The rupee snapped its two-day gains against the American currency by slipping 28 paise to 60.17 per dollar on renewed dollar demand from banks and importers amid a stable dollar in the overseas market.
The rupee had closed stronger at 59.89 against the dollar on Wednesday.
The domestic unit opened a tad weaker at 59.93 on mild dollar outflows from the domestic equity market.
The unit rose to 59.83 in the early trades at the Interbank Foreign Exchange (Forex) market on mild inflows. However, it declined to 60.28 as banks bought dollars on behalf of oil importers.
“The Indian rupee was seen retreating after nudging towards its highest levels in eight months as importers rushed in to buy dollars, while intervention by the central bank also seemed a plausible reason giving support to the domestic currency,” said Abhishek Goenka, Founder and CEO of India Forex Advisors.
In addition, the dollar strengthened against the euro and other Asian currencies.
Call rates, bonds
The overnight call money rate, interest rate at which banks borrow money from each other to overcome short-term liquidity mismatches, closed weaker at 7 per cent as against the previous close of 8.15 per cent on Wednesday.
The yield on 10-year benchmark 8.83 per cent government bond, maturing in 2023, hardened to 9 per cent from the previous close of 8.96 per cent.