The Indian rupee rose on Wednesday, but snapped two successive months of gains to fall in October as the euphoria over economic reforms petered out and the central bank kept rates on hold, with global events expected to determine the currency's near-term direction.
"The rupee is likely to remain rangebound in the next few sessions with global events likely to drive the currency's fortunes," said Naveen Raghuvanshi, associate vice-president at Development Credit Bank. The partially convertible rupee ended at 53.80/81 per dollar, higher than its previous close of 53.96/97. It fell to a session low of 54.21, but found support at its 55-day moving average of 54.14. For October, the rupee has fallen 1.8 per cent.
In the offshore non-deliverable forwards market, the one-month contract was at 54.08 while the three-month was at 54.62. 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 all closed at around 54.08 with a total traded volume at $4.3 billion.