Rupee ends marginally up at 64.14 vs USD

Mumbai: The rupee pared its most of early gains to end marginally up at 64.14 against the US currency due to some dollar demand from importers and corporates.

The rupee had opened with modest gain of 10 paise at 64.05 per dollar but later traded in a tight range in absence of any fresh macroeconomic clue, dealers said.

Emergence of strong dollar demand from importers later in the day weighed on the rupee that touched a low of 64.16 per dollar briefly in the last hour of trade.

The domestic currency finally settled at 64.14, revealing a gain of one paisa over Friday's close of 64.15.

Selloff in the domestic equity markets also impacted the home unit. Foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) sold local shares worth a net Rs 1,983 crore today, as per provisional exchanges data.

The benchmark BSE Sensex tumbled 265 points to close at 31,258.85, while Nifty shed 83 points to end below 9800-mark.

Overall forex sentiment remained fairly negative with geopolitical risk still elevated on the Korean peninsula alongwith impending Fed rate hike and also ongoing major price correction in financial markets, a currency trader said.

The RBI fixed the reference rate for the dollar at 64.0285 and for the euro at 75.2143.

The dollar index, which measures the greenback's value against a basket of six major currencies, was down at 93.30.

In cross-currency trades, the rupee weakened further against the pound sterling to finish at 82.64 from 82.59 per pound and declined against the euro to close at 75.45 from 75.31 last weekend.

It also moved down against the Japanese yen to end at 58.86 per 100 yens from 58.82 earlier.

In forward market today, premium for dollar showed a steady to weak trend owing to lack of market moving factors.

The benchmark six-month premium payable in January was quoted steady at 125-127 paise, while far forward July 2018 contract edged up to 261-263 paise from 259.50-261.50 paise.

On the international commodity front, crude prices retreated after a weekend rally.

Benchmark Brent crude futures were down 29 cents at USD 52.43 a barrel in early Asian trade, US West Texas Intermediate crude futures traded at USD 48.39 a barrel, down 12 cents.