Bizbits

Spot dollar outright dealings were moderate. The rupee opened at 42.03/06 per dollar and touched a low of Rs 42.31 and closed at 42.26/29 per dollar as against the last close of 42.03/05.

"There was good demand for dollars by all banks and good support from the SBI on behalf of their clients, mostly offshore oil companies which pushed the rupee down to 42.31 per dollar but later the SBI sold dollars to keep the rupee rangebound," a forex dealer said.

According to another dealer, the rupee will continue to fall if the RBI keeps away from the forex market. "How long can it intervene in the market? The forex reserves have already come down," he said.

Crude prices at 10-year low in Asia

SINGAPORE: Crude pricesin Asia fell to a new 10-year low today amid growing market scepticism that oil producers would cut enough oil to bolster prices. The New York Mercantile Exchange (Nymex) July crude contract, trading on the out of hours access electronic trading system, fell to dollar 12.35 per barrel-the lowest level since October 1988.

It surpassed the previous low of dollar 12.50, which was tested but not broken in New York’s open outcry trading on Friday. "Right now it’s off in extremely light volume, so I don’t know the significance of this," a New York broker said.

Brent crude futures, trading on the Singapore International Monetary Exchange (Simex) closed at dollar 12.40 per barrel, for a loss on the day of just one cent. Traders said the Brent slide was smaller because the July contract was due to expire later today, limiting the sell pressure.

The Nymex slide occurred after Middle East Gulf Oil producers, which sit on 65 per cent of global oil reserves, offered little to stir the market bulls after a weekend ofconsultations led by Iranian oil minister Bujan Zanganesh.