The rupee recovered from the early low of 64.72 as the BJP looked set to retain power in Gujarat , with the party winning 46 seats and leading in 53 others in the keenly-contested polls to the 182-member Assembly. The Congress, which had 61 seats in the outgoing Assembly, looked to have improved its tally this time as it has won 44 seats and is leading in 33 seats so far.
The domestic unit plunged by 68 paise to 64.72 as early trends as early trends indicated a neck and neck race in Gujarat, which gave slight jitters to BJP workers. But soon the BJP pulled ahead and the numbers began to conform with exit poll results.
The rupee hovered in the range of 64.72 and 64.08 in the evening trade before quoting at 64.21, still down 17 paise at 4.45 pm local time.
The rupee had gained 30 paise to close at a fresh three-month high of 64.04 on Friday against the dollar after all exit polls had suggested that the BJP would retain Gujarat and return to power in Himachal Pradesh.
The dollar held modest gains against the euro and yen on Monday, having received a lift after US tax reform efforts moved another step closer to ratification over the weekend. It was 0.1 per cent higher at 112.750 yen, while the dollar index against a basket of six major currencies tacked on 0.1 per cent to 94.007.
(With inputs from Agencies)