The Indian rupee bounced off a one-and-half month high on Tuesday and slipped to a one-week low, tracking weak shares, with large demand for dollars towards corporate outflows and some defence-related demand weighing. The partially convertible rupee closed at 44.98/99 per dollar, after hitting 44.99, its weakest since December 29 and 0.6 percent below Monday's close of 44.70/71. In early trade, the rupee had risen to 44.60, its strongest since November 12.
One-month offshore non-deliverable forward contracts were quoted at 45.24, weaker than the onshore spot rate. One-year onshore forward premium closed at 255.25 points, after rising to 262 points earlier in the day and above its Monday's close of 261.75 points. In the currency futures market, the most traded near-month dollar-rupee contracts on the National Stock Exchange and MCX-SX closed at 45.1725 and 45.18 respectively, with the total traded volume on the two exchanges at $5.7 billion.