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Rupee firm against dollarMUMBAI: The rupee strengthened by five paise against the US greenback on a fairly active interbank foreign excha...

Rupee firm against dollar

MUMBAI: The rupee strengthened by five paise against the US greenback on a fairly active interbank foreign exchange (forex) market today. The rupee opened lower at 42.77/78, remained at that level till noon, as some oil companies absorbing the moderate greenback supply. However, as corporates started heavy dollar offloading, which had accumulated during the last three days holidays, the rupee moved up and closed higher at 42.75/76 as against 42.80/81 of last Thursday’s closing, gaining its value by five paise. The activity in the forward market continued to be dull and forward premiums eased a bit in the absence of paying pressure and some receiving.

Birla Copper, Sterlite raise prices

MUMBAI: Birla Copper and Sterlite Industries (India) Ltd, the country’s two main private producers, raised prices for copper cathode and continuous cast (CC) copper rods, traders said on Friday. The new prices came into effect from Saturday, they said. Both manufacturers raisedcathode prices by Rs 8,500 per tonne to Rs 100,000. CC rod prices were hiked by Rs 8,000 to 108,500.

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Birla Copper is a division of Indo Gulf Corp Ltd. Traders said state-run Hindustan Copper is likely to announce a price revision soon. Local copper supplies had slowed down in the last few weeks, with the rise in global prices leading to a tight market, they said. A Birla Copper official confirmed the price hikes and said the increase in local prices were in line with the rally in the world market. "Copper prices at the London Metal Exchange (LME) have increased by about $100 in April," he said. Traders had expected Indian producers to hike prices by Rs 3,000-5,000 a tonne for various copper products.

Silver, gold prices remain steady

MUMBAI: Silver prices displayed a mixed trend while gold remained steady at the local bullion market today. Silver .999 variety looked up modestly by Rs ten to Rs 8225 per kg on scattered demand at lower level from local dealers, but silver raw grade dropped slightlyby Rs ten to Rs 8080 per kg due to lack of fresh demand from local dealers in the face of better arrivals. However, gold biscuit and 22 carat prices remained unchanged at Rs 51,900 per ten tola and Rs 4100 per ten gm respectively in the absence of fresh interest. Gold standard mint variety gained slightly by Rs five to Rs 4435 per ten gm on scattered demand from local buyers. The business volume was thin, a leading trader said.

DLF Cement, FIs in debt transfer talks

NEW DELHI: DLF Cement Ltd is set to reduce its interest costs by half when the final round of negotiation being held with domestic financial institutions over restructuring of its long term debts is successfully completed, a top company official said. The talks would focus on snapping the heavy interest burden by revising interest rates and transferring a `substantial amount of debt’ to the parent company DLF Universal, DLF Cement managing director AS Minocha said.

"The FIs have been very supportive of our requirements of debtrestructuring and we expect a conclusive reply by the middle of this month," he added. The cement company, with a 1.6 million tonne plant in Rajasthan, had incurred losses of Rs 52 crore in 1997-98, the first year of its operations. A moot cause for the book losses of upto Rs 100 crore so far, was the interest burden on Rs 166 crore loans taken to set up the Rajasthan plant. "We are paying an average 20 per cent interest on these loans. We want a realistic reduction in these rates," Minocha added.