Rupee snaps two-day fall by a whisker; data in focus

It ended at 60.92 per dollar, marginally stronger than its Wednesday's close of 60.94

The rupee marginally snapped a two-day losing streak on Thursday after a largely volatile trading session during which the local unit closely mirrored the domestic share market ahead of key data points due later in the week.

Shares fell for a third consecutive session to their lowest in nearly two weeks as three state-run companies, including Oil and Natural Gas Corp , slumped after the government said it would pare its holdings in them.

Caution is expected to prevail ahead of consumer inflation data due on Friday, which comes ahead of the Reserve Bank of India's policy review on Sept. 30. India is also due to report trade numbers this week.

"EMs (emerging markets) have been under pressure for past three days. In the morning, there was some respite as FIIs (foreign institutional investors) and some corporates sold USD, but, renewed pressure on EM currencies later in the day impacted the INR as well," said Paresh Nayar, head of forex and fixed income at First Rand Bank.

"CPI is due tomorrow and hopefully the pressure on EM currencies will ease soon. I still feel that 61.20-25 should be a good resistance for USD/INR," he added.

The partially convertible rupee ended at 60.9250/9350 per dollar, marginally stronger than its Wednesday's close of 60.94/95.

The small gain has also been due to some consolidation after the unit fell 1.1 percent over Tuesday and Wednesday, marking its biggest two-day loss since declining 1.8 percent from July 31 to Aug. 1.

Traders are also looking ahead at the Federal Reserve's monetary policy meet next week. A hawkish policy statement will impact emerging markets given that the Fed's easy monetary stance has sparked large foreign inflows into these countries.

In India, overseas funds have bought a net $32.60 billion worth of debt and shares so far this year.

In the offshore non-deliverable forwards, the one-month contract was at 61.27 while the three-month contract was at 61.87.