The Indian rupee today tumbled for the third day today falling by 28 paise to close at fresh two-year low of 48.33/34 against the US currency as dollar demand from importers and some banks remained strong. Strong dollar overseas amid late weakness in local stocks too put pressure on the rupee,dealers said. At the Interbank Foreign Exchange (Forex) market,the domestic unit opened higher at 47.95/96 a dollar from previous close of 48.05 It immediately touched a high of 47.8350 following initial surge in local stocks. However,its early recovery proved short-lived and it fell back to end at 48.33/34,the lowest close since September 15,2009 when it had settled at 48.6350 In just straight three days,it has dipped by 107 paise or 2.26 per cent. "Looking at the weak local equities,expect rupee to trade near 48.50 levels in the coming days and the trading range for the USD/INR will be 47.85 to 48.35 tomorrow," Alpari Financial Services (India) CEO Pramit Brahmbhatt said. Traders said that sustained dollar demand from importers,mainly oil refiners,and some banks,in anticipation of further rise in dollar overseas,continued to weigh on the rupee. "Overnight Fall in Euro and weak closing of local equities,depreciated the rupee. Dollar demand from oil importers also helped dollar to gain against rupee," Brahmbhatt said. The dollar index was up by 0.3 per cent against a basket of currencies while New York crude oil was trading above USD 86 a barrel in European market today. The BSE benchmark Sensex closed down by over 34 points or 0.20 per cent. "USD/INR pair has become extremely volatile these days and a movement of over 20 paisa per day is not a far cry. After lingering around 48.05 levels in the afternoon,rupee weakened and closed lower at 48.34. All eyes are towards Existing Home sales data and FOMC statement overnight," Abhishek Goenka,CEO,India Forex Advisors said. "Rupee has broken the crucial 48.20 levels twice and it is just ritual to see it continuously trade above 48.20 levels tomorrow thus confirming the pairs bullishness above 48.20 levels. We can comfortably target 49.00 levels," he added. The RBI fixed the reference rate for the dollar at Rs 47.89 and the euro at Rs 65.6372. The rupee premium for the forward dollar also recovered on fresh paying pressure from banks and corporates. The benchmark six-month forward dollar premium payable in February rose to 71-73-1/2 paise from 64-67 paise yesterday and far-forward contracts maturing in August also firmed up to 110-113 paise from 100-104 paise previously. The rupee remained weak against the pound sterling to end at Rs 75.59/61 from yesterday's close of Rs 75.40/42 and also dropped further to Rs 66.02/04 per euro from Rs 65.73/75 previously. It dipped against the Japanese yen to Rs 63.34/36 per 100 yen from Rs 62.76
