MUMBAI: The rupee remained weak in afternoon session on Monday as importers of gold continued to buy dollars, but slight gains in the euro and local shares helped reduce selling pressure on the rupee.
* At 2:23 p.m, the partially convertible rupee was at 44.485/490 per dollar against previous close of 44.365/375. It had moved in 44.4375-44.5425 range thus far in the day.
* India, the world's largest consumer of the yellow metal, celebrates a gold-buying festival on May 6 and will be followed by weddings expected to pump up demand.
* The euro was at $1.4590, up from $1.4577 late last week. The common European unit had hit a 16-month high of $1.4649 on Thursday.
* The index of the dollar against six major currencies was down 0.05 percent at 73.955 points. It had been at 73.877 points when the rupee market closed last week.
* Traders said the rupee's direction was now dependent, to a large extent, on when and how domestic oil refiners enter the market for month-end payments.
* Oil is India's biggest import and refiners are the largest buyers of dollars in the domestic forex market.
* Indian shares edged 0.3 percent higher in choppy trades on Monday, as higher financials more than offset a drop in energy major Reliance Industries .
