MUMBAI: Rupee erased early gains in afternoon trade on Wednesday, dragged back towards the more-than-48 per dollar mark by choppy domestic equities and a euro retreat. At 12:56 p.m., the partially convertible rupee was at 47.975/985 to a dollar, near the day's low of 47.99, but still stronger than Tuesday's close of 48.05/06 when it had hit a two-year low of 48.24. Traders said rupee could lose more ground as the session progressed if dollar inflows, which helped rupee gain in early trade, weaken. The local benchmark share index was down more than 0.4 per cent in flip flop trade. The euro was at $1.3678 after touching a high of $1.3723 earlier. It had been $1.3682 at the end of the rupee trade on Tuesday. The index of the dollar against six major currencies was 77.121 points from 77.105 previously. Traders now await the outcome of US Federal Reserve's meeting for cues on global growth and the dollar's direction. The Fed is expected to announce a fresh effort at 11:45 p.m (1815 GMT) to invigorate the faltering US recovery by pushing long-term borrowing costs lower through rebalancing of its $2.8 trillion portfolio of bond holdings towards longer-term securities.

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