The Indian rupee snapped a two-day losing streak and rose on Thursday as custodian banks and exporters stepped up dollar sales but weak domestic shares and late gains in the dollar versus majors weighed on sentiment.
The partially convertible rupee closed at 45.245/255 per dollar, off its high of 45.19 but still 0.2 percent stronger than 45.33/34 at close on Wednesday. Earlier in the session, the rupee had dropped as low as 45.43, its lowest since December 20.
The index of the dollar against six major currencies was up 0.2 percent at 80.422 points when the rupee market closed. The euro was trading at $1.3099, off its high of $1.3170.
The one-year onshore forward dollar premium rose as high as 252 basis points, from 245.75 points at previous close.
One-month offshore non-deliverable forward contracts were quoted at 45.47, weaker than the onshore spot rate.
In the currency futures market, the most traded near-month dollar-rupee contracts on the National Stock Exchange and MCX-SX closed at 45.44 and 45.4350, with the total traded volume on the two exchanges at about $6.9 billion.