Rupee down 23 paise to 64.99 in late morning deals

The rupee pared its initial losses, but traded lower by 23 paise against the US dollar on sustained bouts of the American currency's demand from importers and banks amid higher dollar overseas.
The rupee opened lower at 65.06 as against yesterday's close of 64.76 at the inter-bank foreign exchange here.
The domestic unit hovered between 65.08 and 64.97 during morning deals, it was trading at 64.99 at 1035 hrs.
"Continued FII outflows hovered the rupee sentiment," a dealer said.
Meanwhile, the US dollar rose to a one-week high against a basket of major currencies in early Asian trade after minutes of the Federal Reserve's January meeting showed policy makers were more confident of the need to keep raising interest rates.

The 30-share BSE Sensex was trading lower by 123.94 points or 0.37 per cent at 33,720.92 at 1220 hrs.