Rupee steady at 67.20 in late morning deals

Mumbai: Rupee ruled steady at 67.20 per dollar after paring its initial gains against the American currency in late morning deals on bouts of dollar demand from importers and banks amid largely flat domestic equities.

The domestic unit opened lower at 67.23 as against yesterday’s closing level of 67.20 at the Inter-bank Foreign Exchange (Forex) market.

Later it rose to 67.15 on bouts of dollar selling by exporters, before quoting back against at its yesterday’s closing level of Rs 67.20 at 1030 hrs.

The domestic unit hovered in a range of Rs 67.23 and 67.15 before during morning deals.

Meanwhile, the dollar index was trading higher by 0.02 per cent at 96.57 against a basket of six currencies in the early trade.

Overseas, the US dollar was mostly mixed against its major rivals in early Asian trade. While yen hovered near 3-1/2-week lows amid combination of growing expectations of monetary easing by the Bank of Japan, a broad recovery in risk appetite and speculation about M&A-related yen-selling.

Meanwhile, the benchmark BSE Sensex was trading higher by 24.26 points or 0.09 per cent to 27,770.92 at 1150 hrs.

PTI