MUMBAI: Rupee was down by 37 paise at a fresh 30-month low of Rs 50.17 per US dollar in early trade today on sustained dollar demand from importers and some banks amid firmness of the American currency overseas. The rupee resumed lower at Rs 50.01/02 per dollar on the Interbank Foreign Exchange, as against its previous close of Rs 49.80/81 per dollar, and dropped further to Rs 50.17 per dollar, its lowest level since April 29, 2009, before quoting at Rs 50.02/03 per dollar at 1030 hours. Forex dealers said heavy dollar demand from importers and oil refiners amid dollar firmness overseas mainly put pressure on the rupee. Kunal Bothra, Senior Technical Analyst, Manager Advisory, LKP Securities is of the opinion that, "Since 2009 peak the rupee was under consolidation, and interestingly it held on to 44 levels for 3 to 4 attempts and did not break that convincingly. The last couple of months have seen the breakout on the upside, with strong momentum. The rise has been very sharp and swift, and such momentum generally does not fade out so easily. In the near term, the path from 50 to 51.90 level would be faced with stiff resistance, short term resistance is at 50.58/ 50.60 levels. Ideally it needs a slight consolidation, probably couple of months of range bound action, to garner more strength and then follow the original trend and break 52 levels." In the New York market, the euro edged higher against the dollar yesterday after trading erratically in a tight range as market participants derived a little comfort from European leaders' moves to contain the euro zone debt crisis. Meanwhile, oil rose in Asia today as investors looked to upcoming summits aimed at resolving Europe's debt crisis, though analysts said the death of Libya's Muammar Gaddafi would have a limited impact on prices. New York's main contract, light sweet crude crude for December delivery, was up 30 cents at USD 86.37 a barrel. The Bombay Stock Exchange benchmark Sensex was up by 66 points, or 0.39 per cent, at 17,002.83 at 1015 hours.

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