THE rupee remained under pressure in the local currency market in the wake of continued political uncertainty.

On the interbank market, the rupee traded in minus against the dollar on Monday as it posted two-paisa loss and traded slightly lower at Rs110.57 and Rs110.58 against the last closing at Rs110.55 and Rs110.56.

On Tuesday, the rupee managed to recover one paisa on the buying counter, while it remained unchanged on the selling counter, with dollar changing hands almost flat at Rs110.56 and Rs110.58.

The local currency has dropped 6.3pc against the dollar over the past 12 months

On Friday, the parity remained unchanged as the rupee did not show any change for the third successive day against the dollar, closing the week flat at Rs110.57 and Rs110.58.

During the week, the dollar on the interbank market gained two paisa against the rupee.

The rupee has depreciated by 6.3 per cent against the dollar over the past 12 months.

Weak sentiments prevailed in the open market where the dollar rebounded sharply after the rupee failed to hold previous week’s firmness due to rise in forex demand. The rupee posted a 10 paisa loss that enabled the dollar to climb to Rs111.40 and Rs111.70 on Monday from the prior weekend’s levels of Rs111.30 and Rs111.60.

The rupee downtrend persisted against the dollar on Tuesday when the rupee further lost 10 paisa and drifted lower against the dollar atRs111.50 and Rs111.80.

The rupee on Wednesday tumbled to Rs111.60 and Rs111.90 after shedding another 10 paisa against the dollar.

The market adversely reacted after the Supreme Court ruled out that a disqualified person by the court of law is ineligible to head a party.

As a result of panic dollar buying, the dollar crossed the Rs112 barrier on the selling counter after the rupee on Thursday posted 30 paisa loss against the dollar and tumbled to Rs111.90 and Rs112.20.

The rupee restricted further decline against the dollar on Friday, closing the week flat at Rs111.90 and Rs112.20. During the week, the dollar in the open market managed to gain 60 paisa against the rupee on a weekly basis.

Against euro, the rupee staged a smart recovery, trading in a narrow band last week. It lost 20 paisa on Monday which enabled the euro to surge to Rs137.50 and Rs139.00 from the last week’s closing of Rs137.30 and Rs138.80.

However, the rupee assumed an upward rising trend. It managed to recover 70 paisa on Tuesday that sent the euro modestly down at Rs136.80 and Rs138.30.

On Friday, the rupee suffered 40 paisa loss that helped the euro to rise to Rs137.00 and Rs138.50 at the close of the week. The rupee lost 30 paisa against the euro last week on a week-on-week basis.

Published in Dawn, The Business and Finance Weekly, February 26th, 2018