Rupee ends 3 p lower at 60.11 against dollar

In choppy trade in line with local equities, the rupee on Monday closed lower by three paise at 60.11 against the dollar.

A weak dollar overseas weighed against the rupee, while continued capital inflows kept the fall under control, a forex dealer said.

At the Interbank Foreign Exchange (Forex) market, the local unit resumed strong at 59.90 a dollar from last weekend's close of 60.08. It improved further to a high of 59.78 on initial firmness in domestic stocks.

It later turned negative in tandem with fall in local equities and touched a low of 60.24, before settling at 60.11, showing a fall of three paise from weekend close.

The benchmark BSE Sensex today closed lower by 16.05 points.

The benchmark six-month premium payable in September edged up to 242.5-244.5 paise from 242-244 paise last weekend.

Far forward contracts maturing in March, 2015 also rose to 492-494 paise from 489-491 paise. The Reserve Bank of India fixed the reference rate for dollar at 59.9483 and for the euro at 82.1525. The rupee fell against the pound to 99.69 from last close of 99.61. It also dropped to 58.22 per 100 Japanese yen from 57.81. It dipped to 82.53 per euro from 82.35.

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) under the Liquidity Adjustment Facility (LAF) purchased securities worth Rs 108.42 billion in 47-bids at the 2-day repo auction at a fixed rate of 8.00 per cent today morning, while the sold securities worth Rs 135.36 billion from 23-bids at the 3-days reverse repo auction at a fixed rate of 7.00 per cent as on last Friday.