The Indian rupee slid 0.6 percent on Thursday to its lowest close in more than a month as a spike in customer demand and a firm trend for the dollar overseas triggered short-covering by banks, traders said.
The rupee closed at 44.4100/4200 per dollar compared with Wednesday's 44.1550/1650. This is the lowest close since March 27, when the rupee finished at 44.4700/4800.
Traders said the corporate demand for dollars to be delivered on Friday may have come from oil companies or the defence ministry.
"Customers' requirements for Friday dollars prompted banks to transact buy-sell swaps for Friday over Monday, and offset it with spot purchases for Monday," said a trader at a private bank.
He said the buy-sell swaps also pushed up the discount on the forward dollar. The six-month dollar was quoted at a discount of 0.40 percent compared with 0.12 percent on Wednesday.
Traders said the market was worried by a firm dollar trend globally ahead of the release of crucial US gross domestic product data later in the day.
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