MUMBAI: The Indian rupee remained steady in afternoon trade on Friday as choppy shares provided little cues on direction of fund flows while gains in the dollar versus major currencies weighed on sentiment. At 1:58 pm, the partially convertible rupee was at 45.45/46 per dollar, virtually unchanged from its close of 45.445/455 on Thursday. On Wednesday, the rupee had risen to 45.3325, its strongest since Jan 11. The central bank is open to taking policy action before its April review, Deputy Governor K C Chakrabarty said on Thursday, contrary to earlier comments that it would refrain from taking inter-policy steps. The euro stabilised but remained under pressure on Friday after Greece said it could not achieve promised deficit cuts if its borrowing costs remain so high. The main stock index were trading marginally higher helped by firm Asian markets. One-month offshore non-deliverable forward contracts were quoting at 45.54, weaker than the onshore spot rate. In the currency futures market, the most traded near-month dollar-rupee contracts on the National Stock Exchange and MCX-SX were both at 45.4900, with the total traded volume on the two exchanges at about $2.4 billion.

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