Mumbai: Falling for the third day, Indian rupee on Wednesday weakened by 14 paise to close at over one-week low of 62.02 against the Greenback on sustained dollar demand from importers and fresh capital outflows.
Some hesitancy in local equities and a stable dollar overseas had no major impact on the rupee, a dealer said, adding that the rupee has now lost 25 paise in three days.
At the Interbank Foreign Exchange (Forex) market, the domestic unit commenced lower at 61.96 a dollar from previous close of 61.88.
It was later trapped in a narrow range of 61.91 and 62.0475 before settling at 62.02, a net fall of 14 paise or 0.23 percent.
The Indian equity benchmark Sensex recovered marginally by 34.09 points, or 0.12 percent, in choppy trade.
FPIs/FIIs had pulled out USD 35.99 million from stocks yesterday, as per Sebi data.
Pramit Brahmbhatt, CEO, Veracity Group, said, "Rupee continues to be on a weaker side. Today also it depreciated. Rupee has traded weak for the third consecutive day and now investors are waiting for the US data which is due for the week. That data will show the road ahead to the market."
The trading range for the spot USD/INR pair is expected to be within 61.70 to 62.30, he added.
In forward market, premia softened further on persistent receipts by exporters.
The benchmark six-month premium payable in May moved down to 214-216 paise from Tuesday's close of 215-217 paise.
Forward contracts maturing in November 2015 also slipped to 423-425 paise from 424.5-426.5 paise.
The Reserve Bank of India fixed the reference rate for dollar at 61.95 and for the Euro at 76.7499.
The rupee remained weak against the pound to 97.22 from 96.80 previously and declined further to 76.79 per euro from 76.47.
It, also dropped to 52.02 per 100 Japanese yen from 51.59.
