Snapping its 3-day winning spree against the American currency, the rupee today dropped by 21 paise to end at 66.64 on fag-end dollar demand from banks and importers despite a sharp rally in domestic equities.
Higher dollar in the overseas market mainly affected the rupee value against the dollar, a forex dealer said.
The domestic currency resumed higher at 66.35 as against yesterday’s level of 66.43 at the Interbank Foreign Exchange (Forex) market and firmed up further to 66.3125 on initial selling dollars by banks and exporters in view of persistent foreign capital inflows.
However, it failed to maintain its initial gains and fell to 66.66 on fag-end dollar demand from banks and importers on the back of higher dollar in the global market before finishing at 66.64, showing a loss of 21 paise or 0.32 per cent.
It had gained by 23 paise or 0.35 per cent in the previous three trading days.
It hovered in a range of 66.3125 and 66.66 per dollar during the day.
The dollar index was up 0.53 per cent against a basket of six global currencies in the late Asian trade after leading producers agreed on output cap.
The RBI fixed the reference rate for the dollar at 66.4293 and euro at 75.4637.
In cross-currency trades, the rupee recovered against the pound sterling to close at 94.86 from 95.05 yesterday.
It moved up further against the euro to 75.32 from 75.76 yesterday and also looked up further against the yen to 60.96 per 100 yens from 61.39 previously.