The Indian rupee posted its biggest single session loss in more than 3 months on Thursday on the back of persistent dollar demand from oil importers, while negative local shares triggered foreign fund outflow worries. The rupee ended at 51.39/40 to the dollar, 1.2 percent weaker than Wednesday's close of 50.775/785, its sharpest drop in a single session since December 12.
"There is a lot of demand seen in the market, which will drag the rupee down further on Friday," a foreign exchange trader with a foreign bank said. The one-month offshore non-deliverable forward contracts were at 51.85. In the currency futures market, the most-traded near-month dollar-rupee contracts on the National Stock Exchange, the MCX-SX and on the United Stock Exchange all ended around 51.7, on a combined volume of $4.2 billion.