Mumbai: The Indian rupee came off the day’s high on Thursday, tracking losses in the domestic sharemarket following a rise in the food price index but the weaker dollar overseas supported the local unit.

At 2:38pm, the partially convertible rupee was at Rs46.2475/26 per dollar, stronger than its previous close of Rs46.3650/3750, but weaker from Rs46.1850 reached earlier in the day.

Indian shares turned negative on Thursday afternoon, with Larsen & Toubro and ITC leading the losses, after the food price index rose 17.40% in the 12 months to 16 January.

The index of the dollar against six major currencies was down 0.12%.

Dealers are awaiting the Indian central bank’s quarterly monetary policy review on Friday, with markets expecting an increase in banks’ reserve requirements.

A Reuters poll showed 24 out of 25 economists expected the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to raise the CRR, the proportion of deposits that banks must keep with the central bank as cash, by up to 50 basis points in its policy meeting.

Statements from the central bank in its macro-economic review due at 1130 GMT on Thursday would be watched as it will provide final clues on the policy outlook.

In the currency futures market, the most traded near-month contracts on the National Stock Exchange and MCX-SX were both quoting at 46.3475, with the total traded volume on the two exchanges at about $3.4 billion.