Mumbai: Rising for third straight session, the rupee on Wednesday gained three paise to close at 61.40 against the dollar on strong selling pressure on US currency from banks and exporters as oil prices dropped amid weak global cues.
The domestic currency resumed lower at 61.46 as against yesterday's closing of 61.43 per dollar at the Interbank Foreign Exchange (Forex) Market and dropped further to 61.5150 per dollar on spell of initial dollar demand from importers.
However, it recovered from initial losses and ended at 61.40, showing a gain of 3 paise or 0.05 percent.
The rupee has gained by 35 paise or 0.56 percent in the last three trading days. It moved in a range of 61.34 per dollar and 61.5150 per dollar during the day.
US benchmark West Texas Intermediate for November delivery was down USD 1.11 to USD 87.74 a barrel in afternoon trade and Brent crude eased USD 1.12 to USD 90.99. Both contracts tumbled on Tuesday.
FPIs/FIIs pulled out a whopping Rs 1,440.99 crore from domestic stocks today, as per provisional data.
Pramit Brahmbhatt, Veracity Group CEO said, "Rupee opened weak taking cues from local equities which traded slightly negative. With expectation of interest rate hike in the US, the dollar anticipated for bullish run in coming days. Towards end rupee trimmed its early losses and close near yesterday?s close at 61.40, as today".
In New York market, the US dollar fell to three-week low against its major rival in early trade, as dealers opted for safe-haven Japanese yen.
The dollar continued to dip lower yesterday against the yen Tuesday afternoon, reaching its lowest point in more than three weeks, in a move described as a correction following a strong run up.
Meanwhile, the BSE benchmark Sensex moved down by 25.18 points of 0.10 percent to end at 26,246.79.
In forward market, premium ended lower on fresh receipts by exporters.
The benchmark six-month premium payable in March closed lower at 228-230 paise from the yesterday's closing level of 234-236 paise while far-forward contracts maturing in September, 2015 also ended lower at 463-465 paise as against 473.5-475.5 paise.
The Reserve Bank of India fixed the reference rate for dollar at 61.4648 and for the euro at 77.6546.
The rupee moved up further against the pound to 98.66 from the previous close of 98.68, but declined to 77.68 per euro from 77.37 per euro.
It also fell to 56.70 per 100 yen from 56.60 yesterday.
