The Indian rupee snapped a five-day winning streak on Wednesday, falling as demand for the US dollar from importers weighed and as a seesawing share market failed to provide clarity on the outlook for fund flows.
The partially convertible rupee closed at 48.51/52 per dollar, off an early high of 48.45, which was its strongest since August 24 and 0.1 percent weaker than its previous close of 48.46/47. "There was good two-way interest in the market today and it was largely just mirroring moves in the local share market," a senior dealer with a private bank said.
One-month offshore non-deliverable forward contracts were quoted at 48.52/62, little changed from the spot rate. In the currency futures market, the most traded near-month contracts on the National Stock Exchange and MCX-SX closed at 48.5625 and 48.5650 respectively, with the total traded volume on the two exchanges at about $2.1 billion.