Rupee trims initial gains Vs dollar, still up 16 paise

Demand for the US currency from banks and importers affected the rupee

The Indian rupee trimmed its initial gains but was still quoted up by 16 paise to 60.94 per dollar in late morning session today on selling of the US currency by banks in view of foreign capital inflows into equity market.

The rupee resumed higher at 61.00 per dollar as against the last weekend's level of 61.10 at the Interbank Foreign Exchange (Forex) Market and moved up further to 60.78.

However, it trimmed its initial gains and was quoted at 60.94 per dollar at 1050 hours on some demand for the US currency from banks and importers on the back of its higher value in overseas market.

Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) purchased net Rs 283.79 crore shares on last Friday, as per the provisional figures issued by the stock exchanges.

In global market, the US dollar edged higher in their early trade, paring losses made in the wake of below-consensus job growth, while the Australian dollar fell to a three-year low on the back of lacklustre domestic data ahead of a possible cut in the policy interest rate.

Meanwhile, the BSE-30 share barometer Sensex was trading at 19,266.73 points, higher by 102.71 points or 0.54%, at 1110 hours.