The Indian rupee flip-flopped tailing the local stock market before closing stronger on Wednesday amid mixed factors including sharply low November industrial output data, rate hike worries, capital inflows and importer dollar demand. The partially convertible rupee ended at 45.13/14 per dollar, after touching 45.2050 immediately after industrial data. It closed at 45.1625/1725 on Tuesday. Early in the session, the rupee had risen to 45.06, its highest since January 4.
With the rupee now closely following the domestic stock market, forex dealers will wait for the December inflation number due on Friday for direction cues. One-month offshore non-deliverable forward contracts were quoted at 45.35, weaker than the onshore spot rate. In the currency futures market, the most traded near-month dollar-rupee contracts on the National Stock Exchange, MCX-SX and United Stock Exchange were all at 45.2725, with the total traded volume on the three exchanges at about $630 million.