MUMBAI (Commodity Online): Rupee commenced marginally higher and remained in a more or less narrow range so far on Wednesday, June 22, 2011 unable to attain any strong cues from domestic or global factors.
The Euro was almost flat versus the greenback while the domestic equities inched lower after a firm start to the day, unable to provide any definite direction for the local unit.
The domestic currency opened up by mere 2 paise at Rs. 44.83 per dollar and was seen in a tight range of 44.825-44.84 so far during the day. In the spot currency market, the Indian rupee was last seen trading at 44.84 at 10.10 AM IST, almost unchanged as compared to previous close at 44.85.
The domestic key benchmark indices pared gains after a firm start triggered by higher regional stocks. Asian stocks rose on Wednesday after Greece's government on Tuesday survived a confidence vote crucial to avoiding a sovereign default.
Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) sold Indian shares worth Rs 563.36 crore and domestic funds bought shares worth Rs 430.41 crore on Tuesday, as per provisional figures released by the stock exchanges. At the time of writing, India's key benchmark BSE Sensex was down around 6.33 points at 17553.97 while S&P CNX Nifty was also lower by around 2.80 points at 5273.05.
Meanwhile, the European unit came off its previous day highs after the Greek government as expected won a vote of confidence in parliament. However, further losses may be limited as the market's focus turns to the Federal Reserve and its comments on the slowing U.S. economy.
The Fed is due to announce its interest rate decision and is widely expected to repeat its commitment to keeping interest rates low for an extended period. Also Chairman Ben Bernanke is expected to revise down the Fed's earlier quarterly forecasts for U.S. GDP growth. The single common currency hit a week's high at around 1.4431 against the US dollar late Tuesday but stabilized to around 1.4370 at present.
The US dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a trade-weighted basket of six major currencies, is currently higher by 0.30% at 74.76. Among Asian currencies, the Taiwan dollar is up by mere 0.15% at 28.89, the Indonesian Rupiah 0.03% at 8597.50 and the South Korean won by 0.30% at 1075.45 as against the US dollar.
In the domestic currency futures market on the NSE, the forward month June USD/INR contract opened on Wednesday at 44.86, higher than the spot market rupee. The contract hit an intra day high at 44.90 and registered a low at around 44.86 so far during the day.
Meanwhile, euro- rupee contract is up by 0.04% at 64.50 from 64.47 in the previous session. The JPY/INR contract dipped down 0.15% at 55.90 from 55.99 while GBP/INR contract gained 0.07% to be at 72.80 from 72.75 as at close on Tuesday. At the time of writing, the NSE as well as MCX Jun 2011 USD/INR contract was trading at around 44.89 lower by around 3 paise or 0.06% compared to previous close at 44.92.
