Rupee builds on gains, up 10 paise vs USD in late morning

The rupee advanced further from initial gains and was trading higher by 10 paise at 66.87 against the American currency in late morning deals on sustained bouts of dollar selling from banks and exporters amidst firm domestic equities.
The rupee opened a tad higher at 66.96 as against Friday's closing of 66.97 per dollar at the Inter-bank Foreign Exchange (Forex) market.
The domestic unit hovered in a range of 66.96 to 66.86 during the morning deals before quoting at 66.87 per dollar at 1115 hrs.
The dollar index was down 0.19 per cent at 95.84 against a basket of six currencies in early trade.

In the meantime, India's foreign exchange reserves
dropped further by USD 887.2 million to USD 362.987 billion in the week to December 9.

Foreign investors have pulled out more than Rs 19,500 crore from the capital market this month so far amid rate hike by the US Federal Reserve and higher oil prices.
Meanwhile, domestic equities remained under selling pressure following profit-taking in capital goods, pharma, metal and auto shares even as investors stayed on sidelines in the absence of definite cues amid sluggish global trend.
The benchmark Sensex dropped over 114 points to end at 26,374.70, while broader Nifty fell 35.10 points to 8,104.35.

In the forward market, premium for dollar edged higher owing to sustained paying pressure from corporates.
The benchmark six-month premium for May moved up to 134.5-136 paise from 133-135 paise and the far-forward November 2017 contract also firmed up to 280.5-282.5 paise as against 279-281 paise earlier.
On the global commodity front, crude prices rebounded sharply on the back of weaker dollar and expectations of tighter crude supply going into new year.