UPDATE: Rupee recovers early losses in late morning deals

The Indian rupee recovered after a weak start and was trading marginally higher against the greenback in late morning trade today due to dollar selling by exporters and banks amid a recovery in local stocks.

In quiet trade at the Interbank Foreign Exchange (forex) market, the domestic currency resumed weak at 48.95/97 a dollar from its previous close of Rs 48.83/84 a dollar but later recovered smartly and was quoted at 48.80/81 a dollar at 1030 hrs, a gain of three paise from last close.

Forex dealers said exporters dollar sales in early trade helped the rupee to recover its initial losses.

They said the rupee also drew support from a rally in equity markets as well as absence of dollar demand from oil refiners even as the global oil prices traded lower in Asian trade this morning.

Global oil prices were trading around USD 37 a barrel level in Asian trade today.

Indian benchmark Sensex gained 131 points at 1030 hrs after Infosys Technologies announced better-than-expected Q3 earnings.