No major variation was witnessed in value of the rupee against the dollar on the money market on Tuesday, dealers said. The rupee almost sustained it last levels against the dollar for buying and selling at Rs 104.84 and Rs 104.85 respectively, they said.
An earthquake of magnitude 7.4 and the subsequent tsunami warning in northern Japan prompted knee-jerk selling of the dollar for safe-haven yen in early trade. While the earthquake briefly disrupted cooling functions at a nuclear plant, there were no reports of deaths in the hours after the earthquake hit.
Market participants played down the impact of the earthquake, saying the dollar had been due for some long liquidation against the yen after rallying sharply over the past two weeks.
The dollar was trading against the Indian rupee at 68.16, the greenback was available at 4.4220 in terms of the Malaysian ringgit and the US currency was at 6.8891 versus the Chinese yuan. Interbank buy/sell rates for the taka against the dollar on Tuesday: 78.58-78.58 (previous 78.57-78.58).
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Open Bid Rs.106.70
Open Offer Rs.106.90
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Bid Rate Rs.104.84
Offer Rate Rs.104.85
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The US dollar resumed trading on its Monday's closing of Rs 107.10 and Rs 107.20 as its buying and selling rates, respectively. Due to the absence of buyers' interest, it ended lower at Rs 107.00 on buying counter. However, its selling rate did not witness any change and continued to prevail till close of trading on selling counter, local currency dealers said.
On the contrary, the local currency remained under pressure and drastically declined versus the pound sterling. The pound's buying and selling rates further went up from the day earlier closing rates of Rs 131.70 and Rs 132.70 to Rs 133.00 and Rs 133.80, respectively, the dealers added.
The dollar opened at Rs 105 (buying) and Rs 105.10 (selling) against same last rate. It did not observe further change in evening session and closed at Rs 105 (buying) and Rs 105.10 (selling).
Pound Sterling opened at Rs 132 (buying) and Rs 133 (selling). It did not observe further change in the second session and closed at Rs 132 (buying) and Rs 133 (selling).