The rupee weakened on Tuesday, easing off a two-month high touched in the previous session, weighed by a softer euro, weak local shares as well as Asian currencies. At 10:47 a.m. (0517 GMT), the partially convertible rupee was 44.5225/5250 per dollar, weaker than Monday's close of 44.425/435, when it had hit 44.3525 -- a level last seen on May 3. So far on Tuesday the unit has moved in a 44.4700-44.5350 band and most traders expect it to stay in the range of 44.5000-44.6000 during the day. "It looks like the market is biddish on the dollar. But we should see rupee supported around 44.60," said a foreign exchange dealer at a private-sector bank. The euro was at USD 1.4474 versus USD 1.4514 at the close of local forex trade on Monday. The euro was set to snap its six-day winning streak on Tuesday, coming off near one-month highs against the dollar as the greenback was bought back broadly on a flurry of stop-loss buying and short-covering by macro-funds. The index of the dollar against six major currencies was up 0.33% at 74.519 points, after being at 74.308 points at end of trade in domestic currency trade on Monday. The 30-share BSE index was down 0.4% in mid-morning trade, tailing weak Asian peers. The one-month onshore forward premium was at 24.75 points from 27 at last close, the three-month was at 75.75 points from 77.25, and the one-year was at 257 points from 260. One-month offshore non-deliverable forward contracts were quoted at 44.65, weaker than the onshore spot rate. In the currency futures market, the most traded near-month dollar-rupee contracts on the National Stock Exchange, the MCX-SX and the United Stock Exchange were all at 44.6950. The total volume was at USD 2.39 billion.

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