Rupee snaps 8-day winning run, ends 21 paise down

Snapping its eight-day long winning streak against the American currency, the rupee dropped by 21 paise to 66.40 on month-end dollar demand from importers and some banks.
Month-end dollar demand from oil refiners mainly affected the rupee value against the dollar, a forex dealer said.
The rupee resumed lower at 66.25 per dollar as against the yesterday's closing level of 66.19 at the Interbank Foreign Exchange market today and dropped further to 66.42 per dollar before finishing at 66.40, showing a loss of 21 paise or 0.32 per cent.
The rupee had gained by 90 paise or 1.34 per cent in previous eight trading days.

The rupee hovered in a range of 66.25 and 66.42 per dollar during the day.
The dollar index was up by 0.06 per cent against the basket of six currencies in the late afternoon trade.

Overseas, the US dollar trading was somewhat mixed against its major rivals in early trade as commodity currencies struggled against the greenback weighed by crude oil prices resuming their slide.
The dollar edged lower in the late overseas trade but rebounded from a one-week low against most of its major rivals, as the Australia and UK markets remained closed in observance of the Boxing Day holiday.

Oil prices fell in Asia today, giving up some of last week's sharp gains as concerns of a global supply glut weighed on prices ahead of fresh US stocks data.
Pramit Brahmbhatt, Veracity Group CEO said, "The rupee
closed on a negative note at 66.40 levels losing 21 paisa. We saw buying in USD from lower levels that was on back of intervention from RBI. Today lndian benchmark index NIFTY traded lackluster ahead of December series expiry. Trading range for the spot USD/INR pair is expected to be within 66 to 66.75 range."
In forward market today, premium for dollar fell further on sustained receivings from exporters.

The benchmark six-month premium payable in May fell to 176-177 paise from 178-180 paise yesterday and far forward November 2016 contract also went down to 386-387 paise from 387.5-389.5 paise.
The RBI fixed the reference rate for the dollar at 66.3700 and for the euro at 72.8477.
In cross-currency trades, the rupee rebounded against the pound sterling to close at 98.56 from yesterday's level of 98.72, while it slipped against the Euro to settle at 72.85 as compared to 72.72 per euro.
It also dropped against the Japanese Yen to 55.14 per yen from 54.94 previously.