The Indian rupee ended flat on Friday as gains from foreign fund inflows were negated by strong demand for dollars from oil importers. Traders ruled out near-term sharp volatility in the rupee, and said the unit is likely to remain largely rangebound with some upward bias.
The rupee closed at 49.27/28 to the dollar, compared with 49.29/30 on Wednesday, after moving in a 49.1550 to 49.3500 band. The market was closed on Thursday and will remain shut for a local holiday on Monday. The rupee gained 0.3 percent during the week, after weakening in the previous week.
One-month offshore non-deliverable forward contracts were at 49.63. 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 all ended around 49.4, on total volume of $3.4 billion.