The rupee remained shaky for the second-straight session and ended lower by 8 paise at 65.52 against the US currency due to bouts of dollar demand from importers and banks.
Overall mood remained fragile and fully focused on Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen’s speech and also the ’Trumpcare’ bill vote in Parliament later in the day.
Though, financial markets worldwide showed calmer tone and advanced cautiously after a brief wobble.
Despite a strong start, the home currency failed to make much ground in the face of steady dollar demand, a forex trader commented.
But, positive local equities and sluggish dollar overseas capped the losses.
Domestic equities meanwhile staged a rebounded after blistering selloff overnight on the back of value buying and hectic short-covering.
The dollar remained weak across the board on growing doubts about US President Donald Trump’s pro-growth economic policies even as the House of Representatives is scheduled to vote on repealing and replacing the Affordable Care Act on Thursday.
At the Interbank Foreign Exchange (Forex) Market, the local unit resumed higher at 65.40 compared to overnight close of 65.44 on fresh selling of the US currency by exporters and advanced further to 65.38.
However, the initial positive momentum failed to gain ground with the currency retreating to hit a fresh intra-day low of 65.57 in late afternoon deals before ending at 65.52, showing a loss of 8 paise, or 0.12 per cent.
The Indian currency has depreciated by 22 paise in the last two days.
The RBI fixed the reference rate for the dollar at 65.4220 and for the euro at 70.6688.
The US dollar index, which measures the greenback’s strength against a trade-weighted basket of six major currencies, traded modestly higher at 99.61.
In cross-currency trade, the rupee remained under pressure against the British pound and drifted sharply to end at 81.90 from 81.49 and moved down further against the euro to settle at 70.66 from 70.60 earlier.
It also dropped against the Japanese Yen to conclude at 59.01 per 100 yens compared with 58.81 yesterday.
In the forward market, premium for dollar declined sharply due to sustained receivings from exporters.
The benchmark six-month premium for August slipped to 135-137 paise from 141-143 paise and the far-forward February 2018 contract also drifted to 284-286 paise from 292-294 paise on Wednesday.
