Snapping its two-day gains, the rupee today shed five paise to close at 44.50/51 against the US currency on fresh dollar demand amid weak local equities.

At the Interbank Foreign Exchange (Forex) market, the domestic currency opened a tad higher at 44.44/45 a dollar from the previous close. It concluded the day at 44.50/51.

Forex dealers said that weak local equities amid renewed dollar demand from importers, mainly oil refiners, dampened the rupee sentiment.

A firm dollar overseas and fresh capital outflows also adversely impacted the rupee, they added.

The dollar index, consisting of six major rivals was trading up by 0.25 per cent before the euro zone leaders summit for a second bailout for Greece later in the day, while the New York crude oil was trading around $98 a barrel in European market today.

Foreign Institutional Investors sold shares worth Rs 90.44 crore yesterday as per provisional data.

Meanwhile, the Bombay Stock Exchange benchmark Sensex closed lower by 66.19 points or 0.36 per cent while Asian stocks ended mixed.

The rupee premium for the forward dollar turned negative on fresh receiving by exporters. The benchmark six-month forward dollar premium payable in December settled weak at 120-122 paise from the previous close of 12201/2012401/2 paise.

Far-forward contracts maturing in June also eased to 216-1/2 and 218-1/2 paise from 217-1/2-219-1/2 paise previously.

The RBI has fixed the reference rate for the dollar at Rs 44 and the euro at Rs 62.9435.

The rupee remained weak against the pound sterling to end at Rs 71.96/98 from Wednesday’s close of Rs 71.73/75 while fell back against the Japanese yen to Rs 56.47/49 per 100 yen from Rs 56.34/36 previously.

It, however, recovered to Rs 63.09/11 per euro from the last close of Rs 63.23/25.

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