Rupee washes out initial gains Vs dollar, down 12 paise

The rupee surrendered its initial gains against the American currency on fresh dollar demand from banks and importers on the back of firming of the Greenback in overseas markets.

The rupee resumed higher at 60.98 per dollar as against the last closing level of 61.13 per dollar at the Interbank Foreign Exchange (Forex) Market on initial selling of dollars by banks and exporters in view of heavy capital inflows from foreign funds into equity market.

However, it washed out opening gains due to fresh dollar demand from importers to quote at 61.25 per dollar at 1045 hrs.

It moved in a range of 60.98 and 61.27 per dollar during the morning deals.

In the New York market, the dollar held above 103 Japanese yen yesterday after US jobs data and Federal Reserve president suggested the Fed may scale back its bond-buying programme as early as next week.

Meanwhile, the BSE benchmark Sensex dropped by 95.31 points, or 0.45 per cent, to 21,231.11 at 1050 hrs.