Rupee slips after early recovery, down 7 paise

The rupee slipped from its initial recovery, dropping 7 paise to Rs 68.23 in late morning deals following bouts of dollar demand from importers despite higher domestic equities.
The rupee opened higher at 68.13 per dollar as against last yesterday's closing level of 68.16 at the Interank Foreign Exchange (Forex) market.
Later, it hovered in the range of 68.24 to 68.09 per dollar during the morning deals, it was quoting 68.23 at 1030 hrs.
The dollar Index is trading down by 0.01 percent at 100.87 against a basket of six currencies.
Overseas, the US dollar took a breather against basket currencies in early Asian trade, as investors consolidated the gains built on expectations of increased fiscal spending and higher inflation under a Trump administration.

Meanwhile, the benchmark Sensex crumbled by 262.78 points

to end at 25,979.60, while broader Nifty tanked 82.20 pts to 7,979.10.
In the forward market, premium for dollar edged lower due to continued receiving from exporters.
The benchmark six-month premium for May weakened to 129.5-131 paise from 130-132 paise and the far-forward November 2017 contract also softened to 275-276.5 from 275.5-277.5 paise yesterday.