MUMBAI: The Indian rupee nudged higher on Monday comforted by a strong euro, although volatility in domestic equities and dollar demand from local oil refiners limited the gains.
At 10:44 a.m. (0514 GMT), the partially convertible rupee was 48.87/88 per dollar, 0.3 percent stronger from Friday 49.0175/0275 close, and traders expect a likely session range of 48.80 to 49.00 in the day.
"A strong euro is helping the rupee, but momentum in stocks is a bit wobbly at the moment. There seems to be some oil-related demand also that could keep rupee on its toes," said Naveen Raghuvanshi, an associate vice-president at Development Credit Bank.
"But, the rupee should hold strong near the 49 level."
The euro hovered near a one-month high after the G20 summit boosted hopes that the EU would decisively address the region's debt woes this week, with traders saying that further short-covering may see the currency eke out more gains.
The euro was trading at $1.3855, compared with $1.3784 when the rupee closed on Friday. The index of the dollar against six major currencies was at 76.675 points, lower than its 76.992 close on Friday.
Hopes of an agreement amongst European policymakers to tackle the region's debt crisis also pushed up Brent crude futures towards $113, extending the previous session's sharp gains.
Oil is India's biggest import item and local oil refiners are the biggest purchasers of dollars in the domestic foreign exchange market.
India's main share index pared early gains and was down 0.1 percent. The index had closed at a 4-week closing high in the previous session.
The one-month onshore forward premium on the rupee was at 24.75 points from 22.25 on Friday, the three-month premium was at 62.75 points from 60 and the one-year premium was 146.75 points, from 138.
The one-month offshore non-deliverable forward contracts were quoted at 49.12, weaker than the spot rupee rate.
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 were all at 48.9750. The total traded volume on the three exchanges was $1.01 billion.
Copyright Reuters, 2011
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