Rupee falls for the third day, down 6 paise at 63.57

Continuing its descent for the third straight session, the Indian rupee today declined by six paise to close at 63.57 against the Greenback following sustained month-end dollar demand from importers and capital outflows.

A modest recovery in local equities, however, capped the rupee fall to some extent while dollar index was almost stable in overseas market in thin trade.

At the Interbank Foreign Exchange (Forex) market, the domestic currency resumed better at the day's high of 63.45 a dollar from its previous close of 63.51.

However, it later fell back on continued month-end dollar demand from importers, mainly oil refiners, and persistent capital inflows to a low of 63.70. It recovered some ground to settle at 63.57, showing a fall of six paise or 0.09 per cent.

In a lacklustre trade today, the benchmark S&P BSE Sensex today edged up by 33.17 points, or 0.12 per cent, breaking two-day declining trend. FPIs sold shares worth Rs 2,808.27 crore on December 24, as per provisional data.

Pramit Brahmbhatt, Veracity Group CEO, said, "...Indian Rupee traded weak and depreciated by six paise, taking cues from FIIs profit booking and dollar demand from oil companies. The trading range for the spot rupee is expected to be within 63.20 to 64.00."

In the forward market, premia continued to trade weak on sustained receipts by exporters.

The benchmark six-month premium payable in May declined to 189.5-191.5 paise from 192.75-194.5 paise previously.

Forward contracts maturing in November 2015 dropped to 394.5-396.5 paise from 399.5-401.5 paise.

The Reserve Bank of India fixed the reference rate for dollar at 63.6355 and for euro at 77.7435.

The rupee moved down further to 98.93 against the pound from 98.72 and softened further to 77.48 per euro from 77.44.

It, too slipped to 52.85 per 100 Japanese yen from last close of 52.73.