Re down 28 paise; hits new 2-year low

The rupee erased its intraday gains and closed marginally weak against the US dollar tracking the weakness of the euro and the pound against the US dollar. The rupee has fallen to a new low in more than two years. On Wednesday, the rupee opened higher at 47.95 to a dollar and soon touched 47.84. It later fell to 48.16 and closed significantly lower at 48.33. On Tuesday, the rupee had closed at 48.05. The decline in the rupee was led by the slide in the Swiss franc on rumours that the Swiss National Bank was looking to lift its euro intervention target to 1.25 francs from 1.20. The euro was at $1.3677 compared with $1.3691 at Tuesday's close in New York. Lingering concerns over the debt crisis in the Euro zone continued to weigh on sentiment. Weakness in local shares also dragged the rupee down. “The rupee may strengthen tomorrow on expectations of quantitative easing that may be announced by the US Federal Reserve during its meeting later today,” said a forex dealer.