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Indian rupee steady in early deals, awaits flows

BOMBAY: The Indian rupee was steady in early deals on Wednesday and dealers said they expected corporate flows to provide direction.

The rupee was quoted at 43.53/54 per dollar at 9:09 a.m .after it opened steady at 43.5275/5325.

It had ended at 43.53/5325 per dollar on Tuesday.

"The rupee weakened yesterday following the export cancellations, so it does seem under pressure," a dealer at a state-run bank said.

"But, fundamentally there is no cause for concern and I expect the rupee to be steady at these levels," he said. Dealers said despite the slight weakening of the rupee they did not expect any major covering by importers.

"Yesterday's (dollar) demand was probably due to some spillover from last month so I don't see any further weakness in the rupee," a dealer at a European bank said.

"Besides, there is an expectation the foreign investors will put more money in Indian stocks," he said.

The 30-share Bombay stock exchange index .ended up 2.16 percent or 115.90 points at 5,491.01 on Tuesday, hitting record highs for the second consecutive day.

Dealers said they also expected some financial closures to take place in the power sector which will also lead to further dollar inflows.

Forward premiums were seen stabilising at the current levels though there could be some corporate import covering in the near term, they said.

The six-month premium ended on Tuesday at an annualised 3.75 percent compared with Monday's 3.7 percent.-Reuters