Rupee falls back by 17 paise to 49.12/13 Vs $

MUMBAI: The rupee on Thursday depreciated by 17 paise to close at 49.12/13 against the US currency due to fresh dollar demand from importers and late weakness in local equities.

Firm dollar overseas too weighed on the rupee but sustained capital inflows capped rupee's fall to some extent.

At the Interbank Foreign Exchange (Forex) market, the local currency started slightly weak at 48.97/98 a dollar from previous close of 48.95/96. It immediately touched a high of 48.85 on early rally in stocks amid dollar selling by exporters.

However, weakness in equities later in the day and fresh dollar demand from importers, mainly oil refiners, put pressure on the rupee and it fell to a low of 49.23 before concluding at 49.12/13. Yesterday, it had gained 37 paise.

The BSE benchmark Sensex, which was up by over 125 points in early stage, ended down over 74 points or 0.44 per cent.

The dollar index was up by nearly 0.2 per cent against a basket of six major currencies while New York crude oil was trading above USD 84 a barrel in European market today.

"Dollar traded strong against major currencies mainly against euro which helped the greenback gain against rupee," Alpari Financial Services (India) CEO Pramit Brahmbhatt said.