The rupee failed to maintain its strong initial gains and ended lower by 7 paise at 64.15, the second consecutive session fall against the US dollar due to sustained demand for the American currency from importers.
However, robust capital inflows into local equities along with greenback’s weakness against other currencies overseas capped losses to some extent.
Though, the movement confined to a narrow range, the domestic currency breached the key psychological 64—mark briefly in the morning session to trade at multi—year highs before its slide.
Expectations that the US Federal Reserve will not tighten its monetary policy amid intensifying political scandal around US President Donald Trump supported rupee sentiment initially.
The local unit resumed firmly higher at 63.99 from overnight close of 64.08 at the Interbank Foreign Exchange market on bouts of dollar selling by exporters.
It then strengthened further to touch a high of 63.95 before retreating sharply to hit an intra—day low of 64.16 in late afternoon deals.
After trading range—bound, the domestic unit finally settled the day at 64.15, showing a loss of 7 paise