Mumbai: The rupee on Thursday declined six paise to end at one-week low of 60.18 against the Greenback following demand for dollars in view of defence-related payments and importers.
However, a positive closing in local equities, capital inflows and a weak dollar overseas helped cap the fall to some extent, a forex dealer said.
The rupee resumed slightly lower at 60.13 a dollar from previous close of 60.12 at the Interbank Foreign Exchange (Forex) market. It was then trapped in a narrow breadth of 60.1025 and 60.20 before concluding at 60.18, showing a fall of six paise or 0.10 per cent. On Wednesday, it had finished flat.
Thursday's closing of 60.18 is the rupee's lowest since 60.19 (July 10) versus US dollar. The Indian benchmark S&P BSE Sensex today closed up 11.44 points, or 0.04 per cent. FIIs injected Rs 621.68 crore on Wednesday, as per provisional data with stock exchanges.
The dollar index was down by 0.02 per cent against a basket of six major currencies. Pramit Brahmbhatt, Veracity Group CEO said: "Rupee continued to trade in a tight range to slightly weak as dollar demand from state run banks for oil importers and defence related payments balanced out the positive local equities. Expect rupee to appreciate in coming days if the local equities continues to trade higher."
"It has been a quiet session for the rupee as it traded in a thing range. Although globally, factors are pointing towards weakness in the rupee, better than expected data from India is restricting the losses in the currency," said Abhishek Goenka, Founder and CEO, India Forex Advisors.
Meanwhile, the premium for forward dollar remained weak on sustained receipts by exporters.
The benchmark six-month premium payable in December dipped to 227.5-229.5 paise from 231-233 paise previously. Far-forward contracts maturing in June, 2015 also eased further to 473-475 paise from 475-477 paise.
The Reserve Bank of India fixed the reference rate for dollar at 60.1401 and for the euro at 81.3340.
The rupee improved further slightly against the pound to 102.90 from previous close of 102.92 while fell back to 81.41 per euro from 81.35. It also reacted downwards to 59.33 per 100 Japanese yen from 59.08.
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