Rupee plunges below 48, claws back

After falling below 48 to a nearly six-year low, the rupee recovered some of its losses on Tuesday, but weaker Asian currencies and a fall in the local stock market kept pressure on the unit. The rupee ended at 47.915/93 per dollar, 0.2 per cent weaker than 47.80/81 at close on Monday. The rupee fell to as low as 48.17 during the session, its lowest since December 16, 2002. The rupee was under pressure because of the global scenario, dollar shortage and weak equity outlook among other things. The RBI sold dollars sporadically at different levels to prevent the rupee from a sharper fall. The rupee is likely to remain under pressure in the near term and could test 49 to the dollar in about a month, with the RBI not expected to aggressively defend the unit at any particular level, experts said. 8220;The CRR cut comes amidst a sharp depreciation in rupee,which has declined over 21 per cent against the dollar in 2008 so far. This has been largely due to FII outflows and relative strength of the greenback,8221; said Santosh Kamath, CIO 8211; Fixed Income, Franklin Templeton Investments.