Rupee suffers 1st loss in 4 days, dips 15 paise

After three consecutive days of gains, the rupee today saw a sharp fall of 15 paise to close at 64.43 a dollar on the back of fresh demand for the American currency from importers and bank.
The domestic currency had closed at a near six-week high of 64.28 yesterday, after seeing gains of 17 paise in three straight sessions.
A smart rebound in the US dollar overseas after a struggle early this week predominantly terminated rupee rally, but unabated foreign capital inflows brought some respite.
The local currency opened substantially lower at 64.34 against Wednesday's closing of 64.28 at the Interbank Foreign Exchange (forex) market.

Trading at a line of resistance, the home unit largely moved between 64.3250 and 64.4650 throughout the day before ending at 64.43, showing a sharp loss of 15 paise, or 0.23 per cent.
The RBI, meanwhile, fixed the reference rate for the dollar at 64.4273 and for the euro at 74.1880.

Domestic bourses also took a modest retreat after a spectacular recovery overnight as cautious investors resorted to profit-booking ahead of quarterly earnings from heavyweight Reliance Industries.
Foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) bought shares worth a net Rs 1,046.65 crore yesterday, as per provisional data.
In cross-currency trades, the rupee strengthened against the pound sterling to finish at 83.39 from 83.76 per pound, but fell back against the euro to settle at 74.07 from 74.05 yesterday.

It also drifted against the Japanese yen to close at 57.41 per 100 yens from 57.37 earlier.
On the global front, the US dollar bounced higher against a basket of the other major currencies on Thursday after falling to 11-month lows earlier in the week.
The dollar index, which measures the greenback against a basket of currencies, was higher at 94.88 during Asia trade.
The euro held near a 14-month high against the dollar on expectations that the ECB is ready to announce cuts in its asset purchasing programme, while the British pound held steady ahead of UK retail sales report.

However, yen barely budged after the Bank of Japan kept monetary policy on hold.
In forward market today, premium for dollar remained weak due to sustained receivings from exporters.
The benchmark six-month premium payable in December declined to 129-131 paise from 132.5-134.5 paise and the far forward June 2018 contract also dropped to 277-279 paise from 281-283 paise.
Brent crude futures, the international benchmark for oil prices, were at USD 49.66 per barrel in early Asian trade, still capped below the key USD 50-per-barrel mark on concerns about high supplies from the OPEC producers.