Rupee steady at 66.74 vs USD in late morning deals

The rupee pared its initial losses to rule stable at 66.74 against the American currency in late morning deals on bouts of dollar selling by banks and exporters amid bearish dollar overseas as well as higher domestic equities.
The rupee opened lower at 66.79 per dollar from last yesterday's closing level of 66.74 at the Inter-bank Foreign Exchange (Forex) market.
The domestic unit hovered in a range of 66.80 and 66.7350 in the morning deals before quoting stable at 66.74 at 1030 hrs.
Meanwhile, the dollar index was trading down 0.08 per cent at 95.70 against a basket of six currencies in early trade.

Overseas, the US dollar hovered near three-week lows against its major rivals in early Asian trade after soft US economic data undermined the case for an early Federal Reserve rate hike while the Australian dollar braced for the probability of a policy easing later in the day.
Meanwhile, domestic equities retreated sharply from

multi-month highs on the back of fresh profit-taking across the board despite a spectacular rally in Asian markets and record closing in US markets where the Dow Jones for the first time ever moved above 21,000 level.
The benchmark Sensex dropped 144.70 points to end at 28,839.79, while broader Nifty slipped 46.05 points to finish at 8,899.75.

In the forward market, premium for dollar showed a mixed trend.
The benchmark six-month premium for August quoted almost flat at 161-163 paise from 161-163.50 paise, while the far-forward February 2018 contract edged higher to 318-320 paise from 316-319 paise yesterday.
On global commodity front, crude prices declined on Thursday largely impacted by a record build-up in US stockpiles.