Rupee ends steady at 66.83 vs USD

Breaking a five-session downfall, the rupee finished a tad higher against the American currency at 66.83 on mild selling of the dollar.

Weak dollar sentiment largely supported the rupee movement despite impending historic Fed rate hike even as domestic equities slumped to a fresh three-month low.

The domestic unit opened flat with a positive bias at 66.83 per dollar compared to Tuesday's closing level of 66.84 at the Interbank Foreign Exchange and strengthened further to 66.72 on bouts of dollar selling by exporters.

However, it lost early gaining momentum and retreated sharply to 66.92 in mid-afternoon trade following heavy dollar demand before staging a healthy recovery to end at 66.83 compared to 66.84 on Tuesday, showing a gain of just 1 paisa, or 0.01 per cent.

On global forex front, the dollar slipped against other major currencies on modest rebound in oil prices, although expectations for a US rate hike this month continued to support the greenback.