Our Bureau

Mumbai, May 16

The rupee strengthened by about 19 paise on Wednesday. A currency dealer said large dollar selling by a leading private sector bank has aided the rupee gain strength. The domestic currency closed at 40.78 a dollar against the previous close of 40.97. Rupee opened at 40.85 and saw an intra-day low of 40.90 before closing at 40.78. Dealers said there was not much of RBI intervention in the market.

Earlier in the day, addressing a seminar, Mr Rakesh Mohan, Deputy Governor of RBI, said, "Even though the RBI does intervene actively in the currency market, if you look at the volume of intervention, it is really very small compared to the overall turnover in the forex market." "Robust capital inflows coupled with strong collection had posed problems of liquidity management in the money market," Mr Mohan added. In forwards, the six-month premia closed at 4.19 per cent (4.74 per cent) while the 12-month ended at 3.82 per cent (4.12 per cent).

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