The Indian rupee ended stronger on Wednesday buoyed by large gains in local shares, but off its day's highs on persistent dollar demand by oil firms. Oil refiners are the largest buyers of dollars in the foreign exchange market as India imports more than 80 percent of its oil requirements.
The rupee ended at 49.29/30 to the dollar, stronger than Tuesday's close of 49.36/37, but down from the day's high of 49.19. The forex market is shut for trading on Thursday as the Maharashtra state government, where Mumbai is located, has announced a bank holiday for local elections.
One-month offshore non-deliverable forward contracts were at 49.28. 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 around 49.39, on total volume of $3.81 billion.