Rupee trims initial gains, still up by 4 paise vs USD

The rupee trimmed its initial gains but was still quoting up by 4 paise to 66.95 against the American currency in late morning deals on bouts of dollar selling by exporters amid gains in equities after the approval for passage of GST in the Rajya Sabha yesterday.
The rupee opened higher at 66.85 per dollar from yesterday's closing level of 66.99 at the Inter-bank Foreign Exchange (Forex) market.
The domestic unit hovered in a range of 67.00 and 66.84 in the morning deals before quoting up at 66.95 at 1030 hrs.
Meanwhile, the dollar index was trading down 0.0010 per cent at 95.55 against a basket of six currencies in early trade.

Overseas, the US dollar was higher against basket currencies in early Asian trade on the back of a stronger-than -expected US employment data, while sterling remained in a tight range ahead of the Bank of England's expected interest rate cut later in the session.
Meanwhile, domestic bourses ended marginally lower in a

range-bound trade despite bullish Asian sentiment after Japanese shares jumped more than 2 per cent.
The benchmark Sensex moved down over 10 points to end at 26,633.13, while broader Nifty inched down 1.75 points to 8,190.50.
In the forward market, premium for dollar edged higher owing to renewed paying pressure from corporates.

The benchmark six-month premium for June edged higher to 145-147 paise from 142-144 paise and the far-forward December 2017 contract inched up to 284.5-286.5 paise from 284-286 paise on Tuesday.
On the global commodity front, crude oil prices continued to move higher on expectations that US crude inventories are falling and signs that oil producers will stick to agreed output cuts that took effect this week.