Rupee extends fall on dollar gains; share losses

MUMBAI: The Indian rupee extended its drop in afternoon trade on Friday weighed by losses in the domestic sharemarket and the dollar's gains versus other major currencies overseas.

At 2:50 p.m. (0920 GMT), the partially convertible rupee was at 46.64/65 per dollar, weaker than its previous close of 46.34/35. On Thursday, the rupee had risen as high as 46.22, its strongest since Sept. 26, 2009.

The dollar rose broadly on Friday after Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke made clear he was thinking of an exit strategy from quantitative easing and low interest rates as the economy improves.

The dollar index, a gauge of the U.S. unit's performance versus six majors, was up 0.4 percent.

Stocks were trading down more than 1.2 percent as investors booked profits in banking stocks, erasing early gains made on better-than-expected quarterly results from Infosys Technologies.


In the currency futures market, the most traded near-month contracts on the National Stock Exchange and MCX-SX were both quoting at 46.6750 each, with the total traded volume on the two exchanges at about $2.1 billion.