Rupee trims gains, still up 3 paise in late deals

The rupee trimmed its initial gains, but was trading still up by 3 paise to 67.71 against the US dollar on bouts of selling of greenback by banks and exporters in view of higher domestic equities.
The currency opened higher by 6 paise at 67.68 per dollar as against yesterday's level of 67.74 at the Inter-bank Foreign Exchange (Forex) market.
It hovered in the range of 67.7225 to 67.61 per dollar during the morning deals, before quoting 67.71 at 1025 hrs.
The dollar Index is trading down 0.14 per cent at 100 against a basket of six currencies.
Overseas, the dollar stood near an 11-mth high against a basket of currencies early today, after upbeat US data gave the greenback's week-long rally fresh impetus.

The greenback got its latest boost from stronger-than- expected US October retail sales data out yesterday, which lifted Treasury yields and reinforced the outlook for a Federal Reserve interest rate hike in December.

India's foreign exchange reserves witnessed a sudden
slump to USD 359.155 billion for the week ended January 7.
Hedge funds and overseas investors pulled out USD 173.87 million from Indian equities last week.
Meanwhile, domestic stocks ended modestly higher after a brief consolidation led by banking and metals shares despite continued selling in technology counters even Asian sentiment remained weak.
The benchmark Sensex rebounded by 50.11 points to end at 27,288.17, while broader Nifty edged higher by 12.45 points to 8,412.80.

In the forward market, premium for dollar turned marginally weak due to fresh receivings from exporters.
The benchmark six-month premium for June inched down to 145.25-145.25 paise from 144-146 paise and the far-forward December 2017 contract also declined to 284.5-286.5 paise from 286-288 paise, previously.
Crude oil prices remained under immense pressure on doubts that large oil producers will reduce production as promised and expectations of US production would increase again this year.
Benchmark Brent crude oil was down 10 cents a barrel at USD 55.35 in early trade.