Rupee down 24 paise at 53.65/dollar

Renewed dollar demand from banks, importers in view of it being strong in overseas mkt mainly affected rupee value

The rupee recovered marginally today but was still trading 24 paise down at 53.65 a dollar on fresh demand for the American currency from banks and importers amid weak equity market.

The rupee resumed lower at 53.70 per dollar as against the last closing level of 53.41 at the Interbank Foreign Exchange (Forex) market and dropped further to 53.80.

However, it recovered marginally to 53.65 at 1040 hrs. It moved between 53.58 and 53.80 per dollar in the morning deals.

Renewed dollar demand from banks and importers in view of it being strong in the overseas market mainly affected the rupee value, a forex dealer said.

Besides, the Indian stock market also showed some weakness this morning on profit-booking, following recent gains.

In New York, the US dollar gained ground yesterday after economic reports weighed on investors' confidence in the strength of the recovery.

A stream of mixed corporate earnings and the start of a two-day summit meeting of European Union leaders kept the dollar in check.

Meanwhile, the BSE 30-stock index, Sensex, was down 79 points or 0.42% to 18,712.47 at 1050 hrs, from yesterday's close.