Rupee up 14 paise

The domestic currency, however, bounced back to end the day 14 paise up at 49.43/44 which the treasury managers and forex dealers attributed to the Reserve Bank intervention twice during the day.

Treasury managers said the rupee may further come down to the sensitive 52-mark, if not breaching this level, in medium term unless Europe stablized.

In a see-saw trade at the Interbank Foreign Exchange (Forex) market, the local unit opened lower at 49.60/61 and later plunged to a low of 49.90-- a fresh more-than 28-month low level-- on continuous signs of fund outflows and sustained dollar demand from importers, mainly oil refiners, and some banks. Meanwhile RBI Deputy Governor Subir Gokarn in New York said intervention in the forex market, if any, would be limited to curbing volatility, but as of now, the situation does not call for any action even though the rupee has fallen to its weakest level in 28 months.

“We, at this point, do not see any intervention from a rate targeting view point. That is something that would reflect a change in policy stance, which we are not doing at this point,” he said.