RTRS:Indian rupee snaps four-day gains; seen falling further
* Rupee ends at 62.57/58 per dollar vs 62.36/37 on Tuesday
* Selling pressure in INR to continue - South Indian Bank
* Fed minutes keenly watched for cues
By Archana Narayanan
MUMBAI, Nov 20 (Reuters) - The rupee snapped a four-day
winning streak on Wednesday, weighed down by weaker domestic
shares and hurt by broad-based dollar buying from corporates and
oil refiners.
The losses came even as Federal Reserve Chairman Ben
Bernanke reiterated its commitment to easy policy, echoing
dovish comments from Chair nominee Janet Yellen last
week.
Some dealers cited central bank intervention via state-run
banks to sell dollars in mid-day trades after the rupee fell
past 62.65 to the dollar. However, there was no consensus call
among traders on the intervention.
Investors are also looking ahead for minutes from the
Federal Reserve's October meeting to garner clues about when it
might start tapering its monetary stimulus.
"Net dollar inflows into equity and debt markets so far this
month have been clearly insufficient to meet the demand from oil
companies in the same period, weighing on the rupee," said Hari
Chandramgethen, head of forex trading at South Indian Bank.
Chandramgethen sees the rupee weakening further and trading
in a range of 62-64 in the near term.
The partially convertible rupee closed at 62.57/58
per dollar, compared with 62.36/37 on Tuesday. It weakened as
much as 62.68 during the day. It had gained 2.2 percent in the
past four sessions.
A large part of the dollar demand by state-run oil
companies, which was diverted to a special window by the RBI in
August, has returned to markets recently, adding selling
pressure on the rupee.
That is offsetting what has been strong foreign buying of
shares, reaching a net $1 billion so far in November, that had
helped lift the rupee.
In the offshore non-deliverable forwards, the
one-month contract was at 63.09, while the three-month was at
64.19.
FACTORS TO WATCH
* Dollar slips vs yen after Bernanke comments
* Shares, dollar sag ahead of Fed minutes
* Foreign institutional investor flows
* For data on currency futures
