Write Comment     |     E-Mail To a Friend     |     Facebook     |     Twitter     |     Print

Rupee at fresh 2-year low; falls by 24 paise vs dollar

The rupee on Monday closed below the 48-level for the first time in two years on strong demand for the US currency whose safe haven status attracted investors in the backdrop of lingering debt crisis in the eurozone.

In a two-way trade at the Interbank Foreign Exchange market, the domestic unit closed 24 paise down at 48.05/06, a level not seen since the last week of September 2009.

Dealers attributed the fall to continue dollar demand from importers and some banks on hopes of further rise in the American currency overseas as worries over Europe’s debt crisis deepened after Standard and Poor’s yesterday downgraded Italy’s sovereign credit rating by a notch.

The dollar gained against the euro in the Asian market in early trade.

The rupee had declined to a two—year low of 48.25 in early trade.

However, a smart rebound in local equities helped the rupee to recover some of lost ground and touched a high of 47.91 before settling at 48.05/06.

Traders speculated that if the Reserve Bank would intervene if rupee continues to fall. Its two-year low comes as a bad news for the government already battling inflation as a weak rupee would make imports costlier. India imports nearly 80 per cent of its petroleum products demand.

However, software and merchandise exporters would gain as rupee depreciation will improve their bottom lines.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

1 million urged to evacuate as typhoon nears Japan

TOKYO: More than a million people in central Japan are being urged to evacuate as a powerful typhoon approaches. The storm has already triggered floods that left two people missing.

Public broadcaster NHK says some 1.3 million people have been ordered or advised to evacuate, including 80,000 people in Nagoya.

The Meteorological Agency says the typhoon was located near the southern island of Tanegashima on Tuesday afternoon and could reach the Tokyo area by Wednesday afternoon.

Gifu prefectural police say a 9-year-old boy and an 84-year-old man are missing after apparently falling into swollen rivers due to heavy rains from the approaching storm.

A typhoon that slammed Japan earlier this month left about 90 people dead or missing