India’s rupee headed for a fourth weekly loss on speculation slowing economic growth and inflation that has held above 9 percent this year will deter investors. Foreign funds sold $348 million more Indian shares than they bought in the first three days of this week, according to data published yesterday by the Securities & Exchange Board of India. A government report due Aug. 30 may show the economy expanded 7.6 percent last quarter, the least since 2009, according to the median estimate of 25 economists in a Bloomberg News survey. Wholesale-price gains averaged 9.5 percent in the first seven months of 2011, government data show. “Inflation continues to prevail at higher levels and growth is also softening,” said Naveen Raghuvanshi, a currency trader in Mumbai at Development Credit Bank Ltd. “This has led to capital outflows as investors aren’t happy.” The rupee dropped 0.7 percent this week to 46.075 per dollar as of 11:49 a.m. in Mumbai, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. It was little changed today. The rupee’s 4 percent loss this month is the worst performance among Asia’s 10 most- traded currencies. Offshore forwards indicate the Indian currency will trade at 46.50 to the dollar in three months, unchanged from yesterday. Forwards are agreements to buy or sell assets at a set price and date. Non-deliverable contracts are settled in dollars. To contact the reporter on this story: V Ramakrishnan in Mumbai at rvenkatarama@bloomberg.net To contact the editor responsible for this story: Sandy Hendry at shendry@bloomberg.net

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