Rupee weakens by 2 paise to 64.34 a dollar

The rupee today closed with a marginal loss of two paise at 64.34 against the US dollar despite a record-setting spree on domestic bourses.
However, robust capital flows into domestic equities and subdued dollar overseas largely cushioned the rupee fall.
Moreover, unwinding of long-dollar position by participants ahead of the Federal Reserve's next monetary policy also backed the rupee sentiment.
The home currency resumed sharply lower at 64.41 against the last Friday's closing of 64.32 at the Interbank Foreign Exchange (forex) market.
It remained under immense dollar pressure and swung between 64.31 and 64.46 most part of the day, though managed to pull back some lost ground towards the fag-end trade to settle at 64.34, revealing a nominal loss of 2 paise, or 0.03 per cent.

The RBI, meanwhile, fixed the reference rate for the dollar at 64.4494 and for the euro at 75.1287.

In cross-currency trades, the rupee dropped further against the pound sterling to finish at 83.85 from 83.65 per pound and slipped against the euro to end at 74.92 as compared to 74.88 earlier.
The local unit, also drifted against the Japanese yen to conclude at 58.09 per 100 yens from 57.67 last weekend.
Currency traders are awaiting the US Federal Reserve's meeting on Tuesday and Wednesday for an update.
Overseas investors have pumped in USD 2.4 billion in capital markets this month, enthused by smooth GST rollout and hopes of better corporate earnings. Overall, they have invested a total of USD 25 billion so far this year in capital markets.

Indian bourses powered ahead to hit new historic highs after a brief consolidation phase on the back of strong liquidity driven rally and robust corporate earnings outcome even as market heavyweight Reliance continued to surge on optimism about its outlook for the core business and telecom.
In the meantime, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has retained its forecast on India's GDP growth at 7.2 per cent for the current fiscal.
According to IMF's World Economic Outlook Update, India's growth is projected to accelerate to 7.7 per cent in 2018- 19,from 7.2 per cent forecast for 2017-18.
On the global front, the dollar struggled near a 13-month low against a basket of major currencies on Monday as US political woes dampened hopes for quick passage of President Donald Trump's stimulus and tax reform agendas.

The dollar index, which measures the greenback against a basket of currencies, slipped below the 94 mark to trade at 93.75 during Asia trade - its lowest since June 2016.
Elsewhere, euro traded near 23-month high and remained on a bullish footing after what the markets perceived as hawkish talk from European Central Bank President Mario Draghi in recent weeks.
In forward market today, premium for dollar eased further on stray receipts by exporters.
The benchmark six-month premium payable in December edged down to 126-128 paise from 128-130 paise and the far forward June 2018 contract also moved down to 273-275 paise from 276- 278 paise.

On the International commodity front, crude prices made a strong recovery after plunging over 2 per cent on last Friday on reporters that Nigeria has voluntarily agreed to limit its oil output at 1.8 million barrels a day when it reaches this level.