Rupee logs first loss in three days

Falling for the first time in three days, the rupee washed out initial gains to end four paise lower at 62.57 today on caution ahead of US non-farm payrolls data and sustained capital outflows from Indian markets.

The rupee's movement was in contrast to Indian equities. A weak dollar index did not help the currency close in the positive territory as sentiment remained weak, traders say.

At the Interbank Foreign Exchange (Forex) market, the domestic unit resumed higher at 62.42 a dollar from overnight close of 62.53 and improved further to a high of 62.35 on

sustained dollar selling by exporters. It, however, later fell back to a low of 62.62 before settling at 62.57, a fall of four paise or 0.06 per cent.

In the previous two sessions, the rupee gained 15 paise. Experts said FII outflows in equities worth Rs 576 crore kept the pressure on rupee today. On Tuesday, they took out over Rs 1,200 crore.

Foreign Institutional Investors have also sold Indian debt worth over a billion dollars in 9-10 days, they added.

A better-than-expected US jobs data on Friday would help the US Federal Reserve to decide in favour of trimming its monetary stimulus further, said a PSU bank treasury head.

Yesterday, Reserve Bank Governor Raghuram Rajan said that India was better prepared to deal with any further US Fed tapering, but the country needs to remain vigilant to face eventualities, which also supported the rupee falling.

The equity benchmark S&P BSE Sensex today bounced back from initial losses and closed up by 49.10 points.

Pramit Brahmbhatt, CEO, Alpari Financial Services, (India) said, "Rupee continued to trade sideways near 62.50 levels...expect rupee to trade near 63.00 levels in coming days."