The Indian rupee weakened on Thursday in quiet trading after the Federal Reserve refrained from new US monetary stimulus, denting hopes for gains in global risk assets. In India, investors await fiscal reforms from the government after pro-market P. Chidambaram took over as the finance minister earlier this week. "I think markets have a fair bit of hope pinned on Chidambaram," said Rajeev Mahrotri, head of trading at IndusInd Bank.
The partially convertible rupee closed at 55.84/85 per dollar, weaker than its Wednesday's close 55.47/48. The one-month offshore non-deliverable forward contracts were at 56.19 while the three-month were at 56.88. In the currency futures market, the most-traded near-month dollar rupee contracts on the National Stock Exchange, the MCX-SX and the United Stock Exchange closed at around 56.1150 with a total traded volume of $2.9 billion.