Rupee surrenders initial gains, down 8 paise

The rupee surrendered its initial gains and was trading lower by 8 paise to 66.89 per dollar in late morning deals on fresh bouts of demand for the American currency from importers and banks amid volatile domestic equities.

The rupee resumed lower at 66.83 per dollar against yesterday's closing level of 66.81 at the Interbank Foreign Exchange (Forex) market.

Later, it recovered 11 paise to quote 66.70 on good bouts of dollar selling by banks, it slid again to 66.92 before quoting at 66.89 per dollar at 1030 hrs.

The domestic unit moved in a range of 66.92 and 66.70 per dollar during morning deals.

Meanwhile, the dollar index was down by 0.12% at 98.70 against a basket of six currencies in the early trade.

In overseas, the US dollar enjoyed some respite from recent volatility as it stuck to overnight levels in early Asian trade, holding above a more than four-month low against the yen and not far from a 5-1/2-year high against sterling.

The benchmark BSE Sensex was trading lower by 154.69 points, or 0.62%, at 24,670.35 in morning trade.