Rupee trims initial gains, up by 3 paise vs USD

The rupee trimmed its early gains, but was still quoting up by 3 paise to 67.15 against the US currency in late morning deals on bouts of dollar selling by banks and exporters amid higher domestic equities.
The Indian rupee opened higher by 67.10 as against yesterday's closing level of 67.18 per dollar at the Inter- bank Foreign Exchange (Forex) market.
The domestic unit hovered in a range of 67.17 and 67.08 during the morning deals before quoting at 67.15 per dollar at 1040 hrs.
The dollar index was trading lower by 0.10 per cent at 96.41 against a basket of six currencies in the early trade.

Overseas, the US dollar was trading mixed against its major rivals in early Asian trade, while the yen clawed back some of this week's losses, after it sank to 2-1/2-week lows reached this week as the prospects for more economic stimulus in Japan helped bolster risk sentiment.
Meanwhile, India's foreign exchange reserves drifted

further by USD 1.431 billion to USD 363.874 billion in the week to December 2.
They had touched a life-time high of USD 371.99 billion in the week to September 30, 2016.
In the forward market, premium for dollar declined owing to sustained receivings from exporter
The benchmark six-month premium for May moved down to 130-132 paise from 132-134 paise and the far-forward November 2017 contract also drifted to 274-275.5 paise from 277-279 paise last Friday.

On the equity front, key benchmark indices rebounded sharply after a brief overnight selloff on the back of heavy short covering and also good buying in auto, oil&gas and FMCG counters.
The flagship sensex rebounded by a whopping 182.58 points to end at 26,697.82, while Nifty surged 51 points to 8,221.80.
Meanwhile, crude prices retreated from 17-month highs but traded little changed despite heavy profit-taking earlier this week largely supported by strong demand in Asia and a supply cut by Abu Dhabi as part of production curbs organised by OPEC and other exporters.