Mumbai: The rupee gave up its gains to weaken against the US dollar in intra-day trading on Monday due to consistent demand for the US currency among local and foreign banks. At 3pm, the local unit was trading at 60.18 per dollar, down 0.16% from the previous close, after opening at 59.91 up from Friday’s close of 60.085 per dollar. It had touched a high of 59.78 earlier on Monday. “Dollar demand has been there in the market from all banks because there is a sense that the rupee is overvalued. The fact that the rupee opened higher today without any particular reason also pushed banks towards buying the US currency,� said a Ashutosh Raina, head of foreign exchange trading at HDFC Bank Ltd. The rupee had opened higher tracking the dollar’s decline against major currencies overseas after data on Friday showed that the US added 192,000 non-farm jobs in March, lower than expectations of 200,000 and at a slower pace than the 197,000 added in February. However, since then demand from banks and customers especially above the 60 per dollar level has pressured the rupee lower. A drop in the local stock market has also led to a sell-off in the rupee. India’s benchmark index Sensex was trading at 22,264.64 points, down 0.42%. So far this year, the rupee has risen 2.61% while foreign institutional investors (FIIs) have bought local equities worth $4.27 billion in the Indian market. The yield on India’s 10-year benchmark bond was at 9.026%, compared with its Thursday’s close of 9.067%. It touched a high and a low of 9.062% and 9.037%, respectively. The dollar index, which measures the US currency’s strength against major currencies, was trading flat at 80.376, from the previous close of 80.423.

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