The rupee edged down on Tuesday as month-end demand for dollars weighed on a market grappling with a slowdown in foreign fund flows into the domestic stock market and diminishing prospects of an imminent yuan revaluation. The rupee ended at 43.7850/8000 per dollar, down from 43.7550/7650 on Monday when it climbed on bunched dollar inflows after a three-day weekend. Foreigners sold a net $3 million on Thursday after selling $17.6 million a day earlier, and are now net sellers for January.
Prices of crude oil, India's biggest import item, were around $49 a barrel amid tight supplies and cold weather conditions in the US Northeast.
Traders said with China virtually ruling out a revaluation, most Asian currencies, including India's, could dip in the near term.
Earlier expectations of a revaluation had risen after European officials called for Asian economies, particularly China, to take on a bigger share of the dollar's weakness.