MUMBAI (Reuters) - The rupee weakened in opening trade on Thursday, tracking a fall in the Nifty futures traded in Singapore, but the downside is likely to be capped ahead of the finance minister's conference later in the day.
Nifty futures traded in Singapore were trading down 0.8 percent in line with other emerging Asian markets.
However, the downside for the rupee is likely to be limited ahead of Finance Minister P. Chidambaram's scheduled press conference to announce measures to prop up the rupee.
At 9:05 a.m. (0335 GMT), the partially convertible rupee was trading at 58.08/09 per dollar versus its Wednesday's close of 57.79/80.
The stock market regulator also announced a hike of $5 billion in government debt for long-term foreign investors while a follow-on impact of the Fitch ratings outlook upgrade should also limit the downside in the rupee, traders said.
(Reporting by Swati Bhat; Editing by Supriya Kurane)
