By Anil Varma July 28 (Bloomberg) -- India’s rupee weakened for the first time in four days on speculation the nation’s importers increased purchases of foreign currency to settle month-end payments. The currency dropped from a three-week high as its 2 percent advance in the two weeks ended yesterday may have spurred companies to step up dollar buying. A stronger rupee reduces the cost of imports. “With importers’ dollar demand strengthening ahead of the month’s end, the rupee is expected to keep a weakening bias,” said Ravindra Babu, a Mumbai-based foreign-exchange trader at state-owned Andhra Bank. The rupee declined 0.2 percent to 48.2625 per dollar as of 9:24 a.m. in Mumbai, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. It is the worst-performer among Asia’s 10 most-traded currencies this month, with a 0.7 percent loss. Offshore contracts indicate bets the rupee will trade at 48.29 to the dollar in a month, compared with expectations of 48.21 at the end of last week. Forwards are agreements in which assets are bought and sold at current prices for future delivery. Non-deliverable contracts are settled in dollars rather than the local currency. To contact the reporters on this story: Anil Varma in Mumbai at avarma3@bloomberg.net.

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