Rupee continues to decline vs dollar, drops 24 paise

The rupee continued to fall against the American currency for the third day today in early trade by slipping another 24 paise to 61.00 per dollar on good Greenback demand from banks and importers despite weakness of dollar in the overseas market.
The rupee resumed lower at 60.88 per dollar as against the last closing level of 60.76 per dollar at the Interbank Foreign Exchange (Forex) Market and dropped further to 61.06 before quoting at 61.00 per dollar at 1000hrs.
It hovered in a range of 60.87-61.06 per dollar during the morning trade.
Persistent dollar demand from banks and importers mainly affected the rupee value against the dollar, a forex dealer said.

However, sustained capital inflows into equity restricted the rupee's fall, he added.
Meanwhile, the Indian benchmark sensex rose by 92.99 pts or 0.41 per cent to 22,851.36 at 1000hrs after hitting all- time high of 22,871.27 during the morning trade.
In New York, the U.S. Dollar fell against the Australian dollar yesterday as investors looked ahead to Australian first-quarter inflation data that could provide more evidence of a rate hike from the country's central bank.