Indian rupee edges down

The Indian rupee weakened on Monday as continued dollar buying intervention by the central bank and demand for the greenback from importers offset positive sentiment due to record high domestic shares. Foreign fund flows into domestic shares and debt will remain key for the rupee in the near-term, although traders expect the central bank to continue to step in to buy dollars and prevent any excessive appreciation.
"There is good buying seen from state-run banks. The rupee will continue to trade in a tight range," said Vikas Babu Chittiprolu, senior foreign exchange dealer with the state-run Andhra Bank. Dealers expect the rupee to remain in a broad 58.80 to 59.40 range over this week. The partially convertible rupee closed at 59.20/21 per dollar compared with 59.17/18 on Friday. In the offshore non-deliverable forwards, the one-month contract was at 59.40 while the three-month was at 59.94.