Nov 4 (Reuters) - The Indian rupee strengthened in afternoon trade on Friday nudged by firm local equities but strong dollar demand, most likely for defence-related payments, limited the rise, traders said. * At 12:43 p.m., the partially convertible rupee was at 49.08/09 per dollar, higher from Thursday's close of 49.14/15. It had moved in a band of 48.98 and 49.14 so far. * Movement in the euro could provide cues for rupee movement in rest of the session given the focus on developments in Europe's debt saga, they said. * The euro has run into stiff resistance after a rebound sparked when Greece effectively abandoned plans for a referendum on its bailout package, as market players worry that protracted political instability could bring further flare-ups in the euro zone's debt crisis. * The euro was at $1.3827, compared with $1.3800 at the end of local trade on Thursday, while the index of the dollar against six major currencies was at 76.726 points versus 76.807 points. * The local benchmark share index was up more than 0.8 percent on better-than-expected domestic corporate earnings. (Reporting by Aditya Phatak; Editing by Harish Nambiar)

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