The Indian rupee fell for the first session in three on Friday, tracking losses in local shares and weighed down by oil importers' dollar demand, ending a volatile week largely flat. Dollar sales by exporters and some inflows towards the government's 5.8 percent stake sale in Steel Authority of India Ltd prevented a sharper fall in the local unit on Friday.
The outlook for the rupee weakened after a key regional ally withdrew from the ruling coalition, raising doubts about the government's reform agenda and after the Reserve Bank of India's cautious statement on monetary policy raised concerns over economic growth. "I don't expect very sharp movements next week unless something drastic happens in Europe. Developments in Europe will be a main cue" said Uday Bhatt, a foreign exchange dealer with UCO Bank. The partially convertible rupee closed at 54.33/34 per dollar versus 54.275/285 on Thursday. It traded in a 54.26 to 54.41 band in the session.
In the offshore non-deliverable forwards, the one-month contract was at 54.80 while the three-month was at 55.43. In the currency futures market, the most-traded near-month dollar/rupee contracts on the National Stock Exchange, the MCX-SX and the United Stock Exchange closed at around 54.36 with a total traded volume of $4.9 billion.
