Rupee drops on dollar gains
Rupee drops on dollar gains
Mumbai: The rupee eased on the first trading session of 2010, tracking the overnight dollar’s gains overseas, amid muted trading on Friday as major global markets were shut for the New Year’s holiday.
The partially convertible rupee ended at 46.61/62 per dollar, about 0.2% weaker than 46.53/54 at close on Thursday. It traded in the 46.59-46.65 range on Friday. “Sentiment was subdued. Most banks prefer to wait till Monday when fresh cues on foreign portfolio flows would come in," said a trader at a foreign bank.
On Thursday, the dollar touched its highest in more than three months against the yen after data showed US jobless claims fell to their lowest since mid-2008.
In 2009, foreign portfolio buying of more than $17 billion of domestic stocks helped the rupee rise 12% from a record low of 52.2 hit in early March. The rupee gained 4.7% last year.
One-month offshore non-deliverable forward contracts traded in Singapore were quoted at 46.61/71, close to the onshore spot rate, in thin trade.
In the currency futures market, the most traded near-month contracts on the National Stock Exchange and MCX-SX were quoting at 46.69 on both exchanges.
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