Evening Report

The rupee stayed firm as some banks sold the greenback on behalf of foreign funds and exporters. There are mild inflows from foreign institutional investors and some exporters are also selling .However the Indian unit could not rise significantly above 39.92 because of dollar purchases by state-run banks leading to beliefs it may be for the Reserve Bank of India . The dollar lost ground against majors as corporate earnings continued to pour in ahead of a pivotal report on the US housing situation.The Euro traded in green as hawkish comments from European Central Bank officials overnight raised speculation the ECB might consider increasing interest rates rather than keeping them on hold. The pound fell from a two-week high against the dollar. JPY despite the recent rebound expectations are that Japanese consumers are starting to curb their spending as they battle rising food and energy costs. This has been evident with convenience store sales and demand fro services declining. The BoJ is expected to keep their benchmark rate unchanged despite the growing effects of the credit crisis and U.S downturn on its economy.