<div>The rupee on Wednesday (24 June) gained 26 paise to 59.50 in early trade at the Interbank Foreign Exchange market on fresh dollar selling by exporters after the RBI announced additional measures to arrest the local currency's slide. Forex dealers said additional tightening measures announced by the RBI last night to contain excessive speculation and volatility in the foreign exchange market, supported the local currency.<br><br>RBI has reduced the liquidity adjustment facility (LAF) for each bank from 1 per cent of the total deposits to 0.5 per cent, thus limiting the access to borrowed funds from the central bank.<br> </div><div><strong>Read: <a href="http://www.businessworld.in/en/storypage/-/bw/rupee-keeps-govt-rummaging-for-solutions/r999723.37467/page/0">Rupee Keeps Govt Hanging</a></strong></div><div><br>In another measure to suck out liquidity from the system, RBI has asked banks to maintain higher average CRR (cash reserve ratio) of 99 per cent of the requirement on daily basis as against earlier 70 per cent. CRR is portion of deposits that banks are required to keep with RBI.<br><br>The rupee had lost four paise, to close at 59.76 against the dollar yesterday on sustained demand from importers and a rise in the US currency overseas.<br><br><strong>Sensex Down 76 Pts In Early Trade; Banks Hit</strong><br>Snapping its five-day rally, the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) benchmark Sensex on fell nearly 76 points in early trade pulled down by financial sector stocks, including ICICI Bank and HDFC Bank, after the RBI announced additional liquidity tightening measures to check rupee slide.<br><br>The 30-share barometer fell by 75.94 points, or 0.37 per cent, to 20,226.19 with banking, realty and consumer durables leading the fall. The index had gained over 451 points in the past five sessions. The wide-based National Stock Exchange index, Nifty shed 38.20 points, or 0.63 per cent to, 6,039.60.<br><br>Brokers said fresh round of selling by participants after the RBI last night announced additional liquidity tightening measures to check rupee slide mainly dampened the trading sentiment.<br><br>The BSE banking index suffered the most by falling 3.16 per cent to 12,424.40 points as stocks of SBI fell by 2.10 per cent to Rs 1,822, ICICI Bank by 2.97 per cent to Rs 960.40, HDFC Bank by 2.57 per cent to Rs 665.20 and Yes Bank by 4.44 per cent to Rs 419.25.<br><br>In the Asian region, Hong Kong's Hang Seng index traded lower by 0.35 per cent, while Japan's Nikkei Index shed 0.58 per cent, in early trade.The US Dow Jones Industrial Average, however ended 0.14 per cent higher in yesterday's trade. PTI SUN<br><br>(PTI)</div>
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