MUMBAI: The Indian rupee weakened on Wednesday as month-end dollar demand from oil companies pressured the local unit even as the dollar index fell to a 5-month low.
The rupee ended at 83.3450 against the greenback on Wednesday, down 0.18% compared with its close at 83.1925 in the previous session.
Oil companies were seen bidding for dollars and there was also demand to buy dollars at the daily fix, a foreign exchange trader at a private bank said.
The fix is a daily reference rate for the dollar/rupee pair published by the Reserve Bank of India.
The demand to buy dollars at fix was bolstered by the expiry of the dollar/rupee monthly futures contract on Wednesday, the trader added. The dollar index fell to 101.39, its weakest level since late July.