Rupee ends almost flat at 66.19 vs US dollar

The rupee ended steady against the American currency at 66.19 per dollar at the Interbank Foreign Exchange here today in view of steady dollar in the overseas market.
The Indian unit resumed higher at 66.10 per dollar as against yesterday's close of 66.18 and moved up further to 66.07 on selling of dollars by banks and exporters.
However, it washed out initial gains and dropped to 66.27 per dollar on fag-end dollar demand before closing at 66.19 as against 66.18 yesterday, showing a marginal loss of one paise or 0.02 per cent.
It hovered in the range of 66.07 to 66.27 per dollar during the day.

The dollar index was trading higher by 0.17 per cent against a basket of six currencies in the late afternoon trade.
In the overseas market, the US dollar was nearly unchanged against the yen and the euro during Asia trade today as investors refrained from taking strong positions amid a lack of fresh incentives.

The US currency was largely tracking weakness since early this week, as investors adjusted their dollar-long positions. With a lack of fresh trading cues, many investors are factoring in the Federal Reserve's decision to raise short-term rates in December, but remaining skeptical about the pace of monetary tightening thereafter.

Pramit Brahmbhatt, Veracity Group CEO, said, "Not much
movement was seen in the USD/INR pair. The pair is likely to trade range-bound as investors are trading cautiously and are waiting for any trigger, which will help them to gauge the market. On weekly basis the tupee has depreciated by nine paise and has closed at 66.19.
The trading range for the Spot USD/INR pair is expected to be within 65.70 to 66.50.
In forward market today, premium for dollar continued to decline on persistent receipts from exporters.
The benchmark six-month premium payable in April moved down further to 185.75-189.5 paise from 187.5-189-5 paise yesterday and far forward October 2016 contract closed steady at 395.5-397.5 paise.

The RBI fixed the reference rate for the dollar at 66.0940 and for the euro at 70.8594.
The rupee dropped further against the pound sterling to end at 101.20 from 101.03 yesterday and recovered against the euro to settle at 70.80 as against 70.87.
However, the domestic currency moved down further against the Japanese currency to close at 53.91 per 100 yen from 53.75.