Mumbai:- The rupee turned shaky after a brief overnight recovery and ended lower by 11 paise at 66.81 against the US dollar on fresh demand for the American currency from banks and importers.
Hardening expectations of an imminent US interest rate hike in March against the backdrop of the central bank’s upcoming meet and also Fed Chair Janet Yellen’s speech largely kept domestic currency under immense pressure through the day.
The US Federal Reserve is due to come up with the country’s economic outlook in Chicago later in the day.
Sluggish domestic equities also added some discomfort for the rupee trade even as global stock rally took a pause after Wall Street retreated overnight from historic highs.
Meanwhile, the dollar traded weak against its major rivals as traders unwound positions after a two-day surge. The US dollar index was trading marginally weak at 102.00 in late afternoon session.
The domestic currency resumed substantially lower at 66.87 from Thursday’s close of 66.70 at the Interbank Foreign Exchange (Forex) Market.
It remained subdued throughout the day and mostly traded in a tight range of 66.79 and 66.8850 before concluding at 66.81, showing a loss of 11 paise, or 0.16 per cent.
The domestic unit had ended higher by 12 paise yesterday.
The RBI fixed the reference rate for the dollar at 66.8354 and for the euro at 70.3509.
In cross-currency trade, the rupee continued to move higher against the British pound and finished at 81.65 from 81.91 and also strengthened against the Japanese Yen to settle at 58.34 as compared to 58.38 earlier.
However, it fell back against the euro to end at 70.44 from 70.22 yesterday. .
PTI
