India’s rupee fell, reversing earlier gains, on speculation importers such as Indian Oil Corp., the nation’s largest refiner, were buying foreign exchange to settle month-end bills. The currency strengthened this morning on speculation overseas investors will boost purchases of emerging-market stocks amid signs a global recession is abating. The U.S. yesterday reported an unexpected increase in durable goods orders for May, helping drive benchmark share indexes higher across most of the Asia-Pacific region today. “The medium-term bias is against the rupee,” said Arun Nagarajan, a currency trader at Kotak Mahindra Bank in Mumbai. “Each time the rupee rises it is looked at as an opportunity to buy dollars. Dollar supply is still thin and inconsistent.” The rupee weakened 0.2 percent to 48.65 per dollar as of 3:34 p.m. in Mumbai, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. The currency two days ago reached 48.9425, its weakest since May 15. The MSCI Asia Pacific Index rose 1 percent after the U.S. Federal Reserve said the pace of economic contraction in the world’s biggest economy is slowing and South Korea raised its gross domestic product forecast. The Sensitive Index, or Sensex, slid 0.5 percent, paring this year’s advance to 49 percent. Overseas investors bought $5.04 billion more Indian shares than they sold this year, almost the double the amount during the same period last year, according to data released by the Securities and Exchange Board of India.

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