Rupee drops on weak regional shares

Thu, Nov 5 10:03 AM

The Indian rupee eased in early trade on Thursday tracking lower regional share markets, which could prompt foreign investors to repatriate funds from local stocks.

At 9:10 am the partially convertible rupee was at 47.13/14 per dollar, slightly weaker from 47.05/06 at close on Wednesday.

Traders said they expected a range of 46.90 to 47.30 during the session.

Foreign funds have bought more than $14 billion of local equities so far this year, after being sellers of more than $13 billion in 2008. The inflows have been a key factor helping the gains in the stock market and the rupee.

At 0340 GMT, the MSCI index of Asian stocks ex-Japan was trading down 0.8 per cent, while the Nifty India stock futures traded in Singapore were 0.6 per cent lower, both pointing to a subdued start to the local market.

The dollar index, a gauge of the US unit's performance versus six majors, was up 0.3 per cent.

Inside News

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