MUMBAI (Commodity Online): The Indian rupee commenced marginally higher on Tuesday, June 14, 2011 in line with most of the regional currencies after the domestic unit dropped to its lowest level in a week yesterday.
The local currency opened higher by mere 2 paise at Rs 44.84 per dollar, tracking positive local shares and an improving euro overseas.
Rupee hit a high of 44.77 in early trades and was last seen trading at 44.79 at 10.40 AM IST in the spot currency market, higher by around 7 paise or 0.16% as compared to previous close at 44.86.
India's key benchmark indices edged higher in early trade on firm Asian stocks and higher US index futures. Asian stocks rose after Chinese consumer inflation data came in roughly in line with expectations.
Meanwhile the domestic unit would also watch for the data on headline inflation for May 2011 to be unveiled today. The RBI is seen raising its key lending rate by 25 basis points at its mid-quarter monetary policy review on 16 June 2011 to tame inflation.
Rebound in the European unit against the US dollar also provided some relief to the domestic currency as well as its regional peers. The US dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a trade-weighted basket of six major currencies, is currently lower by 0.15% at 74.40.
Among Asian currencies, the Taiwan dollar is up 0.13% at 28.78, the South Korean won 0.33% at 1082.25 and the Indonesian Rupiah was up mere 0.06% at 8537.50 as against the US dollar.
In the domestic currency futures market on the NSE, the forward month June USD/INR contract opened on Tuesday at 45.00, higher than the spot market rupee. The contract hit an intra day high at 45.01 and registered a low at around 44.89 so far during the day.
Meanwhile, euro- rupee contract is up 0.14% at 64.77 from 64.68 in the previous session. The JPY/INR contract dipped lower by 0.09% at 55.92 from 55.97 while GBP/INR contract added 0.45% to be at 73.68 from 73.35 as at close on Monday.
At the time of writing, the NSE as well as MCX Jun 2011 USD/INR contract was trading at around 44.91 lower by around 9 paise or 0.20% compared to previous close at 45.00.
