and Rs111.50.

On Tuesday the rupee further shed 10 paisa on increase in demand, from people going for Umrah, which pushed the dollar to trade at Rs111.60 and Rs111.90.

The rupee rebounded on Wednesday after posting 20 paisa gain. The dollar drifted lower to trade against the rupee at Rs111.40 and Rs111.70.

The rupee continued rising against the dollar on Thursday. It posted 20 paisa gain pushing the dollar further down to Rs111.20 and Rs111.50. The dollar gained 40 paisa in the first two sessions but managed to recover same amount in the following two sessions. The week ended flat at Rs111.20 and Rs111.50 as the rupee did not show any change on Friday.

Against euro, the rupee commenced the week on a negative note as it slipped to Rs136.00 and Rs137.00 against the euro on Monday. It posted 100 paisa loss on the buying counter but traded unchanged on the selling counter against the last closing at Rs135.00 and Rs137.00.

The rupee further lost 100 paisa on the buying counter and another 200 paisa on the selling counter on Tuesday when the euro was seen changing hands at Rs137.00 and Rs139.00.

On Wednesday, the rupee traded flat on the buying counter but managed to recover 50 paisa on the selling counter. Thus the euro declined slightly over the selling counter, trading at Rs137.00 and Rs138.50 at the close of the session.

The euro managed to regain strength after the rupee suffered 75 paisa loss on Thursday, with euro trading at Rs137.75 and Rs139.25. The persistent downslide forced the rupee to shed 25 paisa more on Friday, pushing it to the week’s lowest level at Rs138.00 and Rs139.50. The euro gained Rs3 on the buying counter and Rs2.50 on the selling counter against the rupee last week.

Published in Dawn, The Business and Finance Weekly, February 19th, 2018