Mumbai: The dollar index, which measures the US currency's value against a basket of six major currencies traded strong for the week which depreciated Rupee by over one and half per cent during the week.
Dollar index traded strong for four consecutive weeks and also posted its second monthly gain in three as euro traded weak against dollar to post its second monthly fall in three months. Better than expected US data has raised the confidence of investors that the US economy is be back on track after a poor performance in first quarter. To end the week dollar index ended at USD 80.39 three month high on closing basis. Forward dollar premiums ended mixed due to alternate bouts of buying and selling.
The benchmark six-month forward dollar premium payable in October dropped to 205-207 paise from the last weekend's level of 208.5-210.5 paise. Far-forward contracts maturing in April 2015 rost to 443.5-445.5 paise from 431.5-433.5 paise previously. The RBI fixed the reference rate for the USD at 59.0335 and euro at 80.3350 respectively from 58.4830 at 79.8058 previously. The rupee dropped against the pound sterling to end at 98.91 from last weekend's close of 98.52 and also fell against euro to finish at 80.44 from 79.74. It fell against the Japanese currency to close at 58.13 per 100 yen from preceding weekend's close of 57.43.
