MUMBAI: The rupee was trading lower on Monday afternoon tracking Asian peers. At 1:33 p.m., the partially convertible rupee was at 46.84/85 per dollar, lower than its close of 46.76/77 on Friday. The unit has traded in a range of 46.73 to 46.89 so far in the day.
Asian currencies were trading weaker on Monday as weak Japanese economic data made investors more wary of risk. For a snapshot on regional peers. But the index of the dollar against six majors was down 0.5 percent as the Japanese yen rose with talk of possible demand from Japanese exporters.
Shares were trading down 0.3 percent in choppy trade, which added to the rupee's weakness. "There is an overall bullish sentiment in the rupee. The 46.85 level is a good resistance and as soon as it hits that level there is a lot of selling. The range today should be between 46.75 and 46.85," said Naveen Raghuvanshi, group associate vice president at Development Credit Bank.
One-month offshore non-deliverable forward contracts were quoted at 46.98, 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 46.93, with the total traded volume on the two exchanges of over $2.8 bn.
